TACA E-News

2a Special TACA Events

Come join Talk about Curing Autism (TACA) and your friends at our annual family picnic and fundraiser. This event is a special day where families and friends affected by autism can gather, play games, have some good food (with many GFCF options), and enjoy each other’s company in a safe and fun environment. Funds raised at TACA’s 2 nd annual picnic are used for TACA’s general fund to help families affected by autism.

RESERVE YOUR FAMILY’S
SPOT FOR THE PICNIC!
THERE ARE already almost 600 registrants!
This event will sell out – please register today!

Talk About Curing Autism
2nd Annual Family Picnic & Fundraiser
GENERAL INFORMATION

Date: Sunday, September 25, 2005 From: 11:00am to 4:00pm Location: CAMP James / Hidden Valley
Right next to Wild Rivers Water Park
At Irvine Center Drive & Lion Country off the 405 Freeway Address: 8790 Irvine Center Drive – Irvine, CA 92618 THIS IS A SPECIAL TACA EVENT!
DO NOT REGISTER WITH CAMP JAMES!! You must register via TACA!

Note: Parking will be an additional charge for each car the day of this event

Fun Activities will include:

In-n-Out Burger AND Gluten-free / casein-free BBQ with hot dogs and beef burgers with buns. Other snacks, drinks, sides will also be available. (Please note: One In-n-Out meal per each paid attendee. Coupons for additional burgers can be purchased the day of the event. Parents can order “protein burgers” for their kids on special GFCF or other diets and utilize GFCF buns for a complete burger meal!)
In-n-out Trailer will be at the TACA Picnic from 11:30-2:30 only Classic carnival rides: carousel, kids swing chair, lady bug ride, and roc-o-plane Other rides & attractions include: bounce house, junglerama (large outdoor kid habit trail similar to the ones at Chuck E Cheese) Miniature Golf, Mist Machine, Sidewinder Rock Wall, bubble machine, and more! A balloon artist! Traditional picnic games including: softball, volleyball, horseshoes, basketball, ping pong, pool table, foosball & soccer

Play with your TACA friends!

How to Register:
$15 per each adult / $10 per each child 3 years of age and up. All TACA members need to register by mail or via the TACA web site

Register online: http://www.tacanow.com/shop.htmRegister via mail: Fill out the registration and mail it to the PO Box information below

Please note: This event sold out very fast in 2004. TACA organizers have booked a much larger venue this year that can hold up to
1,000 guests. This event will occur rain or shine! NO CANCELLATIONS!

Sponsors Thanks:

Special thanks to the great sponsor signed up to make this wonderful event happen for our families! Here is the partial list so far:

1

Cure Autism Now

2

Bruce Bothwell Law Firm

3

Oakley

4

The Listening Center

5

Children’s Learning Connection, Inc.
(formerly The Speech & Language Connection)

6

Lennar Homes

7

Beacon Autism School

8

Center for Autism & Related Disorders (CARD)

9

Christine Majors, Ruth Bass, Judy Segal, Sandra Shigetomi & Kate Mack

10

ABC Consultants

11

Autism Spectrum Consultants

12

Autism Solutions for Kids

13

Jack Anthony Law Firm

14

Coast Children’s Center

15

Oxy Health Corporation

16

Integrated Therapy Solutions

17

Pimco

And two amazing anonymous donors (thank you!)

In the near future we will have a special place on the TACA web site for our sponsors who support us and how you can reach them. Thanks again to this amazing sponsors! Other ways to support TACA: Please remember this is a fundraising event for TACA. TACA is a 501(c)(3) not for profit organization, so all donations received are tax-deductible. Raffle tickets are not tax-deductible. Silent auction items are tax-deductible if over the value of the item is paid at the time of the auction. Here is a list of the items available the day of the picnic:

TACA 2nd annual picnic T-shirts in a variety of sizes at $7.50 each Raffle Tickets for amazing items Silent Auction items including:

Coast Children’s Center $5,000 social skills program (located in Southern Orange County.) QEEG brain mapping and evaluation exam (from Mission Psychological in Southern Orange County.) A new Kitchen Aide Mixer (great for GFCF bakers!) Camp James one-week attendance for a child GFCF goodie basket with private cooking lesson An autographed copy of “Evidence of Harm” by David Kirby Kirkman Laboratories special supplement packages Sensaria Natural Bodycare gift baskets Signed Lance Armstrong posters from Oakley Fashion Island gift certificate Skosh Monahan’s Restaurant Gift Certificates Miss Roben’s GFCF foods gift certificates

30 items in total!

Autism Related Products including: blue awareness bands, metal pins, car magnets, and key chains.

It is important to note: Sponsorship opportunities for this special event are still available! Sponsors for this event can be companies, neighbors or friends who wish to support TACA! Please contact us if you have any potential sponsor contacts. How you Can help?

Please have your family and friends join us for this special event.

We could use corporate sponsors for this important event. Sponsorship will cover costs to create this special day for families affected by autism. This will be TACA’s main fundraiser for this year’s efforts. Our goal is to raise enough funds to cover what we do for our families for the balance of 2005. Please remember: 95% of what TACA does to help families affected by autism is free. For more information about sponsorship, please see http://www.tacanow.com/picnic2005_sponsor.htm

Need more information?

