Reaching Out - Reaching In: Autism News

In This Issue:

All About You / Mary-Minn's Stim Page / Autism Artism 2008
ASO-LCC Respite Program / T-Shirts Notecards More
Autism Forum "The Spectrum Speaks"
Gardening Anyone? /Support our Programs
Canine Cardiology / From Kenny / From Katy
Computer Program and NextStep / Prescription Drugs Discount
FREE National Park Pass / Legislative ALERT
Government Settles Vaccine Case / Vancouver Autists Write Dating Book
Autism Breakthough - Carly / Parental Age Factor
Community Calendar

It's All About You

Greetings,

KindTree’s first event of 2008 will be our 7th Autism Forum. This year we are planning a celebration of the Autism Community with positive, personal stories about and by people with autism, presented at the Forum by the authors. We invite you to submit your story to share. See the instructions here. See also the articles in this issue written by people with autism: Kenny, Katy, Mary-Minn, and another about two of KindTree’s artists. There is a lot to say. Folks are listening...

The Forum will also feature a fun movement exercise, a cooking demonstration and an arts & craft area for the kids. We’re inviting agencies to share their info with you, too. This promises to be another fun KindTree event. And it’s free.

"Autism Artism 2008"is now on track, with our GALA Opening scheduled for June 14 at the LCC Art Gallery in Bldg 11. Guests will include Mayor Piercy, Rep Chris Edwards, and the SLUG Queen "Glo". Music will be by the youth marimba band "Hokoyo" and they are so much fun.

What it's really about, though, is you, the artist with autism. You still have a few days to submit your art - the deadline is April 1. Please send your work in. We have already accepted a few new artists' work and are looking forward to seeing some favorites return, as well. Our jury of art insiders will choose the best for the show. Put this event on your calendar and come celebrate artists with autism. Sponsored by Elizabeth King.

Registration is now open for the Camp / Retreat 2008, scheduled for August 22-24. The prices are virtually the same as last year. This year’s fun will include the Raventones again, plus some special fun with Benjamin Luskin’s “Transforming Disabilities into Strengths” and other outdoor activities. This is the place where your family gathers every year. Can’t wait.

While you’re busy try to fit all these events in your schedule, don’t forget that KindTree needs your financial support to make them all happen. Please consider funding a sponsorship of the Art Show, a Retreat scholarship, or a much needed general donation. It’s easy online. Thank you to the Lions Club, the Wentworth Foundation, Doris Germain, and the George Mueller Memorial Fund for their generosity.

A couple of great stories surfaced in the last few weeks that didn’t find room in the paper newsletter. They are available here, though. They include an urgent appropriations alert regarding the Lifespan Respite Care Act in Congress; a lovely story about a 13 year old young woman named Carly; and this research subject: Advanced Parental Age Predicts Risk for Autism Spectrum Disorder in Children. I hope you find it useful.

Thanks for listening
Tim Mueller

VISIT eSCRIP and Help Us OUT!! /
Or print the sign up form HERE

Or Donate to support...

Autism Artism 2008
June 14 - July 8
LCC Art Gallery

There's still time to submit your art. April 1 deadline.
Learn more...

ASO Respite Program:
Take a Break on ASO
ASO-LCC will help pay respite care expenses while you
Take a Break.
Read more here...

Autism Forum VII
The Spectrum Speaks
Celebrating the
Autism Culture
Sunday, May 18 , 1-5pm.
Hilyard Community Center
2580 Hilyard, Eugene
FREE ($5 donation)

We Want Your Story

We are seeking entries in 4 different catagories:

1. Autobiographical essays about your personal, social, academic, athletic, employment, etc, successes.
2. Creative writing, expressions of your feelings and observations, from an autistic point of view.
3. Biographical essays about someone you know's personal, social, academic, athletic, employment, etc, successes.
4. Songs, poetry or musical performance about autism.

