| The Longest Day of Golf is tomorrow, June 21st!
Come on by the Collindale golf course and order a meal from C&B Pott's family friendly menu and check on the progress of the golfers.
C&B Pott's serves great food for breakfast, lunch & dinner and our "Four Friends for Autism" team will be starting around 5 am & will cont...inue for 16 hours until around 9:00 pm. You can also shop for boutique quality merchandise from the MaXarT ~ "autism is beautiful" display. In addition, chair massages by Meta-Morphose Touch, massage therapy will be available for purchase starting at 5:30 pm
Come mornning, noon and or early evening and show your support. Can't make it? Donate online at www.autismlarimer. org via pay pal.
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| Here's your event reminder... |  | | | | | | Help Beat Autism
When: Sunday, May 23, 2010 3:00 PM
Where: Avogadro's Number | | | Enjoy!
- The Eventful team | | | | | | | | | 
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 |  | | National Mom's Nite Out at Pump It Up!
Special event! 
Pump It Up is excited to participate in National Mom's Nite Out, the first nationally organized celebration of motherhood. National Mom's Nite Out is designed to give mom a nite off so she can enjoy some time to herself. Pump It Up is proud to offer an inflatably fun time for the rest of her family, join us on National Mom's Nite Out and bounce the night away. Date: Friday, May 7, 2010. Time: 5:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Cost: $10 per person Inlcudes: Pizza & beverage, Mother's Days craft, face painting for the little ones, and even a bag of goodies to take home to Mom!! Reservations are recommended. Space is limited so CALL NOW! Or visit our website for more information. |  | | SPECIAL EVENT |  | Mom's Nite Out Give her the nite off! Friday, May 7, 2010
5:00 pm - 8:00 pm | | | | | | Pump It Up of Fort Collins, 1420 Riverside Ave., #114
Fort Collins, Co. 80524
pumpitupparty.com |  | | | To opt-out of future Pump It Up marketing emails, click here: opt-out |
Demystifying Autism:
An Inside-Out Perspective
Live Video Webcast Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Featuring: William Stillman
High-Functioning Autistic, National Expert,
Best-Selling Author, Speaker and Advocate Register now 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. (EST) Break from 11:50 a.m. until 1 p.m.
Join nationally-known autism spectrum speaker and author William Stillman for a powerful and inspiring "inside-out" approach to understanding autism. As a person with Asperger's Syndrome, Stillman passionately advances a humanistic exploration of the autism spectrum from the perspective of those who experience it: - What is it like to experience autism?
- What are "severe behaviors" communicating?
- What is considered best practice in supporting others' communication, sensory sensitivities, learning and movement differences?
Stillman shatters myths, decodes misinterpretations, and illuminates many unique insights supported by anecdotes from people with autism as well as his own experiences. More importantly perhaps, Stillman shows us how we are all more alike than different, and participants will leave the day having experienced their own "autisms." Outline Autism in Brief - Clinical stuff
- DSM definitions
- What drives extreme "autistic behaviors"?
- Non-clinical, humanistic stuff
- What the DSM doesn't reveal (includes film and simulation)
- The importance of presuming intellect
Understanding Autism - Communication differences
- Exploring alternatives to speech
- Understanding the secret social code of language and eye contact
- Learning differences
- Appreciating the "art of self-teaching"
- How people with autism best think, learn, process and retain information
- Movement differences
- Rethinking "idiosyncratic" movement
- Rationales for perseveration and "stimming"
- Sensory Differences
- Explaining the impact of sensory sensitivities
- Understanding prevention versus intervention (includes simulation)
Additional Information and Wrap-Up - Commonly experienced forms of pain and discomfort
- Why pain may go unreported
- Commonly experienced forms of mental health issues
- How to delineate from autism
- Common neurological disconnects we all endure
- Speaker disclosure and autobiographic anecdotes
Objectives - List the symptoms and sensory sensitivities associated with autism.
