Maternal smoking ‘can affect child’s mental health’
July 5th, 2010
The Autism News | English
By Martine Ward | FIGO
Mothers-to-be who smoke put their child at greater risk of developing mental health problems, according to a new study.
Researchers from the University of Bristol in the UK wrote in their study, called Maternal Smoking and Child Psychological Problems: Disentangling Causal and Noncausal Effects, that children with mothers who smoked during pregnancy were more likely to experience hyperactivity, conduct/externalising problems and peer problems.
“The results of these studies support the need for action to promote tobacco-control activities that would mitigate tobacco exposure throughout child development, starting in the pre-natal period,” the study authors wrote.
A recent study carried out on 400,000 British schoolchildren found that babies born just one week early are more likely to develop learning disabilities and more serious conditions, such as autism or deafness.
Some 8.4 per cent of pre-term children – those born at less than 40 weeks – suffered from a learning disability compared with just 4.7 per cent of those born at full-term, the study revealed.
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The mother Theresa of Rankoromane
July 5th, 2010
The Autism News | English
By Baboki Kayawe | MmegiOnline
Like Mother Theresa, Amogelang Medube is devoted to championing the cause of improving the lives of people living with disabilites.
The adage ‘disability is not inability’ can never be made truer than by this 30 year-old special-needs teacher at Camphill School in Otse, as she simply sees them as having abilities different from other people; as some of these people can sweep floors or make pottery with one hand.
She strikes one as a hyper-energetic individual, and she found it fitting to channel this abundant energy towards helping children with disabilities unearth their ‘extraordinary abilities’.
Medube says these children are extraordinary as they can perform tasks that even she cannot do.
“I don’t see them as different because some of them can perform some tasks more diligently than people regarded as normal,” she says.
Medube was propelled by her love and passion for children to work with these young charges in 1998 after their performances in functions held at the Kgotla left her captivated.
The ability they have despite being regarded as disabled grew her interest in them and as a loving person she saw it best to work to improve their lot. While at Legodimo, as a daily-living activities and life-skills teacher together with being a house mother, she realised that she understood them. It was from them that she went to Dula Sentle where she worked with orphaned children.
She then returned to Camphill to continue her mission-giving love and making this sector of the population that has been neglected more appreciated.
However, she says working with people with disabilities is not for the faint-hearted. She sums it up as a calling rather than a job, which calls for love, patience and dedication.
“I remember when I used to sleep with the children as a house mother, at times some of these children could not sleep at night and that saddened me, ” she says.
She further says people with disabilities are loving and need nothing more than love in return. The challenge, she says, comes with the fact that a number of these children have a condition called Autism which affects psychological development hence making dealing with them a bit challenging.
Medube says they possess lots of energy which makes them ‘a bit difficult’ but with the tons of energy she possesses she manages to handle even the most difficult of the children.
However, her somewhat loud character was dismissed as not being rightful to handle children with Autism, but as time passed on she says the teaching staff started seeing that she could better handle them as evidenced by being in good terms with even those she was not teaching.
She is quick to say that they are sensitive people who get scared easily when someone talks to them without looking at them, or touching them when they are not aware and even clothes tags make them uncomfortable.
“Whatever you communicate with them, it is always best to look them in their eyes,” she says. She adds that she does not perceive hers as a job because doing so would seem to be about the money which would totally make her mission very difficult as she feels like family with these children.
“These children are family to me,” says the mother of two.
She encourages parents to be open about children with disabilities as hiding them from the world is injustice not only to them but the creator as well.
“Hiding these children is like hiding from God,” she says.
Medube says there are structures in place these days to improve the living conditions of people with disabilities which can also make them active citizens who could contribute through the special skills they learn in centres like Legodimo.
She would like to be trained in the field of special education and speech therapy so that she can make a better contribution to the lives of these children.
She is loving and very cheerful. Above all she puts God before her and she believes the mandate that has been bestowed upon her to make ‘extraordinary talent’ grow.
She leads songs of praise, she blows the vuvuzela and the children gather around her asking for more of the plastic horn.
The children respond to her velvet voice, and one can easily tell that the singing is core to their daily lives. They make sounds of these songs, and knowing how they communicate, she takes over the lead and the hall breaks into jubilation.
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‘Cuddle Hormone’ Could Treat Autism
July 5th, 2010
The Autism News | English
By My FOX Boston
A brain chemical dubbed the “cuddle hormone” could help people with autism to cope better with social interaction, a leading American psychiatrist said Sunday.