More Info Here

Interested in Gardening?
For more details about an adaptive garden,Call Charlene Bigelow - 688-2542. She is the master gardener who asked if KindTree knew of any autistic kids in need of gardening experience. Grow your own food! Very cool.

Mary-Minn's Stim Page

(Here are personal stories about autism. If you would like to see your musings on this page, please email Mary-Minn at sirag@mindspring.com.)

On poignancy

When I was young, I had a narrow range of feelings I could handle, especially in books and movies. Scary movies and sad books terrified me and left me bereft. I am mystified by how elementary-school children can handle the violence in current movies and TV shows, even Disney movies.

When I was 8, I couldn’t finish Charlotte’s Web because Charlotte’s death was unbearably painful and unfair, especially for a spider. (I loved spiders.) That same year, I tried to read The Orphans of Sumatra, but had to put it down when the parents are taken away from the children. I think I was 12 or 13 before I could take up this book again and make it through to the happy end, when the children are reunited with their parents in Switzerland.

“These vivid scenes flashed in front of me for over a year, ambushing me when my guard was down, terrifying me out of my wits, and punctuating erratic sleep. ”

When I was 11, my family and I sailed on The Bawean, a Dutch freighter from Suez to Montreal–up the Suez Canal, along the coast of North Africa, through the Strait of Gibraltar, across the Atlantic, and up the St. Laurence River to Montreal. On that trusty vessel, we watched The Counterfeit Traitor, about the French Resistance smuggling Jews into Switzerland during WWII.

Though my memory for movies is usually so flittery that I can watch the same movie several times from completely different perspectives in a single year, scenes from The Counterfeit Traitor etched themselves indelibly in my memory: A pallid but beautiful young woman is coughing sepulchrally from tuberculosis. A large hand shoves a napkin into her mouth to muffle the noise. She is packed into a burlap bag, which is shoved onto a small motorboat, headed for Switzerland.…An ancient–in retrospect, middle-aged–woman confesses to a priest behind a confessional. The woman’s head, swaddled in a scarf, is seen from the back. The priest’s face is unrecognizable, for the dim lighting. The very next frame shows the vaulted ceiling crashing down to a bomb blast. Dust is flying; worshippers are collapsing on the floor, moaning and shrieking in mortal terror. By implication, many are killed instantly by the blast, though the viewer is spared the graphic carnage. The bomb’s din bores a hole into my brain, bypassing my overly sensitive ears.

This movie was one in four in my life that I have walked out of on my own accord. (The other two were A Touch of Class, The Pianist, and Hostel, the last two of which I ventured into, stupidly mistaking the title for a silly European caper.) I couldn’t sleep for the next few weeks, at least. These vivid scenes flashed in front of me for over a year, ambushing me when my guard was down, terrifying me out of my wits, and punctuating erratic sleep. To this day, I avoid movies about war.

Our freighter tanked up at Tripoli, Libya. We disembarked for a leisurely afternoon of sightseeing. The scene from the harbor blazed white and blue: the whitewashed luxury hotel, an expanse of cerulean blue sky and white sand, regal palms lining the impressive boulevard, donkeys and taxicabs. We walked through the city to the souk (the city bazaar-market) which comprised blocks of cozy-dark tunnels snaking through a vast continuity of tents, punctuated by tiny booths, demarcated by sumptuous Persian carpets; merchants pressuring us to buy their wares of sheepskins, 24-karat filigreed jewelry, carpets, hookahs, what-have-you. On the way to the souk, I saws a middle-aged man sitting, wan and apathetic, on a stoop in front of a door, which opened into an empty room with a dirt floor and nothing besides a narrow bed. Every school day in Lebanon, I had ridden, jaded and indifferent, past Palestinian refugee camps on the way to school, but this understated vignette of loneliness and desolation somehow insinuated itself into my burgeoning catalog of horrifying images–first of war, now of poverty.

