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News : Professor welcomes 'song for autism'
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Posted by sylvia on Monday, July 16, 2007 (12:23:35)
24dash.com
Professor Simon Baron Cohen of the Autism Research Centre in Cambridge University has welcomed the news that the song for autism is to be released in London.
The cover of 'Open Every Door', was sung by Rosagy, a musician who has Asperger's Syndrome.
Professor Simon Baron Cohen said: "I am delighted that Rosa's beautiful version of the song "Open Every Door" will be used to fundraise for autism research.
"It is the energy and idealism of people like Rosa that inspires people to do whatever they can to make the world a better place for people with autism," he said.
Ivan Corea who heads the Autism Awareness Campaign UK said: "I am delighted that Rosa is covering the Nimal Mendis song for autism 'Open Every Door'. I know it will go a long way in raising awareness about autism and I would urge music lovers all over the world to support the song."
'Open Every Door' was written by Asian superstar, the Sri Lanka-born singer/songwriter Nimal Mendis who lives in the UK.
Mendis dedicated the song to a 11 year old boy with autism, Charin Corea who is the son of autism campaigners Ivan and Charika Corea.
Charin was the inspiration behind his parents campaign - they set up the Autism Awareness Campaign UK in 2000 and have been lobbying for better public services for all people with autism and Asperger's Syndrome.
Ivan Corea recently met with Gordon Brown on the campaign trail and asked him a question on autism. Mr. Brown conceded that the Government needs to do more for all children with disabilities.
The Autism Awareness Campaign UK has urged Prime Minister Gordon Brown to provide all children with autism and Asperger's Syndrome with a 'world class education' and specialist education facilities.
Rosagy who is a mother with a child, who has also been diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome, hopes to raise funds for Professor Simon Baron Cohen's Autism Research Centre through the song 'Open Every Door.'
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News : Autism Campaigners appeal to Gordon Brown
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Posted by sylvia on Monday, July 02, 2007 (18:46:38)
UK Autism Campaigners are appealing to the new Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, to invest in the lives of autistic children in the UK.
Autism is a neuro-developmental disorder -over 500,000 people in the UK are on the autism spectrum. According to researchers 1 in 100 children may have autism. Over 90,000 children in the UK are autistic - many suffer without proper access to public services in education, health, specialist speech therapy and respite care.
Ivan Corea of the Autism Awareness Campaign UK recently met Gordon Brown on the campaign trail and asked him a question on disabilities and autism. Mr. Brown conceded that the Government needs to do more for all children with disabilities.
Mr. Corea said: 'I appeal to Gordon Brown to provide a world class education for all children with autism and Asperger's Syndrome, to provide new specialist autism schools, even Special Needs Academies and autism units equipped with sensory rooms in mainsteam primary and secondary schools; to provide young people with access to further education and higher education, to provide labour market opportunities for people with autism who are able to work.'
'Equality of opportunity must include every single autistic child and adult in our country. They have a role to play in society - they can also contribute to the economy of our country, children and adults with autism and Asperger's Syndrome have so much potential,' he said.
The Autism Awareness Campaign UK is looking to Prime Minister Gordon Brown to launch a national strategy on autism and a 10 year plan of action to help parents, carers and people with autism and Asperger's Syndrome.
The call for a national strategy on autism backed by UK charities, community organisations and people from faith communities.
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News : What we need to know about autism
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Posted by Sylvia on Wednesday, August 02, 2006 (18:18:13)
Deccan Herald
By L. Subramani
A mother would find it strange if a child remains unresponsive to her affectionate cuddles. Its inability to participate in human interactions, preference to be alone or unusual muteness (especially when it should be showing signs of picking up language skills) would even disappoint her.
But all she needs to know is that a child with these symptoms could have autism and requires more of her help and support. A neuro-developmental condition, autism can be diagnosed from the age of three (nowadays even much earlier) and its impact differs with each individual child.
