REMINDER: This Friday
– Sunday Autism Rocks Traveling Art Show will
have a booth at Art & the Vineyard, a three day
festival at Alton Baker Park in Eugene.
This event features music, wine, food, and art by many
Northwest artists. It’s a great time to wander,
to interact, to view great outdoor garden sculpture,
and to help celebrate artists with autism. The unsold
pieces from Autism Artism 2006 – 2007 will be
on display, as well as some special new pieces from
Barbara Moran (she draws steam engines), civil war artists
Ben Iorio, quirky pieces by Lexi Sias and cute images
from Suzie Noel Duncan Winn. All this and many of your
old favorites – Ryo Mastrogiovanni, Mary-Minn
Sirag, Melissa Dahl and more. The festival is open from
11:30 AM – 8:30 PM all weekend. Stop by and say
hello and maybe you’ll have a chance to chat with
one of the artists. We look forward to seeing you!
Ben Iorio
Lexi Sias
Suzie Noel Duncan Winn
NOTICE: This month’s
support group has been cancelled. Call 689 2228 for more information.
EVENTS:
Concert Connect is for the benefit
of ASO and will be held at the Kennedy
School in North Portland on July
22nd. Kennedy School is
owned by McMenamins, who has donated the space for this
event. Excel Talent and GC Productions are putting
this event on for ASO. It will be an all
day event from noon until 9:00 p.m. The line up
of bands, who are all donating their time, has been
described by the McMenamins people as the best line
up of bands they have ever had. Here they are:
There will also be a “quiet” room set
up for children that might need some quiet time. ASO
will have volunteers in this room with art supplies,
some gym equipment to play on and Emily Ross, ASO volunteer
and music therapist, will be there from 1:00-4:00
with all of her great instruments for kids to play with.
OPEN HOUSE
To Honor and say farewell to DAWN STAHLBERG, AUTISM SPECIALIST
WHEN: JULY 23, 2007, 4:30 - 7:30
WHERE: DAYSPRINGCHURCH, 1580 RIVER ROAD,
EUGENE
*LIGHT "ENTERTAINMENT" AND MEMORY SHARING WILL HAPPEN
AROUND 6:00
At Autism Training
and Support 689 2327: July 9 - 26 Autism
Spectrum Disorder Summer Program
Days: Monday – Thursday Time: 9:00 am - 12:00
pm 3rd Monday, 7 - 9 pm: The Autism Family Support Group,
at the DaySpring Fellowship Church 1580 River Road
July 10
12 P.M. – 2 P.M. Emergency First ResponderRecognition
and Safety Techniques - How Parents/Guardians, Educators/Professionals,
Law Enforcement and Emergency First Responder Agencies
can keep people impacted by autism safe in our communities.
Dennis Debbaudt and ASO. Free. To Register: (541) 324-6660
or janel@mighty.net
July 10-13 &
17-20 Community Support and
Crisis Project
Autism Awareness and Advanced Hands-On Trainings
at the Oregon School for the Deaf 999 Locust Street
NE, Salem. OTAC. Reg deadline June 25. 503-364-9943
July 22 - August
19 Autism Rocks Traveling Art Show in FullCity Coffee on Pearl Street. Art by people with Autism.
At Bridgeway
House 345-0805: Summer classes and meetings include - girls
and boys social groups, music therapy, teen mixed social
group, preschoolers support group, kids night, family
swim days, parents support group.
August 24-26
KindTree Autism Camp/Retreat
Where
can you paddle your own canoe?
Where
can you swim in a beautiful lake?
Where
can you eat s'mores by a campfire?
Where
can you get your face painted all fairy-like?
Where
can you eat great food prepared by caring volunteers?
Where
can you volunteer and be part of the action?
Where
can you hear the Raventones?
Where
can you take nature walks in a great big forest?
Where
can you get lost in the woods and still be safe?
Where
can you learn watercolor from Nancy Bright?
Where
can you hang out with Michelle or Mary-Minn?
From Chris Peck at Lane Co DD:
I received a call from a parent of a 15 y/o boy with
Autism and she was looking for a volunteer to assist
her son with improving his English over the summer vacation.
The family is from Korea and English is
his second language. If you know of any leads
or anyone who might be interested in this opportunity
please let me know.
thanks
Chris Chris.Peck@co.lane.or.us
Autistic Man Takes Independence To Next LevelBy Bob Welch, Columnist, The Register-Guard, Monday,
June 25, 2007Top
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EDITOR'S NOTE:
"Where Are They Now?" is a Monday column that updates
readers on local newsmakers from the past.