By way of human contradiction, I do enjoy a “good” horror movie now and again. I can tolerate some gore, just as long as the plot is far-fetched but logical, and the movie is well made. Horror movies leave no lasting mark on my sleep. Indeed, when I leave the theater afterwards, I feel relieved–as when I awaken from a particularly colorful nightmare–that “reality” isn’t quite so bad, after all. For this guilty pleasure, I use the pretext that these movies are an opportunity for my cowardly self to vicariously bone up for any real-life horror that comes my way.

At the other extremity beyond my spectrum of acceptable emotions was sentimentality and nostalgia, both of which I still am a little leery. Nostalgia throws me back to youthful foolishness. Sentimental movies exposed my emotional vulnerabilities.

When I was growing up, my family and I were living in a Greek Orthodox Lebanese mountain village called Beit Meri, which translates into Mary’s House, as in the Virgin Mary. It was a Greek Orthodox village.
In Beit Meri was a seedy cinema called Le Capitole, which reeked of stale garlic and urine, but was my sibs’ and my mainstay of structured entertainment during those languid summers. I just daubed my nose with perfume whenever I took in a movie. (My sibs and I avoided “the facilities”.)

Movies were subtitled in two of three of the languages spoken in Lebanon: Arabic, French and English. I couldn’t read Arabic, but I could compare French subtitles to the English I was hearing and vice-versa, or what little spoken Arabic I knew to the French and English subtitles. I still enjoy trying to figure out what’s being said in foreign movies or, at least, comparing what scant dialog I do understand to the subtitles.

Musicals were “all the rage” back then. The movies I remember seeing at Le Capitole were Ben Hur, Around the World in 80 Days, an assortment of John Wayne movies, French romantic capers set in the Riviera accompanied by jaunty French pop tunes (or the movies accompanying the pop tunes. I couldn’t tell which), and Julie Andrews’ musicals, especially The Sound of Music, which we saw at least a dozen times, for lack of anything better to do on a summer day.

Not that we were wild about The Sound of Music, especially after the dozenth time. Proud of our supercilious discernment, we found it goopy and sentimental and utterly predictable. Mary Poppins we found just as silly and unsophisticated. Watching The Sound of Music gave me a binged-out sugar blah.

When I watched The Sound of Music a few months ago, however, I experienced a completely different movie, though the scenes were true to my memory. I found myself rejoicing when the captain allowed his musical children sing again, though this outcome came as no surprise to me. I cried when Lisl’s old boyfriend, who had since joined the SS, sneaked into the garden to give her a heads-up about the Nazis’ plans for her Jewish family. That the Von Trapps were Jewish had escaped me as a cynically naïve child, who knew even less history than I do now. In the third-to-last scene, when the door out of the amphitheater remains empty after the audience’s encore, my heart swelled with emotion and suspenseful anticipation in the knowledge that they were making their escape to Switzerland. The Sound of Music I saw recently was, if anything, curiously understated.

In college, I refused to cry in Love Story, the tearjerker of my college years. It seemed so maudlin back then. I haven’t seen it since. The young woman died of cancer, is all I remember. Cancer is not maudlin stuff, when I look back on it.

I now allow myself to cry in poignant movies. I also cry from deep nostalgia, such as watching George Harrison’s Concert for Bangladesh, which reminded me of youthful foolishness and a yearning for the idealism of the post-Vietnam ‘70s. (You know you’re getting old when you start bemoaning lost eras of halcyon youth.)

Perhaps my youthful cynicism about things poignant had everything to do with my early inability to finish sad books, because the sadness was too much for me to bear. For me, crying provided no catharsis, but rather plunged me into a weepy abyss of ever-deepening melancholy. Now artistic tragedy provides me a finite opportunity to cry without the open-ended weepiness from personal grief. Tragedy in art creates a cathartic closure. Personal tragedy just goes on.

