AAMR F.Y.I.
April 2006, Vol.6, No.5
Visit www.aamr.org/FYI/ to access current and past issues of this monthly newsletter. Subscribe at http://www.responsetrack.net/aamr/sign_up.
Dear AAMR Friends and Colleagues:
Dr. Bengt Nirje passed away recently at the age of 81 in Sweden and the field
has lost a tireless advocate for persons with intellectual disabilities.
Read a special In Memoriam from Valerie Bradley, president of the American
Association on Mental Retardation.
ALSO IN THE NEWS
CENTERS FOR
DISEASE CONTROL REVEALS LATEST AUTISM NUMBERS IN THE UNITED STATES: 5.5 OUT
OF EVERY 1,000 SCHOOL-AGED CHILDREN ARE DIAGNOSED WITH AUTISM AND OVER 300,000
CASES REPORTED SO FAR
Results from two national surveys where parents were asked if their child
had ever received a diagnosis of autism suggest that in 2003-2004, autism
has been diagnosed in at least 300,000 children aged 4-17 years in the United
States. The National Health Interview Survey and the National Survey of Children's
Health studies conducted by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reveal
that on an average, 5.5 to 5.7 out of every 1,000 children are diagnosed
with autism. The two studies included a total of 98,475 children in the final
sample. These findings are published in the current, May 5 issue of the Morbidity
and Mortality Weekly Report by the CDC at http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5517a3.htm
In other autism news, a study conducted by the Harvard School of Public Health
revealed that it can cost about $3.2 million to take care of an autistic
person over his or her lifetime in the United States. Read more at http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/press/releases/press04252006.html.
Also, a new report suggests that the increase in autism in the U.S. may be
due to improved diagnostics that have led to children who would have previously
been diagnosed with mental retardation or learning disabilities being diagnosed
with autism. To read an abstract of “The Contribution of Diagnostic
Substitution to the Growing Administrative Prevalence of Autism in US Special
Education” in the April issue of Pediatrics visit http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/abstract/117/4/1028
Call for papers on autism! The American Journal on Mental Retardation is
publishing a special issue on autism and intellectual disability. To learn
more about submissions, visit http://www.aamr.org/pdf/ajmr_111_209_21.pdf.
Deadline is October 31, 2006.
FREE, ELECTRONIC NEWSLETTER ON THE SUPPORTS INTENSITY SCALE LAUNCHED
Stay in touch with news and useful information on the Supports Intensity
Scale (SIS) through SIS Vantage, a free quarterly e-newsletter from the American
Association on Mental Retardation. Sign up at http://www.responsetrack.net/aamr/sis/sign_up.
To see a text version of the SIS Vantage, visit http://www.siswebsite.org/galleries/default-file/SIS%20VANTAGE_web.pdf.
The AAMR SIS is a supports planning tool for agencies and organizations providing
services for persons with intellectual disabilities.
In other SIS news, TEA Ediciones (http://www.teaediciones.com/) will publish
a Spanish version of the Supports Intensity Scale after renorming the Scale
in Spain. Plans to develop a Spanish SIS for the continental United States
are underway at AAMR. The Supports Intensity Scale will also be translated
into Catalan, Chinese, Croatian, Dutch, French, Hebrew, Icelandic, and Italian.
For questions, email books@aamr.org. To learn more about SIS, visit www.siswebsite.org
POVERTY, LOW PARENTAL EDUCATION, AND SINGLE-PARENT HOUSEHOLD LINKED TO INCREASED
HEALTH RISKS, INCLUDING MENTAL RETARDATION
A nation-wide study conducted on more than 57,000 children found that the
greater the social disadvantage children have, such as being poor or having
a single mother who is a high school dropout, the greater their chances of
having poor health, immaterial of race or health insurance coverage. Children
with all the three risk factors were twice as likely as children with none
to have a severe health condition such as asthma, diabetes, or mental retardation.
This is the first study to show that increase in social disadvantages greatly
increases the health risks faced by children. The researchers estimate that
about 6.2 million American children have all three risk factors.
To read an abstract of the study published in the April issue of Pediatrics,
visit http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/abstract/117/4/1321
NEW REPORT FINDS EVIDENCE THAT NEWBORN SCREENING SAVES COSTS, AND NOT JUST
LIVES
In a new study conducted by Dr. Stephen M. Downs and Dr. Aaron E. Carroll
of the Indiana University School of Medicine, the researchers recommend a
national uniform panel of newborn screening tests which they found to save
costs as well as save lives. For the past 40 years, all U.S. states and territories
have mandated newborn screening for certain disorders that may not otherwise
be detected before a developmental disability or death occurs. The number
of disorders tested range from less than 10 in Texas to 53 in the District
of Columbia. Dr. Downs and Dr. Carroll weighed the cost of testing, the cost
of treating the disorders, and the cost to society if the conditions were
not treated early. "The results of our cost analysis surprised me. The
conditions we are testing are rare but the impacts of these diseases are
so enormous that it clearly offsets screening costs," says Dr. Downs.
Read more at http://www.medicine.indiana.edu/news_releases/viewRelease.php4?art=500
FEDERAL AGENCY FOR HOUSING IN THE U.S. ACCUSED OF INSTIUTIONAL BIAS
The National Council for Independent Living (NCIL) criticized the U.S. Department
of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) draft of the 2006-2011 Strategic
Plan as supporting segregation of persons with disabilities and chided the
agency for not acting upon its 2005 report outlining discrimination of persons
with disabilities. Among various recommendations, NCIL states that the HUD
should define institutionalized residents as “homeless” and identify
ways to develop access to community-based housing options for them. Other
discrepancies pointed out by the NCIL include lack of enforcement of the
Federal Fair Housing Act
and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act; lack of inclusion and participation
by people with disabilities; and insufficient support for key programs.
Read NCIL’s open letter to the HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson at http://www.ncil.org/advocacy/alerts/2005/HUDplan.html
AAMR F.Y.I. is compiled by Anna Prabhala, Editor. Please submit comments, suggestions, tips, and news to annap@aamr.org.
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