- Define the procedures to presume intellect and enhance relationships.
- Explain how persons with autism think and learn.
- Review best practice approaches including adaptations and accommodations.
- Interpret and apply such best practices in an individualized, person-centered approach.
- Identify individual passions (not obsessions) to successfully develop them.
- Discuss clinical myths versus humanistic interpretations of autism.
Speaker: William Stillman is a nationally-known autism spectrum speaker and author with Asperger's Syndrome, and has over 20 years of experience advising parents and support teams on positive, proactive approaches. His books include Demystifying the Autistic Experience, The Everything Parent's Guide to Children with Asperger's Syndrome, When Your Child has Asperger's Syndrome, The Everything Parent's Guide to Children with Bipolar Disorder, The Soul of Autism, Empowered Autism Parenting, and Autism and the God Connection. He also hosts a column in the national publication, The Autism Perspective magazine. Stillman has a B.S. in Education. William provides highly-acclaimed seminars and private consultation nationwide. He served as a point person for the state of Pennsylvania on children with intellectual impairment, mental health issues and autism.
$169.99
How to register:
Online http://online.pesi.com
Phone 1-877-880-1335.
Please have your credit card available.
Fax 1-800-554-9775
Mailing address:
PO Box 1000
Eau Claire, WI 54702
One CE certificate included. $19.99 per CE certificate for each additional participant. What is a Live Video Webcast?
Just like a live seminar, you attend a webcast at a scheduled time, only you do it from a web page on your computer. Webcasts include video and audio of the speakers, slides, and seminar handout materials — all on your computer!
Top 3 reasons to participate in the live video webcast: - Earn CE right from your desk
- Train multiple staff for one low price
- Get the most-up-to-date, cutting-edge information
Information and registration information
Credit Information
Full Credit Info Credits listed for this event have been approved for this program. If interested in credit availability for professions not listed, please contact cepesi@pesi.com or 800-844-8260 prior to the event. Per board regulations, additional credit inquires submitted after the date of the event cannot be honored. For all other inquiries, please contact info@pesi.com.
Register now *** Advertisement ***
 PESI, LLC
PO Box 1000
EAU CLAIRE, WI 54702
1.800.844.8260 - info@pesi.com
Please do not reply to this email as it is not a monitored mailbox. If this email was sent to you in error or if you do not wish to receive further notices, please Click Here to take your address off our list. Thank you! President, Autism Society of Larimer County If you have questions regarding our services please call 970-377-9640 I GoodSearch & GoodShop for the Autism Society of Larimer County Raise money for the ASLC just by searching the Internet with GoodSearch.com (powered by Yahoo), or shopping online with GoodShop.com
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You are invited to join us First Friday April 2nd for ART ON THE SPECTRUM a night of great art and community education Time: 6:00 pm - 10:00 pm Location: The Gallery Underground Street: 109 Linden Street, Fort Collins In honor of Autism Awareness month the Autism Society of Larimer County and the Gallery Underground presents Art on the Spectrum. Art on the Spectrum will feature guest artists including local autistic professor Dr. Temple Grandin (recently documented in the HBO film with Claire Danes) as well as 15 local creative children who fall on the Autistic spectrum. We initially received over 50 entries and we had the tough job of choosing our favorites from these. Their art will be for sale on the guest wall and proceeds will be donated to the Autism Society of Larimer County. The show is designed primarily as an awareness event with hopes of raising funds for to assist families and individuals with autism in Larimer County.
Sponsored by our great friends at New Belgium Brewery
We lock the doors at 10pm, be sure to be here by then! Art on the Spectrum Featured Artists Kenzie Anderson Cameron Cotton Johnathan Evans Dr. Temple Grandin Tavian Gipson Besa H. Jiu Lee Nathan Molineaux
Kaylee Noble
Luke Scafidi Brody Stevens Max Timm Keith Tuttle Matthew W.
