DAN!Resources
Upcoming Events
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Safety Toolkit Offered to Help
Families
The National Autism Association (NAA) and
Unlocking Autism (UA) have teamed up to provide an
Autism Safety Toolkit for families living
with autism.
The toolkit
includes
suggested precautions
and preventative strategies
and links to additional resources and is available for
free online through the National Autism
Association's Web
site. |
Volunteers Strive to
Raise $1 Million for ARI Research
Funds for research
concerning the causes of autism and effective treatments are
desperately needed. Will you help us acheive Dr.
Rimland's ultimate goal to defeat autism?
Volunteers nationwide are
answering the call by selling puzzle pieces to benefit ARI's
Research Fund--our goal is to raise $1
million.
For more information, or
to request puzzle pieces to sell, e-mail the project's
founder, Lynda Huggins at:
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Bernie's
Bricks
Calling all Architects
This fall, Dr. Elizabeth
Mumper is opening The RIMLAND Center - a state-of the-art
autism treatment facility and pediatric practice offering
specialized care and clinician training in Lynchburg,
Virginia.
Her
vision includes a memorial wall in remembrance of Dr.
Bernard Rimland, founder of ARI and DAN!, and a Walkway of
Hope honoring the countless children and families facing
autism every day.
Architects: Call for Entries
We're calling
for entries for the design of the
memorial. Contest
Details and photos of the current wall
and walkways are online. Schedule a visit to The RIMLAND
Center by contacting Catherine Mosley at 434-660-0646.
The winning architect receives:
-Special recognition within The
RIMLAND Center
-Exposure in a press release to major
industry publications and media outlets nationwide
-Recognition at our grand opening
celebration in November
Next month: How to dedicate a brick to
your loved one to benefit the
center.
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Calling All Active Parent
Leaders
Join ARI's parent leader
network
Are you an active parent leader helping other families
implement the biomedical approach in your community?
We're convening a monthly conference call for ARI
Network Parents. Join us to learn what's available, how to
access the new resources, ask questions, offer suggestions and
feedback, and connect with other Network Parents to pool
ideas.
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| Our Partners |
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Visit our Web
site:
About the ARI International
E-Newsletter:
This newsletter is compiled, written, and edited by ARI
parents and it is meant to be interactive: we welcome
your input. If you have questions you would like answered, a
story you would like to submit, or an idea for something you
would like to see addressed, please submit it to us at:
e-newsletter@autism.com Editor:
Kendra Pettengill
Denise Fulton
Chris Olds
Additional
Assistance: ARI offers a
toll-free resource line with information, contacts, and access
to resources available through the Autism Research Institute.
Call:
866.366.3361 |
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Summary of
Dr. Steve Edelson's Midwest Road Trip
As many of you know, I spent the last
month traveling the Midwest and Northwest to evaluate
children who have recovered or nearly recovered from
autism. I also had a chance to meet with families, visit
professionals, and tour several
autism clinics. This was a very rewarding
experience.
For most of the trip,
bad weather was either behind or ahead of me. I think I
was very lucky! You can read about my journey at
www.ARITravelLog.com. The travel log will remain on our
website until the end of the month.
During my assessments of near-recovered and
recovered children, I took in-depth family histories and
obtained information on treatments the parents found
effective or ineffective. I also collected documentation
indicating that the children had been formally tested
and had received an official diagnosis of autism. In
most cases, parents provided me with home videos of
their children's early behaviors. In addition, I
evaluated their children and assessed behaviors
typically associated with autism, such as pretend
play/imagination, joint attention, and conversational
speech.
When describing their children's early
development, parents often reported head-banging, lining
up objects, insistence on sameness, self-isolation,
little or no expressive language until age 2 to 3 years,
severe gastrointestinal problems (diarrhea,
constipation), chronic ear infections, and
more. Today, most of these children are functioning
in regular classrooms without an aid or a tutor.
While I am very excited about these
children, the goal of ARI is to help all individuals
with autism-not solely to promote recovery, which
happens in only a minority of cases (although the number
is growing). On my trip, I talked with many parents
about the needs of autistic individuals who will always
have significant symptoms and require long-term support
and care. Our DAN! Project is dedicated to developing
treatments that can help to reduce these children's
self-injury, aggression, and other challenging symptoms,
and allow them to live happier and healthier lives. By
doing so, we are opening the door to a brighter future
and better residential, vocational, and recreational
opportunities as these children grow into adulthood.