The hormone oxytocin, which helps mother and baby bonding and creates feelings of trust between lovers, is known to play a crucial role in face recognition, social bonding and interpreting gestures — tasks with which autistic people typically struggle.
Although the hormone would not be a cure for the condition it could boost “social intelligence” and make day-to-day exchanges easier, Thomas Insel, director of the U.S. National Institute of Mental Health, said.
“These pro-social compounds could help people with autism improve their social interactions,” he told the Seventh Forum of European Neuroscience (FENS) in Amsterdam.
Oxytocin can improve the social behavior of people with high-functioning autism or Asperger’s syndrome, work by French scientists recently showed.
After inhaling oxytocin, volunteers paid more attention to people’s faces in a ball game task and favored the most cooperative players; previously they passed the ball indiscriminately.
Other work suggested specific variants of genes that code for oxytocin receptors were linked to a higher risk of autism.
In his lecture, Insel said there was emerging evidence that the brain network we use in social interaction is different from other forms of learning and memory and that oxytocin acts as chemical “glue” within the brain to bond personal relationships.
If a link between autism and oxytocin receptor genes is confirmed, it would provide an explanation for why some people with the condition have high general intelligence but find basic social interactions difficult.
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Helping parents help their kids
July 5th, 2010
The Autism News | English
Feng Xin (left), secretary-general of the Yang Ai Special Children’s Parents’ Club in Guangzhou, gives lessons to special children.
By People’s Daily Online
Twelve years since she joined an organization dedicated to helping parents of mentally challenged children, Feng Xin knows it like no one else the work that goes into running a quality non-governmental organization (NGO).
The Yang Ai Special Children’s Parents’ Club in Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong province, which helps children with autism, cerebral palsy or Down’s syndrome, and their parents, now caters to 1,091 families from across the country.
The NGO was named one of the eight model foundations and charities in 2009 by the Red Cross Society of China Jet Li One Foundation Project and granted 1 million yuan ($150,000) in support.
Feng, a native of Tianjin municipality, had worked as a teacher for two years before she joined Yang Ai in 1998 as a translator for a British couple, who founded the club in 1997. The club – with its maxim “Who takes care of those who care?” – was the only one catering to parents of special children.
Three weeks after she joined the club, Feng was made the administrative chief.
“They (the British couple) said I had a sparkle in my eyes,” Feng recalled.
The modest Feng said she feels “lucky” that the club has been receiving a constant flow of donations over the years.
“I once told a parent that I’d quit when I manage to fulfill the annual budget of 1 million yuan for the club. Back then 1 million yuan sounded like an impossible dream. But the budget became 2 million yuan after 2005, and I am still here.”
However, understanding the real mission of the club and gaining the professional knowledge to run such an organization has been a “painful process”, she said.
“Till 2004, we just knew we were helping the parents. After that, we came to realize our identity as a non-governmental organization, which needs self-discipline, transparency and better promotion.”
In 2006, when the central authorities issued a document to step up efforts to train cadres for social work, Feng’s club started recruiting people with a master’s degree in social work. She, too, had to take courses in social work.
The most difficult time for Feng was in 2007, when the club formed a new executive committee.
“We needed to report to the executive committee.
“Earlier, our conscience was our only driving force. We had big dreams, but sometimes failed to materialize them. We didn’t know how far we could go. But with the committee, we had requirements and guidelines. We had to be clear what we are doing. It was more than just passion.”
With a bigger staff and budget, came the need for better management in administration and finance, as well as more knowledge in special education and psychology, Feng said.
Last year, the club’s executive committee introduced the concept of corporate management. Those who failed to meet the budget growth requirements set by the committee had to take home lesser salaries.
“We will work out a system that ensures reasonable pay increase for our staff for their devotion,” Feng said.
The club’s goal is to boost its budget to 6 million yuan next year or the year after, with significant credibility in the circle, and to become a leading organization of its kind in Guangzhou, Feng said.
Feng’s work at the organization has not come without a price. Last year, she got divorced because her husband wasn’t satisfied with the amount of time she was spending with him or their son.
“I don’t feel guilty about the divorce. I hope one day my son will grow up and understand.”
As her club has grown, Feng has found the time to take part in the formulation of related policies and government researches.
She is considering running for the post of a delegate to the local people’s congress or a member of the local committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference to represent people in need.
Feng said she feels a sense of accomplishment when she meets with parents she has helped in the past.
“It feels good to hear from them that they are happy I’m still part of the club,” Feng said.
