"60 Minutes" Segment Moves Corporate and Humanitarian Leaders Into ... - In 1996, "60 Minutes" Correspondent, Ed Bradley, anchored a moving segment on a 20-year-old New York community-based program called Herbert G. Birch Services, an organization dedicated to helping children and adults with special needs. That program, focusing on Birch's Family Camp for children affected by HIV/AIDS, was seen by millions, including New York businessman, Glenn Goldman and his wife, Meredith. The Goldmans called the next morning to find out how they could help, as did international humanitarian and the "greatest boxer of all time," Muhammad Ali, who witnessed the same program and was moved in a similar fashion to get involved with Birch Services.  Ten years later, Glenn Goldman, Chief Executive Officer of Capital Access Network, the parent company of AdvanceMe, Inc., is being honored by Birch Services for being a "heavyweight" supporter of the organization that offers special education, residential, camping and other services to people facing significant challenges in the New York area. On October 26 at the Annual Voices of Hope Fundraiser at the Copacabana in New York, Goldman will be honored for his tireless volunteerism and active Board of Directors participation.

Autism trivialized - As the mother and advocate of a 10-year-old child with autism, I want to express my outrage at this article (“Too much TV may trigger autism in kids,” Oct. 22). How insane to compare rates of autism to rates of rainfall. These Cornell researchers owe parents of autistic children an apology. My child didn’t sit in front of a TV all day. He played with blocks, looked through books and loved to be outdoors running. He even spoke a few dozen words until autism took all that away. Why didn’t they just blame the mother? They’re putting us back 30 years with this nonsense. Autism is a lifelong neurological brain disorder. Let’s not trivialize it.

CDC launches study to find causes of autism - It's scary when one out of every 166 children is diagnosed with autism and no one really knows what causes the disorder. But that might change soon. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has announced it will fund the largest study to date to explore the cause of autism. The five-year undertaking will track approximately 2,700 children ages 2 to 5 in six parts of the country, including Atlanta, to hone in on the factors that may contribute to the disorder. "The study will give us a much better understanding of the characteristics and prevalence of autism," says Diana Schendel, the CDC lead scientist on the study. "And that could help us prevent it in the future." Autism impairs a person's ability to interact and communicate effectively. Individuals with the disorder often appear to be in their own world or exhibit bizarre behaviors.

Children born after IVF treatment 'face higher health risks' - Children born to couples who have undergone fertility treatment are more likely to be diagnosed with autism, cancer and other disorders such as cerebral palsy and mental retardation, researchers claimed yesterday. The higher risk to child health is believed to be caused by medical problems in the parents, such as diabetes and hypertension, damaging the child in the womb, but doctors conducting the study said IVF and other fertility treatments may also play a role. Medical records of children born after their parents sought fertility treatment showed they were four times more likely to have autism than those born to fertile parents. Childhood cancers including leukaemia and brain tumours also rose. / UK

Cure Autism Now and Autism Treatment Network to Merge Operations - Cure Autism Now(http://www.cureautismnow.org) and the Autism Treatment Network (ATN) are merging operations to strengthen and accelerate their efforts to advance a standard of care for autism and related disorders. A memorandum of understanding has been accepted by both organizations with the board of directors of CAN and ATN unanimously supporting the merger. As a combined organization, ATN will become a program in Cure Autism Now's clinical research portfolio. "Autism is a national health crisis and it's a tragedy that there is no standard of care available to individuals who struggle with the myriad challenges associated with the disorder," says Peter Bell, president and CEO of Cure Autism Now. "Families should no longer be told 'There's nothing you can do to treat your child's autism.' Autism can be treated and we must develop evidence-based standards and ultimately a medical home so that their quality of life is maximized in every way." / Release