Anthony Zimmerman Coming Mid April All art submitted to the Art on the Spectrum will be on display at the Front Range Village in Fort Collins. Stay posted for dates
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Court Says Thimerosal Did Not Cause Autism
By Randolph E. Schmid, AP. is.gd/aF3IM
| The vaccine additive thimerosal is not to blame for autism, a special federal court ruled Friday in a long-running battle by parents convinced |
|  | there is a connection.
While expressing sympathy for the parents involved in the emotionally charged cases, the court concluded they had failed to show a connection between the mercury-containing preservative and autism.
"Such families must cope every day with tremendous challenges in caring for their autistic children, and all are deserving of sympathy and admiration," special master George Hastings Jr. wrote.
But, he added, Congress designed the victim compensation program only for families whose injuries or deaths can be shown to be linked to a vaccine and that has not been done in this case.
The ruling came in the so-called vaccine court, a special branch of the U.S. Court of Federal Claims established to handle claims of injury from vaccines. It can be appealed in federal court.
The parents presented expert witnesses who argued mercury can have a variety of effects on the brain, but the ruling said none of them offered opinions on the cause of autism in the three specific cases argued. They testified that mercury can affect a number of biological processes, including abnormal metabolism in children.
Special master Denise K. Vowell noted that in order to succeed in their action, the parents would have to show "the exquisitely small amounts of mercury" that reach the brain from vaccines can produce devastating effects that far larger amounts ... from other sources do not. The ruling said the parents were arguing that the effects from mercury in vaccines differ from mercury's known effects on the brain. Vowell concluded that the parents had failed to establish that their child's condition was caused or aggravated by mercury from vaccines.
Friday's decision that autism is not caused by thimerosal alone follows a parallel ruling in 2009 that autism is not caused by the combination of vaccines with thimerosal and other vaccines.
The cases had been divided into three theories about a vaccine-autism relationship for the court to consider. The 2009 ruling rejected a theory that thimerasol can cause autism when combined with the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine. After that, a theory that certain vaccines alone cause autism was dropped. Friday's decision covers the last of the three theories, that thimerosal-containing vaccines alone can cause autism.
The ruling doesn't necessarily mean an end to the dispute, however, with appeals to other courts available.
The new ruling was welcomed by Dr. Paul Offit of Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, who said the autism theory had "already had its day in science court and failed to hold up."
But the controversy has cast a pall over vaccines, causing some parents to avoid them, he noted, "it's very hard to unscare people after you have scared them."
On the other side of the issue, a group backing the parents' theory charged that the vaccine court was more interested in government policy than protecting children.
"The deck is stacked against families in vaccine court. Government attorneys defend a government program, using government-funded science, before government judges," Rebecca Estepp, of the Coalition for Vaccine Safety said in a statement.
SafeMinds, another group supporting the parents, expressed disappointment at the new ruling.
"The denial of reasonable compensation to families was based on inadequate vaccine safety science and poorly designed and highly controversial epidemiology," the goup said.
The advocacy group Autism Speaks said "the proven benefits of vaccinating a child to protect them against serious diseases far outweigh the hypothesized risk that vaccinations might cause autism. Thus, we strongly encourage parents to vaccinate their children to protect them from serious childhood diseases."
However, while research has found no overall connection between autism and vaccines, the group said it would back research to determine if some individuals might be at increased risk because of genetic or medical conditions.
Meanwhile, in reaction to the concerns of parents, thimerosal has been removed from most vaccines in the United States.
In Friday's action the court ruled in three different cases, each concluding that the preservative has no connection to autism.
The trio of rulings can offer reassurance to parents scared about vaccinating their babies because of a small but vocal anti-vaccine movement. Some vaccine-preventable diseases, including measles, are on the rise.
The U.S. Court of Claims is different from many other courts: The families involved didn't have to prove the inoculations definitely caused the complex neurological disorder, just that they probably did.
