Experts say it helps relieve boredom, encourages movement

From the Chicago Sun-Times

Experts are increasingly using the Wii video game in rehab therapy, helping people recovering from strokes, broken bones, surgery and even combat injury. They say it motivates people to work hard and reduces the tediousness of the task.

From the Wall Street Journal, U.S. News & World Report, and elsewhere:

Autism rates in California have continued to rise despite the removal of the mercury-containing preservative thimerosal from most childhood vaccines, according to a study in this month’s Archives of General Psychiatry.

“This study is very important for public health,” says Eric Fombonne, an autism researcher who heads the department of psychiatry at Montreal Children’s Hospital. He hopes the new evidence will encourage all parents to get their children vaccinated, and persuade parents of children with autism to shun chelation and other untested treatments.

… one recent bright spot in treatment is evidence that the earlier children get behavioral interventions designed to teach language skills, thinking, and social interaction, the better they seem to do through life. Scientists are now trying to push the limits of that theory, targeting even tiny babies, as young as 6 months, who are too young to be diagnosed with autism.

Earlier posts are numerous — here are just a couple:

• Autism study to treat infants without symptoms
•  Autism vaccine debate: A never-ending story

From the New York Times:

Nearly a year ago, New York made plans to ban the use of electric shocks as a punishment for bad behavior, a therapy used at a Massachusetts school where New York State had long sent some of its most challenging special education students.

But state officials trying to limit New York’s association with the school, the Judge Rotenberg Educational Center in Canton, southwest of Boston, and its “aversive therapy” practices have found a large obstacle in their paths: parents of students who are given shocks.

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From the Ottawa Citizen:

Deborah Fein, a clinician and professor at the University of Connecticut, is at the forefront of research that suggests 20 percent of children diagnosed with autism may recover. Her work is funded by the U.S. National Institute of Child Health and Development. She will be delivering the 2007 Pickering Lecture at Carleton University in Ottowa this week.

While some examples are more dramatic than others, [Fein's] work gives hope to the families who fear the devastating diagnosis means their child will be locked forever in their own world.

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From the Washington Post:

Online environments are increasingly allowing people with disabilities to develop skills or gain confidence.

Susan Brown, who had a stroke four years ago, has regained use of her legs thanks in part to encouragement she gets from an online “virtual world” where she can walk, run and even dance. Other people use online avatars to help them learn to deal with agoraphobia, autism, cerebral palsy, depression, paralysis, cystic fibrosis and other conditions.

“We’re at a major technical and social transition with this technology. It has very recently started to become a very big deal, and we haven’t by any means digested what the implications are,” said William Sims Bainbridge, a social scientist at the National Science Foundation.

From the Los Angeles Times:

Jenny McCarthy is the latest to advocate a wheat- and milk-free diet. Her celebrity status is likely to lend credence to the diet as an autism treatment, but most health experts say there is no good evidence that supports its use in children with autism.

Two leading psychiatric organizations have released a guide for parents that is designed to help them sift through the stacks of often confusing and misleading information on ADHD. The ADHD Parents Medication Guide, co-sponsored by the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and the American Psychiatric Association, discusses both medications and non-drug treatment options including behavioral therapies and school services.

“The very good news and take-home message is we can effectively help the majority of children, adolescents and adults who have ADHD,” said a member of the guide subcommittee. “The real problem is that research also tells us that many young people and adults aren’t receiving effective and appropriate treatment they deserve.”

The guide is available at www.parentsmedguide.org.