Group Offers Boy Generous Gift
3-year-old Edil Garcia Rivera lives in Puerto Rico and suffers from a seizure disorder called hypotonia and has cognitive disabilities. Edil cannot walk and he’s had to be carried around by his mother his entire life. Several Hartford-area groups have worked together to send a specially-designed wheelchair to Edil. It will give him mobility, and a chance at living a better life, according to his family.

Action Alert: Urge Congress to Pass the Combating Autism Act (PDF)
The Combating Autism Reauthorization Act (S. 1094) will be marked up in the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, chaired by Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA), on Wednesday, August 3. This is a critical step for this bill in the legislative process.

Autism Speaks Names Leslie Long First Director of Housing and Adult Services
Autism Speaks, the world’s largest autism science and advocacy organization, has named Leslie Long, a long-time advocate on behalf of adolescents and adults with autism, as its first director of housing and adult services.

The Government of Bangladesh and Autism Speaks Bring Together World Renowned Partners to Discuss Autism Research and Awareness in South Asia
The world’s largest autism science and advocacy organization, in collaboration with the Government of Bangladesh, the Center for Neurodevelopment & Autism in Children, and the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University, hosted the first regional conference titled “Autism Spectrum Disorders and Developmental Disabilities in Bangladesh and South East Asia.”

Legislation will Re-authorize the Combating Autism Act
Senators Robert Menendez (D-NJ) and Mike Enzi (R-WY) unveiled legislation to reauthorize the Combating Autism Act of 2006.

Autism Spectrum Disorders: Screening and Referral Trends Among Connecticut Pediatricians
Christine Raymond, B.S.N., R.N.C.-N.I.C., LEND Fellow from Cohort 2, recently presented the results of her LEND Project entitled, Autism Spectrum Disorders: Screening and Referral Trends Among Connecticut Pediatricians at the Eastern Nursing Research Society Conference held in Philadelphia, PA in March 2011. Chris’ poster and explanation of the study took first place in the Master’s Category. Each year this award is given at the Annual Scientific Sessions. Congratulations to Chris! View Chris' poster >

USDA Cooperative Extension Service's Just in Time Parenting (JITP)
USDA Cooperative Extension Service's Just in Time Parenting (JITP) is a series of free, monthly e-newsletters, geared to the specific age of a child through the first 60 months, with research-based messages provided by a national team of Extension faculty from land-grant universities. These newsletters are also available in Spanish.

South Korean Study Reports One in Every 38 Children Had an Autism Spectrum Disorder
An exhaustive study of autism in one community has found that the disorder is far more common than suggested by earlier research. The study of 55,000 children in Goyang, South Korea, found that 2.64 percent — one in every 38 children — had an autism spectrum disorder.

Five-minute Screen Identifies Subtle Signs of Autism in One-year-olds
A five-minute checklist that parents can fill out in pediatrician waiting rooms may someday help in the early diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), according to a study funded by the National Institutes of Health. Published today in the Journal of Pediatrics, the study’s design also provides a model for developing a network of pediatricians to adopt such a change to their practice.

Thursday, April 28, 2011
Join us as we bring people and ideas together to build just and caring communities from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. at UConn Stamford campus (1 University Place).

IMPACT: Including Samuel - The Power of Youth
This eight-minute video is presented by the non-profit organization Working Films and The Fledgling Fund, and directed by Jeremy Levine of Transient Pictures. "Including Samuel - The Power of Youth" brings you behind the scenes of the 2010 Youth Inclusion Summit, inspired and co-organized by the Including Samuel Project.

Maternal and Child Health Bureau Trainees Meet in Florida for Making Lifelong Connections Meeting
Chris Sullivan, J.D., a UConn LEND Trainee from the third cohort traveled to Orlando, Florida for the Making Lifelong Connections: A Leadership Networking and Career Development Meeting for MCHB Trainees. The meeting was hosted by The University of Florida Pediatric Pulmonary Center. What follows is an update from Chris on her experience at the meeting.

Friday, April 15, 2011
Tom Powell, Ed.D., President of Mount Saint Mary's, the nation's second oldest Catholic university, came to present to the LEND Trainees on Family Professional Partnerships.

Monday, April 11, 2011
Autism Speaks published a comprehensive summary of the recent IACC meeting held on April 11, 2011. The summary contains links to numerous reports and other documents which cover a broad spectrum of areas in which the Committee has been involved. Read the summary >

Autistic Kids Learn to Survive, and Thrive, In College
Jane Thierfeld Brown, who started a program for students with autism and Asperger's at the University of Connecticut, says she likes to talk about it as "an inability to hang out."

I Am Norm
Twenty teens from around the country converged on Washington, D.C. for the summit and created "I am Norm," a national youth-led campaign promoting the acceptance, respect and full inclusion of youth with disabilities in schools and communities.

