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Theresa K. Wrangham Appointed USAAA Director of Educational Development and Conference Liaison
US Autism and Asperger Association is pleased to announce the appointment of Theresa K. Wrangham as Director of Educational Development and Conference Liaison. Theresa assumes her duties immediately and will represent USAAA at the National Autism Association conference this week in Atlanta.
Theresa Wrangham is the mother of a 17 year old affected daughter and brings to the fore an experienced parent’s perspective on raising a healthy child affected by ASD and the benefits of advocacy outside family needs. Ms. Wrangham is the Past President and Co-Founder of Autism Society of Boulder County, which was the first ASA chapter to bring a biomedical and behavioral conference to Colorado’s autism community. Ms. Wrangham also spearheaded Colorado’s legislative efforts to ban mercury containing vaccines in favor of vaccines meeting federal safety guidelines. She currently sits on USAAA’s Advisory Panel, is a Board Member and the Vice-Chair of Governmental Affairs for SafeMinds and is a retired AMTA massage therapist. Ms. Wrangham has been featured in several Colorado publications, radio interviews and local news interviews.
Ms. Wrangham will be presenting in Orlando, Florida during the Autism Orlando Biennial Conference 2008, February 14-17, hosted by USAAA and Autism Today. This conference marks Ms. Wrangham’s speaking debut outside Colorado.
"Theresa is a spark plug for USAAA and the entire autism/Asperger community," said USAAA Executive Director L.P. Kaplan. "She is energetic beyond capacity. She is a wonderful mentor for many parents, especially to those whose children have recently been diagnosed. We are honored to have Theresa enter into a new role with USAAA as she expands our programs into new areas to benefit all who are associated with the autism and Asperger's Syndrome communities."
To contact Ms. Wrangham by email, please click here.
Autism, Stem Cells and What the World URGENTLY Needs to Know: The Body Ecology Perspective
Commentary by Donna Gates for BodyEcology.com
Dr. Fabio Solano has used CD34+ stem cells from cord blood and mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) as a successful autism treatment. |
As you know, I created the Body Ecology Diet to heal systemic fungal, viral and bacterial infections. It has become clear over time that the Body Ecology program provides healing for many different kinds of physical problems. In fact, most of the health problems we suffer from today are fungal (or yeast) based...even cancer. This is certainly true for children who are suffering from an infection we now call autism. Spreading the word that autism is both treatable and preventable is a major goal.
Stem cell therapy appears to be a safe way to treat autism...it is a major intervention, and children with autism need to be healthy from the inside out. |
Doctors and scientists are not exactly sure why children develop autism, but the statistics are frightening: roughly 1 out of every 150 children born is diagnosed with autism.1 Healing autism and other childhood development disorders has become a passion of mine. And while I understand the incredible power of nutrition and lifestyle support, I also seek therapies that will create the major shift parents of children with autism are seeking.
As Dr. Smith says, "Stem cell therapy is the dessert, not the main course," and nutrition and lifestyle should support optimal health. |
Stem cell therapy is a welcome discovery in our fight to greatly improve or eliminate autism from the lives of our children. For this reason, I have been collaborating with Dr. Leonard Smith, who along with six other colleagues authored a research paper called Stem Cell Therapy for Autism. Dr. Smith and I are excited about how stem cell therapy, the Body Ecology program and some simple lifestyle changes can heal children with autism. To learn more about the research that Dr. Leonard Smith and his colleagues performed, go to the Journal of Translational Medicine to read Stem Cell Therapy for Autism.
Click here for entire story.
For further information, please contact the author, NOT USAAA for additional information.
A Potential New Treatment for Autism's Most Difficult Symptom - TSO
Recently presented at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine and the Seaver and New York Autism Center of Excellence.
Commentary by Stewart Johnson, autismtso.com
My name is Stewart Johnson and I am the father of a 16 year-old son with autism. My professional life is unrelated to medicine; I am not a doctor or scientist. Despite my lack of formal training in the topic I have spent 13 years immersing myself in autism research. My goal has always been to find ways to improve my son’s life and our life as a family. Along the way I have tried most available therapies, including psychopharmacology, Applied Behavior Analysis, dance and movement therapy, music therapy, audio integration training, various diets and supplement approaches, etc. Some of these helped in certain ways, some did nothing, and some made things worse. Nothing ever addressed my son’s most severe symptoms, except temporarily. I was at the absolute end of my rope when I connected the dots and uncovered TSO.
Helminthic therapy, developed by scientists at the University of Iowa, is a new and purely biological approach to treat autoimmune diseases such as Crohn`s disease and Ulcerative colitis. |
On Sunday 10/28/07 I presented my hypothesis and the results with my son at the annual autism research conference sponsored by Mount Sinai School of Medicine and the Seaver and New York Autism Center of Excellence. There was a huge turnout for the conference; by lunchtime the auditorium was full. Given the tremendous audience response to my presentation it is clear that there is interest in this topic.
My hypothesis is that the symptoms of autism that I describe on my web site are an aberrant immune response. In essence I am saying that these symptoms are autoimmune in nature, and since Crohn’s and UC are both autoimmune disorders that are being effectively treated by TSO, I thought that TSO might also restore normal immune function in autism and thereby alleviate some of these symptoms.
Click here for more information.