Getting past the silence - Like most infants, twins Jonathan and Billy Masiello learned to roll over, stand on wobbly little legs and make eye contact with their parents. They even seemed to be developing ahead of the curve, figuring out puzzles and games quickly. As their first year passed, their speech hadn’t progressed beyond “twin babble,” but their pediatrician said that was normal. Six months later, there were still no words, and worrisome new behaviors started to develop. The boys, who had once interacted so well, grew distant and started to become fixated on objects in repetitive motion, such as the stroller wheels or a caboose in a train set. Deep down, their mother, Angela M. Masiello, knew something wasn’t right, but friends and family told her she was just being an overprotective new mother. “It was an eerie feeling. These were our babies, our perfect little angels who were always happy and giggling. And I was having feelings that something was wrong.” By Rushmie Kalke TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

I turned down film role to star in TV suicide drama - "...The ITV1 drama is screened on Sunday, October 29 but representatives for Lisa Ainscow fear she will be unfairly portrayed. Thea Henley, from the Rights and Advice Consultancy which is acting for Lisa, has raised concerns about her portrayal in the film. Last night she said: "Brenda Blethyn has worked from a script that has been given to her and as far as I'm aware she has not met with Lisa or Wendy. "I have no criticism of her, she is working to the information she has been given. What I would question is whether the information she has been given is sufficient. "Lisa is not the character her mother has painted her to be. She has not been diagnosed with autism or Asperger's and anyone who meets her can see that for themselves straight away." By Sam Lister, Daily Post

Infertility link to autism in children - COUPLES who struggle to conceive are more likely to have a child with a serious medical disorder such as autism, cerebral palsy or cancer, scientists have found. The risk of developing problems by the age of six is 2.7 times higher among children born to those with a history of infertility than in those conceived without difficulty, according to US research. The findings offer the strongest evidence that medical obstacles to starting a family can have repercussions for offspring.  Assisted reproduction treatments could have an influence — but the raised risk also applied when a diagnosis of fertility problems was followed by a natural conception. Underlying infertility is therefore more likely to be responsible. By Mark Henderson Science Editor in New Orleans

Government rejects mercury-limits in vaccines petition - Federal health officials won't put new restrictions on the use of a mercury-based preservative in vaccines and other medicines, denying a petition that sought the limits because of health concerns. A group called the Coalition for Mercury-free Drugs petitioned the Food and Drug Administration in 2004 seeking the restrictions on thimerosal, citing concerns that the preservative is linked to autism. In a reply dated Sept. 26 but made public only Tuesday, the FDA rejected the petition.  "Only a small number of licensed and approved products still contain thimerosal, and the available evidence supports FDA's conclusion that all currently licensed vaccines and other pharmaceutical drug products containing thimerosal are safe," Dr. Jeffrey Shuren, the FDA's assistant commissioner for policy, wrote in denying the petition.  "We're not accepting that answer," said Dr. Mark Geier, one of the petitioners. The group now plans to seek a court order that would force the FDA to withdraw thimerosal from all vaccines and medicines unless the agency can show the preservative is safe, Geier said. By the AP

Mercury differences raise concern - Recent research shows the type of mercury the government relied on as a reference in setting safety standards for children's vaccines differs significantly from the type that was actually present in the shots -- and still remains in some of them. Thomas Burbacher's study -- one of the first to look beyond blood and into the brain to determine vaccine-related mercury distribution -- confirmed, overturned and added to previous findings on how ethylmercury and methylmercury compare and contrast. Ethylmercury is found in thimerosal, a preservative once commonly used in children's shots which detractors hold responsible for a rise in diagnoses of autism and other neurodevelopmental problems in America's young. Because much more research has been conducted on the effects on the human body of methylmercury -- the kind found in power plant pollution -- than of ethylmercury, the former was used as a measuring stick when the government formulated its safety limits for thimerosal amounts in vaccines.  By LIDIA WASOWICZ

Mother knows best - "What a trouper!" exclaimed the Express when Des O'Connor said he was to be a father at 72. The applause he met echoed that for many men - from Gordon Brown to David Jason - who have had children late and contrasts with the charges of selfishness hurled at Patricia Rashbrook when, in May, she gave birth aged 62. Late motherhood, it seems, retains an uneasy resonance, but research presented yesterday shows that not all the facts support this. A big concern has always been that older mothers will struggle to cope with the demands of rearing young children. This is less discussed in relation to older fathers, showing that society still views parenting in terms of gender, although that does not in itself render the point unimportant. But a new study from South Carolina university finds that women who through IVF give birth after 50 are no more likely to show signs of stress or other difficulties with coping physically or mentally than are those in their 30s or 40s./ UK