Lend Fellow Wins Award at the Annual Scientific Sessions
Christine Raymond, B.S.N., R.N.C.-N.I.C., LEND Fellow from Cohort 2, recently presented the results of her LEND Project, entitled, Autism Spectrum Disorders: Screening and Referral Trends Among Connecticut Pediatricians at the Eastern Nursing Research Society Conference held in Philadelphia, PA in March 2011.

LEND Fellow Gets Involved in Her Community, Putting into Practice the Skills and Knowledge She Is Learning in LEND
Annetta Troche is putting into practice the skills and knowledge she is learning in LEND.

Interactive Game Helps Autistic Children Recognize Emotions, Study Suggests
A recent study suggests Children with autism spectrum disorders are better able to recognize faces, facial expressions and emotions with the help of an interactive computer program called FaceSay, according to newly published research from psychologists at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Obama Tight-lipped on Special Education Funding
When a local school board member met with President Barack Obama this week, he pressed for the federal government to fully fund the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, or IDEA. The president said little in response.

Moral Reasoning a Struggle for Those With Autism, Study Finds
Individuals with autism are more likely than others to assign blame based on a situation’s negative outcome — whether or not malice was intended — a new study suggests.

At the Boston Conservatory, Autistic Students Learn from Music Lessons
A first-of-its-kind program is using a team approach to help kids and young adults with autism learn to communicate and build confidence through music.

Using EEGs to Diagnose Autism Spectrum Disorders in Infants: Machine-Learning System Finds Differences in Brain Connectivity
A computational physicist and a cognitive neuroscientist at Children's Hospital Boston have come up with the beginnings of a noninvasive test to evaluate an infant's autism risk. It combines the standard electroencephalogram (EEG), which records electrical activity in the brain, with machine-learning algorithms. In a pilot study, their system had 80 percent accuracy in distinguishing between nine-month-old infants known to be at high risk for autism from controls of the same age.

Babies and Toddlers Can Suffer Mental Illness, Seldom Get Treatment
Infants and toddlers can suffer serious mental health disorders, yet they are unlikely to receive treatment that could prevent lasting developmental problems, according to research published by the American Psychological Association.

Microarray Analysis Can Identify Unsuspected Incest
Researchers using DNA microarrays to diagnose developmental disabilities or congenital anomalies in children may unexpectedly identify that some have been conceived through incest. This raises social and legal issues that institutions and the scientific community must address, said researchers from Baylor College of Medicine in a report that appears in the current issue of the journal Lancet.

Film 'A Place for All: Faith and Community for Persons with Disabilities' Receives 2011 Emmy Nomination
Produced by Dr. Debra Gonsher Vinik and including an interview with and production assistance from Rev. William Gaventa, Director of Congregational Supports at the Boggs Center on Developmental Disabilities of the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School (NJ UCEDD), this film explores the courageous stories of persons with disabilities as they succeed in making their faith communities truly inclusive.

Autism Speaks Launches Transition Tool Kit, Providing Practical Information and Resources to Guide the Transition to Adulthood
In an effort to help families and their adolescents with autism more smoothly navigate the challenging transition into adulthood, Autism Speaks, North America's largest autism science and advocacy organization, today launched the Autism Speaks Transition Tool Kit, a unique guide and roadmap to help families on the journey from adolescence to adult life. The free Tool Kit, developed in conjunction with both parents and professionals, features a wealth of practical and actionable information, as well as links to valuable resources.

New Research to Practice Brief: Youth with Autism and Vocational Rehabilitation
This Research to Practice Brief explores the differences in VR services received by youth with autism compared to youth with other disabilities. Researchers identify services that are most closely associated with an employment outcome for youth with autism, and determine what percentage of people from this group are receiving these successful services.

Relatively Few Young Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorders Receive Assistance After High School
Use of medical, mental health and case management services for young adults with an autism spectrum disorder appears to decline after high school, according to a report in the February issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

Learning Independent Living Skills
UConn students are now reaching out to developmentally challenged 18 to 21 year olds, demonstrating socially acceptable behavior as part of an innovative program that connects college students with high school students in special education.

New Research May Lead to Treatment of a Variety of Mental Disorders
One of the first studies published from the University of Missouri Brain Imaging Center (BIC) gives researchers insight into the brain and memory and may provide researchers clues to treating a variety of debilitating disorders.

New Era of Advances in Brain Research: As Recording Technology Rapidly Improves, Neurons Give Up Their Secrets Cell by Cell
Scientists at The Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago (RIC) report that, thanks to improvements in technology and data analysis, our understanding of the functional principles that guide the development and operation of the brain could improve drastically in the next few years. The advances could herald a neuroscientific revolution, much as increasing processor speeds paved the way for the computing revolution of the last half century.