Calming Rooms

The Athens Herald-Banner reports:

On days when kindergartner Wesley Childers gets too antsy, his teachers at Rutland Academy in Athens usher him into a special calming room and let him crawl through a canvas tube, swing in a hammock or sit on a bean-bag chair that vibrates and makes ocean-like sounds.

Sometimes, the 6-year-old and his teacher read together in the room, often called a "sensory room" or "calming room," used by some Georgia schools to head off fits or tantrums so students can return to class and focus on their work.

As more schools face the challenge of teaching a rising population of students with autism spectrum disorders, administrators are considering the use of sensory rooms as a tool to better manage students' behavior.

...

"There really isn't research to support these as things to help kids," said Kevin Ayres, an assistant professor of special education in the University of Georgia's College of Education. "They look like fun - kids have fun in them - but there's no research to say they improve educational outcomes."

Medical-Legal Partnership

The Boston Globe reports on Medical-Legal Partnership:

The letter cut right to the point: Hawah Jackson’s lights would be turned off by the end of the month if she didn’t pay overdue utility bills totaling hundred of dollars. Jackson, a nurse at a rehabilitation hospital, said she didn’t have the money and worried how her 22-year-old severely disabled daughter, Binah, would cope if the power in their Dorchester home was shut off.

“She can’t stay in the darkness,’’ Jackson said. Binah, who has autism and doesn’t speak, often calms herself by switching on all the lights in the middle of the night, her mother said.

Jackson told Binah’s pediatrician about the impending crisis. He called a lawyer and within days, Jackson had sent a partial payment to the electric company, which acknowledged that because of her daughter’s disability it couldn’t legally stop providing electricity.

Jackson’s predicament is evidence that good health — particularly for people with modest financial resources — can be as much about legal issues as medical ones.

Dr. Barry Zuckerman, head of Boston Medical Center’s pediatric department, says he realized that years ago. In 1993, he hired a lawyer for the department to deal with legal issues associated with patients’ medical problems. The medical-legal partnership that resulted from his idea is now a national phenomenon, used in nearly 200 hospitals and clinics, with 15 participating law firms.

Autism Mom Runs for Congress

The Contra Costa Times reports:

Elizabeth Emken remembers clearly the brief conversation she had last summer with Democratic Rep. Jerry McNerney outside the House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing room.

As a 13-year advocate for a national autism research organization, Emken was pushing for an amendment within the fiercely contested national health care reform bill that would ban insurance company discrimination against certain treatments for autistic children.

"I didn't feel there was an understanding of the issues before him," Emken said. "I had one of those moments where you think, 'I can do this. I should be the one making the decisions.' "

Emken resigned from Autism Speaks the day after her amendment passed and immediately applied the organizational and persuasive skills she learned in the halls of the Capitol to her new quest: running for McNerney's 11th Congressional District seat.

Insurance Mandate: Vermont, Missouri, North Carolilna

AP reports:

Vermont lawmakers have approved a bill requiring health insurance companies to cover some therapies used to treat autism.

The bill applies to children with autism who are between 18 months and 6 years old. It calls for a study to determine whether a similar insurance mandate should apply for coverage of older children.

Autism is a complex biological condition that affects a person's ability to communicate and develop social relationships, and is often accompanied by behavioral challenges.

One mother of a 6-year-old with autism told lawmakers her family had been spending $30,000 a year on therapy for her son — a cost that would largely be covered by health insurance under the bill.

AP reported on Friday about another state:

Some health insurers would be required to cover as much as $45,000 annually of intensive therapy for autistic children under legislation passed yesterday by the Missouri Senate.

Some parents of autistic children, who have lobbied for several years for an insurance mandate, expressed hope that lawmakers finally have hit upon a version that can reach the governor’s desk by next Friday’s end of the legislative session.

The Senate’s 27-6 vote sends the bill back for final approval to the House, which passed a version with lower coverage caps earlier this year.

WFMY reports on North Carolina:

Special Needs Scholarships

WTUL in Tulsa reports:

A proposed scholarship program for special needs students would easily withstand a federal constitutional challenge and could make Oklahoma a national leader, according to a respected legal expert and a former school superintendent whose child has multiple disabilities.

“Oklahoma would not be breaking new ground with this law but would still be one of the more advanced states when it comes to serving children with special needs,” said Richard “Dick” Komer, senior attorney at the Virginia-based Institute for Justice. “There are already five other states with similar scholarship programs that so clearly constitutional that no one has even tried to challenge them under the federal constitution.”