Read more of Mary-Minn's Stim Pages HERE

Autism Rocks T-shirts, Note Cards, Gift Items, Original Art, Apparel and More
T-shirt Page / Cafe Press Merchandize Page / Note Card Pages

Canine Cardiology - Surgery in Blue Ash will repair Chewey's rapid heartbeat

BY PEGGY O'FARRELL | POFARRELL@ENQUIRER.COM

Like most Labrador retrievers, Chewey is all heart.

That's why he'll make a good service dog once he finishes training.
"He loves everyone," said his temporary owner, Mary Shimel, who lives near Portland, Ore. "If you're sitting down, he has to use your feet as a pillow."

First, though, the 6-month-old yellow Lab has to undergo surgery to fix an electrical glitch in that big puppy heart of his.

Two local experts - Kathy Wright, a veterinary cardiologist at Cincinnati Animal Referral and Emergency Center in Blue Ash, and Timothy Knilans, a pediatric cardiologist at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center - will oversee Chewey's surgery today at the veterinary clinic.

Chewey will undergo a radiofrequency catheter ablation to correct a glitch that makes his heart race too fast. His heart should beat about 100 to 115 beats per minute. But sometimes, it races as fast as 300 beats a minute or more. Without surgery, Chewey will likely die by the time he's 3.

"I have three dogs at home, and we really love our dogs," Knilans said. "We actually have one dog who just had cancer and went through chemotherapy. That's one of the reasons I've stayed with this. I have a good empathy for people who have dogs who have these kinds of problems. When you realize you can take a dog that's a year old or 2 years old and cure them from a life-threatening disease in a single procedure, you can't turn your back on that."

Cost for Chewey's procedure is $6,000 and up. The Four-Legged Friends Heart Foundation will pay for 75 percent of the cost; Autism Service Dogs of America in Lake Oswego, Ore., will pay the rest.

Shimel and her family have fostered Chewey since Dec. 1 for Autism Service Dogs of America. He's the second therapy dog they've raised and taken through training. "You get very attached to them," she said. "He's part of the family. And he'll be a service dog. He has a job to do, so he needs to be in the best physical condition possible."

Chewey will live with Shimel and her family until he's about 20 months old. Then, he'll start more advanced training so he can be placed with a family.

"You do shed a few tears when you say goodbye," she said. "But you know he's leaving for a good purpose."

Read more here

From Kenny

Hi Mary:

How is it going. What have you been doing since I last seen you?

I want to share something with you. We have a thing called Advocacy Day which is a bunch of self advocates go down to State Capitol. I don't know if you do that. There are different topics. This topic was Autism Day. I don't know but April is Autism awareness month.

Anyways, we had Autism Rally. There were a lot of people who gave
speeches. I didn't though. It was interesting. There were students from a high school giving a presentation. Students that I sort of know. I think one of the teachers is on the Autism Board. There was one
regular student and the other students had autism. His topic was interesting, how people look at him, glare at him.

I could not stay for the whole rally. I had appointments with my legislators. That's when I did a little bit of talking. I was educating my
legislators about autism. I had to do it quick because we only had 5 minutes with our legislators.

How it works, sometimes we don't talk with our legislators, we talk to their aids. Anyways, I had a good discussion and some peoples have a bracelet that tells about their disability. But me, I have a card that educates people about my autism. Some people assume that I am intoxicated. I educate people in the community and educate people in general. A friend of mine made the card for me that explains a little bit about my autism. So, it was a fun day and a long day. I went with people from the ARC. They have children who have autism. The mother who works at the ARC brought her adult son. He is verbal like me and asks a lot of questions.

I might have told you this but maybe I did not, one guy on the street corner I spent 45 minutes trying to educate him. He was saying that I was making an excuse. Which he did not understand and was uneducated. He was telling me that he was an alcoholic and he was choosing to be an alcoholic. I told him alcohol is a choice you make but what I got I was born with. I tried to educate him and I showed him my card. He goes, I am very intelligent. Spent 45 minutes and then I found I was not getting anywhere. So, I just told the guy "have a nice night.”