PERSONS with special needs and their parents may soon find ... - PERSONS with special needs and their parents may soon find themselves with a dedicated trust fund to fall back on. The non-profit, Government-linked special needs trust is one of the schemes being studied by the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports (MCYS), after a parents' workgroup submitted their wishlist yesterday. Tasked in July to study how the financial security of persons with special needs can be boosted — especially after the demise of their parents or primary caregivers — the nine-man group spent two months surveying nearly 100 parents of varying income brackets who have special-needs children. Led by Autism Resource Centre president and Jalan Besar MP Denise Phua, the group comprises eight parents with special-needs children.  By Jasmine Yin

Section 17 assessments and the Children Act 2004 / Nick Armstrong of Tooks Chambers and Eleanor Wright of Fisher Meredith analyse the impact that the recent case of LH & MH v Lambeth has on assessments under s17 of the Children Act 1989 in the light of the Children Act 2004.  The recent decision of LH & MH v London Borough of Lambeth [2006] EWHC 1190 was concerned with local authorities' assessment and planning obligations under s 17 of the Children Act 1989. It is also thought to have been the first case to review the cooperation duties under s 10 of the Children Act 2004 and the associated guidance. In fact, the court said almost nothing about the 2004 Act beyond flagging it as relevant and declaring it breached. The main points of interest relate to what was said about the detail required by s 17 assessments, and what is still to play for with regard to the 2004 Act.

The Age of Autism: None so blind - How long have we known -- or should have known -- that medical treatment might help thousands of autistic kids? A half century, it now appears. I recently came across a 1955 study titled "The Autistic Child in Adolescence," by Dr. Leon Eisenberg of The Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. Eisenberg was a colleague of Leo Kanner, the child psychiatrist who first identified autism as a distinct disorder in 11 children in 1943.  By 1955 there were 80 such cases in the Hopkins files; researchers managed to locate 63 of them. The results were not encouraging: Eisenberg wrote that only three "can be said to have achieved a good adjustment."  Here's where it gets interesting: One of those three was the very first patient diagnosed at Hopkins by Leo Kanner -- "Case 1: Donald T." As readers of this column know, I located Donald T. and, in 2004, went to his Mississippi hometown in search of more information. By DAN OLMSTED

The Big Question: So is there an optimum age for a woman to have a baby? - Why are we asking?  A major conference in the United States of fertility specialists heard this week two conflicting pieces of research. One suggested women who become mothers over the age of 50 make just as good parents, and are just as psychologically well adjusted, as those in their forties and thirties. The other suggested that delaying motherhood not only reduces a woman's chances of becoming pregnant - it may also reduce her daughter's chances. They are the latest contributions to one of the most emotive debates in the area of fertility and its treatment: the best age for motherhood. By Jeremy Laurance, Health Editor

Vaccines Can Still Have Mercury, FDA Says - Federal health officials won't put new restrictions on the use of a mercury-based preservative in vaccines and other medicines, denying a petition that sought the limits because of health concerns. A group called the Coalition for Mercury-free Drugs petitioned the Food and Drug Administration in 2004 seeking the restrictions on thimerosal, citing concerns that the preservative is linked to autism. In a reply dated Sept. 26 but made public only Tuesday, the FDA rejected the petition. "Only a small number of licensed and approved products still contain thimerosal, and the available evidence supports FDA's conclusion that all currently licensed vaccines and other pharmaceutical drug products containing thimerosal are safe," Dr. Jeffrey Shuren, the FDA's assistant commissioner for policy, wrote in denying the petition. "We're not accepting that answer," said Dr. Mark Geier, one of the petitioners. The group now plans to seek a court order that would force the FDA to withdraw thimerosal from all vaccines and medicines unless the agency can show the preservative is safe, Geier said.

