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RESEARCH Children With Autism Routinely Exhibit Feeding Difficulties in Infancy By Deborah Brauser Medscape Medical News xrl.in/5yi8  "A clinical implication of these findings is that the possibility of an ASD should be considered for young children who present with feeding problems, pervasive food refusal, and limited food preferences," write lead study author Alan Emond, MD, from the Center for Child and Adolescent Health in the Department of Community Based Medicine at the University of Bristol in England, and colleagues. "Appropriate questions should be asked about the child's social communication, shared attention, and stereotypic and self-stimulatory behaviors," add the study authors. "Many parents of children with [ASD] are worried about the choosiness of their children and possible lack of a balanced diet," study investigator Jean Golding, PhD, emeritus professor of pediatrics and perinatal epidemiology at the University of Bristol, told Medscape Medical News. "By comparing the diets of these children with diets of children without an [ASD], we have shown that, although there are differences in the variety of foods these children eat, there is little indication that they are coming to any harm in consequence," she noted. "I [would] suggest that clinicians reassure parents...that fussiness over food is a normal part of these disorders." The study was published online July 19 in Pediatrics. Almost 13,000 Children Evaluated "People with ASDs are often resistant to change and have a narrow range of interests, which can extend to the foods they like," write the study authors. They note that most past studies looking at the eating patterns of children with this disorder have "been based on small clinical samples with no control group" or been retrospective in design. For this study, the investigators used "a population-based cohort to investigate feeding patterns, diet, and growth of children with ASDs and used prospectively reported data collected before the diagnosis of an autism disorder had been made." They evaluated and compared data on 79 children with ASD (median age at referral, 28 months; median age at diagnosis, 45 months) with 12,901 healthy controls from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC), a trial that followed up kids from southwest England born between April 1991 and December 1992. Questionnaires on feeding patterns and frequency of foods eaten were completed by the mothers of all participating children when the child was 6, 15, 24, 38, and 54 months of age. Height and weight measurements were examined from the Avon Child Health Computer database, which tracks health records for preschool-aged children, and at a special ALSPAC research clinic when each child reached 7 years of age. Venous blood samples were also taken during the research clinic. Significant Differences in Eating Patterns Results showed that at the age of 6 months, the children subsequently diagnosed as having ASD were more likely to be described by their mothers as "slow feeders" compared with the healthy group (P = .04) and were more likely to have a late introduction of solid food after 6 months (P = .004). These findings "could be seen as early symptoms of an autistic child's difficulty in accepting change," explain the study authors. During the 15- to 54-month time points, the mothers consistently reported that their children with ASD were "very difficult to feed" (P < .001) and "very choosy" (P < .001) compared to the other study group. Starting at 15 months, the ASD group also had a significantly less varied diet than did the healthy controls, with this difference growing with increasing age (interaction P = .002). They were also more likely to have different meals from their families starting at 24 months. By the age of 54 months, 8% of the ASD group were taking a special diet for "allergy" vs just 2% of the other group (odds ratio, 3.41; 95% confidence interval, 1.35 – 8.63; P = .01). + Read more: xrl.in/5yi8
Brain Overgrowth Correlates with the Severity of Autism Symptoms Excess brain growth may be the first sign of autism By Erica Westly, from the July 2010 Scientific American Mind xrl.in/5yk1 The average age at which children are diagnosed with autism is between three and four, but scientists have long suspected that the disorder starts much earlier. A key piece of evidence is a phenomenon known as brain overgrowth. Autistic toddlers tend to have large brains for their age, and researchers have shown a correlation between the degree of excess growth and the severity of autism symptoms. Eric Courchesne, director of the Autism Center of Excellence at the University of California, San Diego, helped to pioneer the overgrowth hypothesis. Now he and his colleague Cynthia Schumann have published data that suggest the excess brain growth starts in the first year of life, if not sooner. The study, published in a recent issue of the Journal of Neuroscience, is the first to evaluate brain growth and autism throughout early development. Using cross-sectional MRI scans, the U.C.S.D. researchers found overgrowth in autistic subjects as young as one and a half. At two and a half, the autistic subjects’ brains were 7 percent larger on average than the control group’s. Al¬though why, exactly, excessive brain growth is related to autism remains a mystery, the new work helps to confirm that signs of the disorder appear early—knowledge that could lead to detection and treatments, such as behavior therapy, at a younger age. “The earlier the intervention, the better the outcome,” Courchesne says. • • • A New Risk Factor: Your Social Life By Tara Parker-Pope xrl.in/5ygz EDITOR'S NOTE: A social life, or a lack of one, is a common issue for those with autism.  