By Ryan Coller
May 3, 2009

A mother gently places her beautiful 1-year-old boy on the examining table, unwrapping his soft, blue blanket. To my opening question, his mother says “No,” she has no concerns. A thorough exam confirms the boy’s good health. His heart and lungs are clear; his growth and development right on target. Even his crying as we screen his blood for anemia and lead are signs of a normal child.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-coller3-2009may03,0,4461231.story

During the first week of class, the teens’ eyes were downcast, their responses were mumbled and eye contact was almost nonexistent. By Week 12, though, these same kids were talkative, responsive and engaged.

US NEWS and World Report

By Nancy Shute

Joe Steffy is off to Overland Park, Kan., this week to do a PowerPoint presentation on his business, Poppin’ Joe’s Kettle Korn. He’s a 23-year-old small-business man with a goal of $100,000 in sales by 2012. Joe also has autism and Down syndrome and is nonverbal. When he gives his talk, he will push buttons on an augmentative speech device to deliver the words. His audience will be parents who fervently hope their own special-needs children will be able to work, too.

http://health.usnews.com/articles/health/brain-and-behavior/2009/04/02/how-1-autistic-young-man-runs-a-business.html

By Aiyana Baida |South Florida Sun-Sentinel

While playing interactive bowling on a Nintendo Wii video game, 4-year-old Sebastian, closely follows the voice of his speech therapist: “Stand on the X. Press A.”

He bites his lip, swings his right arm back, then forward as his right leg lifts off the ground — but he keeps his finger firmly on the button. After several attempts followed by frowns, Sebastian finally lets go of the clicker on the remote control, and knocks down six pins.

“Good listening,” said his therapist as he ran up to the television screen with a smile.

“Four weeks ago he couldn’t hold the remote, stand in one place and coordinate his movements,” said Kimberly Bloom, speech language pathologist and director of Breakthrough Therapy Services. “He’s at the last step. He just has to let go.”

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/schools/sfl-autism-kids-b040209sbapr02,0,6278971.story

ScienceDaily

Scientists at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University have proposed a sweeping new theory of autism that suggests that the brains of people with autism are structurally normal but dysregulated, meaning symptoms of the disorder might be reversible.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/04/090401145312.htm

By Linda H. Davis

Question: What coming social expenditure will cost more than a third of this year’s budget for the Department of Health and Human Services and be larger than the entire current budget of the Energy Department?

Answer: The bill for the tide of autistic children entering adulthood over the next 15 years, an estimated $27 billion annually in current, non-inflation-adjusted dollars by the end of that period. The number of autistic children expected to need extensive adult services by 2023 — more than 380,000 people — is roughly equal to the population of Minneapolis. If a town were created to house this group of people and their caregivers — for you can’t separate the two — it would exceed the population of all but six U.S. cities. If they formed a state, it would have four electoral votes.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/03/AR2009040303169.html?hpid=opinionsbox1

Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, March 3, 2009

When it’s bath time for Janna Simpson, her mother sometimes throws together a tune. “Take a bath, take a bath, take a bath,” Judy Simpson might chant, luring her daughter into the water.

Janna isn’t a toddler, and her mother isn’t simply singing along. Janna is a 15-year-old with autism, a speech impairment and a seizure disorder. Music, Judy Simpson says, has been key to getting her to engage in such everyday activities as taking a bath; it’s also an alternative to verbal instructions in helping her overcome social and behavioral problems.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/02/AR2009030201759.html?hpid=sec-health

By Liz Szabo, USA TODAY

Researchers are studying a gene that may cause both autism and gastrointestinal disorders, a study in Monday’s Pediatrics reports. More than 30% of people with autism also have some kind of stomach or intestinal problem, compared with fewer than 10% of people who aren’t autistic, says study author Daniel Campbell, research assistant professor at Vanderbilt University.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2009-03-02-autism-gene_N.htm

Through his artwork, Scott Washington has found his voice. Scott, 21, was diagnosed at age 3 with mild autism, said his parents, Sylvester and Peggy Washington. He didn’t talk and make eye contact like other children, and really didn’t speak until age 5. Even now he has difficulty carrying on conversations with strangers.

http://www.shelbystar.com/news/peggy_37316___article.html/first_didn.html

By Michelle Diament, February 26, 2009

There is $211 million allotted for autism research, screening, public awareness and support services within President Barack Obama’s budget proposal, according to an outline released Thursday.

The money is part of the president’s funding proposal for the Department of Health and Human Services.

Since taking office earlier this year, disabilities have figured prominently in the president’s agenda. A written agenda released in January, included a four-point plan to deal with the growth in autism diagnoses.

http://www.disabilityscoop.com/2009/02/26/obama-budget/2354/