TALK ABOUT CURING AUTISM – TACA
Executive Director: Lisa Ackerman
Mailing Address: P .O . Box 12409, Newport Beach, CA 92658-2409
Phone: (949) 640-4401 - Fax: (949) 640-4424
EIN: 27-0048002
Email

2b ANNOUNCING THE WALKS WITH CURE AUTISM NOW & TACA!

TACA is partnering with Cure Autism Now on their Orange County and San Diego walks this year. TACA will benefit from these walks for families and friends that register THRU THESE LINKS BELOW ONLY. TACA will receive 50% of the proceeds by TACA members and friends. Goals of these events Cure Autism Now (CAN) and Talk About Curing Autism (TACA) have joined up together to help Southern California families today with support and finding answers for our kids through research tomorrow. CAN understands that autism affects thousands of families in Southern California and wishes to support them today via the assistance of TACA. These events will help provide much need funds to two great organizations providing support for the families affected by autism and for finding the cure through research. General Information WALK NOW is a 5K Walk and Community Resource Fair benefiting Cure Autism Now and Talk About Curing Autism.

Before and after the 5K walk, you and your family will have an opportunity to meet local autism service providers in a kid-friendly, carnival-like atmosphere.

Providers will include a wide variety of educational resources, therapists, schools and recreational organizations.

While parents obtain important information on available resources, kids will be entertained with Moon Bounces, Arts and Crafts, jugglers and other fun activities.

ORANGE COUNTY WALK

Date:

Saturday, November 12, 2005

Registration 8am
Walk Opening Ceremonies 9am
Closing Ceremonies 12pm

Location:

CAMP James / Hidden Valley
Right next to Wild Rivers Water Park

At Irvine Center Drive & Lion Country
off the 405 Freeway

Address: 8790 Irvine Center Drive – Irvine, CA 92618

To Register : www.tacanow.org and click on
ORANGE COUNTY WALK LINK

SAN DIEGO WALK

Date:

Saturday, November 5, 2005

Registration 8am
Walk Opening Ceremonies 9am
Closing Ceremonies 12pm

Location:

Vacation Island, Mission Bay

Off the 5 Freeway in San Diego Near Sea World

Address: 500 Sea World Dr San Diego, CA

To Register : www.tacanow.org and click on
SAN DIEGO WALK LINK

How to Register If you are a TACA member or wish 50% of the proceeds to go to TACA, it is very important to click on the links below for registration. This is the only way to track the referral for TACA friends and family who wish to help both TACA and Cure Autism Now.

• For Orange County on November 12, 2005:
https://www.kintera.org/faf/teams/registerTeam.asp?ievent=104879&lis=1&kntae104879=
022DEAE9063B40C5ABD8F8AB4D167FE7&msource=05TACAOC

• For San Diego on November 5, 2005:
https://www.kintera.org/faf/teams/registerTeam.asp?ievent=75839&lis=
1&kntae75839=9A477C39719C48E2A5F834BB14D50C97&msource=05TACASD

Please also be sure to select TACA in the “how did you hear about us” pull-down menu when creating your team. Resource Fair: The resource fair at the Walk Now events is a great way to support the community you serve and in addition talk to thousands of participants about your products or services. For a nominal fee – show your support for the Orange County and Walk Now events and support the valuable efforts of CAN & TACA. For registration: Downloadable form can be found here: Autism Community Resource Fair Registration Deadlines for each walk:

Orange County Walk: September 9

San Diego Walk: September 2

Sponsorship Opportunities: At both the Orange County and San Diego county walks there will be an estimated 1,000 – 6,500 participants including; friends and families all affected by autism. Sponsorship is greatly needed and appreciated. Please contact Lisa Ackerman at (949) 640-4401 for more information on sponsorship. TACA Member Rewards: Top teams participating in the Orange County and San Diego walks will be eligible for TACA Member Rewards! Announcement on these donated awards will be provided in late September 2005!

Please join us at these special, family fun events!

3	General News

3. Article A:

Hurricane Katrina and the effect on the autism community:

An amazingly sad event occurred this past week. No one can miss the coverage and information coming from all directions affecting a total area the size of the state of Kansas. The devastating effects and total costs in lives and in dollars due to Hurricane Katrina this past week is still unknown. The story is continuing to unfold on TV, in the newspaper and everywhere we go. Even though this event occurred thousands of miles away – most of us know and love someone affected by this huge and devastating hurricane. Many of us are aware of the amazing efforts that the American Red Cross, United Way and other great organizations efforts in helping the affected families and individuals in the wake of the disaster. This part of the newsletter is highlighting other charities that are helping families in the autism community who have been displaced, lost, and need our help. This announcement does not mean to lighten the severity to any other group or individual but to focus on the community of families like ours.

I have received dozens of emails asking “how can I help families like mine displaced in this disaster?” And this is my attempt to provide you with some additional information.

in the Hurricane
Affected Area
With ASD Kids!
In view of the tremendous needs of families with children on the autism spectrum in the Gulf area hit by the hurricane, Unlocking Autism has set up their website to accept donations for these specific needs.

