APRIL IS AUTISM AWARENESS MONTH

World Autism Awareness Day is April 2nd!
Here are some easy ways to promote autism in your community:

• Ask your city’s Mayor to sign a Proclamation declaring April 2nd as World Autism Awareness Day and April as Autism Awareness Month. Click here.
• Encourage a school to sponsor an event, highlight books about autism or hold a reading session. Try these activities. Then donate the books about autism that you've finished to your local library. Here is a list of books.
• Use World Autism Awareness Day to start a Student Club at your school. Click here for more tips.
• Are you a Team Captain for the Los Angeles Walk? Send an e-card to your fellow team members encouraging them to fundraise. Or send an e-card to your donors with an updated link to your fundraising page.
• Encourage your employer to engage in one of the attached corporate activities. Click here.
• Ask a local business that you frequent if they will do a "Puzzle Piece Campaign" for the month of April. We are happy to provide you with free posters and individual puzzle pieces. All the business owner has to do is collect $1 (or more) and display the pieces around the store, restaurant, etc. This gives them great community support visibility and is a super fundraiser for your personal or team efforts.

See all of the creative ways you can celebrate the day by visiting www.worldautismawarenessday.org.

FOR A COMPLETE LIST OF NATION WIDE EVENTS

VISIT CARD BY CLICKING HERE

Shedding Light on Autism

presented by

SIDNEY MacDONALD BAKER, MD

May 15-17, 2009
Big Sur, California

Spend a weekend at Esalen with Dr. Baker,

Former Director of the Gesell Institute

of Human Development, co-founder of DefeatAutism Now! and co-author of Autism: Effective Biomedical Treatments, and practicing physician.

Treating the Unique Child: Private Options, Public Policy and the Autism Spectrum will be an intelligent conversation leading to the ultimate question faced by parents, teachers, physicians, therapists: “Have we done everything we can for this child? ”

This is a question Dr. Baker learned to ask in Nepal in 1959 when he apprenticed with Dr. Edgar Miller during a year off from his Yale undergraduate education. This question should concern those entrusted with public policy, where one-size-fits-all approaches is in direct contrast with the fundamental law of Nature: that each living organism is unique. Individuality has practical clinical implications, and demands a tailored approach the individual, not a standard protocol.

The following relevant issues will form the basis for the symposium with Dr. Baker:

• Six rules for preventing autism. And why…
• Seven top treatment options for my child. And why…
• Lab tests: which, when, and why.
• What lessons have we learned from the children who recover?
• How does the language of name-it, blame-it, and tame-it prescription pad medicine affect clinical decisions?
• And other questions that you bring to the conversation as parents, practitioners and policy makers.

Enrollment is limited. Please reserve early
Reservations can be made on-line at www.esalen.org.

Join CARD Feb 14th in Anaheim!

CARD is proud to be a part of this February's Autism/Asperger's Conference in Anaheim, California. Join us as we present our 2008 Study on Early, Intensive Behavioral Intervention on Children with Autism. Stay and watch RECOVERED with us!

It's all happening Saturday, February 14th. What better way to show love, than learning about resources that can lead to autism recovery!

Click Image to Enlarge

Comedy Night to Benefit Children with Autism

Get ready to laugh until your stomache hurts!

Some of New York's most up and
coming comedians are joining forces for a spectacular ...

Comedy Night to Benefit
Kids with Autism

When:

Sunday, Feb. 15 @ 8pm

Where:

The Comedy Club

2235 Empire Blvd - Webster, NY

Doors Open: 7 pm

Must be 18 +

Tickets:

$10

To purchase your tickets, contact:

Center for Autism and Related Disorders, Inc. (CARD)

6th North Main Street, Ste 110

Fairport, NY 14450

Or Call:

585-377-6590 x 22

Proceeds from this event benefit

Autism Care and Treatment

Alison Singer Announces Her Resignation as Executive Vice President of Autism Speaks

Disagreement on Vaccine Research Prompts Departure

NEW YORK, NY (January 15, 2009) – Alison Tepper Singer, executive vice president of communications and awareness for Autism Speaks, today announced that she has resigned from her position with the advocacy organization, effective next month.

“It has been an honor and a pleasure to help to build this organization into the preeminent autism advocacy group -- the group that has, in fact, elevated the word “autism” to the global vocabulary,” said Singer. “I am grateful to Autism Speaks founders Bob and Suzanne Wright for their leadership, insight, commitment and for the tremendous support and love they have shown to my family and me.”

“However, for some time I have had concerns about Autism Speaks’ policy on vaccine research. Dozens of credible scientific studies have exonerated vaccines as a cause of autism. I believe we must devote limited funding to more promising areas of autism research.”

Singer resigned prior to the January 14th Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee (IACC) meeting, at which the discussion of vaccine research was to be continued from the December meeting, at the request of one of the public members. Knowing she might cast a vote with which Autism Speaks might disagree, she resigned from Autism Speaks prior to the meeting. Singer serves as a public member of the IACC and will continue to serve until 2011. She was appointed to the IACC by outgoing HHS Secretary Michael Leavitt in 2007.

The IACC, created via the Combating Autism Act of 2006, is responsible for coordinating all efforts within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) concerning autism spectrum disorder, including drafting a Strategic Plan for autism research with budgetary requirements. At the January meeting, the IACC voted to seek input on two proposed studies of vaccines and autism from the National Vaccine Advisory Committee Safety Working Group (NVAC), an HHS group specifically charged with undertaking and coordinating scientific review of the federal vaccine safety system, prior to including the proposals as specific objectives in the strategic plan. Singer voted in favor of this motion.