More than 5,500 claims have been filed by families seeking compensation through the government's Vaccine Injury Compensation Program, and the rulings dealt with test cases to settle which if any claims had merit.
Autism is best known for impairing a child's ability to communicate and interact. Recent data suggest a 10-fold increase in autism rates over the past decade, although it's unclear how much of the surge reflects better diagnosis.
Worry about a vaccine link first arose in 1998 when a British physician, Dr. Andrew Wakefield, published a medical journal article linking a particular type of autism and bowel disease to the measles vaccine. The study was later discredited.
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| Russell and Robalee Bruesewitz sit with their 18-year-old daughter Hannah, center, at their home on Lebanon Avenue in Mt. Lebanon on Monday. The U.S. Supreme Court will hear a case brought by the Bruesewitzs on Hannah's behalf.
The Supreme Court will decide whether drug makers can be sued by parents who claim their children suffered serious health problems from vaccines.
The justices on Monday agreed to hear an appeal from parents in Pittsburgh who want to sue Wyeth over the serious side effects their daughter, six months old at the time, allegedly suffered as a result of the company's diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis vaccine.
The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia ruled against Robalee and Russell Bruesewitz, saying a 1986 federal law bars their claims.
That law set up a special vaccine court to handle disputes as part of its aim of insuring a stable vaccine supply by shielding companies from most lawsuits.
Wyeth, now owned by Pfizer, Inc., prevailed at the appeals court but also joined in asking the court to hear the case, saying it presents an important and recurring legal issue that should be resolved.
The Obama administration joined the parties in calling for high court review, although the government takes the side of the manufacturers.
Only one state appeals court, the Georgia Supreme Court, has ruled that families can sue in a vaccine case. The vaccine industry has fiercely opposed the Georgia ruling in the case of Marcelo and Carolyn Ferrari. They claim their son suffered neurological damage after receiving vaccine booster shots made by pharmaceutical companies Wyeth and GlaxoSmithKline that contained the preservative thimerosal.
The family has since withdrawn its lawsuit, possibly in an effort to avoid an unfavorable Supreme Court ruling, although the Georgia court's opinion allowing similar lawsuits remains in force.
The court did not act on the companies' appeal Monday, but the decision in the other case almost certainly will apply to the Georgia case.
According to the lawsuit, Hannah Bruesewitz was a healthy infant until she received the vaccine in April 1992. Within hours of getting the DPT shot, the third in a series of five, the baby suffered a series of debilitating seizures. Now a teenager, Hannah suffers from residual seizure disorder, the suit says.
The vaccine court earlier rejected the family's claims.
Wyeth lost another high court fight last year over whether federal law barred lawsuits against drug makers. That case, involving a botched injection, asked whether federal law included an implicit prohibition on the lawsuits. The court said it did not.
In this appeal, however, Congress clearly laid out how claims over vaccines were to be made, and the court has repeatedly ruled against plaintiffs when Congress has explicitly sought to bar lawsuits.
Other than the Georgia court, state and federal courts have uniformly invoked a provision of the 1986 federal law, which seems to bar most lawsuits against vaccine makers.
The idea behind the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act was to ensure a stable supply of childhood vaccines by shielding drug makers from most lawsuits, and setting up a federal vaccine court to handle disputes. The law would serve to block state laws that otherwise would give families the ability to sue the manufacturers.
In recent years, the legal fight has frequently come from families of autistic children claiming that mercury-based thimerosal is linked to autism. Numerous studies have addressed vaccines and autism and found no link, including with the preservative.
Thimerosal has been removed in recent years from standard childhood vaccines, except flu vaccines that are not packaged in single doses.
Last year, special masters appointed by the vaccine court concluded that vaccines aren't to blame for autism, disappointing thousands of families hoping to win compensation and others who remain convinced of a connection.
But the vaccine court still must rule on additional cases that argue that vaccines with thimerosal are to blame, if the mercury reached and damaged brain cells.