Shelley Reynolds, UA President, lives in Baton Rouge as well as several other UA volunteers. UA also has a State Representative who lives just outside of New Orleans. These contacts will enable them to find needs and distribute funds to those with children with autism. If you would like to specifically help these families, you may do so by going to www.UnlockingAutism.Org and click on Gulf Disaster Relief.
Unlocking Autism is a non profit 501(c)(3) organization.
"Thank you for your help in this disaster situation" says the Unlocking Autism Staff, "please remember to pray for all those affected and the safety and health of all residents and those serving in rescue and relief."

INFORMATION FLOW: And more from our community: A lot of people from across the country have been coming together and helping those ASD families uprooted by Hurricane Katrina. It's really great to see. Here is an update:

1. I put together a website called http://www.autismrescue.com . On this page, if you want to see: http://www.lighthousestudios.info/autismrescue.html All updates and needs on that site.

2. Housing now listed on major website: http://www.hurricanehousing.org

Mississippi Emergency Shelter Available For Hurricane Victims with Autism, Developmental Disabilities

The National Autism Association (NAA) Requests Help from Local Authorities

Toccopola, MS - Peg Pickering, the mother of an autistic child, has offered to provide emergency housing for families of children with autism and other developmental disorders at Camp Yocona in Toccopola, MS. The camp can accommodate up to 350 people in cabins that can sleep up to 8 people each. Each group of 4-5 cabins has a bathhouse. A large commercial kitchen and dining hall is available and a volunteer will be staffing the kitchen to prepare meals including gluten and casein free options for children on restricted diets. "The camp will provide a healing environment for parents and children alike, offering a place of solace and shelter while the families regroup and decide where to go from here," commented Pickering who is coordinating this effort.

Volunteers are needed at evacuation sites to help identify children with autism and their families and let them know that assistance is available.

According to NAA Executive Director Jo Pike, “Children with autism have very special needs. A simple disruption in routine can be devastating to them. We are calling on local authorities and relief organizations to help us locate these families as quickly as possible.”

Anyone with information on families of children with developmental disabilities needing shelter as a result of the hurricane and its aftermath are asked to contact the National Autism Association toll free at 866-622-6733, or Peg Pickering at 662-488-9619.

Tax-deductible donations to assist with this effort can be made online at http://www.nationalautismassociation.org/proddetail.php?prod=Katrina

Checks can be mailed to:
First United Methodist Church of Pontotoc
Good Samaritan Autism Fund
P.O. Box 308
Pontotoc, MS 38863

In addition to monetary donations, the camp is in need of twin-size bed linens, towels, washcloths, toiletries, toothbrushes and toothpaste, diapers, wipes, etc. Donations of these items can be shipped to:

ASD KATRINA RESCUE
C/O Peg Pickering
2901 Highway 9 South
Pontotoc, MS 38863 Contact Peg Pickering at asdkatrinarescue@yahoo.com 662-488-9619 or 662-509-0599.

Do you know families with children or adults with autism affected by Hurricane Katrina?

We can help them. Unlocking Autism has collected money to assist them immediately and can place families in homes across the country NOW!

Please contact us at 866-366-3361 or visit our site at www.unlockingautism.org if you are directly in touch with any family with a child or adult with autism needing assistance as a result of the hurricane whether they are staying with friends or in a shelter.

Headquartered in Baton Rouge, LA, we have experienced the storm here personally and our heart is ready to serve these families as quickly as possible.

Please forward this to everyone in your address book, grass roots networking is the only way to find these families!

To make an online donation to go to help those in need, please go to www.autismcares.org

Help the Victims of Katrina: Autism Community needs your help!

We would like to apologize for interrupting your Labor Day weekend. But, we need to ask for your help. Autism organizations are partnering to provide assistance to affected families from the hurricane Katrina.

‘Autism Cares - Katrina’ will coordinate support for the unique needs of affected families dealing with autism, by connecting families and professionals who can provide resources with ‘needy families’.

Resources can be money, transportation, accommodations in their own home, therapy and respite, or anything that can be of use. Donations are appreciated. Monies collected will go to current autism Disaster Relief efforts, and offerings of in-kind resources will be responded to shortly.

If you are able to host a family, please visit www.talkautism.org

If you are a family in Need please visit: www.talkautism.org

3. Article B:

Rally in Washington D.C. for Families affected by Autism

THE AUTISM COMMUNITY CALLS FOR

THE POWER OF
PARENTS RALLY in DC

Stop the Mercury. Stop the Lies .

Take Action!
Sign up below

Rally in D.C. Upper Senate Park
Protest Government Inaction
October 7

Demonstration at D.C. Convention Center
Show National Pediatricians the Truth
October 8

The American Academy of Pediatrics ("AAP") will be holding it’s annual conference in Washington from October 8th through the 11th - a unique opportunity to broadcast our message to the medical community. Our last rally in Washington, The Power of Truth, was an overwhelming success!
The public heard our cries for our children from coast to coast. So did our people in Congress. The talk for another rally hasn't stopped since then - and the need for action is urgent. Even though many people heard our message great political obstacles remain for our children. More action must be taken. We need to go Washington again-- and as many times as it takes to bring public scrutiny to the travesty of the Thimerosal Generation. Only by spreading awareness of what has happened to our kids will research be devoted to truly helping the one in six children diagnosed with a learning or behavior disorder.