Social relationships are just as important to health as other common risk factors like smoking, lack of exercise or obesity, new research shows. Numerous studies have suggested that strong social ties are associated with better health and longevity, but now a sweeping review of the research shows just how important social relationships really are. Researchers from Brigham Young University reviewed 148 studies that tracked the social habits of more than 300,000 people. They found that people who have strong ties to family, friends or co-workers have a 50 percent lower risk of dying over a given period than those with fewer social connections, according to the journal Plos Medicine. The researchers concluded that having few friends or weak social ties to the community is just as harmful to health as being an alcoholic or smoking nearly a pack of cigarettes a day. Weak social ties are more harmful than not exercising and twice as risky as being obese, the researchers found. Notably, the strongest effect was shown when studies used complex measures of social integration, focusing on a person’s family ties, friendships and work connections. In those studies, the survival rates for people with strong relationships were twice that of those with weaker ties. Single measures, like whether a person was married or living alone, weren’t good predictors of health. For instance, people who lived with others had just a 19 percent survival benefit compared with those who lived alone. Although research has long suggested social relationships are linked with better health, it hasn’t been clear whether the effect is due to the fact that healthy people are more likely to be socially active. A person with chronic health problems has more difficulty spending time at work and with friends. While the data collected from the latest analysis don’t prove a causal relationship between health and social ties, the researchers say it is strongly suggestive, because the people studied were otherwise healthy and followed for an average of seven-and-a-half years. Even when controlling for a person’s health status, the benefit of social relationships was still evident. + Read more: xrl.in/5ygz • • • PEOPLE Autistic Man Dies In Hot Van In Suburban Philly By Maryclaire Dale –AP xrl.in/5yja  Philadelphia — An autistic young man who didn't speak was left in a scorching van at a residential treatment home in suburban Philadelphia, where his lifeless, overheated body was found more than five hours after his small group returned from an amusement park. Brian Nevins, 20, was not deemed missing until a nurse looked for him to give him medication around 4 p.m. Saturday, as temperatures in suburban Philadelphia reached the high 90s. Nevins had returned with two other counselors and three other clients around noon from a brief trip to nearby Sesame Place. Nevins was found in a parked van at Woods Services, a treatment home about 20 miles northeast of Philadelphia in Langhorne, where the native New Yorker had lived since he was about 14. His twin brother, also autistic, also lived at the center, authorities said. The surviving twin, who had not been on the outing, left the home with relatives after his brother's death, Middletown Township Detective Jeffry Sproehnle said. The counselor responsible for Nevins on the trip also served as the van driver. She has been suspended, Sproehnle said. Woods Services did not return several calls seeking comment Tuesday. Sproehnle did not disclose her initial statements to police but said she had contacted at least two lawyers. It's not known whether she retained one. Police are investigating, but it's not yet known what, if any, charges, she could face. Bucks County coroner Dr. Joseph Campbell said Nevins died of hyperthermia and ruled his death accidental. He said Nevins was from Oceanside, N.Y., where a listed number for his family could not be located Tuesday. The family previously lived in Queens, and Nevins had been placed at the private home through the New York City Department of Education, according to Laura Postiglione, a spokeswoman for New York City's Administration for Children's Services. According to the detective, a male and female counselor were each responsible for two clients on the trip. The female counselor, who was driving, dropped off her colleague and his two clients on campus and then drove a short distance to the adjoining homes where the two remaining clients lived. Only one client made it inside. + Read more: xrl.in/5yj2 • • • Boulder County Coroner: Rylan Rochester's Death Is A Homicide By Vanessa Miller, Camera xrl.in/5yja  ( COURTESY ) The death of 6-month-old Rylan Rochester has been ruled a homicide, according to the Boulder County Coroner's Office. The cause of Rochester's death was asphyxia by suffocation, the Coroner's Office announced Tuesday in a news release. Stephanie Rochester, the infant's 34-year-old mother of Superior, has been charged with first-degree murder and child abuse resulting in death in connection with her son's death. Rochester told police, according to an arrest warrant affidavit, that she killed Rylan by placing a plastic bag and then blankets over his head for hours. Rochester, who worked for two years as a counselor with Stephanie Lynn Rochester autistic kids at Children's Hospital, told investigators that she was convinced Rylan had autism and that his pediatrician had not taken her concerns seriously. She said she worried that having an autistic child would emotionally and financially “ruin” her life, the affidavit said. She said she wanted to kill herself but didn't want to leave her husband, Lloyd Rochester, alone with the burden of raising an autistic child. Lloyd Rochester filed for divorce a few days after his son's death and wife's arrest.
