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Save the date!  June 7, 2005  CALL IN DAY FOR President Bush, Laura Bush and Congress after 12 noon - Eastern Time. - Unlocking Autism and the National Vaccine Information Center are asking for your support from your home and work on June 7th for a call in/fax in day to Washington, DC.  The last call/fax in on April 28th, started by Lynn Notgrass, was so successful, that the White House was in contact with us by 8:45am central time to ask us to have people stop calling.  We told them that we had talked to parents for years and that they could talk to them for that day. ...Read more.

Spellings Announces New Special Education Guidelines, Details Workable, "Common-Sense" Policy to Help States Implement No Child Left Behind Guidelines reflect the latest scientific research to help students with disabilities States continue to be accountable for results of all students.

IDEA Public Meetings Schedule - John H. Hager, assistant secretary of the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS), U.S. Department of Education, is pleased to share with you the schedule of a series of public meetings to be held during calendar year 2005 to receive comments on the proposed rules to implement programs under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004.

Note: A Federal Register announcement on December 29, 2004, defined the public input process leading into the development of regulations associated with the amended law

President Bush: GET THE MERCUCRY OUT OF VACCINES. April 28, 2005 is National Call  Day.  President Bush's comment line is 202-456-1111 / Switch board 202-456-1414. Please join us on April 28, 2005 for a national call President Bush Day and tell him to "GET THE MERCURY OUT OF VACCINES." Also, ask him to identify assistance for our children who have been injured. We need our insurance companies to pay for our tests, doctor visits and chelation to help our children get well. Please make our message heard loud and clear and we can only do that if we all come together. Please forward to everyone you know to help with this issue. Family and friends can also call.  An Open Letter from Unlocking Autism and how YOU can help!

" Two states passed bans of mercury in vaccines in 2004:  California and Iowa.  Seven additional states had ongoing mercury ban legislation in 2004: Kentucky, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New York, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island.  Four other states are pursuing legislation into 2005: Illinois, Massachusetts, North Carolina, and Ohio. As 2005 starts, Mercury Ban representatives in the following 23 states are actively pursuing legislation to ban mercury in vaccines: Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Kansas, Maryland, Maine, Michigan, Mississippi, New Jersey, Nevada, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Vermont, Wisconsin, and Wyoming." 

United States Government Accountability Office (GAO) / Report to the Chairman and Ranking Minority Member, Subcommittee on Human Rights and Wellness, Committee on Government Reform, House of Representatives  - Special Education / Children with Autism - January 2005  

August 25, 2005 is the date set for the first Autism Awareness Cruise.  The Cruising Channel invites you and your family to join them in the Caribbean for a fun filled educational cruise.  So gather your kids, pack your sunscreen and prepare for a great adventure on the high seas.  Space is limited so reserve your spot now.  For more information, please visit their web site at  http://www.autismcruise.com/

Check out the NEW website Disability News Radio   Reaching thousands of listeners across Western New York, from Northern Pennsylvania, and Toronto, Canada.

Open Access' Medical Journal Provides New Model for Publishing Original, Peer-Reviewed Research; PLoS Medicine Launched on Internet This Week - Free Online Journal Answers Call of Congress, NIH, Nobel Laureates for Increased Access to Biomedical Research.  A new general medical journal launched this week with a non-traditional publishing model is the latest top-tier venue for publishing important, peer-reviewed biomedical research, and is being called the first major, international journal to be introduced in more than 70 years. Unlike most medical journals which are available only through costly subscriptions, PLoS Medicine is available free of charge and accessible to everyone through the Internet, at www.plosmedicine.org. PLoS Medicine is published by the Public Library of Science (PLoS), a coalition of researchers and physicians founded in 2000 by Nobel Prize winner and former National Institutes of Health Director Harold Varmus, M.D.  ...Read more.

• Prescription for a Healthy Journal
• PLoS Medicine - A Medical Journal for the Internet Age

USF St. Pete Campus Awarded Research Grant - The dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of South Florida, St. Petersburg was awarded the largest research grant in school history, $892,000 from the U.S. Department of Education to study communication patterns within families with special needs children. V. Mark Durand, who is also a professor of psychology, will conduct a five-year study of families with autistic and other special needs children. The research will be done at the USF Center for Autism and at the State University of New York at Albany's Center for Autism. This academic year, USF, St. Petersburg faculty have been awarded $2.5 million in research grants, compared with $1.6 million in 2003-04.

Clinical Trial Registration: A Statement from the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors - "Congratulations to the editors of the medical journals which signed this statement calling on drug companies to release all research data on clincial trials of new pharmaceuticals, including negative as well as positive results."  ...Read their statement.