RALLY TO:

• Demand the CDC Tell the Truth About Mercury
How long can the CDC continue to assist Big Pharma in perpetuating the myth that overexposure to mercury does not cause mercury toxicity? Let's get this agency to do the job it was created to do: fully investigate and end epidemics. With one in 166 children now diagnosed with autism, the CDC must finally be called on the carpet for their negligence in ignoring the injured kids of the autism epidemic.

• Stop S. 3 & S. 354 or the 'Punish Autistic Kids' Bills.
These bills bear different numbers but the legislation is the same - these bills take away your vaccine injured child's rights. They call it tort reform, we call it the 'Vaccine-Injured Kids Don't Count Act of 2005." The House version of S. 354 - H.R. 5 - has already passed. We must stop these bills in the Senate.

• Demand No-Mercury Flu Shots this Winter!
It's on the record that enough mercury-free flu shots can be produced to meet the demand for flu seasons. Drug makers have been on notice since 1999 that mercury-free shots need to be manufactured for children. Flu shots are now required for very young children, so why are drug companies still allowed to produce a limited supply of mercury-free flu shots? We need to demand that production be stepped-up to ensure all children receive only thimerosal-free vaccines.

• Tell Doctors: Study Our Mercury-Injured Kids to Discover the Truth
Doctors: demand better science. Question the government's use of only epidemiology studies to clear mercury damage to our children from vaccines. Why have they done NO clinical research in ten years?

Our children continue to be threatened by government secrecy regarding mercury, predatory special interest legislation, and more mercury-toxic flu shots in the upcoming season. Our children must be protected--not exploited for politics and greed. Plan now to build on the momentum gained from our last rally and join us in D.C. for the Power of Parents Rally and Demonstration. Sign up for The Rally and Demonstration on October 7 & 8
with Action Alert Updates here. Or Sign up for our "Virtual Rally" Campaign
with Action Alert Updates here.

For more information: www.nationalforce.org

Hotel information can be found on the Power of Parents rally web site at www.nationalforce.org - please book your room ASAP as these limited rooms will go quickly. More details will be sent in the coming days. For now, we wanted to give you the heads up to start making arrangements to join us for what we hope will be our strongest showing yet in demanding the truth for our kids. If your organization is not listed below as part of the rally team but you’d like to be included, please just let us know. Our strength lies in our ability to form a united front. See you in Washington!

The Power of Parents Rally - National Force team:

A-CHAMP
AdventuresInAutism.com
Autism One
Autism Research Institute
BEAT-IOWA Biomedical Education for
Autism Treatments IOWA Chapter
CoMeD
Dads Against Mercury
HEAL Healing Every Autistic Life

Medical Interventions for Autism
Moms Against Mercury
NoMercury
REAACH Research, Education, and Action for Autism Spectrum Children
Safeminds
The National Autism Association
Unlocking Autism

For more info www.nationalforce.org or www.powerofparents.org

3. Article C:

FEDERAL JUDGE APPROVES RECORD $6.7 MILLION SETTLEMENT IN SPECIAL EDUCATION CASE

Porter v. Board of Trustees of Manhattan Beach Unified Sch’l Dist., et al.
Case No. CV 00-08402 GAF (USDC, C.D. Cal. 2005)

The Manhattan Beach Unified School District and the California Department of Education have agreed to pay more than $6.7 million to a special education student and his parents for failing to appropriately educate the student for longer than five years.

Steven Wyner, a partner with the law firm Wyner & Tiffany, which specializes in representing students with disabilities and negotiated the settlement, said that “the settlement amount represents a record payment in a special education case. This lawsuit could have been avoided and millions of dollars could have been saved had the Manhattan Beach USD and the CDE simply complied with clearly established statutes and regulations.”

The Application for Court Approval of Minor’s Compromise, approved by U.S. District Court Judge Gary Allen Feess, states that the failure to provide services required by federal and state law “resulted in permanent damage to [the student’s] academic, physical and social/emotional well-being, and has impaired his ability to function at the level at which he could have reasonably been expected to function . . . .”

Marcy J.K. Tiffany, who also represented the Manhattan Beach family, said “this case should send a clear message to school districts that they cannot ignore the legal rights of special needs students with impunity. Sooner or later, the law will hold them accountable.”

Most of the payments will go toward the future education and care of the student, now 17, who has been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder.The family respectfully requests that the press not identify their child by name. He continues to be educated in the Manhattan Beach USD. This is the culmination of one family’s six-year struggle to obtain services that are guaranteed by the law. They are happy that this process has finally come to an end, but extremely sad that it has taken so long for them to secure their child’s legal rights, and that it has come at such a great loss to their child’s academic and social well-being.“No amount of money can compensate for the school district’s deliberate failure to provide an appropriate education at a crucial point in our son’s life,’’ said Deborah Porter. “This will provide for his future well-being and we also hope this will force this school district, and all school districts, to do the right thing for other children.”