THEN: In 2003,
David Olson of Eugene,
once stuffed in trash cans and shoved into lockers by
kids at his middle school because of his autism, made
news for earning karate's black belt. What made his
story particularly compelling was that, given a chance
to take revenge on one of his "tormentors," he chose,
instead, to forgive the kid.
NOW: At 26,
Olson's world has blossomed even more since he was profiled
four years ago.
He still has a girlfriend and still works at Down
to Earth, where he does cleaning and repackaging. But
much has changed for Olson.
He just celebrated his first year of living on his
own. Has taken up the guitar; "I like playing the blues."
And, on the recommendation of his instructor, is testing
for a second-level black belt in karate.
"I don't recommend people test unless I'm fairly
confident they can do it," says Alan Best, chief instructor
at Eugene's Best Martial Arts Institute.
"He's been rock-solid with attendance. What he's doing
takes a lot of courage."
Olson has been involved in karate now for 14 years.
"Very few people, autistic or not, retain a commitment
for such a long time," Best says.
"I figured it took me 10 years to get to the first
level, so it's not likely I'm going to quit after that,"
Olson says.
One other change: He's become an uncle. "He was
at the hospital in Portland, which he
found without any help, when his nephew was born and
actually held him," says Carol Still, his mother. "He's
pretty excited about being an uncle."
Carol shakes her head at his independence. "Today
(June 15) is the one-year anniversary of him living
in his own apartment and the only help he's asked for
is cooking advice," she says. "I couldn't be more proud
of him."
His ultimate goal? To work with autistic kids. "He
can communicate with the normal world," says Carol,
"but he also understands what it's like to be autistic
and thinks he could do something to explain to adults
what those kids need."
Insurance bill will help families
dealing with autism
Published: Friday, June 29, 2007Top
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Parents of
children with developmental disabilities have something
to celebrate. House Bill 2918, which requires insurance
companies to cover certain kinds of treatment for pervasive
developmental disorders, awaits the governor's signature.
The proposed new law was passed unanimously by the
House on May 11. After making several amendments, the
Senate passed the bill, and the House concurred with
the amendments Tuesday.
State Rep. Chris Edwards, D-Eugene, a sponsor of
the bill, expects the governor to sign the bill into
law.
For years, parents have been frustrated to learn
that treatments considered beneficial for people with
autism - such as speech, physical and occupational therapy
- were not covered by insurance. Under HB 2918, a health
plan may not deny benefits for these rehabilitative
services to children younger than 18 solely because
that child has pervasive developmental disorder.
HB 2918 defines pervasive developmental disorders
as neurological conditions including autism, Asperger's
syndrome, developmental disability or mental retardation,
and developmental delay. Currently, some insurance companies
refuse to cover speech, physical and occupational therapy
for PDD, even if the same child would be covered for
identical treatment if he did not have autism.
For example, people who have trouble speaking after
a stroke are routinely provided speech therapy by insurance
companies. But many companies don't cover speech therapy
for children with autism, even though both autism and
stroke are neurological conditions creating problems
with communication.
This restriction is short-sighted, because speech,
occupational and physical therapy help people with PDD
function better in the home, school, community and workplace.
"This bill says we must at least pay for treatments
known to have a high positive outcome with reasonable
predictability of improvement, such as speech therapy,"
says Edwards, who has a young son with autism.
Insurance companies still may limit the number of
visits and the duration of treatment, and policyholders
must still comply with the usual rules for deductibles
and copayments.
The Senate has taken some of the teeth out of HB
2918, but even the amended version promises some measure
of relief to families across the state.
"It's still a good bill, even though it's not as
comprehensive as we'd like," Edwards says.
Unlike the original House bill, the Senate version
applies only to children younger than 18. The original
bill also required insurance companies to pay for treatment
to help people with PDD maintain, as well as improve,
their level of functioning.
Without continuous treatment, some people with PDD
lose previously acquired skills. Opponents claim that
paying for maintenance therapy is too expensive, although
supporters say only a very modest increase in policy
premiums would cover the cost.
Some opponents argued that insurers shouldn't have
to provide coverage for autism because there is no known
cause or cure. It's hard to understand that reasoning.
If you have a condition that is usually covered by insurance,
and it can reasonably be expected to improve with treatment,
why does it matter what caused the condition? Why deny
a child with PDD the tools to improve his speech, while
providing the same services for a child with traumatic
brain injury?
"Cause and cure are not the issues; treatment is
the issue," Edwards says. "Insurance is the financial
vehicle of choice for health conditions in our country,
so it's appropriate that it (PDD) is covered."