Also, I was on the Autism board but I am not anymore. Because they were using me as a token. Kind of wanted me to just sit in the corner, I was not recognized, I was ignored.

Anyways, I wonder if you guys have Advocacy Days and Autism Rally in your state. Because I know my State Capitol is in Olympia and yours is in Salem. I don't get stuff anymore from Autism in Washington. The only stuff I get is from you guys.

Anyways, I just wanted to share that with you.
I miss you.

Kenny Miller
(Ed. Note: Kenny is a regular at our Camp / Retreat, and is an autism advocate and speaker.)

Oregon Prescription Drug Program

Save up to 60% on prescription drugs!

Enrollment is FREE!

ALL OREGONIANS can now join.

This program takes only one minute to enroll in by phone or on-line.

It requires no paperwork and has no age or income limits to receive a Prescription Discount Card.

Call 1-800-913-4146 or go to www.opdp.org

Sponsored by the State of Oregon, member of Northwest Prescription Drug Consortium

Online only
Legislative ALERT:

Help get the Federal LifeSpan Respite Care Act funded. Call your representative in Congress.
Read more here (pdf)

From Katy

I've done certain design cutting with paper before but not the kind shown in the email that the one person did its very talented work quit detailed and 3D like for sure i almost wouldn't mind meeting the person who did them and have the person show me how to do it I hope its not as hard as learning etcha sketch work all though i can draw a paper clip on a etcha sketch witch i was just doodling with a etcha sketch one time and then all of a sudden i realized i had drawn a paper clip the only other thing i can kind of draw on a etcha sketch is a house sorta that's about it i'm not real artistic either is my mother the only artistic thing i'm real good at is scrap booking witch my grandma dose as well i guess it comes from being into photographs and so on that makes me good at scrap booking or maby its because my grandma is good at it witch makes me have the talent like her.Yesterday i started my new volunteer work experience job at Food For Lane County doing kitchen work i had to fill celery with cream cheese but it wasn't easy because the cream cheese was hard to spread because it wasn't very creamy enough to spread it was a little of a mess to do but kind of fun at the same time Collin also volunteers there so i saw and worked with her on the celery i told her that i see Josh sometimes and that i saw him at the support group she said that she wasn't with him anymore and i told her that i knew that and understood a lot of people volunteer at food for Lane county i'm use to being at volunteer sites where there is just a few people or where there is just me and one other person doing a job such as custodian work at food for lane county your surrounded by people doing different types of work.

KindTree Computer Program

The computer referral program with NextStep has been going smoothly. Due to the popularity and far-reaching services of the international program, I have only had the opportunity to actually place one computer, but KindTree currently has 5 referrals for computers waiting to be filled and 30+ to be submitted after that. There is a wait-list with both KindTree and NextStep, but everyone I have spoken to is truly grateful for the assistance even if it is a handful of weeks in coming. I have received calls from as far away as Maine. Computers are requested for simple distraction and games as well as for improvement of coordination and as a means for communication. The NextStep referral service is truly a unique and wonderful program. What could be better than to receive a lovingly rehabilitated computer for nearly free? Here's to many more referrals! (See the NextStep Party info coming up.) Call 541-343-4636 or computers@kindtree.org

FREE Federal Access Pass to National Parks

Dana Campbell from SOARS (Salem Oregon Autism Resources) found this gem:

Free lifetime access passes for people with permanent disabilities AND their family members (up to 4 adults) to ALL national parks. With proof (see below), you can pick up a pass at various locations.

Dana found that the BLM Salem Office (1717 Fabry) can issue the pass. It must be requested in person.

From: http://store.usgs.gov/pass/access.html

Government Concedes Vaccine - Autism Case in Federal Court - Now What?

By David Kirby, February 25, 2008

After years of insisting there is no evidence to link vaccines with the onset of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), the US government has quietly conceded a vaccine-autism case in the Court of Federal Claims.

