 
NATALIE CRAIG
July 4, 2010
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A SEVERELY autistic boy is suing the state government over claims he was abused and ”chemically restrained” with medication by his ex-school.
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The claim comes as disability advocates say autistic children are increasingly sedated with drugs in place of effective behavioural treatments.
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Ellen Modra is suing in the Federal Court on behalf of her son Luke, now 21, under the Disability Discrimination Act.
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Ms Modra says staff at a school for autism in Melbourne conspired with a medical practitioner to prescribe her son, then about 12, with three times the recommended dose of antipsychotic drug risperidone. As a result Luke developed a neurological condition characterised by jerky, involuntary movements, she alleges.
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She says he was also physically restrained and abused while in respite care and at school, including being locked for long periods in a courtyard.
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“The school was supposed to be there for people with autism, but we wound up in a situation where nobody loved him, nobody wanted him and he deteriorated,” Mrs Modra told The Sunday Age. ”They told us he was incapable of learning … the best they could do was try to contain him with drugs.”
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In May, Victoria’s Senior Practitioner, Jeffrey Chan, called for a review of the increasing number of young Victorians in state care being ”chemically restrained” with mood stabilisers and sedatives.
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Disability advocate Julie Phillips said she was helping several parents of autistic children whose schools had recommended medication.
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“Schools are increasingly making requests that parents consider medication, which is often linked with an inability to support the child in the class,” Ms Phillips said. ”They simply lack the resources to cope.”
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The Sunday Age last month reported that an autistic boy who had been taking Prozac suffered a violent breakdown at his Geelong school. His mother said he had been taking the drug on advice from the school, and it distorted his moods.
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The school said it had suggested the student required an acute management plan that included medication, which had been suggested by a doctor.
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Another parent, who is considering suing the state over her son’s treatment at a special school, said the school invited parents to a presentation on behavioural medications. ”I was gobsmacked,” she said. ”They were essentially promoting drugs for our children.”
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Ms Modra said her son’s school insisted he be medicated in order to attend, and that staff liaised directly with his doctor, who eventually increased his risperidone dose to three times the maximum recommended for autism.
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“We were so emotional and distressed at what was happening, we agreed. But we now know it was chemical restraint,” Ms Modra said.
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Professor Alasdair Vance, head of child psychiatry at the Royal Children’s Hospital, said risperidone, in conjunction with social treatments, was appropriate as a last resort.
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He said schools had to ensure all children were safe and able to learn, and parents needed to work with schools to develop appropriate programs.
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Early intervention programs for children with autism were making significant inroads in treating the disorder, and many schools had provided effective autism programs, he said.
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An Education Department spokesman declined to comment on the Modra case but said: ”From time to time, families ask and give their permission to schools to provide information to medical specialists about the well-being or behaviour of their child during school hours … medical specialists may use the information to help make an assessment … ”
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Source:Â
http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/state-sued-for-school-abuse-of-autistic-boy-20100703-zv2u.html
 
Article Date: 01 Jul 2010 – 2:00 PDT
Creativity can be enhanced by experiencing cultures different from one’s own, according to a study in Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin (published by SAGE).
Three studies looked at students who had lived abroad and those who hadn’t, testing them on different aspects of creativity. Relative to a control group, which hadn’t experienced a different culture, participants in the different culture group provided more evidence of creativity in various standard tests of the trait. Those results suggest that multicultural learning is a critical component of the adaptation process, acting as a creativity catalyst.
Read More …Â http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/193494.php
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Article Date: 01 Jul 2010 – 2:00 PDT
Creativity can be enhanced by experiencing cultures different from one’s own, according to a study in Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin (published by SAGE).
Three studies looked at students who had lived abroad and those who hadn’t, testing them on different aspects of creativity. Relative to a control group, which hadn’t experienced a different culture, participants in the different culture group provided more evidence of creativity in various standard tests of the trait. Those results suggest that multicultural learning is a critical component of the adaptation process, acting as a creativity catalyst.
Read More …Â http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/193494.php
 
 We trawl the world’s journals so you don’t have to:
Brain research, learning, and motivation (Contemporary Educational Psychology).
A hundred years of Evolutionary Psychiatry (1872-1972) (History of Psychiatry).