The settlement, which was approved by the Court on August 10th, followed a strongly-worded decision by Judge Feess filed on December 20, 2004, granting partial summary judgment in favor of the student and his parents, Deborah and John Porter. Judge Feess found Manhattan Beach USD and the California Department of Education (“CDE”) “equally culpable.”
The case began in January 1999, when the student’s parents requested a due process hearing claiming that Manhattan Beach USD had failed to provide their child with a “free appropriate public education.” Despite not being represented by counsel, the family prevailed in the due process proceeding.In June 1999, the California Special Education Hearing Office (“SEHO”) issued a decision finding that Manhattan Beach USD had failed to provide the student with appropriate reading and language instruction and socialization interventions. The District was ordered to provide compensatory education to the student during the 1999-2000 school year, but never complied with the SEHO decision.In August 2000, after waiting over a year for the District to provide the compensatory services, the Porters sued Manhattan Beach USD and the CDE in U.S. District Court seeking to enforce the SEHO decision. The judge to whom the case was then assigned dismissed it on the ground that the Porters had to first exhaust administrative remedies by filing a compliance complaint with the CDE.In December 2000, the Porters appealed the dismissal to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, and at the same time filed a compliance complaint with the CDE. The CDE issued a Compliance Report in March 2001 finding that Manhattan Beach USD had not complied with the SEHO decision and ordering both compliance with that decision and additional compensatory education.However, Manhattan Beach USD also did not comply with the corrective actions set forth in CDE’s Compliance Report. In October 2002, the Ninth Circuit reversed the dismissal of the lawsuit and remanded the case to the District Court for further proceedings. Porter v. Board of Trustees of Manhattan Beach Unified School District et al., 307 F. 3d 1064 (9th Cir. 2002), cert. denied, 537 U.S. 1194, 123 S. Ct. 1303, 154 L. Ed. 2nd 1029 (2003). The Porters amended their complaint claiming that the CDE not only failed to take appropriate steps to force Manhattan Beach USD to comply with the SEHO decision, but also failed to take appropriate steps to ensure that Manhattan Beach USD complied with the CDE’s corrective actions. The case was subsequently transferred to Judge Feess.

In his December 2004 decision, Judge Feess stated, “it seems that the District has endeavored to use the power it has over [the student’s] education as a means of retaliating against the Porters for their criticisms of, and challenges to, the District.” Judge Feess also took the CDE to task for its failure to exercise appropriate oversight over the District, stating “[a]lthough it is true that the District repeatedly flouted the State’s authority by failing to comply with two state agency orders, it was only successful in doing so because of the CDE’s inattention.” As interim relief, in a separate order entered on November 23, 2004, Judge Feess transferred control over the student’s education from the Manhattan Beach USD and the CDE to a Special Master, Ivor Weiner, Ph.D. Under the settlement agreement, Manhattan Beach USD and the CDE have been ordered to set aside approximately $1.1 million to pay for the education of the student at the direction of the Special Master.

Wyner & Tiffany is a law firm specializing in representing students with disabilities and their parents in special education and civil rights disputes with school districts and school district officials who fail to comply with the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (“IDEA”), and comparable provisions of state law. The firm is dedicated to assisting individuals with disabilities and their parents in securing a “free appropriate public education,” as promised by the IDEA, so that these individuals obtain a meaningful education that will prepare them to live independently as productive members of society. The firm is comprised of lawyers, paralegals and advocates, all of whom are also parents of individuals with learning disabilities.

3. Article D:

Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Deduction Guidance on Special
Education Expenses

In March 2005, the IRS issued a new ruling that may help families with the costs which may be incurred for their child’s special needs in education. The private-letter written determination clarifies areas when special education costs may qualify as medical expense deductions. Although the private-letter ruling applies only to the taxpayers who requested it and should not be cited as precedent, tax advisers say it is a useful illustration of the IRS’s thinking. Available in PDF (3 pages, 18 KB). http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-wd/0521003.pdf

Carol J. Risley, Chief
Office of Human Rights and Advocacy Services

3. Article E:

The Age of Autism: March of the experts

http://news.monstersandcritics.com/lifestyle/consumerhealth/printer_1041993.php

By UPI

WASHINGTON , DC, United States (UPI) -- The news that the first child diagnosed with autism got better after medical treatment -- while leading experts didn’t make the connection -- suggests how research and reality have been distorted for decades.

As The Age of Autism reported Monday, the child known as Case 1 is alive and doing remarkably well in the same small Mississippi town he grew up in. Although we didn’t talk directly to "Donald T., " his brother told us that he had a miraculous response" to gold salts treatment at the age of 12.

It cleared up a devastating case of juvenile arthritis and -- astonishingly made a marked difference in Donald’s autism, he said.

"When he was finally released, the nervous condition he was formerly afflicted with was gone, " his brother said of the two- to three-month gold salts treatment in 1947.

"The proclivity to excitability and extreme nervousness had all but cleared up, and after that he went to school and had one more little flare-up (of arthritis) when in junior college. " He also became "more sociable," his brother said, and was invited to join a college fraternity.

