EBD Blog

The University of Louisville (KY, US) is advertising a position in Autism. The position is for a clinical child psychologist and it is a faculty position. The person would direct the Kentucky Autism Training Center (KATC) for the College of Education & Human Development, University of Louisville. Check the announcement at SpedPro.org.

The annual meeting of Teacher Educators for Children with Behavioral Disorders (TECBD), now named after Rob Rutherford who founded it, will be held 15-17 November 2007 in Tempe (AZ, US). Steve Forness, Cheryl George, and John Maag are among the people who’ll be speaking this year.

Every year, EBDBlog has announced the call for papers, so this is nothing new. There is still time to propose a presentation for this year’s meeting. Potential presenters may submit proposals for sessions using the TECBD site.

Link to the Web site for TECBD. Link for proposing presentations.

Roy Kerry, the physician who administered a chelation therapy to the child Tariq Nadama shortly before the 5-year-old boy died, surrendered to police 23 August 2007 in Pittsburgh (PA, US). Dr. Kerry was charged with involutary manslaughter and is being sued by the boy’s parents. Here is a snippet from the Washington (DC, US) Post:

A doctor was charged with involuntary manslaughter in connection with administering a chemical treatment that state police say killed a 5-year-old autistic boy. The child, Abubakar Tariq Nadama, went into cardiac arrest at Roy E. Kerry’s medical office immediately after undergoing chelation therapy on Aug. 23, 2005. Chelation is approved by the Food and Drug Administration for treating acute heavy-metal poisoning but not for treating autism. Some people who believe autism is caused by a mercury-containing preservative once used in vaccines say chelation may help autistic children. The boy’s parents had moved from England to the Pittsburgh area to seek treatment for his autism. They have filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against Kerry, and the state is trying to revoke his medical license.

The story in the Post appeared in section called “Nation in Brief.” There is a longer story under the headline “Doctor surrenders in autistic boy’s chemical treatment” in the Somerset (PA, US) Daily American.

On US National Public Radio’s Morning Edition Wednesday 15 August 2007, Larry Abramson provided a glimpse into some current efforts to promote education for students with Autism. He describes progress made by a boy with Autism and effort to disseminate the behaviorally based educational methods that helped him. Here’s a snippet.

There are more than half a million children in this country diagnosed with some degree of autism, and that number keeps on growing. Many of the most severe cases must be educated in private schools, and local public schools must pick up much of the tab. But now, many public schools are preparing to educate these kids themselves. The May Institute, a Boston-area research and education center for children with serious developmental delays, is helping them get ready.

Included mong the interviews is a segment in whicgh Mr. Abramson talked with Glen Dunlap, an authority on Autism. Professor Dunlap has done outstanding work on treating children with Autism, so listen closely.

I listened to the coverage twice this morning. Some advocates for Autism, especially those who resist (or even reject) using methods based on applied behavior analysis, will find this treatment challenging. To be sure, there are some less-solid points in the story, but it’s valuable for its likely benefits in increased awareness.

Catch the full story by going to NPR’s Web site.

What happens when a child with Autism grows up? In “Raising Adam,” Charlene Arsenault explores this issue by examining the case of Adam Davis and his family. Ms. Arsenault’s article, which appeared in the Worchester Magazine (published by Worcehster State College, MA, US) 09 August 2007, has a good combination of tugs on the heartstrings and the difficult real-life problems encountered in providing care for adults with disabilities.

But Adam’s 27 now, and Nancy finds herself stepping toward the most major decision of her life. For parents with severely handicapped children, there usually comes a time where they’ve got to put their faith in another caregiver — when their “kids” have got to move to another living situation for everyone’s sanity. Adam has to move on so that Nancy herself can finally live. He is so ingrained in her daily existence that she has little separation from him; and he is an integral part of his sister Sarah’s and father Rich’s lives as well.

Although the problems are substantial—they must sometimes be overwhelming—for the individuals and their families, there are also problems for public policy. Contemporary emphasis on de-institutionalization, normalization, community services, inclusion, and other similarly widely championed movements add to the problems. Is an in-home placement the appropriate one for everybody? Is a community living environment right for individuals with the most substantial needs for help?

Ms. Arsenault does not directly address these and other related questions, but her story does provide a valuable glimpse at some of the problems that lie just beneath the stories of individuals like Adam and their families. Read the article here.

The print version of the New Yorker for 13 August 2007 includes an article called “An Error in the Code” with a sub-heading of “A syndrome poses questions about free will.” In the article, Richard Preston examines developments in medicine’s understanding of Lesch-Nyhan syndrome, the baffling genetic disorder that is characterized by involuntary movements (choreoathetosis) and severe self-injury. Mr. Preston’s article is not available on line, so readers interested in reviewing it will need to buy the paper version.

The US National Institute of Neurological Disease and Stroke has a page entitled “Lesch-Nyhan Syndrome Information Page“; the US National Library of Medicine provides an article about the syndrome; and, of course, there is an entry at Wikipedia.

Under the headline, “What Autistic Girls Are Made Of” in the New York (NY, US) Times, Emily Bazelon has a feature article about selected issues that are associated with Autism among females. Ms. Bazelon, who also writes for Slate, provided a sensitive and nuanced portrait that includes discussions with experts but repeatedly returns to the case of a girl name Caitlyn.
Continue reading ‘Autistic girls’

Prepare to open your browser window wide: The Autism Calendar for August 2007 is available here.

Canadian TV published a brief post under the headline “Ontario to expand autism therapists training” indicating that the Ministry of Children and Youth Services (MCYS) will fund training at several locations in Ontario (CA).

A college certificate program in Ontario is being expanded to train more therapists to treat children with autism spectrum disorder.

The expansion of the program to three more colleges brings the total number of participating colleges to 12 across Ontario.

I see that Fanshawe College, for example, offers a program in human and community services that includes a foci on careers (e.g., “developmental services worker”) that would include work with individuals with Autism, but nothing particularly specific about nature of the training.

Are these programs for paraprofessionals? On what do they focus? Do these programs provide training in evidence-based practices?

Perhaps someone who knows about these programs could enlighten me.

Link to the CTV story. Link to the English version of MCYS page on Autism. Snag the PDF document describing Farnshawe’s human services programs.