The biopsychology of emotion: Current theoretical and empirical perspectives (Biological Psychology).
Collected works from the Festschrift for Tom Bouchard, June 2009: A tribute to a vibrant scientific careerBouchard is Director of the Minnesota Center for Twin and Adoption Research.
Individual differences and social influence. (Social Influence).
Researching intimate spaces (Emotion, Space and Society).
Focus on gender: Parent and child contributions to the socialization of emotional competence (New Directions for Child and Adolescent Development).
Community psychology in Canada, past, present and future. (Canadian Psychology). (Personality and Individual Differences).
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 We trawl the world’s journals so you don’t have to:
Brain research, learning, and motivation (Contemporary Educational Psychology).
A hundred years of Evolutionary Psychiatry (1872-1972) (History of Psychiatry).
The biopsychology of emotion: Current theoretical and empirical perspectives (Biological Psychology).
Collected works from the Festschrift for Tom Bouchard, June 2009: A tribute to a vibrant scientific careerBouchard is Director of the Minnesota Center for Twin and Adoption Research.
Individual differences and social influence. (Social Influence).
Researching intimate spaces (Emotion, Space and Society).
Focus on gender: Parent and child contributions to the socialization of emotional competence (New Directions for Child and Adolescent Development).
Community psychology in Canada, past, present and future. (Canadian Psychology). (Personality and Individual Differences).
Article Date: 02 Jul 2010 – 0:00 PDT
Schizophrenia is a heterogeneous disease, due to the fact that the reasons for its onset are varied, as are the reactions of patients who suffer from it. Some experts relieve that gender is an important factor in this heterogeneity. Ms Ana Catalan has presented her PhD thesis at the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) on this topic, entitled Differences in the prognostic and clinical presentation as a function of gender amongst patients with a primary psychotic episode. She concluded that there are differences between men and women in this matter and that should be taken into account, but there is no evidence to suggest that sex totally conditions this illness.
In order to carry out her thesis, Ms Catalán designed an observational study and limited it to the primary psychotic episode. She analysed 231 patients, selected after establishing the criteria required thereof. For two years she studied the progress of these patients with a primary psychotic episode, evaluating gender solely as a biological feature, i.e. leaving aside its social and cultural connotations.
Later in women:
Based on the observation of these patients, according to Ms Catalán, women with a primary psychotic episode in general show symptoms of the illness later and have a greater probability of being married and/or living with their partner and/or children. Moreover, in the case of women it is more common to suffer an acute form of psychosocial stress in the year prior to the onset of the illness. Also, on applying the Cannon-Spoor subscale, which measures the promorbid or prior to the illness adjustment, women obtain better results in late adolescence, adult age and in general. That is, during the lifetime previous to the onset of the first symptoms, appropriately complying with expectations in accord with each age range. The author of the thesis also used the scale known as PANSS in order to analyse the clinical progress of the patients over the two years the research lasted; this scale is used to measure the gravity of the symptoms of patients with schizophrenia. As the scale shows, differences between the two sexes are, with an occasional exception, scant in the progress at the basal phase of the illness. Thus, concluded Ms Catalán, sex does not turn out to be a decisive prognostic factor in the progress of primary psychotic episodes. However, there are differences produced between men and women as regards the characteristics of the psychotic crisis episodes (clinical phenotype) and the author of the thesis underlines that these should be taken into consideration by the doctor.
About the author:
Ms Ana Catalán Alcántara (Barakaldo, 1977) has a degree in Medicine and Surgery. She drew up her PhD thesis under the direction of Mr Iñaki Eguiluz Uruchurtu, teacher at the UPV/EHU and Head of the Psychiatric Service at Cruces Hospital (Bilbao) and Mr Rafael Segarra Echevarria, also lecturer at the UPV/EHU and assistant medical specialist of the Psychiatric Service at Cruces Hospital. He undertook his research at the service, at the same time collaborating with the Psychiatric Service at the Santiago Hospital in Vitoria-Gasteiz. Ms Catalán is currently assistant medical specialist in the Psychiatric Service at Basurto Hospital.