That was 58 years ago, yet we’re not aware of any mention in the millions of words written about autism that this very first case may have gotten better following a novel medical treatment.

Instead, today’s mainstream medical experts dismiss the idea of biomedical interventions such as anti-inflammation and detoxification therapies as dangerous hooey perpetrated by quacks and charlatans.

Yet the treatment Donald got was patently biomedical: Medicine prescribed by a doctor to treat a physical illness appears to have had a positive effect on his mental disorder.

The official hostility to such approaches is currently so great that the only research under way on the topic is funded by parents. An official at the National Institutes of Mental Health told The New York Times last month that it "isn’t responsible\" to prescribe chelation, which is designed to eliminate heavy metals from children with autism.

Yet dozens of parents -- and, for that matter, dozens of doctors outside the mainstream treatment community -- say the treatments have made huge improvements.

Some of them have banded together at generationrescue.org; they argue that autism is mercury poisoning (primarily from a preservative that was used in vaccines) and that getting the mercury out has cured some children of autism and vastly improved the condition of others.

Other doctors, many of them connected with Defeat Autism Now!, a project of the Autism Research Institute, are using everything from special diets to B vitamins to folinic acid. They cite similar successes, and many parents agree.

These parents and doctors get the modern equivalent of what awaited the parents of early autistic children -- skepticism and scorn.

In the beginning, there was strong suspicion -- in many quarters, certainty -- that bad parenting caused autism. This came in part from the striking fact that so many of the parents of those early cases were successful, affluent, career-oriented professionals. Even more suspiciously, many of the mothers had college degrees and -- alert the mental-health authorities! -- their own careers.

"One other fact stands out prominently," wrote Leo Kanner, the child psychiatrist who first identified autism, beginning with Donald T., in his landmark 1943 paper on the disorder. "In the whole group, there are very few really warmhearted fathers and mothers. ... The question arises whether or to what extent this fact has contributed to the condition of the children."

While Kanner also noted that the children appeared to have been autistic from birth -- and thus the parents` personalities could not entirely explain their children’s disorder -- it set the stage for a tragic morality play over the next several decades.

The worst was Bruno Bettelheim, who wrote in "The Empty Fortress" in 1967:"I believe the initial cause of withdrawal is rather the child’s correct interpretation of the negative emotions with which the most significant figures in his environment approach him. ... The tragedy of children fated to become autistic is that such a view of the world happens to be correct for their world."

We couldn’t help thinking of all that when Donald’s brother told us Kanner suggested "the best thing that could happen" would be to place Donald with another family -- a childless farm couple. The parents complied, but it was only after the juvenile-arthritis attack four years later, and the subsequent gold-salts treatment, that Donald dramatically improved.

Yet Kanner attributed the change to "the intuitive wisdom of a tenant farmer couple, who knew how to make him utilize his futile preoccupations for practical purposes and at the same time helped him to maintain contact with his family."

It wasn’t until Bernard Rimland wrote Infantile Autism in 1964 that the idea of the "refrigerator mother" began to change -- slowly.

What makes Donald’s case all the more interesting is that none of the specialists his family took him to -- including the Mayo Clinic -- could identify the cause of his uncontrollable fever and joint pain when he was 12, his brother said. It wasn’t until Donald’s father happened to mention the affliction to a practicing physician in a nearby small town that juvenile arthritis, a rare autoimmune disorder, was identified. Here is how one of our correspondents summarized this sequence: 1. The world expert (Kanner) was incompetent with respect to medical assessment of illness. 2. He assumed that they needed to get Donald away from his parents. They really did think it was a parental abuse problem back then. 3. Kanner mistakenly attributed Donald’s progress to the "therapist" when it was really the medicine. 4. Recovery is possible with biomedical treatment.

5. Biomedical treatment ideas are not likely to come from the autism experts (Kanner) or the prestigious clinics (Mayo). They come from real medical doctors who know how to recognize real illness and autoimmunity in the kids.

Contrast that analysis with the standard dismissals when parents claim biomedical treatments have helped:

They may be indulging in wishful thinking -- wanting their child to improve so badly that they delude themselves; They may have tried another treatment such as behavior therapy that is actually responsible;

Their child may not have been very autistic in the first place.

Does anyone think Donald T., the first child diagnosed with autism, was not very autistic in the first place? Surely, Donald’s family was not "imagining" his improvement, since they weren’t even trying to treat his autism.

Of course, that intuitive, wise, childless farm couple may have made all the difference -- that is, if you think autism is caused by unwise, non-intuitive mothers and fathers (bad parents).

We don’t know what to make of Donald’s evident improvement -- and the fact that it has stayed buried for so long even as parents and researchers frantically turn over every stone to uncover treatments for this burgeoning, awful disorder.

We acknowledge we have not met Donald and are unable to vouch for his brother’s account, although we certainly found him credible and convincing.

But it does make us wonder whether much has changed.

These days, parents aren’t condemned for having autistic children – just for doing something about it without the permission of experts who are certain nothing can be done.

In upcoming columns we’ll look at the implications of Donald’s treatment.