The unprecedented concession was filed on November 9, and sealed to protect the plaintiff's identify. It was obtained through individuals unrelated to the case.

The claim, one of 4,900 autism cases currently pending in Federal "Vaccine Court," was conceded by US Assistant Attorney General Peter Keisler and other Justice Department officials, on behalf of the Department of Health and Human Services, the "defendant" in all Vaccine Court cases.

The child's claim against the government -- that mercury-containing vaccines were the cause of her autism -- was supposed to be one of three "test cases" for the thimerosal-autism theory currently under consideration by a three-member panel of Special Masters, the presiding justices in Federal Claims Court.

Keisler wrote that medical personnel at the HHS Division of Vaccine Injury Compensation (DVIC) had reviewed the case and "concluded that compensation is appropriate."

The doctors conceded that the child was healthy and developing normally until her 18-month well-baby visit, when she received vaccinations against nine different diseases all at once (two contained thimerosal).

Days later, the girl began spiraling downward into a cascade of illnesses and setbacks that, within months, presented as symptoms of autism, including: No response to verbal direction; loss of language skills; no eye contact; loss of "relatedness;" insomnia; incessant screaming; arching; and "watching the florescent lights repeatedly during examination.

"Seven months after vaccination, the patient was diagnosed by Dr. Andrew Zimmerman, a leading neurologist at the Kennedy Krieger Children's Hospital Neurology Clinic, with "regressive encephalopathy (brain disease) with features consistent with autistic spectrum disorder, following normal development."

Read more here

“Now, the American people are left to interpret what it all means.” Here is a handy guide. You can:
A) Blindly trust what government officials are saying (or not saying)
or
B) Invest 30 minutes in the future of your nation's young people (do it now, over a nice, warm latte!) and go Google for yourself.

Read more here

Vancouver couple show autism, romance can coexist

By ERIN MIDDLEWOOD, The Columbian (This article from the Seattle Times talks about two of KindTree’s artists with autism. See their art here.)
Emilia Murry Ramey and Jody John Ramey have co-written a book titled "Autistics' Guide to Dating." In the book, the married couple reflect on their personal experiences and give advice on relationships.

VANCOUVER, Wash. — Emilia Murry Ramey and Jody John Ramey met through a mutual friend. They soon discovered they had more in common than their friend. Both were students at Portland State University. And both have autism.

The Vancouver couple are among the estimated 1.5 million Americans living with the effects of some degree of autism.

Specifically, Emilia and Jody both have Asperger syndrome, marked by social awkwardness and a lack of understanding of conventional social rules.

As if dating weren't hard enough.

"I hadn't had any dating experience before meeting her," said Jody, 35.

"I used to say I had more jobs than dates," joked Emilia, 33.

Not only did Jody and Emilia figure out dating, they laid out tips for others in a book, "Autistics' Guide to Dating: A Book by Autistics, for Autistics and Those Who Love Them or Who Are in Love with Them."

The book is available for $19.95 on the London-based Jessica Kingsley Publishers Web site jkp.com.

"A lot of literature on autistics comes from the medical community that shows autistics as broken and in need of fixing," Jody said. "We don't talk about autism as a deficit at all. We talk about how to sell the positive traits of autism in a romance."

The couple, who married in 2006, didn't set out to write a book. Soon after they started dating, Jody, who has made presentations at autism conferences around the world, suggested they make a proposal to the Autscape conference in London for a session on dating

"Since we'd only been dating for two weeks, she thought I was nuts," Jody said. But Emilia was willing.

The couple's presentation was a success, and they went on to offer similar sessions.

"We decided the book was the next step," Jody said. "A large percentage of our book is just good, solid relationship principles."

The book stresses communication.
"People on the autism spectrum aren't good at reading subtle social cues," Emilia said. So couples have to specifically voice their feelings and concerns. Even then, she said, things can get tricky.
Emilia said she learned that if something Jody said offended her, she should ask what he meant before getting upset.

