Researchers Gain Insight Into Why Brain Areas Fail To Work Together in Autism – Researchers have found in two studies that autism may involve a lack of connections and coordination in separate areas of the brain.

The Age of Autism: Gold standards – A published scientific paper suggests gold salts — the treatment that may have prompted improvement in the first child ever diagnosed with autism — can affect mental conditions.

Debated Autism Therapy Gives Hopes to Parents – Gavin Wilken is out in his backyard, unknowingly demonstrating extraordinary accomplishments. The 6-year-old is goofing around with his little sister, Lindsey. He’s talking. He’s laughing. He’s playing chase. Their mother, Tami Wilken, watches from the kitchen, expressing amazement at how normal Gavin seems. You should have seen him a few years ago, she says. He quit speaking. He failed to respond to his name. He would hold a pen in front of his face and spin it for hours on end.

Invisible Export – A Hidden Cost of China’s Growth: Mercury Migration – The airborne output of Chinese power plants like Wuhu Shaoda was once considered the price of China’s economic growth, and a mostly local problem. But just as China’s industrial might is integrating the country into the global economy, its pollution is also becoming a global concern. Among the biggest worries: the impact of China’s vast and growing power industry, mostly fueled by coal, on the buildup of mercury in the world’s water and food supply.

The Age of Autism: A Glimpse of the Amish – Recently, a man named Dick Warner got in touch with us. He has been following this column’s search for Amish people with autism and said he might have something to contribute.

The Age of Autism: Oaklawn – Finally. I found a place that could tell me all about Amish people with autism.

The Age of Autism: Amish Ways – This column in recent weeks has focused on two related questions: Is the prevalence of autism lower among the Amish, and, if so, how do they differ from the rest of us?

The Age of Autism: One in 15,000 Amish – The autism rate for U.S. children is 1 in 166, according to the federal government. The autism rate for the Amish around Middlefield, Ohio, is 1 in 15,000, according to Dr. Heng Wang.

The Age of Autism: Feedback on the Amish Parts 1 & 2 – Readers of this column have reacted strongly to our series of reports on autism among the Amish. So far, we have found only a handful of cases of autism and have quoted some experts who think it is nearly non-existent in this group.

David Kirby Responds to R.F.K. Jr.’s Article and Says “Bring It On” – Last month, at the Autism One conference in Chicago, I issued a challenge to the thimerosal naysayers. Borrowing from a certain leader of the Free World, I said, simply, “Bring it on.” So here is the challenge, repeated again. Dr. Julie Gerberding (CDC Director), Dr. Steve Cochi (head of the CDC vaccine program), Dr. Marie McCormick (head of the IOM panel that dismissed the thimerosal theory), Dr. Paul Offit (a leading pediatrician who passionately derides the theory) or any other prominent person who insists that there is no evidence of harm from injecting organic mercury directly into the systems of infant children at levels far in excess of federal safety limits: Let’s talk. You pick the time, place and speakers. You can even set the ground rules. All I ask is that you come forth, and let’s get this over with.

Deadly Immunity: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Investigates the Government Cover-up of a Mercury/Autism Scandal – “I devoted time to study this issue because I believe that this is a moral crisis that must be addressed. If, as the evidence suggests, our public-health authorities knowingly allowed the pharmaceutical industry to poison an entire generation of American children, their actions arguably constitute one of the biggest scandals in the annals of American medicine.”

Children with Autism Have Distinctly Different Immune System Reactions Compared to Typical Children – A new study by researchers at the University of California, Davis, M.I.N.D. Institute and the NIEHS Center for Children’s Environmental Health demonstrate that children with autism have different immune system responses than children who do not have the disorder. This is important evidence that autism, currently defined primarily by distinct behaviors, may potentially be defined by distinct biologic changes as well.

Brochure for Health Care Professionals: “Your Next Patient Has Autism…” (PDF; size=247k) – The Education Subcommittee of the North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System (NSLIJHS) Autism Steering Committee has recently completed work on its first educational initiative. “Your Next Patient Has Autism…” is a trifold brochure developed for the many health professionals – nurses, physicians, technicians and others – who provide services for children on the autism spectrum. It is especially designed for those who only occasionally treat this population. Physical assessment, diagnostic imaging, and a variety of other interventions – both invasive and non-invasive – may induce fear and anxiety in people with autism. Their behavioral responses to such experiences often interfere with needed care and increase the risk of physical and/or psychological trauma. “Your Next Patient Has Autism…” provides caregivers with a brief synopsis of autism together with specific recommendations for managing the special needs of these patients in the context of in-patient or out-patient healthcare. Thanks to Beth Kimmel of ASA-Oakland for suggesting this resource.

Autism Spectrum Disorders (Pervasive Developmental Disorders) – Describes symptoms, causes, and treatments, with information on getting help and coping.

NINDS Pervasive Developmental Disorders Information Page – Includes: What are Pervasive Developmental Disorders? Is there any treatment? What is the prognosis? What research is being done? Organizations, Related NINDS Publications and Information, and Publicaciones en Español.

Research Supports Link in Autism to Mercury – Children with autism may process mercury differently than most children, leaving them susceptible to damage from preservatives in vaccines and other sources of the heavy metal, according to a controversial new report released Monday.

Desperate Measures – Armed with a new study, some parents say vaccines trigger autism. But is skipping shots the answer?