The case, to be argued in the fall, is Bruesewitz v. Wyeth, 09-152.
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| Does your child or student display any of these behaviors? Are they sometime inconsistant or random in occurance? Are they are times almost impossible to understand or cope with? Take a look at the list of below. hitting pushing, yelling fighting with peers, difficulty changing from one activity to another sleeping problems, excessive energy levels, being unable to sit still and focus, refusal to partake in normal childhood experiences or play picky eaters, frequent tantrums, extreme sensitivities and excessive fears grinding teeth,rocking back and forth lunging head banging, scratching or biting self spinning or mouthing objects constant humming or making noises finger flicking jumping or shaking extremities spinning self or excessive smelling and sniffing
If you find yourself answering yes to several of these there is Good news! Your frustration and confusion maybe is almost over!
Finally!... A thorough explanation and a name for the behaviors and developmental concerns that exist -
Join Eileen Getches, MEd, OTR and Catherine Bladow, MS.CCC-SLP, BCBA as they present ways for parents, teachers and therapist to take a closer look at sensory processing issues and managing behaviors. Participants will learn how to proactively plan environments and activities to support behaviors.
Details:
Date: March 1, 2010 Time: 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.
Location: Respite Care Inc., 6203 S. Lemay Avenue, Fort Collins. Phone: 970-377-9640 FREE
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 Read the full study, C linical presentation and Histologic Findings at Ileocolonoscopy in Children with Autistic spectrum Disorder and Chronic Gastrointestinal symptoms at Autism Insights . View a .pdf HERE.Arthur Krigsman 1, Marvin Boris 2, Alan Goldblatt 3 and Carol Stott 4 Abstract
Background: Children with developmental disorders experience chronic gastrointestinal symptoms.
Aims:To examine the nature of these gastrointestinal symptoms and histologic findings in children with autism spectrum/developmental disorders and ileocolonic disease. Methods:
Chart review. 143 autism spectrum/developmental disorder patients, with chronic gastrointestinal symptoms, undergoing diagnostic ileocolonoscopy. Results: Diarrhea was present in 78%, abdominal pain in 59% and constipation in 36%. Ileal and/or colonic lymphonodular hyperplasia (LNH), defined as the presence of an increased number of enlarged lymphoid follicles, often with hyperactive germinal centers, was
present in 73.2%. Terminal ileum LNH presented visually in 67% and histologically in 73%. Colonic LNH was multifocal and presented histologically in 32%. Ileal and/or colonic inflammation presented in 74%, consisting primarily of active or chronic colitis (69%). Ileal
inflammation presented in 35%. Presence of LNH significantly predicted mucosal inflammation.
Patients with ileal and/or colonic LNH had lower mean/median age than those without; patients with ileal and/or colonic inflammation had lower mean/median age than those
without. There was a significant association between ileo and/or colonic inflammation or LNH, and onset of developmental disorder; plateaued or regressive onset conferred greater risk than early onset.
Conclusions: Patients with autism or related disorders exhibiting chronic gastrointestinal symptoms demonstrate ileal or colonic inflammation upon light microscopic examination of biopsy tissue. Further work is needed to determine whether resolution of histopathology
with appropriate therapy is accompanied by GI symptomatic and cognitive/behavioral improvement.
Keywords:ASD ileitis, colitis, lymphonodular hyperplasia
1 Assistant professor of pediatrics, New York University school of Medicine Director of Gastroenterology services, Thoughtful House Center for Children, 3001 Bee Caves Rd, Austin, Texas, 78746, UsA.
2 Associate Clinical professor of pediatrics, New York University school of Medicine, 550 1st Ave., New York, NY 10016, UsA.
3 Adjunct professor Touro College, 27-33 West 23rd st, New York, NY 10010, UsA.
4Thoughtful House Center for Children, 3001 Bee Caves Rd,
Austin, Texas, 78746, UsA.
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