California City To Vote On $300k Settlement For Tasered Autistic Teenager By Denise Nix xrl.in/5yid  If approved, the settlement will mark the end of a federal civil rights lawsuit filed last year by the teen and his father in response to the Sept. 23, 2008, incident at Hawthorne Middle School. At the time, the boy, whose identity is being withheld because of his age, was a 12-year-old student at the school. His family has described him as high-achieving and generally able to function well among his peers. But his autism also causes some unique behaviors, like adverse reactions to crowds or change. Campus security was called after the boy ran away from a group, kicking and spitting. Police Officer Vincent Arias was also summoned, and used a 25-watt Taser to subdue the boy. His father, Larry Matthews, filed a complaint at the police station the next day. Less than a week later, the boy was arrested by officers, who handcuffed him at school. He was charged in Inglewood Juvenile Court, but the case was eventually dismissed. The lawsuit claims the arrest was made in retaliation for the complaint. The lawsuit also claimed personal injury and violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act, false arrest and excessive force. Before the lawsuit was filed, a police spokesman said the boy was combative with Arias, had kicked him in the groin and threw things at him. Arias used the nonlethal force because he feared for the safety of the other children, the spokesman said. Lt. Gary Tomatani, another spokesman, said Monday he could not comment on the case because it is against policy to discuss pending litigation. + Read more: xrl.in/5yid • • • Family of Boy Pulled From Pond Praying For Miracle Wichita, Kansas – The family of a five-year-old boy pulled from a farm pond Tuesday is praying for a miracle and asking the public to do the same. Mason Allen Medlam is currently in critical condition at Via Christi on St. Francis. He went missing at his NW Sedgwick County home Tuesday afternoon and was found about 30 minutes later in a neighbor’s pond. Mason is autistic and it wasn’t out of character for him to hide in his home. Mason’s family is praying for a miracle, much like one seen by Chase Kear, a pole vaulter who suffered a massive brain injury in 2008. Kear’s family prayed to Father Kapaun and believes that led to the Chase’s miraculous concern. The late Father Kapaun is being investigated by Catholic officials who are considering him for sainthood. The family is asking for those willing to say the following prayer at noon and 10 p.m.: Father Emil Kapaun, I ask intercession not only for these needs, which I mention now for Mason Allen Medlam, but I too may follow your example of service to God and my neighbor. For the gifts of courage in battle and perseverance of faith, we give you thanks O Lord. Recite: Our Father who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name, Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day out daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, the power, the glory forever. Amen. • • • TREATMENT OSR#1 to Come Off Shelves The controversial supplement, the FDA called an 'unapproved drug,' is popular in autism cases. By Trine Tsouderos Chicago Tribune xrl.in/5yj4 Pharmacies are halting sales of OSR#1, a compound marketed as a dietary supplement to parents of children with autism, six weeks after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration called the product an unapproved new drug. Several pharmacists told the Chicago Tribune they received an e-mail last week from Boyd Haley, president of the company that makes the product, informing them that OSR#1 would not be available after Thursday. One online pharmacy, Forrest Health, posted this message: "CTI Science has voluntarily agreed to remove OSR#1® from the market effective Thursday, 29 July 2010." The product, sold as a toxicity-free antioxidant supplement, was featured on autism Web sites such as Age of Autism, whose managing editor described sprinkling it in her children's juice and breakfast sandwiches. The Tribune reported in January that the compound had been developed as an industrial chemical used to treat mining wastewater, an issue apparently first raised by blogger Kathleen Seidel of neurodiversity.com. On June 17, the FDA sent Haley a warning letter calling the product an unapproved new drug with false or misleading labeling regarding side effects. Failing to correct such violations can result in fines, seizure of products and even criminal prosecution. Haley did not respond to requests for an interview Monday. An FDA spokeswoman said the agency had not heard from Haley or CTI Science. Ellen Silbergeld, an expert in environmental health who is studying mercury and autism at Johns Hopkins University's Bloomberg School of Public Health, urged the FDA to monitor the company to ensure it does not continue selling the product. "It is welcome news, but in these conditions, without government action, the situation remains unsettled," Silbergeld said. A number of pharmacies listed on the CTI Science Web site as sellers of the product reported they were no longer selling OSR#1. "We sold out last week," said pharmacist Kurt Moyer of Dr. Aziz Pharmacy in Indianapolis, which last week posted a message on the company Facebook page: "OSR#1 will no longer be available after July 29, 2010 and there is no anticipated release date, so once we sell out we will not be able to order additional stock." + Read more: xrl.in/5yj4 • • • PUBLIC HEALTH Growing Outbreaks Of Whooping Cough Raise Health Fears At least five states report rise; are vaccine gaps to blame? xrl.in/5yil