The book also addresses touch, which makes many autistics uncomfortable.

"I'm a bit touch-defensive," Jody said. "It isn't that I don't like to be touched. It's that there are specific ways I like to be touched. The book helps couples find those ways no matter what their verbal ability."

Autistic people often have very narrow interests, which can be a barrier to connecting with others. The book helps them navigate beyond a laser-point focus.

"If you love 'Star Trek,' go to a 'Star Trek' convention," Jody said. "Don't talk about 'Star Trek' at your grandmother's funeral."

The book also seeks to help autistics overcome stereotypes.

"One of the problems that holds people back is a negative view of autistics," Emilia said. "People think of 'Rain Man' or someone banging their head against the wall.

Autistics can have successful relationships."

Online only
Autism Breakthrough: Girl's Writings Explain Her Behavior and Feelings Doctors Amazed by Carly Fleischmann's Ability to Describe the Disorder From the Inside
Carly Fleischmann has severe autism and is unable to speak a word. But thanks to years of expensive and intensive therapy, this 13-year-old has made a remarkable breakthrough.

Read More, See the Video:
Autistic Teen Finds Voice
Two years ago, working with pictures and symbols on a computer keyboard, she started typing and spelling out words. The computer became her voice.

"All of a sudden these words started to pour out of her, and it was an exciting moment because we didn't realize she had all these words," said speech pathologist Barbara Nash. "It was one of those moments in my career that I'll never forget."

CLICK HERE TO READ CARLY'S ANSWERS TO VIEWERS' QUESTIONS.

Then Carly began opening up, describing what it was like to have autism and why she makes odd noises or why she hits herself.

"It feels like my legs are on first and a million ants are crawling up my arms," Carly said through the computer.

Carly writes about her frustrations with her siblings, how she understands their jokes and asks when can she go on a date.

"We were stunned," Carly's father Arthur Fleischmann said. "We realized inside was an articulate, intelligent, emotive person that we had never met. This was unbelievable because it opened up a whole new way of looking at her." This is what Carly wants people to know about autism.

"It is hard to be autistic because no one understands me. People look at me and assume I am dumb because I can't talk or I act differently than them. I think people get scared with things that look or seem different than them." "Laypeople would have assumed she was mentally retarded or cognitively impaired. Even professionals labelled her as moderately to severely cognitively impaired. In the old days you would say mentally retarded, which means low IQ and low promise and low potential," Arthur Fleischman said.

Read more here...

Online only
Advanced Parental Age Predicts Risk for Autism Spectrum Disorder in Children

News Author: Laurie Barclay, MD
CME Author: Hien T. Nghiem, MD

April 5, 2007 — Advanced maternal and paternal ages are independently linked with risk for autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in children, according to the results of a historical birth cohort study reported in the April issue of the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.

Lisa A. Croen, PhD, from the Kaiser Permanente Medical Care Program in Oakland, California, and colleagues studied all singleton children born at Kaiser Permanente in Northern California from January 1, 1995, to December 31, 1999, and they identified 593 children who had ASD diagnoses (International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification, code 299.0 or 299.8) recorded twice or more in Kaiser Permanente outpatient databases before May 2005. These 593 children were compared with the remaining 132,251 singleton Kaiser Permanente births.

Primary endpoints were relative risks (RRs) for ASD, estimated from proportional hazards regression models evaluating maternal and paternal ages, adjusted for each other and for the sex, birth date, and birth order of the child; maternal and paternal educational levels; and maternal and paternal races/ethnicities.

The risk for ASDs increased significantly with each 10-year increase in maternal age (adjusted RR, 1.31; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.07 - 1.62) and paternal age (RR, 1.28; 95% CI, 1.09 - 1.51).

Read More here...