House Bill 3393, by state Rep. Jason Nelson, creates the Scholarships for Students with Disabilities Program. Under the bill, students with disabilities (such as those with Down's syndrome or autism) who have an individualized education program (IEP) would qualify for a scholarship to attend any public or private school that meets the accreditation requirements of the State Board of Education.

The scholarship program would not require new spending during the downturn, but would merely redirect existing funds that are currently spent on the student.

Other states with similar laws include Florida, Georgia, Utah, Ohio and Arizona, Komer said. He noted the Florida program has been in place since 1999 and now serves approximately 20,000 students with special needs.

Article on Ne'eman Nomination

The Kansas City Star offers a balanced article on Ari Ne'eman's nomination to the National Council on Disability, but it starts with an blatantly false statement: "Of the eight people President Barack Obama nominated to the National Council on Disability, only one personally has lived with a disability."

Nope, that's not even close to being accurate. A statement from the White House explains:

• Jonathan Young "is partially paralyzed from a spinal cord injury."
• Carol Reynolds "has struggled with and overcome several mental health and substance abuse issues and has been in recovery for 26 years."
• Fernando Torres-Gil "is a polio survivor."
• Chester Alonzo Finn "is blind and is developmentally disabled and is committed to fighting for the civil rights of people with disabilities."
• Sara Gelser has a son with "FG Syndrome, a rare developmental disability."
• Dongwoo Pak's " left arm was paralyzed by the disease polio."

Reason TV on the Vaccine Controversy

Dan Burton Survives His Primary

Dan Burton (R-IN), Capitol Hill's leading advocate of the vaccine theory, narrowly won renomination yesterday. The Indianapolis Star reports:

For the first time since he was elected in 1982, the majority of voters Tuesday did not back U.S. Rep. Dan Burton in the 5th Congressional District's Republican primary.

In fact, 70 percent voted against him. And it didn't matter.

Burton still won, collecting 30 percent of the vote -- enough to edge out six contenders and all but ensure him a 15th term in Congress, representing a district that has never sent a Democrat to Capitol Hill.

In November, Burton will face Democrat Tim Crawford, who defeated Nasser Hanna.

Former state Rep. Luke Messer came the closest yet to knocking off Burton, collecting 28 percent of the vote.

He and the other five challengers who ran against Burton tried to tap into a national mood swing against Washington incumbents and growing concerns about the policies of President Barack Obama, and it almost worked.

Politico earlier reported: "Health and pharmaceutical executives are throwing thousands of dollars to the Republicans challenging Indiana Rep. Dan Burton in next week's House primary, deepening the longtime industry critic's woes as he battles to capture his party's nomination." But a search of FEC records reveals that such contributions accounted for only a small fraction of Messer's total.

IACC and the Obama Administration

Geri Dawson, chief science officer of Autism Speaks, writes:

Last Friday was my first meeting as a public member of the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee (IACC). It was a particularly momentous meeting for the IACC because, for the first time, Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), attended the meeting along with two colleagues from DHHS, Howard Koh, Assistant Secretary for Health, and Henry Claypool, Director, Office on Disability. In addition, two representatives from the White House, Michael Strautmanis, Chief of Staff to the Assistant to the President for Intergovernmental Relations and Public Engagement, and Kareem Dale, Special Assistant to the President for Disability Policy, attended the meeting. Moreover, Francis Collins, Director of the National Institutes of Health, addressed the IACC. It was an auspicious beginning to my experience on this committee, to be sure.

Last year, The Huffington Post reported:

In a new video on the White House health care rumor-rebutting website, Mike Strautmanis, Chief of Staff for Valerie Jarrett and father of a child with autism, addresses rumors that health insurance reform will deprive children with disabilities of care.

Alternative and Psychotropic Treatments

Sooner or later, the Food and Drug Administration will be assuming a higher profile in the issue.

WebMD reports:

Many families are turning toward to special diets and/or psychotropic medications to help better manage autism spectrum disorder and its symptoms in their children, two new studies show.

The CDC estimates that about one in 110 children in the U.S. have an autism spectrum disorder, the umbrella name given to a group of disorders that can range from the mild to the severe that often affect social and communication abilities.

One study shows that 21% of children with autism spectrum disorder are using complementary and alternative medical therapies. Of these, 17% were on special diets, most commonly a gluten-free or casein-fee diet.

Another study shows that more than one-quarter of children with autism spectrum disorder receive at least one psychotropic medication to treat some of their behavioral symptoms such as hyperactivity or irritability.