“I love this job, and I know I will continue to love it forever,” said Feng, who is about to turn 40.
“I wouldn’t have understood the society so deeply, if I had chosen another way of life.”
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Researchers link brain diseases and synapses
July 5th, 2010
The Autism News | English
By Kate Kelland | IOL
London – More than 135 brain diseases including autism, chronic pain, schizophrenia and dementia are linked to defects in proteins in the junctions between nerve cells, scientists have found.
Researchers have been able for the first time to map the protein structure of human synapses, the junctions between nerve cells responsible for transmitting information, offering scientists a new way of looking at diseases that affect millions of people around the world.
It also opens potential new ways of finding and developing drugs for brain diseases, and may in future allow doctors to make genetic diagnoses of the conditions, said Seth Grant, the neuroscientist at Cambridge University’s Sanger Institute who led the study.
“We now recognise that these synapse proteins are the molecular basis of many brain diseases,” he told reporters before presenting his findings at the Forum for European Neuroscience in Amsterdam on Monday. “We know of no other molecular structure which is responsible for more brain diseases – so we think it’s a major discovery.”
Grant’s team used a technique called proteomics to analyse all the proteins in human brain cells. Humans have around a million billion brains cells and these are connected by synapses, which play a pivotal role because they create circuits that allow the brain to learn and remember things.
The scientists found around 1 500 proteins in human synapses, each of which is encoded by a gene. They then managed to link genetic defects in some of these with key diseases such as autism, bipolar disorder, depression and schizophrenia.
“By understanding the composition of the synapse, we can also ask which proteins are important to diseases, and therefore get a sense of the disease burden that the synapse is involved with,” Grant said.
“Rather than thinking that a gene causes a particular disease, what we’re seeing now is that the gene mutation disrupts the (protein) complexes that cause the disease. We found that defects in the genes that encode these human synapse proteins are really a major cause of diseases.”
In a follow-up study using mice, Grant’s team found that by using various drugs to change the proteins in the synapse, the link to disease was also altered.
Grant said his team now planned to investigate whether the links between defects in synapse proteins and disease that they found in mice are also borne out in humans.
“If they are, then it has the potential to radically re-focus scientists’ approach to the study of brain diseases,” he said.
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Alone with autism: Latino families struggle with the mysterious illness
July 5th, 2010
The Autism News | English
Eduardo Moran, 12, and his brother Ricardo, 9, watch soccer on the family’s couch.
By Megha Satyanarayana | Santa Cruz Sentinel
WATSONVILLE – When Eduardo Moran was 18 months old, he didn’t talk. He didn’t smile. He didn’t sleep.
His parents, Urbana and Raoul, took him to a Watsonville doctor, who said Eduardo was fine. A few months later, still unresponsive, the Morans were referred to Stanford University, where he went through a barrage of tests.
“One psychologist immediately knew what it was,” said Raoul Moran in Spanish.
It was autism, something the Morans knew little about. Urbana thought it was a phase, until she started reading.
“I felt bad,” she said in Spanish. “When I read the pamphlets, I realized it wouldn’t pass.”
Diagnoses of autism are on the rise, fueled in part by a better understanding of symptoms by doctors and parents. But in the Latino community, there is little information about how common autism is. Gina Fiallos, clinical and intake services director at the San Andreas Regional Center, based in Campbell, which serves developmentally delayed and disabled people, said the largest growing groups of autistic children are in the Latino and Asian communities.
A 2007 report from the California Department of Developmental Services found since December 2002, the autism population among Latinos grew 104 percent, while whites grew 59 percent. In 1987, there were just under 2,000 whites with autism in the state and a couple of hundred Latinos. In 2007, there were just under 10,000 Latino people with autism in the state, whereas there were about 14,000 whites, according to the report.
“The diagnosis is progressing faster than the system can keep up,” she said.
In Santa Cruz County, the regional center serves 35 Latino children with autism, a number that Fiallos said is not inclusive, because some children with autism diagnoses don’t meet the state criteria for services at the regional center. The center serves 143 Santa Cruz County children in all.
Studies suggest the illness may be under-diagnosed or misdiagnosed in Latino families. In California, the percent of all autistic people that are Latinos, 28 percent, is below the total percentage of Latinos in the state, 36 percent. Yet, the population of Latino children is growing in Santa Cruz County, meaning the autism diagnosis might rise, as will the need for services in Spanish and providers who speak Spanish.
Parent-run support groups are common in English-speaking communities. Santa Cruz has the Special Parents Information Network and the Special Needs Parent Training Alliance that offer community, resources and support to families dealing with disabilities in general.