Singer was the first professional hired by Autism Speaks when it launched in 2005. She served as interim CEO for three months, then as senior vice president and later as executive vice president. She also served as a staff member of the board of directors until her resignation. Singer has been responsible for directing the organization’s award-winning awareness and strategic communications programs, including its work with the Ad Council which was awarded a prestigious “Effie” award in 2008 in recognition of the 43 percent increase in overall autism awareness directly attributable to the campaign. She also serves on the Executive Committee of the Yale Child Study Center and on the board of directors of Autism Spectrum News, as well as on numerous state and local autism advocacy committees. She has appeared on Oprah, The Apprentice, NBC Nightly News, Good Morning America , CBS Early Show and numerous other news programs discussing autism issues.

“My work with Autism Speaks and within the advocacy community has been exceptionally rewarding, and I will continue to advocate on behalf of my daughter, my brother and the millions of others affected by autism spectrum disorder,” said Singer.

CARD Winter 08 Newsletter - Hot off the Press!

To read the latest autism news around the nation and inside of the Center for Autism and Related Disorders, Inc - please click here.

Autism Glossary - What it All Means

A
ABA: Applied Behavior Analysis

ABC: Autism Behavior Checklist - a diagnostic tool

ADA: Americans with Disabilities Act

ADD: Attention Deficit Disorder

ADHD: Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

ADI: Autism Diagnostic Interview - a diagnostic tool developed in London by the Medical Research Council

ADOS: Autism Diagnostic Observation Scale

AIT: Auditory Integration Training

AS: Asperger's Syndrome

ASA: Autism Society of America

ASD: Autism Spectrum Disorders

ASL: American Sign Language

C
CARS: Childhood Autism Rating Scale

CBCL: Achenbach Childhood Behavior Checklist - a diagnostic tool

CHAT: Checklist for Autism in Toddlers - a diagnostic tool

D
DAN Doctor: a physician who uses the DAN protocol to diagnose autism

DAN Protocol: an assessment protocol that examines the underlying disorders causing autism

DD: Developmental DisabilitiesDVD: Developmental Verbal Dyspraxia

E
EEG: ElectroencephalogramELAP: Early Learning Accomplishment Profile - an evaluation tool

F
FC: Facilitated CommunicationFCT: Facilitated Communication Training

G
GARS: Gilliam Autism Rating Scale

H
HFA: High-functioning Autistic

I
ICF: Intermediate Care Facility

IDEA: Individuals with Disabilities Act

IEP: Individualized Education Plan

IFSP: Individualized Family Service Plan

IHP: Individualized Habilitation Program

IPP: Individual Program Plan

L
LCSW: Licensed Clinical Social WorkerLRE: Least Restrictive Environment

M
MSDD: Multi-System Developmental Disorder

N
NT: Neurologically Typical or Neurotypical

NOS: Not Otherwise Specified

O
OCD: Obsessive Compulsive DisorderODD: Oppositional Defiant DisorderOT: Occupational Therapist

P
PDD: Pervasive Developmental Disorder

PDD NOS: Pervasive Developmental Disorder Not Otherwise Specified

PECS: Picture Exchange Communication System

PEP: Psycho-educational Profile

PEP-R: Psycho-educational Profile Revised

PRT: Pivotal Response Training

PT: Physical Therapy

S
SAS: Specialized Autism Services

SI: Sensory Integration

SIB: Self-Injurious Behavior

SIT: Sensory Integration Therapy

T
TEACCH: Treatment and Education of Autistic and Related Communication Handicapped Children

UPCOMING 2009 AUTISM EVENTS

The Center for Autism and Related Disorders, Inc. hopes to see you at the following events...

ABAI Conference
February 6-8, 2009
Jacksonville, FL
CARD Presenter: Amy Kenzer, PhD, BCBA

RECOVERED: Journeys Through the Autism Spectrum and Back
February 14, 2009
Anaheim Convention Center
Anaheim, California

Autism/Asperger’s Conference
February 14-15, 2009
Anaheim, California

Autism Biennial Congress 2009
February 26 – March 1, 2009
Vancouver, British Colombia
CARD Speaker: Dr. Doreen Granpeesheh

Annual Western Regional Conference (ABA)
March 12 -14, 2009
Burlingame, California
CARD Presenters: over twenty CARD presenters

DAN Spring Conference
April 17-19, 2009
Atlanta, Georgia
CARD Speaker: Dr. Doreen Granpeesheh

Walk for Autism
April 25, 2009
Pasadena, California
CARD will have an informational booth

Mindd International Forum On Children
May 15 -18, 2009
Sydney, Australia
CARD Speakers: Dr. Doreen Granpeesheh

RECOVERED: Journeys Through the Autism Spectrum and Back
May 16, 2009
Australian Jockey Club
Sydney, Australia

Walk for Autism
May 16, 2009
Chicago, Illinois
CARD will have an informational booth

Autism One Conference
May 20 – 24, 2009
Chicago, Illinois

RECOVERED: Journeys Through the Autism Spectrum and Back
May 21, 2009
Westin Hotel O’Hare
Chicago, Illinois

ABA Convention
May 22-26, 2009
Phoenix, Arizona
CARD Presenters: over twenty CARD presenters

Walk Now for Autism
May 30, 2009
San Jose, California
CARD will have an informational booth

Walk for Autism
June 13, 2009
New Jersey
CARD will have an informational booth

DAN Mini Conference
June 13-14, 2009
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

Walk Now for Autism
June 14, 2009
New York, New York
CARD will have an informational booth

ASA National Conference & Exposition
July 22-25, 2009
St. Charles, Illinois

International ABA Conference
August 7-9, 2009
Oslo, Norway

For a complete and detailed lisitings of all Autism Events, please visit http://www.centerforautism.com/.