Source:
Amaia Portugal
Elhuyar Fundazioa
Source:Â http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/193580.php
Article Date: 02 Jul 2010 – 0:00 PDT
Schizophrenia is a heterogeneous disease, due to the fact that the reasons for its onset are varied, as are the reactions of patients who suffer from it. Some experts relieve that gender is an important factor in this heterogeneity. Ms Ana Catalan has presented her PhD thesis at the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) on this topic, entitled Differences in the prognostic and clinical presentation as a function of gender amongst patients with a primary psychotic episode. She concluded that there are differences between men and women in this matter and that should be taken into account, but there is no evidence to suggest that sex totally conditions this illness.
In order to carry out her thesis, Ms Catalán designed an observational study and limited it to the primary psychotic episode. She analysed 231 patients, selected after establishing the criteria required thereof. For two years she studied the progress of these patients with a primary psychotic episode, evaluating gender solely as a biological feature, i.e. leaving aside its social and cultural connotations.
Later in women:
Based on the observation of these patients, according to Ms Catalán, women with a primary psychotic episode in general show symptoms of the illness later and have a greater probability of being married and/or living with their partner and/or children. Moreover, in the case of women it is more common to suffer an acute form of psychosocial stress in the year prior to the onset of the illness. Also, on applying the Cannon-Spoor subscale, which measures the promorbid or prior to the illness adjustment, women obtain better results in late adolescence, adult age and in general. That is, during the lifetime previous to the onset of the first symptoms, appropriately complying with expectations in accord with each age range. The author of the thesis also used the scale known as PANSS in order to analyse the clinical progress of the patients over the two years the research lasted; this scale is used to measure the gravity of the symptoms of patients with schizophrenia. As the scale shows, differences between the two sexes are, with an occasional exception, scant in the progress at the basal phase of the illness. Thus, concluded Ms Catalán, sex does not turn out to be a decisive prognostic factor in the progress of primary psychotic episodes. However, there are differences produced between men and women as regards the characteristics of the psychotic crisis episodes (clinical phenotype) and the author of the thesis underlines that these should be taken into consideration by the doctor.
About the author:
Ms Ana Catalán Alcántara (Barakaldo, 1977) has a degree in Medicine and Surgery. She drew up her PhD thesis under the direction of Mr Iñaki Eguiluz Uruchurtu, teacher at the UPV/EHU and Head of the Psychiatric Service at Cruces Hospital (Bilbao) and Mr Rafael Segarra Echevarria, also lecturer at the UPV/EHU and assistant medical specialist of the Psychiatric Service at Cruces Hospital. He undertook his research at the service, at the same time collaborating with the Psychiatric Service at the Santiago Hospital in Vitoria-Gasteiz. Ms Catalán is currently assistant medical specialist in the Psychiatric Service at Basurto Hospital.
Source:
Amaia Portugal
Elhuyar Fundazioa
Source:Â http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/193580.php
 
Children spin in circles on the floor in front of the movie screen.
A preschooler clutching a blanket launches himself over seat after seat, sometimes landing in a stranger’s lap. Another viewer makes low, gutteral noises throughout the film.
Once a month at two theaters in the Twin Cities, all of that is OK.
Sensory Friendly Films, the result of a partnership between the Autism Society and AMC Entertainment, offers a way for children with autism and other disabilities to see a movie without having to be quiet.
The lights are left on, the sound is lowered, no previews are shown, and families can bring their own snacks.
“This is his first time seeing a movie in a theater,” said Carrie Albers, mother of 6-year-old Eric Molde, who clutched a stuffed bunny and beamed as he waited for the film to begin.
“We just knew (a regular screening) wouldn’t work,” she said. “He’s always had sensitivities to louder sounds, so we were just really excited to find out this was an option.”
For many families at a 10 a.m. screening of “Toy Story 3” on Saturday in Roseville, it was their first time visiting a movie theater together, something typical families often take for granted.
Read in Full:Â http://www.twincities.com/localnews/ci_15415478?nclick_check=1
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Children spin in circles on the floor in front of the movie screen.
A preschooler clutching a blanket launches himself over seat after seat, sometimes landing in a stranger’s lap. Another viewer makes low, gutteral noises throughout the film.