And while such groups specifically for autism exist for Spanish-speaking families elsewhere in California, no such group seems to exist in Santa Cruz County, leaving families like the Morans feeling they must deal by themselves with an illness that has no cure, no single scientifically vetted cause and a lifetime of treatment.
“We’re isolated. We still don’t have a support system,” Raoul said.
AUTISM AND LATINOS
About 10 years ago, British researchers estimated autism occurred in four or five births per 10,000. More current estimates by the same group are one to two births per 1,000. The incidence of autism in California is about 44 per 10,000 births, according to the UC Davis Medical Investigation of Neurodevelopmental Disorders Center. Boys are more likely than girls to be affected.
Yet, in Latino children, diagnosis rates are seemingly lower, based on a study of Texas schoolchildren, but the results are dependent on school reporting in an environment where educators may not be trained to spot autism.
There is some evidence that California children of Mexican-born parents have a lower prevalence of autism. Yet, what isn’t clear in those studies is whether Spanish-speaking or immigrant parents have the same access to and education of possible resources available. Also, there is evidence that minority children are misdiagnosed with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder or obsessive-compulsive disorder before the correct diagnosis of autism is made.
This wastes what many professionals see as precious time to intervene and start treatment.
“There isn’t a clear answer. So little is known about autism in Latinos,” said Virginia Chaidez, a post-doctoral researcher at the UC Davis MIND institute. Chaidez, under the guidance of autism expert Irva Hertz-Piccioto, has begun a project looking at diagnosis rates of Latino children, and what environmental and genetic factors may contribute, including proximity to agricultural chemicals.
Meanwhile, some Latino families deal with the stigma associated with having a child with developmental needs.
Teresa Montes de Oca, leader of Fiesta Educativa in San Jose, which provides information and community to Spanish-speaking parents of developmentally disabled or delayed children, said it can be difficult for Latino families to deal with disability, especially in sons.
“Culturally, it’s hard, because a lot of the times, they don’t have the information they need,” she said. “The parents really look up to having a boy in the family, but if the boy has special needs, parents feel like, What happened? This is not what I was expected,’” she said.
She said getting a diagnosis, as with the Morans, can be difficult and time-consuming because psychological testing is often done in English, rather than Spanish, and often, so is speech therapy and education. So parents who don’t speak English have a hard time understanding the intricacies of autism and getting help for their children. Any many with young, non-school-age children are afraid to make themselves known if they don’t have documentation.
Eduardo, now 12, goes to E.A. Hall Middle School, but still doesn’t talk. He gets speech therapy for 20 minutes once a week and a behavioral specialist from the regional center comes to his home twice a week. But he eats constantly, and the family home in Watsonville has an alarm to warn when he’s about to run into the street. He destroys things, bites and fights. Because the Morans feel they can’t control him in public, he stays at home, watched vigilantly by his mother, while his father, an auto mechanic, works two jobs.
“Her only rest,” said Raoul of his wife, “is when he’s at school or asleep.”
UNDERSTANDING AND TREATING AUTISM
Dr. Salem Magarian sees lower-income children at the Dominican Pediatric Clinic. Over time, he said, seeing autistic children has become more common, not just because the definition of autism has become more inclusive, but because more children fit the definition.
Autism is defined by developmental delays in speech, spastic movements, repetitive behaviors and impaired socialization. Onset is usually before age 3, said Magarian, and diagnosis is best made by a team of clinicians, including pediatricians, psychiatrists, neurologists and psychologists.
Magarian said when a child comes into his office with autism symptoms, he’ll have families fill out questionnaires, and talk about the child’s development and intellectual functioning. He sees one child per month who may have autism, and takes referrals from schools and other clinics. Many of his patients are Spanish-speaking.
“It’s different because there isn’t a diagnostic test,” he said, referring to a blood or genetic test. “It’s not like you can go to the doctor and say, Can I have the autism test?’”
Under-diagnosis or misdiagnosis may happen, Magarian said. Diagnosis can take multiple visits. Even after diagnosis, it may not be clear what a family should do next. Community-based services are limited, and not all are covered by Medi-Cal. Children may need special education, speech therapy, behavioral therapy and sensory therapy.
“It’s a challenge for these kids to try and thrive in this society,” he said of any autistic child. “I think it’s hard for any family. Latino families are incredibly devoted to their kids and their kids’ welfare.”