Autism and gene regulation -  I recently went over the evidence that suggests that autism requires a confluence of genetic and environmental factors. The study discussed there is a good indication of how difficult pinning down environmental factors can be. Fortunately, with a sufficiently large population and a strong heritable component, genetic studies of diseases can be pretty definitive. And autism does have a strong genetic component, with identical twins co-inheriting the disorder at a rate of over 80 percent, and sibling risk (about seven percent) being around 35 times that in the general population. The big reduction from identical twins to siblings suggests that there is more than one gene involved and, to date, 5 genomic regions have been identified that correlate with increased autism risks.

Autism in Del Rio? How Common? - Does anyone in this town know what Autism is? and how to deal w children w disabilites? How sad that our children are being misunderstood. (speaking from experience) for those of you that dont know what Autism is, it is a neurological disorder. It is also called the 'geek syndrome'...most ppl identify this disorder with the movie "Rainman". There are children here in Del Rio that have this disorder and are being misunderstood because of lack of training and lack of funds FOR training. Where are the educators and medical entities in this matter?

Autism Association Questions Safety of Risperdal for Children - The Food and Drug Administration’s approval of Risperdal as a treatment for autistic children has been challenged by the National Autism Association (NAA) due to concerns about the drug’s side effects. According to the NAA, side effects of Risperdal, or risperidone, include lactation both in girls and boys, weight gain, and development of the often irreversible movement disorder tardive dyskinesia.“Any medication that can induce lactation in boys is clearly a dangerous drug, and in my opinion should only be used when all avenues of biomedical treatments have been exhausted,” says National Autism Association executive director Rita Shreffler. “Parents are faced with extremely tough decisions when it comes to medicating their children, and extra caution should be used with Risperdal in particular given what we know about it.”

City police help build autism database - Rutland Police are teaming up with a local organization on a program to help law enforcement responding to emergency calls involving people with autism. City police have been working on the initiative with the Rutland Building Bright Futures council, an organization funded by the Vermont Achievement Center. The police and the Building Bright Futures council have designed an "Individuals with Autism Database" for families and caretakers of children and adults with autism. Police have been working throughout the past year to put together the database in Rutland County to give authorities additional information to assist and respond to children and adults with autism in the most appropriate way to their individual needs. By Alan J. Keays Herald Staff

Cure For Autism Nowhere In Sight - Kate Lento was only 15 months old when she was diagnosed with autism. "It seemed like she'd drifted away right before our very eyes," mother Diane Lento said. Autism is a spectrum of brain disorders that begin in early childhood. Kids have trouble speaking, they don't interact well with people, avoid eye contact, have emotional outbursts that are sometimes violent and have repetitive behaviors. "We have some individuals with autism who have high IQ, good verbal functioning and special skills, and we have other individuals with autism who are profoundly mentally retarded," said Dr. Eric Hollander of Mount Sinai School of Medicine. Actor Dustin Hoffman's character in the movie "Rain Man" often comes to mind when people think of autism. Often we hear about the most severe forms of autism but there are milder forms known as Asperger's Syndrome. Many of those patients function very well, and some even go to college.

Estranged in her own world - Her knees drawn to her chest, Darian Montoya, 11, crouches in the bathtub and bangs her head against the faucet, over and over and over.  A protective helmet filled with foam protects her skull. But the shield isn’t always enough. For Darian — an autistic child with saucer eyes and a mess of dark hair — violent outbursts are the norm, according to her parents, Dawn and Andy Montoya.  Darian routinely lashes out at her family, her two sisters, strangers; more often, she harms herself Once, she hit her head so hard against a wall, her ear drum burst, her parents said. By Marlena Hartz: CNJ staff writer

Living with Asperger's syndrome - "Am I retarded? That's how kids make me feel. I don't like having Asperger's. I don't like being considered different." Adam is a 12-year-old kid struggling to fit in with the other children at his Vancouver elementary school. He wants to play basketball. He wants friends. He wants to experience his first kiss. But Adam has Asperger's syndrome, a type of autism that compromises his ability to socialize with other kids. He blurts out inappropriate comments. He gets angry easily. And he sometimes gets violent. Adam's behaviour -- and the way it affects his family and his classmates -- is illustrated in The Boy Inside, a documentary by his mother, Marianne Kaplan, that airs Tuesday night at 10 p.m. on CBC Newsworld.  By Amy O'Brian, Vancouver Sun