Once a month at two theaters in the Twin Cities, all of that is OK.
Sensory Friendly Films, the result of a partnership between the Autism Society and AMC Entertainment, offers a way for children with autism and other disabilities to see a movie without having to be quiet.
The lights are left on, the sound is lowered, no previews are shown, and families can bring their own snacks.
“This is his first time seeing a movie in a theater,” said Carrie Albers, mother of 6-year-old Eric Molde, who clutched a stuffed bunny and beamed as he waited for the film to begin.
“We just knew (a regular screening) wouldn’t work,” she said. “He’s always had sensitivities to louder sounds, so we were just really excited to find out this was an option.”
For many families at a 10 a.m. screening of “Toy Story 3” on Saturday in Roseville, it was their first time visiting a movie theater together, something typical families often take for granted.
Read in Full:Â http://www.twincities.com/localnews/ci_15415478?nclick_check=1
 
 Study shows a mother’s sensitivity level can affect autistic kids’ language development
By Darcy Clinton
According to a 2007 report published by the Centers for Disease Control, the prevalence of autism spectrum disorders in the United States is 1 in 110 children or almost 1 in 94 if your child is a boy.
Researchers Daniel Messinger, an associate professor in the department of psychology at the University of Miami College of Arts and Sciences, and Jason K. Baker, a postdoctoral fellow at the Waisman Center, University of Wisconsin-Madison, are working on research they hope will empower parents to provide the best care possible for children with an autism spectrum disorder.
Weston resident Gabi Brecher has two children, Sharon, 6 and Dylan, 5. Dylan received an autism diagnosis when he was 20 months old.
“There’s so much information to sort through and figure out when you are looking for answers,” she said “Every child and family has different needs. As parents, we always want to do what’s best for our children and help those around us see our child as a person, not a diagnosis.
Promising New Research Baker and Messinger conducted a study of 33 children between the ages of 18 and 36 months to determine how a mother’s sensitivity may promote language development in toddlers with emergent autism spectrum disorders. Baker said their findings indicated that children whose mothers showed more sensitive teaching behavior early on did much better in the area of language development.
Read in Full:Â http://www.southflorida.com/sfparenting/sfe-sfp-autistic,0,5437400.story
 
Association of Autistic-Like and Internalizing Traits During Childhood: A Longitudinal Twin Study
Victoria Hallett, M.Sc., Angelica Ronald, Ph.D., Fruhling Rijsdijk, Ph.D., and Francesca Happé, Ph.D.
Objective: Children with autism spectrum disorders often experience severeanxiety and depression, yet the explanation for this associationremains unclear. The authors examined the longitudinal relationshipbetween autistic-like and internalizing traits across middleto late childhood in a population-representative twin sample.
Method: Participants were approximately 6,000 twin pairs born in Englandand Wales from 1994 to 1996. Parental reports of autistic-likeand internalizing traits were analyzed at ages 7 and 8 (timepoint1) and again at age 12 (timepoint 2). The direction and etiologyof the associations between these traits were examined withina cross-lagged design.
Results: Findings revealed an asymmetric bidirectional association betweenautistic-like and internalizing traits over time. Autistic-liketraits at age 7 made a modest but significant contribution tothe presence of internalizing traits at age 12. Earlier internalizingtraits also influenced the development of later autistic-liketraits, although this association was approximately one-halfthe magnitude. While both traits were moderately to highly heritable,they were largely independent with regard to their genetic influences.Stronger associations were found between the modest shared environmentalinfluences on each trait. Of note, it was autistic-like communicationdifficulties, rather than social deficits, that made a significantcontribution to later internalizing traits.
Conclusions: The association between autistic-like and internalizing traitswas attributable to reciprocal processes occurring across childhood,suggesting that these traits may serve to exacerbate each otherover time. Autistic-like communication difficulties had themost notable impact. This association must now be explored withinsamples of children with diagnosed autism spectrum disordersand internalizing disorders, since this may help to inform thebest timing and targeting of clinical intervention.
Am J Psychiatry 2010; 167:809-817(published online May 17, 2010; doi: 10.1176/appi.ajp.2009.09070990)
Source:Â http://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/short/167/7/809?rss=1