E-mail: dolmsted@upi.com

3. Article F:

Autism Why Is It On The Rise?

Ela Schwartz
http://www.longislandpress.com/index.php?cp=188&show=article&a_id=5637

Luke Gilmore has come a long way in the past few years. The 5-year-old boy used to avoid eye contact and would spend his time staring out the window or racing distractedly around the house. Now he plays with other children and can even identify about 40 words by pointing them out to his teachers. But Luke's father, John Gilmore of Long Beach, says his son hasn't spoken a word since he was about a year old.

Luke has been diagnosed with autism, a neurodevelopmental disorder whose causes remain unknown.

Gilmore believes Luke's autism was caused by mercury poisoning via three vaccines containing thimerosal, a mercury-based preservative used in childhood vaccines since the 1930s. In 1999, the U.S. Public Health Service recommended that manufacturers reduce thimerosal content from about 25 micrograms per shot to trace amounts, although older vaccines may still be on the market. But the government has not officially identified mercury as a cause of autism. Indeed, many medical professionals and even other parents like the Gilmores say the correlation isn't clear.

Luke's parents began noticing changes after his first vaccination, at the age of 2 months, when he developed eczema and asthma. After another round of vaccinations, at 8 months of age, Luke stopped making eye contact and would alternate between being "spacey and hyperactive," says Gilmore. At about 1 year, Luke got his third round of vaccines and "all hell broke loose," as his father puts it.

"He'd just bounce off the walls constantly, had gastrointestinal problems and his eczema was out of control," Gilmore remembers. "We knew something was really wrong. We'd seen three distinct changes in our son after three rounds of vaccines."

Gilmore is not alone in his belief that autism is a medically caused catastrophe. Many parents with autistic children have joined groups that seek to eliminate mercury from vaccines altogether. Gilmore is president of one such group‹the New York Metro chapter of the National Autism Association. Others include the Coalition for SAFE MINDs (Sensible Action For Ending Mercury-Induced Neurological Disorders), NoMercury and Generation Rescue, all of whose members say their children were developing normally until regressing into the desolate world of autism between the ages of 2 and 7.

Their proactivity was rewarded this summer when Gov. George Pataki signed into law a bill limiting the use of thimerosal in vaccines for pregnant women and children. The bill was powered by Assemblyman Harvey Weisenberg. A former educator, Weisenberg is familiar with the needs and issues facing children with physical and mental disabilities. Determined to improve the quality of life for disabled people and their families, he spearheaded the recently passed legislation that limits the amounts of thimerosal in vaccines given to children under 3 or pregnant women.

"Although there's no evidence thimerosal is the cause, we're aware mercury is toxic and poison, so why inject this into a child?" he says. But some parents say this isn't enough. They want thimerosal banned in all 50 states and financial compensation for what they consider to be injuries caused by vaccines.

"I have three children with autism, so clearly there's a genetic basis," says Michele Iallonardi of Hauppauge. "But I believe that my children would not have autism if they hadn't been exposed to thimerosal. Some people are genetically predisposed‹their bodies don't have the ability to get rid of the thimerosal injected into them with their vaccines. My children are a perfect example."

Iallonardi says her eldest son, Jackson, 4, suffered developmental delays from early infancy, and because he had health problems, doctors recommended two dosages of the flu shot when he was 2 years old. "His behaviors got worse," she says, "and about a month later he was diagnosed with autism."

After that, Iallonardi stopped vaccinating her twins, Bennett and Luca, now 2, when they turned 3 months. She says their autism is not as severe as that of their sibling.

AUTISM ASCENDING
Autism was first described in the 1940s, but the condition was poorly understood and little known until the 1990s. At first, autistic children were thought to suffer from schizophrenia or emotional trauma. Then, aloof and unloving "refrigerator mothers" were blamed for their children's odd behavior.

Now considered a spectrum disorder, autism ranges from its "classic" state to Asperger's Syndrome, characterized by social and communication difficulties but average to superior intelligence. Children with the disorder may exhibit repetitive behaviors as well, such as hand-flapping, head-banging or rocking back and forth. Those with classic autism generally don't speak, seem unaware of the outside world and often require institutionalization.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), autism rates have climbed from about one in 2,500 children in the 1980s to between one and four in 500 today, but it's unclear whether the number of cases is rising or greater public awareness and broader diagnostic criteria have brought more cases to light.

Densely populated Long Island has a high number of autistic children. May-Lynn Andresen, a registered nurse and the senior administrative manager at the Fay J. Lindner Center for Autism at North Shore-Long Island Jewish (NSLIJ) Health System in Bethpage, is the parent of a child with an autism spectrum disorder. Based on stats provided by the CDC, Andresen estimates that there may be as many as 18,000 autistic children in Nassau, Suffolk and Queens. "Autism is a big issue for us here," she says.

EVIDENCE OF HARM
David Kirby, a Brooklyn-based journalist, first heard about the thimerosal theory in 2002. He was skeptical until learning that a rider tacked on to the Homeland Security Act‹dubbed the "Eli Lilly Protection Act" after the primary manufacturer‹absolved pharmaceutical companies from liability for damages caused by the vaccine additive. The rider was repealed in 2003.