The Morans followed several dead-ends in treating Eduardo, including a trip to Mexico for therapy with dolphins and sending off stool samples to a researcher in Hawaii. The dolphins scared young Eduardo, and the researcher never contacted them.
Even locally, getting autistic children to services creates a challenge, said Don Sapoznek, a Santa Cruz psychologist.
“It’s just a few of us that see most of the kids,” he said.
There are few, if any, providers that specialize in autism in South County, he said, but getting children treatment early is associated with what he calls “rewiring.” Early speech therapy, for example, means some previously non-verbal children can learn some language.
“You can’t take a 10-year-old or a 12-year-old and make too much change,” he said.
Yet because of confusion surrounding outcomes for autism versus other autism spectrum disorders, such as Asperger syndrome, parents can be unclear as to what changes may happen. Children with Asperger’s syndrome have better language and outcomes and can live and thrive independently, whereas children with autism often need constant care for their entire lives.
Fear and the lack of support
Susie Christensen of the Special Education Parent Training Association said Spanish-speaking families sometimes come to their meetings, but “they are afraid to speak up.”
She said part of the issue is identifying those Latino families with autistic children, because many hide in the woodwork.
“They have a child with a disability, and don’t know what to do with it. It’s a hundred-fold harder fight when you don’t speak the language well,” she said.
The Ortiz family in Watsonville has a 15-year-old son, Nazario, with autism. They don’t get out much with him, and don’t interact with a lot of other families. Elda Ortiz went to a couple of meetings with the Special Parents Information Network in Santa Cruz, but it can be hard to get to meetings. She said she would be interested in support, but doesn’t seek it out.
Montes de Oca said the Ortiz family is common.
“We don’t ask the neighbor for help,” she said. “We don’t want our neighbor to know that we need it.”
She has been trying to start a branch of Fiesta Educativa in Santa Cruz County for years, but has had trouble finding volunteers to help run the support meetings. There aren’t a lot of books written in Spanish, and not all information on the Internet is available in Spanish.
Day care is an issue for many families, she said, so she tells them to bring their children. But, like the Ortiz and Moran families, parents believe their children are difficult to manage, and won’t bring them out of the house.
“We’re concerned about the rest of the world, what the neighborhood thinks,” Montes de Oca said.
But despite what neighbors think, Latino parents still said they want other parents to talk to, in their language, with their cultural upbringing.
Julisa Diaz has two sons with autism at the public Chrysalis School in Live Oak. Jesus Antonio is 6 and Francisco Antonio is 4. Before moving to Santa Cruz, Diaz lived with Jesus in Santa Rosa. They took the bus around town and Jesus would scream if the driver was someone he didn’t recognize.
He didn’t talk, and she learned about autism in a parenting class.
“I kept on crying because he was hitting kids and people were saying I was a bad mom,” she said.
A public health nurse accompanied her to get Jesus tested. The diagnosis was a relief, she said, because it explained his behavior.
Then Francisco was born, and also behaved like Jesus. Diaz thought her youngest was imitating his brother, but then he too, was diagnosed with autism.
The Chrysalis School specializes in autism, and the boys spend their days rotating every 15 minutes from one station to the next, playing and learning to talk.
Diaz said she’d love to talk to more Latino parents with autistic children, but has to deal with child care as well. She can’t work, she said, because she has no one to help her look after the boys.
“When I would get a baby sitter, they would have no patience for my kids,” she said.
The state budget looks to cut funds from the regional centers, leaving parents like Diaz, the Ortizes and the Morans in fear they’ll have to go without services. Fiallos said the center serves about 143 autistic children in Santa Cruz County. There weren’t a lot of services a decade ago, but with improved diagnosis comes need, not just in Watsonville, she said, but in Live Oak and Beach Flats in North County.
“All resources are lacking for all people in Santa Cruz County,” she said.
The Santa Cruz Sentinel would like to thank Celia Organista and Perla Martinez of Community Bridges-La Manzana in Watsonville for their assistance in translating.
Eduardo Moran, 12, eats a mouthful of spaghetti in the kitchen. Moran, who has autism, eats constantly and is already pre-diabetic.
Eduardo Moran, 12, was diagnosed with autism when he was about 3. His parents have struggled to find him services because he doesn’t talk and has impulse control problems.
Urbana Moran with her youngest son Anthony. Urbana Moran is the mother of Eduardo Moran who is autistic. Urbana Moran, who only speaks Spanish, says she sometimes feels isolated because she feels she can’t take Eduardo out of the house.
Anthony Moran peaks around a corner at his father Raul.
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