Community Calendar

March 13 Kathie Snow / April 25 Norm Kunc / June 20 David Pitnoyak / September 25 Cathy Ficker-Terill
2008 Oregon Trainings Series on Direct Supports This series of trainings will be targeted to "direct support providers and related professionals who support individuals with developmental disabilities, including independent and family providers."
The series will deliver six four-hour teleconferences to a network of host sites throughout the state and feature nationally-recognized speakers.
All trainings are from 8:30 am to 12:30 pm. More info: www.directsupports.com

March 16 - NextStep Recycling Celebration Party. America Hometown Hero Award for the Environment PARTY! Honoring NextStep founder Elaine Kerwood, a person with Aspergers. We will be providing food, drinks and treats as a small token of our enormous gratitude.
3-5 at the Washington Park Recreation Center, 2025 Washington Street, Eugene. KindTree's computer program Partner.

March 16 - ASO DAN! Doctor. This will be a great opportunity if you've ever wondered what diet, supplements and other options parents have found beneficial for helping their child... Hillsboro Presbyterian Church jenny.schoonbee@yahoo.com

March 19 - Self Advocates as Leaders Life Stories Workshop. 9:30-11:30 AM LCC in Coyyage Grove RSVP tsalusso@southlanewheels.org 541 942 0456.

March 21 : Music and Poetry Event: David Rogers, classical guitar ~ Leonard Cirino, poet~ Starts 6 PM at "The Moon Upstairs", the SAFE performing venue 225 Main St Springfield

April 11 - “Bounce for Autism,” a new nationwide, community-based fundraising event that combines family fun with raising awareness and support for autism.
Kids, families and friends of all ages can “bounce” at a Pump It Up location, and all proceeds raise funds to support autism.
Participants form a “Sock Squad” - their team of bouncers committed to raising funds to help improve the lives of all affected by autism. www.Autism-society.org

April 11 : Chico Schwall and Percy Hilo, Contemporary Folk~ Starts 6 PM at "The Moon Upstairs", the SAFE performing venue 225 Main St Springfield

April 12 - The performance of “Wonderland” will be presented at the Richard Wildish Theater 630 Main Street, Springfield, at 1:00 p.m. More Bridgeway House events, groups and classes here: www.bridgewayhouse.org

April 13- ASO 6th annual Autism Walk-a-thon, Oaks Park in SE Portland. More info: www.autismwalkathon.com

April 18 - The Autism Ball Portland. Hilton Grand Ballroom, 921 W Sixth Avenue, 7:00pm - 12:30am Dinner, Drinks, Dancing & Silent Auction.
Black Tie Please - $150/per ticket (Inquire about discounts for table purchases) theautismball@hotmail.com

April 18 : Premiere! Variety Open Mic~Hosted by Larry Dobberstein of Community TV: Musicians, poets, other performers welcome Sign ups at 6 PM, Starts 6:30 PM at "The Moon Upstairs", the SAFE performing venue 225 Main St Springfield

April 24-25 Autism EI Conference, Medford, Or. Presentations include: How to Teach Parents Strategies to Enhance their Child’s Social Communication Skills - Building Listening Skills - Putting Relationships in the Forefront - Understanding the Individual Differences and How We Can Support the Strengths in the Child. And many more.
More info: smendoza@asante.org

May 18 - Sunday afternoon at the KindTree Autism Forum. “The Spectrum Speaks” More info here....

May 29-31 - the first statewide disability MegaConference. “To provide a forum to educate, empower, inspire and connect all people involved in the field of disabilities.” KindTree plans on presenting here. More info: www.arcoregon.org

June 14 “Autism Artism 2008” Gala Opening Party, LCC Art Gallery, Bldg #11, 4-8pm. Come celebrate artists with autism. Free. More info here

July 4-6 Art & the Vineyard featuring the Autism Rocks Traveling Art Show, Alton Baker Park.

August 22-24 KindTree Autism Camp/Retreat. More info here.

VISIT eSCRIP and Help Us OUT!!

Thanks for Listening.