No one in the Senate wanted to go on record as being
against children with autism, Edwards says. Instead,
opponents proposed amendments that weakened the bill
until it became one they could vote for and still look
supportive.
Although many insurance companies testified against
the bill, a few have come out in support, Edwards says.
"There is some division in the insurance community."
The bill also calls for the Health Resources Commission
to review other available medical and behavioral health
research on the treatment of PDD, and report to the
next legislative assembly. Parents hope this will prompt
a new bill mandating coverage for other well-researched
treatments designed specifically for people with PDD,
such as applied behavioral therapy.
This bill is long overdue. Children with autism
learn and grow, given access to treatment. Many parents
struggle to pay for treatment out of their own pockets,
mortgaging their homes and liquidating their savings.
Oregon families deserve better.
"This bill is a start," Edwards says. "But we still
have a long road ahead of us."
Cynthia Whitfield (cynhome@msn
.com) is a Eugene free-lance writer.
Special court takes up families' claims
of child vaccines-autism link
By Shankar Vedantam, The Washington Post, Published: Monday, June 11, 2007Top
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For more than a decade, families have been warring with
the medical establishment over their claims that routine childhood
vaccines are responsible for the nation's apparent epidemic
of autism. In an extraordinary proceeding that begins today,
the battle will move from the ivory tower to the courts.
Nearly 5,000 families will seek to convince a special
``vaccine court'' in Washington that the vaccines can cause
healthy and outgoing children to withdraw into uncommunicative,
autistic shells - even though a large body of evidence and expert
opinion has found no link. The court has never heard a case
of such magnitude.
The shift from laboratory to courtroom means that the
outcome will hinge not on scientific standards of evidence but
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That may make it easier for the plaintiffs to sway the
panel of three ``special masters,'' which is why the decision
could not only change the lives of thousands of American families
but have a profound effect on the decisions of parents around
the world about whether to vaccinate their children.
A victory by the plaintiffs, public health officials say,
could increase the number of children who are not given vaccines
and fall sick or die from the diseases they prevent.
Economics and politics intersect in the case with questions
of health and the deepening mystery of soaring autism rates.
Advocates of the vaccine theory have argued that the increase
in cases was triggered by a mercury-based preservative in vaccines
that, they say, is toxic to children's brains.
Under pressure from the advocates and to keep the issue
from disrupting vaccination programs, U.S. officials
began phasing out the additive, thimerosal, in children's vaccines
around 1999 while maintaining that there was no hard evidence
that it was dangerous.
Gary Golkiewicz, chief special master in the U.S. Court
of Federal Claims, where the case is to be heard, said the court's
job is to focus on whether plaintiffs show a plausible link
between vaccines and autism.
About 20 experts are expected to testify in the case,
which will involve a staggering amount of complicated epidemiology
and biochemistry. Golkiewicz said a ruling could be a year off.
Experts for the government will argue that a range of
epidemiological studies found no link between vaccines and autism.
Large international studies suggest that after thimerosal
was removed from children's vaccines, autism rates continued
to soar.
The cases are rising, experts say, primarily because of
better diagnosis and services: Parents (page 2 of 2)
and teachers are more attuned to the signs of autism,
and doctors are better equipped to spot it than they were two
decades ago. Also, the boundaries of the diagnosis have expanded
to include a range of problems under an umbrella known as autism
spectrum disorders.
Kevin Conway, a Boston attorney representing the family
of 12-year-old Michelle Cedillo of Yuma, Ariz., whose claim
was designated the opening test case for more than 4,800 plaintiffs,
said that even if the science is equivocal, he has a good legal
argument.
``There is a difference between scientific proof and legal
proof,'' Conway said.
Besides, Conway added, those who support
the vaccine-autism theory also are arguing that something else
in vaccines might be making children sick.
Like many other advocates of the link, Conway
said he believes that vaccines in general are a good thing and
have saved many lives. But Congress' efforts to shield vaccine
makers from lawsuits over the side effects of vaccines have
given the companies no incentive to make vaccines as safe as
possible, Conway said.
Congress set up the vaccine court to provide compensation
for individuals harmed by those side effects, because lawsuits
were threatening to put vaccine makers out of business.
The law requires people claiming they were harmed by a
vaccine to bring the case in the special court first, but if
they lose, they can still file suit in civil courts.
Scientific advocates for the vaccine-autism theory say
fears about damaging public health programs have prompted scientists
and the government to hide evidence of a problem. Many of the
families believe that the medical establishment and the U.S.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have conspired in
a cover up.
