Gabby's Health News Brief (12/19/08)

[Guest guest]

1) Elementary, Easter Seals:

http://www.ageofautism.com/2008/12/elementary-easter-seals.html

 

Easter Seals & Autism...

http://www.easterseals.com/site/PageServer?pagename=ntlc8_homepage

 

2) " Autism Families Fight for Their Rights " - Last night on Grace:

 

Folks please send the Grace show a thanks for addressing the needs of the

autism community and the financial hardships that many families are facing in an

attempt to meet the individual needs of their children.  Ms. Grace's show

typically addresses crime issues and this matter is a step outside of her normal

focus.

So I'm asking to please let her know that we as a community are appreciative of

her efforts to bring light to this issue.  The 12/18/08 show will be rebroadcast

on CCN's Headline News channel in most areas at 10pm and 1am.  Please tune in

and watch and also send her an e-mail and also an e-mail to CNN for this

coverage.

 

You can send your comments on the show via her website at this link:

 

http://www.cnn.com/feedback/forms/form5.html?81

 

 

Please also send a note of appreciation to CNN for the coverage:

 

http://www.cnn.com/feedback/cnntv/ 

This is a very important issue and having her address this is such a way does

much for awareness within mainstream television and a different venue.

 

3) Autism and Alternative Treatments Conference January 30 & 31, 2009 South

Bend, Indiana:

SPECIAL 2 for 1 Parent Registration through 12/31/08

A collaborate of organizations, Autism Society of Indiana, Autism Society of

Illinois, Autism Society of Mid-Michigan formally Autism Society of Lansing,

Dayton Ohio Autism Society, NE Illinois Autism

Society and many others, have come together to bring the Midwest an Autism and

Alternative Treatments Conference in South Bend, Indiana this January 30th &

31st.

Featuring Two Renowned Speakers on Autism: Dr. Jim Ball, Ed.D. BCBA, Co-Chair of

the Panel of Professional Advisors for ASA and on the ASA BOD will be speaking

on " ABA in Real Life.. Misconceptions and

Strategies to a Successful Program " and Mr. Bono, Chairman of the Board

for National Autism Association will be speaking on " Our Common Interest Within

The Disability Community "

There is an evening reception in the exhibit hall open to all participants, a

showing of the documentary " Finding The Words " and 18 breakout sessions over the

two days. Topics range from specialized diets, how to recipes, gut issues, to

managing behaviors in autism and advocacy issues.

Visit the conference website for more information, including special rates for

registering before December 31st. Financial assistance is available for families

to attend.

http://www.disabilitygoto.com/eventsregistration.html

For More Information Call 517-420-3313 or email

assistance@...

 

4) HIGH MERCURY COUNT: How It Happens, Mercury Poisoning Symptoms And More:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/12/18/high-mercury-count-how-it_n_152167..htm\

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5) Brain's magnetic fields reveal language delays in autism:

December 1, 2008

Source:  Children's Hospital of Philadelphia         

 

A research subject reads instructions on a screen while seated with his head

surrounded by the MEG's magnetic detectors.Faint magnetic signals from brain

activity in children with autism show that those children process sound and

language differently from non-autistic children. Identifying and classifying

these brain response patterns may allow researchers to more accurately diagnose

autism and possibly aid in developing more effective treatments for the

developmental disorder.

Timing appears to be crucial. " Children with autism respond a fraction of a

second more slowly than healthy children to vowel sounds and tones, " said study

leader , Ph.D., vice chair of radiology research and holder of

the Oberkircher Family Endowed Chair in Pediatric Radiology at The Children's

Hospital of Philadelphia. used a technology called

magnetoencephalography (MEG), which detects magnetic fields in the brain, just

as electroencephalography (EEG) detects electrical fields.

presented his findings today at the annual meeting of the Radiological

Society of North America in Chicago. " The brain's electrical signals generate

tiny magnetic fields, which change with each sensation, and with communication

among different locations in the brain, " he added.

is working to develop " neural signatures " that can link recorded brain

activity to particular behaviors in children with autistic spectrum disorders

(ASDs), which are characterized by impaired development in communications and

social functioning. " Our hypothesis is that speech and other sounds come in too

fast for children with ASDs, and their difficulties in processing sound may

impair their language and communication skills, " said .

Physicians already use MEG to map the locations of abnormal brain activity in

epilepsy, but the technology used is one of the few MEG machines

available in a dedicated pediatric facility. In the current study, the

researchers evaluated 64 children aged six to 15 at The Children's Hospital of

Philadelphia. Thirty children had ASDs, the rest were age-matched, typically

developing control subjects.

The MEG machine has a helmet that surrounds the child's head. The researchers

presented a series of recorded beeps, vowels and sentences. As the child's brain

responded to each sound, noninvasive magnetic detectors in the machine analyzed

the brain's changing magnetic fields.

When sounds were presented, the MEG recorded a delay of 20 milliseconds (1/50 of

a second) in the brain's response for children with ASDs, when compared with

healthy control subjects. " This delay indicates that auditory processing is

abnormal in children with autism, and may lead to a cascade of delay and

overload in further processing of sound and speech, " said . " Further

research may shed light on how this delay in processing sounds may be related to

interconnections among parts of the brain. " Other testing, measuring a response

to mismatched or changed sounds, found longer delays, up to 50 milliseconds

(1/20 of a second).

Because autism disorders range across a spectrum of functional abilities,

explained , neural signatures based on brain responses may allow

clinicians to more accurately diagnose which subtype of ASD an individual

patient has. Such diagnoses may be possible at an earlier age if future studies

show that such signatures are detectable in infancy—at younger ages than in the

children involved in the current study. " Earlier diagnosis of ASDs may allow

clinicians to intervene earlier with possible treatments, " said .

Furthermore, added , if a patient's neural signature overlaps with that

found in another neurological condition, such as epilepsy or attention-deficit

hyperactivity disorder, for which a treatment exists, that patient may benefit

from such a treatment.

Love, Gabby. :0)

http://stemcellforautism.blogspot.com/

 

" I know of nobody who is purely Autistic or purely neurotypical. Even God had

some Autistic moments, which is why the planets all spin. " ~ Jerry Newport