Mental-health screening of children - "The American tradition of parents deciding what is best for their children is, yet again, under attack.  The pharmaceutical industry has convinced President Bush to support mandatory mental-health screening for every child in America, including preschool children, and the industry is now working to convince Congress as well.  But mandatory screening alone is not what the pharmaceutical industry wants.  The real payoff for the drug companies is the forced drugging of children that will result – as we learned tragically with Ritalin – even when parents refuse." - Action Alert

9/14 NATIONAL CALL-IN DAY-FOR MONEY FOLLOWS THE PERSON/ FAMILY OPPORTUNITY ACT - ACTION ALERT - September 14, 2004 for Money Follows the Person/ Family Opportunity Act Congress has returned! They will be in session for only one month. There is much business to be conducted. If disability advocates want to be on their agenda, we must make a concerted, forceful push to get there.

Clinical Trial Registration: A Statement from the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors - "Congratulations to the editors of the medical journals which signed this statement calling on drug companies to release all research data on clincial trials of new pharmaceuticals, including negative as well as positive results."  ...Read their statement.

Mental-health screening of children - "The American tradition of parents deciding what is best for their children is, yet again, under attack.  The pharmaceutical industry has convinced President Bush to support mandatory mental-health screening for every child in America, including preschool children, and the industry is now working to convince Congress as well.  But mandatory screening alone is not what the pharmaceutical industry wants.  The real payoff for the drug companies is the forced drugging of children that will result – as we learned tragically with Ritalin – even when parents refuse." - Action Alert

New Autism Website has its Own Autism Encyclopedia - The new website www.ChatAutism.com has an amazing resource for information. For those of you who don't know what a wiki is, its an online encyclopedia. The one on the new autism site called www.ChatAutism.com is a brand new initiative. It is all about autism and asperger's syndrome and is written by people who have autism themselves, it gives a real-life perspective to the facts of autistic spectrum disorders. The site itself will offer support to parents of children with autism and Asperger's, and also has a chatroom to discuss any issues that are related. There has been a large increase in the amount of diagnoses of autism within recent years, prompting concern by parents, and a real need for up-to-date information on education, medication issues, and therapies. At www.ChatAutism.com parents can communicate and ask questions on the forum, or receive advice directly in the onsite chatroom. http://www.chatautism.com - Press Release (PRWEB)

Mental-health screening of children - "The American tradition of parents deciding what is best for their children is, yet again, under attack.  The pharmaceutical industry has convinced President Bush to support mandatory mental-health screening for every child in America, including preschool children, and the industry is now working to convince Congress as well.  But mandatory screening alone is not what the pharmaceutical industry wants.  The real payoff for the drug companies is the forced drugging of children that will result – as we learned tragically with Ritalin – even when parents refuse." - Action Alert

The hotline is designed to provide "live" access to  English and Spanish speaking experts including physicians, school nurses, educators, and advocates who can answer  questions regarding the disorder. In addition, a  confidential, one-on-one on-line forum will be available at http://www.ADHDExpertsOnCall.com throughout the day.

Miss New Jersey, Erica Scanlon, is not only beautiful and talented, she also has a sister with autism. Ms. Scanlon's platform for the Miss America pageant is "autism."
If crowned Miss America her rein can make a difference for the autism community.

The ABCs of “AYP” - Beyond Any Reasonable Doubt: We Can Do This.  (Washington, D.C.) "As states begin to release their 2003-04 student achievement data, there is still significant confusion about the accountability provisions in the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), and doubt about whether states can actually meet the requirements and the goals.  To address this confusion, the Education Trust today released two brief documents explaining the accountability and public reporting provisions of NCLB, in addition to a data presentation analyzing some recently released student achievement results..." Press Release 7/27/2004

"What is educational testing? What does it diagnose? How can parent and teacher use the testing process to help a struggling child? ...Expert child psychologists, Ellen B. Braaten PhD and Gretchen Felopulos, PhD, recently published “Straight Talk about Psychological Testing for Kids,” an informative guidebook for parents and educators detailing the testing process from start to finish."

Press Release - Walking The Talk - "Edited by Stephen Shore, author of Beyond the Wall: Personal Experiences with Autism and Asperger Syndrome, Ask and Tell: Self- Advocacy and Disclosure for People on the Autism Spectrum aims to help people with autism effectively self-advocate in their pursuit of independent, productive, and fulfilling lives."