Public Health and an national expert on immunization practices. "We know and we have known for a while that we have these gaps in protection at the local level." Rising cases of the disease also known as pertussis have been reported in Idaho, Texas, South Carolina, Michigan and in California, where 1,500 children have been diagnosed in what's being called the worst outbreak in 50 years. In some places, including Michigan and California, there are communities where parents have refused recommended vaccinations, often because they fear complications from the shots. 'Herd immunity' breached When that happens, vaccine resisters breach what's known as "herd immunity," the necessary level of protection that keeps disease from spreading. That allows infection to infect vulnerable people, including those for whom a vaccine doesn't work or wears off, and babies too young to be immunized. There's some evidence that being under-vaccinated or not vaccinated at all is contributing to a portion of the cases in the California outbreak and others, said Dr. Tom Clark, a medical epidemiologist with the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. He declined to say what proportion of the ill children in California were not fully vaccinated. In other cases, the illness is showing up in children ages 7 to 10, kids whose older vaccinations may be waning, but who have not yet received recommended doses for adolescents. + Read More: xrl.in/5yil • • • RESOURCES Cities Offering Tracking Service To Families With Autistic Kids Wristbands worn by people with Alzheimer's, autism and other impairments can be tracked by police if the wearer wanders away. By Carmen Greco Jr., Special to the Tribune xrl.in/5yj5  When Nancy Wiskari's son with autism slipped away from the back yard of their Naperville home a few years ago, her first emotion was helplessness. "He was gone for a very short period of time, but when he was gone, I realized immediately how unprepared I was, and I was terrified I had put him in that position," Wiskari said. It's an ordeal she hopes to never put her son through again, now that 9-year-old Carson wears a thin wristband outfitted with a radio transmitter that will allow authorities to find him within minutes if he wanders off. Carson was the first Naperville resident to use the human tracking technology after the city's Police Department started the program four years ago. Today, the families of 25 children and adults with autism, Alzheimer's and other neurological disorders use the devices. "At first we thought the families of seniors with Alzheimer's would be our main audience, but it has become wildly popular in the autism community," said Naperville police Officer Marita Manning. Like Alzheimer's patients, people with autism can have a hard time communicating to someone else that they are lost and need help, Manning said. They often will not respond to searchers who are calling their names. "They are mostly people who are non-verbal," Manning said, "and it just takes a second for someone to get away, through no fault of their families or caregivers." Naperville was one of the first towns in northern Illinois to offer the program, and others have followed, including Orland Park, Palos Hills, Buffalo Grove, Huntley, Crystal Lake and McHenry. Meanwhile, Crest Hill, Lockport and Romeoville expect to have their tracking programs running in a few months. With the continued aging of the country's population, and with autism rates still ticking upward, Lockport police Officer Jeren Szmergalski expects the program to grow along with those demographic trends. "We might not see a huge amount of calls on patients this year, but slowly through the years, I'm sure the calls will increase," Szmergalski said. "It's better to have a system already in place than to sit back and then say we should have had it when we are faced with an incident." Buffalo Grove is rolling out the program and will start promoting it in early August at a communitywide crime prevention event and at Buffalo Grove Days festival. Crime prevention Officer Paul Jamil said, "We get calls for kids with autism, Down syndrome and other special needs that wander away from the home on a regular basis, and it will be nice to offer this to residents." Jamil said the receivers used by officers have a range of about a mile on the ground and 5 miles in the air, should authorities perform aerial searches. Mike Chylewski, vice president of Care Trak International, headquartered in downstate Murphysboro, said the company has sold the tracking devices to about 600 police departments and sheriff's offices nationwide, including 25 in Illinois. The wristbands and tracking equipment used by police have led to 2,000 rescues across the country since the wristband was used in 1986, Chylewski said. The success rate has been 100 percent, he said. "The reason it's so high is that we educate people about wandering children and adults. The key is to put in those 911 calls immediately. We've found them on moving buses. We've tracked a guy to a McDonald's. We've found them covered over in tobacco fields in Virginia," Chylewski said. Care Trak is a subsidiary of Wildlife Materials Inc., which first used the technology to track endangered animals before applying it to humans. Mobile receivers pick up signals from the wristbands through walls and other obstructions, Chylewski said. "The beauty of it is it's incredibly simple," he said. "I can take you out and make you a tracking expert in 20 minutes." The cost to a typical department is about $5,000 to get started, Chylewski said. Private organizations in Lockport, Crest Hill and Romeoville raised money for the equipment, and Lockport Township will pay the $250 wristband price for any resident who enrolls in the program. In Naperville, the city's Exchange Club has been the program's largest benefactor. Lockport Township Supervisor Judy Batusich said she hopes every police department in Will County eventually adopts the wristband program in the face of explosive growth in the county's senior population. In the past several years, seven new senior developments have sprouted in Lockport Township alone. "It's dear to me because my father had Alzheimer's," Batusich said, "and I do know what the caregivers go through. My dad was a wanderer." In the four years that Carson Wiskari has worn the soft, vinyl wristband, he has not wandered too far from his mother's side, but she said the extra level of protection has given her a peace of mind she did not have before. "This is better than a GPS, because it goes through buildings, so if he goes in somebody's garage, we can find him," she said. "You don't have any time to spare when your child is missing." + Read more: xrl.in/5yj5  Send your LETTER
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Vol.
14 No. 73
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