This trip was truly a group effort, and
I would like to thank the numerous families and
professionals who helped and supported me. I
appreciate their warm welcome, generosity, and-above
all-their dedication to improving the lives of
individuals with autism.
Regards,
Steve Edelson,
Ph.D.
Director, Autism Research Institute
| |
Autism Walk LA 2007 set for November
Walkers Plan to Get Moving To
Fund Autism Research
 Please volunteer to walk or
sponsor a walker on Saturday, Nov. 10th to help fund
effective autism
research.
We need your help to make our inaugural
AUTISMwalkLA a success for our families. This
event provides an opportunity to show the Autism
Community that with a combination of biomedical,
behavioral, therapeutic, and educational intervention
almost all children and adults with autism can improve
their potential, sometimes dramatically. We hope you'll
join us in doing whatever it takes to help our families.
How to Help:
Form a team, volunteer to walk, volunteer to
promote, or just donate to make this event a success.
Team captains and their walkers
will fund critical research needed to find effective
treatments to help children and adults with Autism
Spectrum Disorders. One hundred percent of the
proceeds donated to ARI from this event will be
dedicated to autism research. All donations to ARI are tax
deductible.
This year's walk is dedicated to ARI;s
founder, Dr. Bernard Rimland and Sponsored
by:
-Autism Society of America -
National
-Autism Society of America - Los
Angeles
-Center for Autism and Related
Disorders
-Kirkman Labs
-Talk About Curing Autism
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Leading Researchers, Clinicians Slated for Fall
DAN! Conference
Anaheim event
connects parents with effective treatment strategies
and research that makes a
difference
Registration is under way for the Fall Defeat Autism Now! Conference set for Oct. 11-14 in Anaheim
California. The event offers information to
parents and practitioners about how nutrition,
intestinal disorders, detoxification and other metabolic
issues impact behavior, attention, speech and the
general health of children on the autism spectrum.
Updates
about safe and effective treatment strategies
will be presented by leading researchers and
clinicians from the field.
REGISTER
ONLINE
More: Fall 2007 DAN! Conference
Information
 A Note on
this fall's DAN! Conference
From Medical Director
Dr. Elizabeth Mumper: "Science illuminating the metabolic,
intestinal, immunologic, and detoxification
abnormalities in children with autism is moving at
breakneck speed. The Defeat Autism Now! network of
parents, clinicians and researchers is at the forefront
of connecting research that makes a difference to
treatments that can lead to improvements in the quality
of life for autistic children and their
families."Whether your child is mildly affected,
has more pronounced symptoms, is a two-year-old with a
recent diagnosis, or an older child with autism,
attending a DAN! conference will provide you with
insights into the underlying metabolic problems that are
often responsible for the symptoms associated with
autism. Additionally, you will become equipped with
powerful tools and information that you and your DAN!
physician can use to correct these disorders and bring
about improvements in your child. One feature
that distinguishes DAN! from many other autism
conferences is our stro ng commitment
to bring only the most credible and forward thinking researchers
and clinicians to speak
at the conferences and to attend the prestigious DAN!
Think Tanks. Respecting parents input and direction,
this impressive group theorizes, discusses and
collaborates on research projects. Only when a consensus
is reached, and a biomedical intervention is deemed both
safe and effective, is this information presented at a
DAN! conference. Is the biomedical (DAN!)
approach the only way to tackle autism? Definitely not!
Many other wonderful therapies including Applied
Behavioral Analysis (ABA), Occupational Therapy, Speech
Therapy etc. have proved helpful in maximizing a child's
chances of improving, and in some cases recovering.
However, without adequately addressing the physiological
disorders and or medical conditions that are at the
foundation of this condition, one can not expect to
experience the full benefit of these other
therapies. DAN! is now known throughout the world
as the premier conference where parents and clinicians
join together to learn the causes, focus on effective
treatments and celebrate the recovery of some children.
We do not claim to have all the answers. But now
thanks to the insights and tenacity of the parents, the
determination and open mindedness of our researchers and
clinicians, we can say unequivocally at each and every
DAN! Conference: Autism is Treatable - Recovery is
Possible! We hope to see you in Garden Grove,
California (near Disneyland) for the fall west coast
DAN! Conference.