News You Can Use scours the World Wide Web daily for disability-related and newsworthy articles.  Subscribe directly at NewsYouCanUse@yahoogroups.com or contact Christina directly at: christinag@mchsi.com

The Groden Center Uses VivoMetrics LifeShirt System for Autism and Developmental Disabilities Research - Researchers at the Groden Center, Inc. in Providence, Rhode Island have been using the wireless VivoMetrics LifeShirt(TM) System to measure motor movement and heart rate in children with autism spectrum disorders to detect their physiological responses to environmental stressors. Stress can prevent children with autism from adapting to changes in the environment, interacting with others and learning new skills. Therefore, the study seeks to both identify when a child is becoming physiologically aroused and to intervene with self-control techniques such as relaxation and cognitive picture-rehearsal.

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- This week, the Senate plans to bring S.1248 to the floor. The Senate claims that S.1248 is needed to align the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) with President Bush's well publicized No Child Left Behind Act. However, nothing could be further from the truth. S.1248 smacks of disaster, just like H.R.1350, the draconian House version of an attempt to amend and reauthorize IDEA...

THE "AUTISM IS TREATABLE" CAMPAIGN - All aboard! - From: Bernard Rimland, Ph.D. - Autism Research Institute - "The Autism Research Institute is compiling an extensive list of families throughout the United States who are willing to talk to the media about their child's successful treatment. We have already heard from nearly 400 families with dramatically improved children, and we would like to reach 600 by April, "Autism Treatment Month." Our press release will be issued April 7th to the major media (the national television networks, the New York Times, USA Today, Newsweek, Time, etc.) as well as to many hundreds of local TV stations and local newspapers.  We hope to be able to give local reporters (as well as national reporters) the names and phone numbers of families who are willing to be interviewed for television, newspaper and magazine reports..."

Essays Wanted for New Book About Autism: Voices from the Spectrum: Parents, People with Autism, Grandparents, Siblings, Friends, and Professionals Share Their Wisdom  Edited by Cindy N. Ariel, Ph.D. and Robert A. Naseef, Ph.D. Cindy Ariel and Robert Naseef are proud to announce our contract with Jessica Kingsley Publishers, London (www.jkp.com). For this book, parents, people with autism, grandparents, siblings, friends, and professionals of various disciplines are invited to write about their experiences.  We want to hear lessons of mind and heart culled from life and professional practice.  In the essays, authors are asked to address how autism has changed your life in love and/or work, what you have learned, and what you would want others to know that would help them.  We are interested in situations from the most mild to the most severe—from classic autism to Asperger’s.

The Power of 1.5 - Political Autism Conference - Washington, DC - April 21 - 23, 2004 In April 2004 in Washington, DC Unlocking Autism, together with Cure Autism  Now, GRACE Foundation  of New York, The Dan Marino Foundation, The Doug Flutie,  Jr. Foundation for Autism and Talk Autism, will host an energetic Political  Autism Conference (PAC).  This conference is designed to equip parents and  advocates from across the country by giving them the necessary tools and education  to bring about political change for the issues of autism. The objective is to  review the political process at the national level so that attendees can go  back to their states and hometowns with confidence to affect change at a local level.

HR 2173  Introduced by Representative Bill Pascrell of New Jersey, HR 2173 would provide schools and state governments with money so they can increase the number of kids that receive an eye exam. Funds could be used to educate parents about eye exams, improve compliance following a failed screening and for treatment by an eyecare professional. The goal of www.hr2173.com is to make it easier for members of the vision community to make their voices heard in Washington, D.C. on this important issue. The site includes a copy of the bill, a sample letter to Congress and medical studies. It can also help you identify your Representative and provide his/her contact information. (2003)

New Rule for Severely Disabled Students - The new department rule to be announced within days would affect a limited number of students deemed to have "significant cognitive disabilities" by their states. It would allow those students to be tested against standards appropriate for their intellectual development. And, more significantly, their scores would be counted as part of their school's performance. (2003)

IDEA Reauthorization & IDEA Resources page [Wrights Law] for news, resources, alerts and newsletters (2003)

No Child Left Behind Act  Resources (2002)

Bush Education Bill - Potential changes to IDEA Due Process - 6/15/01

Wednesday night at 9:30pm (10/17/00) President Clinton signed the Children's Health Act into law. In a big news week, this story cannot go without notice. The effort that Cure Autism Now and so many families have been working on for three years is now law. This ground breaking legislation that extensively expands research, prevention and treatment of chronic diseases that impact children includes a special focus on autism. "In signing the Children's Health Act of 2000, our nation's leaders are sending a very strong message about the severity and seriousness of autism," said Jonathan Shestack, Cure Autism Now co-founder, "This law will put autism research and education on a fast track by authorizing a comprehensive federal war on the disease."

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