Kirby chronicled the experiences of parents who formed the Coalition for SAFE MINDs in Evidence of Harm‹Mercury in Vaccines and the Autism Epidemic: A Medical Controversy. Published in April 2005, the book investigates claims that the FDA failed to total up the amounts of thimerosal in the increasing number of vaccines given to children and conduct safety studies, thus exposing children to amounts of thimerosal that far exceeded federal safety limits.

The book also alleges that the CDC manipulated data from the federal Vaccine Safety Database to eliminate a statistically significant link between thimerosal and autism, ADHD and speech delay, and that the CDC refused to disclose data and records until required to do so under the Freedom of Information Act. Kirby says government officials refused requests for interviews.

"I would have been willing to publish anything they had to say," he says, stressing that "evidence" of harm is not the same as "proof." People should reach their own conclusions after reading the book, in which Kirby does not take an anti-vaccine stance, he adds.

"If I had children, I would have them vaccinated," Kirby says. "Children can lose their sight or hearing, become disfigured, even die from these diseases."

Thanks to vaccinations, few of us recall the days when catching diseases such as diphtheria or measles was a childhood rite of passage. Smallpox has been eradicated; polio is rarely seen outside of the Third World. But when vaccination rates drop, diseases regain a foothold, as Japan, England and Sweden discovered when whooping cough and measles re-appeared after parents fearful of side effects stopped inoculating their children.

IN SEARCH OF ANSWERS
While there have been many studies aimed at unearthing the causes of autism, none has proven a link between the disorder and thimerosal. For the most part, the medical community attributes autism to genetic factors, and statistics do show a correlation. According to the CDC, if one child in a family has autism, the odds that a sibling will be affected increase significantly.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) and independent researchers, who are trying to identify genes that could cause autistic symptoms, say these traits often run in families. That's something many parents of autistic children acknowledge, even as they insist there's more to blame for the condition than just chromosomes and genes.

Not everyone in the autism community believes that mercury's to blame. Many cite the fact that the CDC and other public health organizations conducted five major epidemiological (large-population) studies examining the health records of hundreds of thousands of children in the United States, the United Kingdom, Sweden and Denmark. According to the Institute of Medicine (IOM), which pored over the data, those studies show no proof that autism is linked to thimerosal.

Proponents of the theory that thimerosal and autism are linked counter that the IOM failed to give equal weight to biological and toxicological laboratory studies showing the negative neurological effects of thimerosal.

"Autism could be caused by any number of factors, but the potential for thimerosal to be one of them is there, based on research done by qualified professionals," says Chris Petrosino, the parent of a son with autism and co-president of the Nassau/Suffolk chapter of the 500-members-strong Autism Society of America, which supported the legislation to remove thimerosal from vaccines.

Those on the other side of the fence say mercury-blaming parents are upset‹seeing your child regress into autism is traumatic‹but that emotion is no substitute for science and facts.

Retired Roslyn dentist Marvin Schissel is an adviser to the American Council on Science and Health and the National Council Against Health Fraud. His adult son was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder at age 25. Schissel sees no point in funding more thimerosal studies, since the preservative has been removed from most vaccines and studies have shown no concrete connection.

"Why keep wasting money and energy with this issue when we could be investigating other, more promising areas?" Schissel asks.

Marty Schwartzman, too, has his doubts about the thimerosal theory. The Bayside resident, president of the Long Island chapter of the National Alliance for Autism Research (NAAR), says his twins, Allyson and Robby, now 12, did not show signs of regression after receiving vaccinations.

"They were both delayed, but then, for some reason, Allyson took off," Schwartzman says. Now a typical seventh-grader, Allyson wants to work with autistic children when she grows up. Her brother has autism and attends the School for Language and Communication Development in Glen Cove.

Schwartzman, however, considers himself open-minded and doesn't discount any potential links to the disorder that affects his son. "I go to a lot of presentations and read papers [about autism], and [many things] sound plausible, but I'm not a chemist and I don't understand the structure of cells," he says. "I think we need to explore the cause of autism to the fullest extent."

Those who do blame thimerosal are encouraged by new developments. The Los Angeles Times published a Merck company memo warning of the dangers of high mercury doses through increased immunizations. The memo was dated 1991, eight years before the FDA recommended that thimerosal be removed from vaccines.

In California, autism rates are dropping, in keeping with the prediction of lower rates after thimerosal’s phase-out. The University of Texas found that school districts in environments with high mercury levels had the highest rates of special-education services, and that autism rates increased by 17 percent for every 1,000 pounds of mercury released. The emissions came from coal-burning plants, with Texas releasing more than any other state.

FUTURE FALLOUT
Autism affects more than the child diagnosed with it. Parents exhaust themselves trying to fill the child's needs. Siblings feel neglected. Financial and marital woes often set in because insurance seldom pays for expensive newer therapies and one parent may have to quit work to care for the child.

And our society is responsible for caring for a staggering number of autistic individuals. Robert Krakow, an attorney who represents vaccine-injury cases and is the father of a child with autism, is also chairman of the boar