A new study, however, finds no support for GFCF diets:

This paper systematically reviews research on the effects of gluten-free and/or casein-free (GFCF) diets in the treatment of ASD. Database, hand, and ancestry searches identified 15 articles for review. Each study was analyzed and summarized in terms of (a) participants, (b) specifics of the intervention, (c) dependent variables, (d) results, and (e) certainty of evidence. Critical analysis of each study’s methodological rigor and results reveal that the current corpus of research does not support the use of GFCF diets in the treatment of ASD. Given the lack of empirical support, and the adverse consequences often associated with GFCF diets (e.g., stigmatization, diversion of treatment resources, reduced bone cortical thickness), such diets should only be implemented in the event a child with ASD experiences acute behavioral changes, seemingly associated with changes in diet, and/or medical professionals confirm through testing the child has allergies or food intolerances to gluten and/or casein.

Seclusion and Restraint in New Jersey

The Courier-Post (Cherry Hill, NJ) reports:

It's been called "the dirty little secret" of special education.

New Jersey gives schools a virtual free pass to forcibly restrain unruly kids with disabilities or confine them in "timeout" rooms until they calm down.

School employees can use "bear hugs," "basket holds" and "takedowns," which sound more like wrestling moves than anything you'd expect to see in school.

Nationwide, the use of extreme restraints has led to the deaths of at least 20 schoolchildren, and three others in New Jersey medical facilities.

It's also OK for school employees to spray kids in the face with water or noxious chemicals, snap their wrists with rubber bands or put hot sauce on their tongues -- aversive techniques legally used on severely autistic kids who habitually injure themselves by banging their heads, biting their hands or other compulsive behaviors.

As the paper reports, New Jersey is one of 19 states without statewide rules on seclusion and restraint. Federal legislation is pending, but it would not go into effect for at least two years. Meanwhile...

Currently, New Jersey law allows school employees to use reasonable amounts of force to protect a child or others from being harmed, or to prevent school property from being damaged, but it doesn't specify what methods can and can't be used.

Policies vary among school districts and private schools, and they're rarely written down, special-education advocates say.

The Middlesex Regional Educational Services Commission uses "time-out" rooms in its schools when an aggresssive student can't be calmed down safely in class. There are two such rooms at the MRESC's Academy Learning Center in Monroe, which specializes in autism. The rooms are padded, well-lit and closely supervised, said school principal Erik R. Solberg. The rooms don't have doors but sometimes a staff member may have to use pads to block an aggressive student from exiting, he said.

Indiana News

An update on the seclusion-and-restraint story:

A Perry Meridian Middle School teacher and classroom aide accused of improperly restraining a special-education student have been charged with two felonies.

Catherine Littleton and instructional aide Jeffery Stokes in February allegedly used belts to strap a seventh-grade student to his chair and bound his hands with masking tape, said Perry Township Superintendent Thomas Little.

According to court documents filed this week in Marion Superior Court, Littleton and Stokes face three charges: criminal confinement, a Class C felony; neglect of a dependent, a Class D felony; and battery, a Class B misdemeanor.

Advocates for people with disabilities said Friday that the charges reflect an increase in reports of abuse of special-education students. Perry Township has dealt with two previous reports, and earlier this week, an Indianapolis woman claimed in a lawsuit that an Indianapolis Public Schools teacher's aide traumatized her developmentally disabled son in January by tying him to a chair with a belt.

6News reports:

Autism is the fastest-growing developmental disability in the nation, and Indiana ranks near the top.

The state is fourth highest for the number of children living with the challenging and confusing disorder, 6News' Stacia Matthews reported.

Across the country, the number of children diagnosed with autism has exploded upward by 600 percent in the last 20 years.

Nationwide, the disorder strikes 1 in 110 kids, while the rate is 1 in 100 in Indiana.

Doctors attribute the higher number to a statewide system of highly trained doctors who can diagnose the disorder early on.

National Autism Association

The National Autism Association has been an advocate for the vaccine theory. Its claims to a large membership have come under criticism from blogs such as Left Brain/Right Brain (using IRS 990 forms) and Autism Diva (displaying photographs).

In a statement to the IACC, NAA raised an issue not directly related to the vaccine theory:

In 2008, Danish researchers found that the mortality rate among the autism population is twice as high as the general population. In 2001, a California research team found that elevated death rates were due to seizures, respiratory problems, and gastrointestinal bleeding. Deaths were also attributed in large part to suffocation and drowning. The National Autism Association is working to address the external factors in particular, most notably suffocation due to improper restraint procedures and drownings. Drownings, prolonged exposure, and other wandering-related factors remain among the top causes of death within the autism population.The fact that we are unable to provide data showing how many adults and children die each year due to wandering is why we are here today. We can assure you that deaths are increasing each year, but we have no research to back our claims. Without hard data, it has been difficult to gain the attention of lawmakers, government health agencies, media and law enforcement agencies.