About TSO
TSO is known as Trichuris suis ova or better known as the pig whipworm. Trichuris is a genera of whipworms that infect many different mammals but are species specific in their ability to develop into a complete infection. Man has been reported to be infected with the pig whipworm, but not to develop a complete infection. (Summers, R.W., et. al., Gastroenterology. 128:825-832.).
Ulcerative colitis is most common in Western industrialized countries. Inflammatory bowel disease is uncommon in developing countries where helminths are frequent. |
The United States Department of Agriculture conducted a randomized controlled trial of Trichuris Suis Therapy for Active Ulcerative Colitis in 2004. (Summers, R.W., Elliott, D.E., Urban, J.F. Jr., Thompson, R.A., Weinstock, J.V. 2005. Trichuris suis therapy for active ulcerative colitis: A randomized controlled trial. Gastroenterology. 128:825-832.).
The pig whipworm, Trichuris suis, appears to be asymptomatic in man and represents a naturally attenuated infection that cannot reproduce. This provided an opportunity to test the hypothesis that exposure to a worm would reduce the severity of IBD.
People naturally colonized with helminths exhibit altered immunological responses to various antigens. |
Conclusions: In patients with active UC, T. suis ova-therapy was safe and more effective than placebo. This finding also supports the premise that natural exposure to helminths like T. suis affords protection from immunological diseases like UC.
The following are additional links to this article:
USDA Government Research
PubMed, University of Iowa Study
Allergizer.com
Introducing USAAA Expert's Corner
USAAA Expert's Corner is a new section of USAAA WeeklyNews, where we feature information from a leading autism expert.
This week's expert is: Valerie Herskowitz, MA, CCC-SLP
Computer-Based Intervention
Individuals with autism- children, adolescents, and adults can benefit from utilizing computer-based intervention. Research has indicated that the gains from utilizing this type of therapy often exceeds behaviorally based teaching. Programs are available that teach speech, language, math, reading, social skills, auditory processing, work skills, life skills, etc. These are not the typical computer software that you would purchase at a store, but specialized programs designed for the special needs population.
Many children and adults with Autism will frequently tolerate one-on-one instruction via a computer when they won't engage in a human tutorial dyad. Language skills of individuals with Autism have been noted to improve through computer-assisted instruction when all other traditional methodologies have failed.
Children with autism were more attentive, more motivated, and learned more vocabulary in the computer than in the behavioral program. |
A study conducted at the Department of Psychology, Georgetown University, Washington, DC, examined the impact of computers on the vocabulary acquisition of young children with autism. Children's attention, motivation, and learning of words was compared in a behavioral program and an educational software program. The educational software program was designed to parallel the behavioral program, but it added perceptually salient qualities such as interesting sounds and object movement.
These are not the typical computer software that you would purchase at a store. |
Conclusions: Children with autism were more attentive, more motivated, and learned more vocabulary in the computer than in the behavioral program. Implications are considered for the development of computer software to teach vocabulary to children who have autism.
To purchase PDF files of Ms. Herskowitz's papers, "Computer-Based Intervention for Individuals With Autism," and " 3:00pm - 4:00pm Balancing It All - Enriching the Lives of Parents Who Have Children With Autism," that were published in the Conference Proceedings Manual from the USAAA 2007 annual conference, click here. To purchase DVDs, click here. Proceeds go toward USAAA's scholarship fund which allow individuals to attend USAAA conferences.
A family's difficult life with autism
by Barbara Fischkin| Author and journalist Barbara Fischkin is writing a book about her son Daniel growing up with autism. November 4, 2007
The American Academy of Pediatrics treatment report promotes outdated theories and misleading information. |
Daniel, our first child, was 2 years old when he was examined by a kindly pediatrician at Schneider Children's Hospital in New Hyde Park and diagnosed as perfect. "Don't worry," the doctor said. "He'll be great." That was in the late 1980s, and I remember the day so well because the prognosis was so wrong. More than a year later, when Daniel was 3 1/2, he slowly stopped speaking, lost his toilet training and would not play with any of his toys. Our Long Island pediatrician didn't have a clue. All he had was a word based on a report from a neurologist. "Autism," he said. "But I don't think it will be that bad." Turns out it was.
Today many young parents still don't get much more help from primary care pediatricians than we did. |
A lot of troubled water has flowed under our particular medical bridge since then. Autism was recently called the "fastest-evolving disorder in all of medical science" by the chairman of Columbia University's department of psychiatry. In our family we used to feel so alone. Now, even worse, we run into autism everywhere.
Click here for entire story.
USAAA Parent's Forum
USAAA Parent's Forum is a new section of USAAA WeeklyNews, where you send us your story about your experience with autism and Asperger's Syndrome on a specific topic each week. Whether you're a parent, grandparent, caregiver, or have any experience with autism spectrum disorders, your stories help provide insight into the world of autism.
This week's topic is: "Where are the best schools in the country? If your child is attending a school for children with autism and you feel it is exceptional in all methods of intervention, please let us know about it and tell us why it has benefited your child's education. "
Please send us your story in 500 words or less. Include your full name, email address, and in the subject line include this week's topic. Submissions are condensed and edited. Because of the volume of mail received, not all submissions are published. Information other than your name are kept confidential.
Click here to submit your story.
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