For assistance with registering for the conference,
hotel accommodations, or air fares, please call our
toll-free number 1-866-208-0207. Office hours: 9am-5pm
Eastern Time.
For registration
assistance or questions regarding topics, speakers,
which sessions are right for you, etc., please e-mail
questions@DANconference.com.
For assistance with
your travel needs, please e-mail Pat@newhopetravel.com |
Rural Outreach Program
Kicks Off In the Great
Northwest
Parent Activist Tami Giles Designs Ambitious Pilot
Program for ARI
While ARI is reaching out to
provide information to other countries, the Institute is
acutely aware that the message that autism is treatable
has yet to reach American families in rural areas.
A Washington state pilot
program launched last spring is yielding hard-won
information on how to structure rural outreach. Charged
with the task, Tami Giles is formulating, testing, and
running the rural outreach pilot program. In fact
for now she IS the ARI Rural Outreach Program. (Giles,
mother of a son with autism, is the founder of ARROW
(Autism Recovery Resources of Washington). ARI couldn't
have found anyone better suited or more committed to
carrying the message of hope through biomedical autism
treatment to isolated families.
The evidence that
biomedical treatment can help autism is met with
suspicion by many rural families, as well as resistance
from schools and local medical clinics and
professionals, so Tami has had to be resourceful in
creating the pilot program. She finds that the best way
is often the most laborious; hanging flyers on bulletin
boards and reader boards, buying an ad on the local
radio station, and one-to-one phone calls.
Tami writes
detailed reports of every trip and outreach mission, and
they make compelling and heart-wrenching reading. Most
of these families have no support whatsoever. Most
often, they depend on their local library system for
Internet access. A donation of conference DVDs
from the NAA to one local library system
means some families now can watch videos that were
previously inaccessible to them. Many of these
families have never before heard there is potential for
their child to get better.
In two counties, Tami found that
all of the rural families she met received diagnoses
from the same individual provider, and all were given
identical prognoses: "Take your child home and mark time
until you have to give it up to institutional
care." This attitude is why observant and
thoughtful formation of the pilot is so important. If a
rural outreach model and subsequent network aren't
established quickly, many children will fall
irretrievably and unnecessarily among the cracks in the
current system.
When Tami makes a
presentation to a group, parents are frequently moved to
tears that there are things they can do that might make
their child's life better. She has watched them weep
when they find out that unusual behaviors might mean
that their child is in physical pain, and has been for a
long, long time.
She travels armed with flyers, a
presentation, books from ARI and Thoughtful House, free
supplements and materials donated by Kirkman
Laboratories, educational and technical DVDs, and dozens
of studies, reports, and resource guides. She goes into
homes and sits down to talk with families to help them
get started on the road to discovery and recovery.
One family she met now visits their
public library every night to get information online and
print it out, so they can study it later and share it
with others. Tami provides her personal contact
information so families know they have a lifeline.
She tells them about Internet groups they can join that
can answer their questions.
"Give a man a fish,
you feed him for today. Teach a man to fish and you feed
him for a lifetime"; by helping and teaching even one
family in each rural community, Tami believes we can
create a network of "fishermen" who go on to help
others. The pilot program is already indicating the best
and worst strategies for reaching these spearhead
families.
Help the Rural Outreach
Effort
ARI needs people who understand the
underlying politics and agendas of the school systems,
medical services, and other providers of autism
treatments in their areas, as well as people willing to
'beat the bushes' to extend information to families.
Conclusions reached so far through the pilot program:
- This service network is desperately
needed; families don't know that autism is treatable,
so we must find them.
- Reaching them is hard work made no
easier by the professionals who know these families
and where they are, but are unwilling to help us find
them.
Please contact Tami with support, ideas,
or leads on families in rural Washington or Idaho by
e-mailing her at: tami@autism.com
A small amount of funding can tell us
whether newspaper ads in local papers might reach
families with autism who are in the dark; we need to
find this out, and much more. If you would like to
donate to the project to ensure it can continue,
donations can be made to ARI indicating the Rural
Outreach Program.
If you have ideas for outreach in your
own community or state please contact ARI at: info@autism.com | |
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