Love knows no borders - WHEN the news emerged that Madonna was the latest megastar to adopt from overseas my heart sank. As a parent of a daughter from China, adopted two years ago, I knew our very ordinary family life would be reflected and distorted through a celebrity lens. Intercountry adoption (ICA), at its simplest, is one way to create a family. It is also a complex lesson in humanity. At one level I am grateful to Madonna as, despite all the moralising that has gone on about her wealth, lifestyle and career, there have also been real efforts to explore the formal ICA system in the UK.

Mission: A map to Social Security maze - Click photo to enlargeDon Uchida, whose 24-year-old daughter Kira Uchid suffers... (Steve Griffin/The Salt Lake Tribune)«1»Four years ago, Don Uchida learned possibly the most important lesson of his career while filing a disability claim for his adult daughter, who has autism. He delegated the task to his wife, but was surprised by the onerous work she faced - compiling medical evidence and shepherding paperwork through the Social Security maze. "I know the system and had contacts within Social Security, and we still ran into bumps," says Uchida who, as director of Utah's Office of Rehabilitation, is now charged with removing those barriers. Uchida's office is the Social Security Administration's partner in approving or denying disability claims. He's no newcomer, having logged 38 years at the agency, starting as a rehabilitation counselor. But he describes his April appointment to the director's seat as "a baptism by fire." Medicaid cuts threaten his budget, employee turnover is at an all-time high and legislative auditors are busy investigating claims of sub-par performance by his Disability Determination Services division. Utah currently has a backlog of about 1,000 cases and Uchida has asked for backup help from the Social Security Administration. His 69 examiners handle about 18,000 claims each year. Yet for all this, Uchida is upbeat, believing increased public scrutiny may finally drive change. "We've been trying to reform Social Security. We want to be part of the solution," he says. By Kirsten Stewart

Mother knows best - "What a trouper!" exclaimed the Express when Des O'Connor said he was to be a father at 72. The applause he met echoed that for many men - from Gordon Brown to David Jason - who have had children late and contrasts with the charges of selfishness hurled at Patricia Rashbrook when, in May, she gave birth aged 62. Late motherhood, it seems, retains an uneasy resonance, but research presented yesterday shows that not all the facts support this. A big concern has always been that older mothers will struggle to cope with the demands of rearing young children. This is less discussed in relation to older fathers, showing that society still views parenting in terms of gender, although that does not in itself render the point unimportant. But a new study from South Carolina university finds that women who through IVF give birth after 50 are no more likely to show signs of stress or other difficulties with coping physically or mentally than are those in their 30s or 40s.

November, Make me a believer - "... Ellen Notbohm, author of "Ten Things Every Child with Autism Wishes You Knew," offers readers insight into guiding your child into adulthood. She writes "Whatever your child’s special needs, in no generation previous has there been a better time to be optimistic."

Santa Clara University: Mental Disorders of the New Millenium - A Santa Clara University conference, Mental Disorders of the New Millenium will offer an in-depth look at psychiatric concerns of the day. The conference, on Nov. 3, at SCU's Benson Memorial Center, will also serve as a book launch for a three-volume set of the same name.  "We are trying to take some of the contemporary, hot issues that we hear about every day in the press and have experts in those areas offer a thoughtful, reflection on what is the current, state-of-the-art understanding of these kinds of disorders and problems," said Thomas Plante, professor and chair of the department of psychology at SCU. He edited the book, Mental Disorders of the New Millennium Westport, CT: Greenwood, Vol. I: Behavioral Issues, Vol. II: Public and Social Problems, Vol. III: Biology and Function and authored several of its chapters.

