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May 2006, Vol.6, No.5

AAMR F.Y.I.
May 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 athttp://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 athttp://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 ofPediatrics 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, visithttp://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 athttp://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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