“A classic autistic condition would be a significant lack of development in language and social behaviour,†explains Dr Shekhar Seshadri, a professor with NIMHANS. “Inability to be responsive; having a limited repertoire of activities (tending to be more repetitive) are largely indicative of a child’s autistic condition.â€Â
Dr Seshadri also reveals that children with autism have problems in using pronouns (always referring to themselves in the third person) and can’t understand the other person’s perspective, called ‘Theory of the mind’. “They can’t interpret the other person’s knowledge, feelings or intentions from cues like facial expressions and gestures,†Dr Seshadri says.
Autism can be a result of several factors; chromosomal, genetic or damage to the part of the brain where information is processed. Dr Seshadri says the condition could overlap with mental retardation or with other co-morbid conditions like epilepsy.
“There can even be a possible manifestation of autistic spectrum - a combination of different autistic traits - which may determine how far a person is affected by the condition,†he explains.
Though it is hard to attempt a cure with the technology currently available, Dr Seshadri insists that treatment is important as doctors need to determine the overlapping conditions and ways of containing the person, especially if he/she shows violent behaviour (self-injurious behaviour like banging the head in most cases).
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News : Autism Awareness Campaign UK call for a review of public services
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Posted by Anonymous on Monday, July 24, 2006 (12:39:16)
The Autism Awareness Campaign UK are calling for a review on Autism and Public Services in the wake of the Humberside Tragedy.
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News : British Boy Dies After Chelation Therapy for Autism
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Posted by sylvia on Wednesday, November 09, 2005 (10:47:01)
Med Page Today August 2005
By Katrina Woznicki
The death of a five-year-old British autistic boy who went into cardiac arrest after undergoing chelation therapy here has placed the controversial alternative treatment under an international spotlight.
There were scant details on why Abubakar Tariq Nadama, the son of a physician, died Tuesday at Advanced Integrative Medicine Center. The child's family brought him here from England for the chelation treatments, and he was undergoing the third of a series.
Roy Kerry, M.D., who was in charge of the chelation therapy, has not commented. A few physicians across the country have tried to treat autism with chelation to remove mercury, which they believe is the cause of the condition. The source of the mercury, they allege, is childhood vaccines.
British press reports said the boy came to the U.S. for the treatments with his mother, sister, and grandparents. His father, identified as Rufai Nadama, M.D., a specialist in respiratory medicine for Plymouth Hospitals NHS Trust, stayed home.
Neighbors said the family went to great lengths to deal with the child's condition. "They found out that treatment was available in America," according to a nurse quoted in the Daily Telegraph.
The interest in chelation therapy as an alternative approach to treat autism has been gaining ground among parents, and even some physicians, who subscribe to the notion that autism is associated with a heightened sensitivity to environmental toxins, including mercury used in vaccines. However, recent data have suggested no vaccine-autism association.
"There are some theoretical reasons to imagine the possibility that heavy metal intoxication is effective in reversing many of the symptoms of autism, but there are no data," said Dena Hofkosh, M.D., a developmental behavioral pediatrician at Children's Hospital in Pittsburgh, 35 miles south of Portersville.
She added that there are no data that treating heavy metal intoxication is effective in reversing any symptoms of autism.
Bernard Rimland, Ph.D., director of the Autism Research Institute in San Diego, asserted that chelation is an appropriate treatment for autistic children.
"It's extremely benign because you're not adding anything to the body that's toxic," he said. "You're removing toxins from the body. Chelation is extraordinarly safe." Dr. Rimland said there are no known deaths associated with chelation therapy.
Most children receive chelation orally and from a transdermal gel, Dr. Rimland said. Nadama was receiving chelation intravenously.
Whether the administration of chelation had any role at all in the child's death is unknown, but Dr. Hofkosh said because intravenous treatments are more direct to the bloodstream, they can pose a greater risk than oral or transdermal.
"We would rarely use intravenous chelation even for a child who was lead intoxicated," she said. "I don't know what the child reacted to or whether he had an allergic reaction, but certainly there is a higher risk to using medication intravenously."
Dr. Hofkosh said she has had families ask her about chelation therapy and she refuses to use it.
Current recommended treatments for autism, she said, involve intensive behavioral therapy that can be time-consuming and is an approach that doesn't always produce immediate tangible results. "It's very tempting for parents to look for explanations and treatments that are relatively straightforward," she said.
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