Cost Benefit Estimates for Early Intensive Behavioral Intervention for Young Children with Autism – Research indicates that with early, intensive intervention based on the principles of applied behavior analysis, substantial numbers of children with autism or PDD-NOS can attain intellectual, academic, communication, social, and daily living skills within the normal range. Representative costs from Pennsylvania, including costs for educational and adult developmental disability services, are applied in a cost-benefit model, assuming average participation in early intensive behavioral intervention (EIBI) for three years between the age of 2 years and school entry. The model applied assumes a range of EIBI effects, with some children ultimately participating in regular education without supports, some in special education, and some in intensive special education. At varying rates of effectiveness and in constant dollars, this model estimates that cost savings range from $187,000 to $203,000 per child for ages 3-22 years, and from $656,000 to $1,082,000 per child for ages 3-55 years.

Arizona State University: Autism Baby Hair Study – A summary of preliminary results as shared with program participants. “Our preliminary conclusion is that many children with autism had low mercury in their baby hair, probably due to impaired excretion. The impaired excretion is probably partly due to excessive oral antibiotics, although genetics or other factors may also play a role.”

Mercury Linked to Autism-Like Damage in Mice – Institute of Medicine Says Study Does Not Support Link Between Mercury, Autism in Humans.

Too Much Testosterone Blights Social Skills – Levels of testosterone in the womb may have profound effects on a person’s social development. The findings might also explain why men are four times as likely as women to suffer from autism.

U.S. Will Pay For Study to Seek Cause of Autism – A major U.S.-financed study designed to unearth the roots of autism will track 100,000 babies in Norway to identify biological and environmental factors that could combine to cause autism and other developmental disorders. The Autism Birth Cohort, led by researchers at the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University, will follow kids and their parents for five years, beginning during the mother’s pregnancy.

More and More Autism Cases, Yet Causes Are Much Debated – No one disputes it. Cases of autism, the baffling and often devastating neurological disorder that strikes in early childhood, are rising sharply. [New York Times article; requires free account to read it online.]

UK MMR RIP? – A conspiracy of silence or paranoid scaremongering? Is the MMR vaccine a cause of autism – or is it a vital health program undermined by this medical maverick?

Autism: A Study That Discounts a Suspected Cause of the Disorder Gives Way to More Questions Than Answers – In recent years, autism research has been a battleground. A vocal group of parents, advocates and a few scientists focused on vaccines containing traces of mercury as the lead suspects in the disorder. But most autism researchers were suspicious, arguing that the theory didn’t fit the evidence.

Learn About Chelation Therapy: Chelation Therapy is but one of the therapies available for children with Autism or those who have been exposed to lead poisoning. Chelation Therapy, as it relates to Autism, is not seen as a “cure” for Autism but as a way to remove the mercury that has been placed into the body by vaccines. As related to lead poisoning, Chelation Therapy removes the lead from the body.

Thimerosal in Childhood Vaccines, Neurodevelopment Disorders, and Heart Disease in the U.S. – In the United States, a tragic and massive autism epidemic is currently underway…. along with other neurodevelopmental disorders such as speech disorders, attention deficit syndrome, developmental delays, etc. Our best estimates are that thimerosal has contributed to about 75% of these cases of neurodevelopmental disorders while the MMR contributed to about 15%…. Yet, in 2003, three manufactures of childhood vaccines still are being made with full doses of thimerosal. These are as follows: Diphtheria-Tetanus-acellular-Pertussis (DTaP) manufactured by Aventis-Pasteur in multi-dose vials contains 25 micrograms of mercury, Haemophilus-influenza-Type b (HibTITTER) in multi-dose vials manufactured by Wyeth contains 25 micrograms of mercury, and pediatric hepatitis B vaccine manufactured by Merck contains 12.5 micrograms of mercury. These vaccines represent approximately half of the childhood vaccines currently available for use in the United States…. Additionally, influenza vaccines contain 25 micrograms of mercury preservative.

General Immunization Philosophy (pdf size=46kb) by Dr. Bryan Jepson from the Children’s Biomedical Center of Utah – excerpt: Since I have started treating autistic children, many people have asked me about my personal philosophy regarding immunizations. I am an emergency physician by training and continue to spend most of my professional life in that arena. Therefore, I am very familiar with acute infectious illness. I know how devastating it can be to have a previously healthy person become violently ill or die from a preventable illness.

Mercury and Autism – In a study that adds to the debate over the origins of autism, researchers have concluded that infants who received vaccines containing a mercury-based preservative did not have unsafe mercury levels in their blood.

The Hands-On Parent Education (HOPE) Center, a program offered by Beaumont Hospital’s Center for Human Development, provides intervention for families with preschool-age children diagnosed with autism. The mission of the HOPE Center is to teach parents how to use principles of applied behavior analysis (ABA) with their children in a playful, interactive, and developmentally-appropriate fashion. ABA is a treatment with scientific evidence supporting its effectiveness. However, it is very time-intensive. Parents are therefore the focus of teaching at the HOPE Center, as they are usually with their children for more hours each day than any teacher or therapist. Behavioral specialists work intensively with a small number of families, in a preschool-type setting. Children and their parents attend three hours a day, five days a week, for 12 weeks. After receiving 180 hours of hands-on training, the intervention program is transitioned to the home, and ongoing behavioral consultation is provided from the HOPE Center staff. For more information, call Beaumont’s Center for Human Development at 248-691-4744.

U.S. American Academy of Pediatrics Will Look for MMR/Autism Link

Study: New Drug May Aid Autistic Children – Schizophrenia Medicine Found to Control Outbursts Associated With Disorder.