Special Ed Teacher Accused Of Abusing Two Students - A Daytona Beach special education teacher is charged with abusing two students. Police said two school employees at Palm Terrace Elementary saw Harriet Nelson slam a child's head into a desk. The school district took Nelson out of the classroom in September. That's when her classroom assistants reported the abuse. But it wasn't until Thursday that Nelson was arrested and booked for child abuse. Nelson is accused of getting physical with two special needs children, a 9-year-old with Downs Syndrome and a 10-year-old with autism. The children most likely had little or no means to defend themselves. According to Daytona Beach police, one teacher's aide saw Nelson twist the arm of one of the kids and shove his face into a table. Another aide said Nelson pinned the other student to the ground with her knee in his back. "If anybody ever did that to my child, that's the last thing they ever did. That is my child," said parent Brandon Milton.

Understand autism: Myths & facts - Most of us would help a blind person cross the road. But when it comes to an autistic child, people turn indifferent. In an age where communication is the most important of all skills, how does an autistic child cope with a communication disorder? Tamil actor Prithvi Raj’s 11-year-old son Ahed was not allowed to board a plane in Bangalore because airport security seemed to think that his disability made him dangerous. "Our struggle is to make my son acceptable in the main stream society. We don't want special privileges, don’t make his life miserable please," Prithvi Raj says. Autistic children like Ahed face insensitivity and discrimination almost everyday. When an autistic child does not make eye contact, or doesn't return a greeting, people think he's either rude or indifferent. By Rohini Mohan

US teacher convicted of sex crimes released to home in Ontario to ... -  An American teacher who set off a political firestorm when he was allowed to serve in Canada his sentence for sex offences committed in Buffalo was released from custody Friday and sent to live with his family in Ontario. A plea-bargain in which Malcolm Watson asked if he could serve three years probation in St. Catharines, Ont. - where he lives with his wife and children - made national headlines and drew the ire of politicians who accused American officials of turning Canada into a dumping ground for sex offenders.
 

Estranged in her own world - Her knees drawn to her chest, Darian Montoya, 11, crouches in the bathtub and bangs her head against the faucet, over and over and over.  A protective helmet filled with foam protects her skull. But the shield isn’t always enough.  For Darian — an autistic child with saucer eyes and a mess of dark hair — violent outbursts are the norm, according to her parents, Dawn and Andy Montoya.

Gene Linked To Autism In Families With More Than One Affected  - A version of a gene has been linked to autism in families that have more than one child with the disorder. Inheriting two copies of this version more than doubled a child's risk of developing an autism spectrum disorder, scientists supported by the National Institutes of Health's (NIH) National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) National Institute on Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) have discovered.  In a large sample totaling 1,231 cases, they traced the connection to a tiny variation in the part of the gene that turns it on and off. People with autism spectrum disorders were more likely than others to have inherited this version, which cuts gene expression by half, likely impairing development of parts of the brain implicated in the disorder, report Drs. Daniel Campbell, Pat Levitt, Vanderbilt Kennedy Center at Vanderbilt University, and colleagues, online during the week of the October 16, 2006 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Grandson encouraged - Several days ago we read a news item in The Patriot-News concerning an autistic student who was said to be having problems with his school. We have no knowledge of this other than the information in the article.  This did, however, prompt my wife and I to write this letter.  We have a grandson with Asperger's Syndrome, a form of autism.  His teachers, aids, special needs advisers and the administrative staff at West Creek Hills Elementary and East Pennsboro Middle and High School have been wonderful.

Horses off on healing trails - Volunteers and family members were by the sides of the 59 disabled children and adults who mounted horses and headed for a trail Saturday to celebrate a therapy that didn't seem like therapy at all. They were participants in Therapeutic Horsemanship's 2006 Horse-A-Thon, a fundraiser for the Wentzville program that has provided equestrian therapy for physically and emotionally disabled people of all ages in the surrounding areas since 1975.

Kendra Pettengill: TV As The Cause of Autism Study - First and foremost this is a perfect example of what happens when economists that know nothing of a medical condition try to find some statistical relationship between their beloved data and a condition. The fact that this study went beyond a water-cooler joke and actually consumed the time, energy, and money required of such a study is beyond irresponsible, it is a slap in the face to the families devastated by this disease and the children who will suffer from it for their lifetime. The fact it was given any relevance and actually reported by someone in the media, as well as being officially announced by the University is reprehensible.

Love knows no borders - WHEN the news emerged that Madonna was the latest megastar to adopt from overseas my heart sank. As a parent of a daughter from China, adopted two years ago, I knew our very ordinary family life would be reflected and distorted through a celebrity lens. Intercountry adoption (ICA), at its simplest, is one way to create a family. It is also a complex lesson in humanity. At one level I am grateful to Madonna as, despite all the moralising that has gone on about her wealth, lifestyle and career, there have also been real efforts to explore the formal ICA system in the UK.

Man calls attention to increase in autism - With the number of people diagnosed with autism rising steeply, Mike Wasmer says increased attention to the disorder is vital.  "It is really a crisis and urgent we get support as soon as possible," he said. Wasmer, an Olathe veterinarian, helped form a group last March to draw attention to autism, the Kansas Coalition for Autism Legislation, and he is coming to Dodge City on Tuesday for a presentation aimed at boosting efforts at the state level to address the disorder. He's already given a similar presentation in Wichita, and others are planned for Overland Park and Manhattan.

Marino calls penalty on candidate - A campaign mailer featuring football Hall-of-Famer Dan Marino has sparked a Super Bowl-size flap. State Rep. Susan Goldstein, a Weston Republican, sent voters a flier including a picture of her with the former Miami Dolphins quarterback that described their work helping children with autism. The problem: Marino doesn't endorse political candidates. Marino's camp felt that Goldstein's flier clearly crossed the political line of scrimmage by implying an endorsement. ''He has never publicly endorsed a political candidate,'' said Ralph Stringer, president of NeoStar Sports & Entertainment and Marino's business manager.

Novel treatment for autism - The College of Chiropractors, in study results released in its publication, "Clinical Chiropractic," found that adjustments to the spine can alleviate some of the symptoms associated with autism, which afflicts 1 million to 1.5 million Americans. One in every 166 American children is born with the condition, the Centers for Disease Control reports.  Now, according to some chiropractors, including Kerry Woods of Whittier, their spine-adjusting techniques can improve the nervous system, which in the case of people with autism can help improve their reflexes, increase the range of motion in the neck and improve other health problems.  "Most people think chiropractics treats pain and it doesn't," he said. "It improves the nervous system."

Rett syndrome steals child's speech - Life was typical as possible for the Chandler family. Husband Richard was serving in the Navy and deployed in Iraq. Wife Kathleen was pregnant with her second child. Then one day, daughter Alessandra, 2, stopped talking. She lost her ability to feed herself and other abilities. The doctors told her parents that it could be three things: autism, a brain tumor or Rett syndrome.

School That Shocks Gets Slapped - Fourteen workers at the Judge Rotenberg Center, a residential special education school in Massachusetts that uses skin shocks as a form of "aversive therapy" to treat behavioral problems, have agreed to pay a total $43,000 in fines for calling themselves "psychologists" without being licensed in the Bay State. Most of the students at the school, featured in a recent Voice cover story, are New Yorkers whose $214,000 annual tuition is paid by state agencies.

Search missing autistic boy focuses on rugged terrain - -- With hope diminishing that an 8-year-old autistic boy could survive after five cold nights in the wilds of Crater Lake National Park, searchers returned Thursday to concentrate on the area where he was last seen. One hundred people spaced out for a quarter mile lined up on Rim Drive and walked into the backcountry looking under rocks, downed logs and into crevasses, then wheeled and walked back to the road on a different route, but found nothing. They covered about 3,0000 acres. "As the time goes by, the probability of survival is decreasing," said search spokesman Rudy Evenson. "If he's in the highest probability area, they'll find him."

Understanding autistic people - The President of SMARTER, Brunei, Malai Hj Abdullah bin Malai Hj Othman, gave an educational talk on understanding of autism before St John's School secondary students. Autism is not mental illness or mental handicap, and autistic individuals are not disabled but they are just different, he said. Autistic children are not naughty or misbehaved kids and their autistic behaviour is not caused by bad parenting, he added. The speaker and the school principal, Hj Zainal Abidin, encouraged students to be more helpful towards individuals with autism. To live up to the school motto of "Love and Service," they were urged to offer support and guidance, and encourage the autistic people to develop their own learning skills.