May 3rd, 2008
Today, a daylong “town hall” meeting of the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee (IACC) is being held at the UC Davis Cancer Center, as reported in the May 2nd Sacramento Bee. (Previous meetings of the IACC this year and last year have been held in Washington, D.C.) The meeting offers a chance to express one’s views […]
By Kristina Chew, PhD -- 25 comments
April 15th, 2008
The April 14th St. Louis Post-Dispatch makes a case for the need for insurance coverage for autism treatment. SB 1122 would allow for insurance coverage “for the treatment of autism under certain conditions”: Autistic children who are “less than 16 years of age” would qualify for up to $50,000 per year of behavior therapy. […]
By Kristina Chew, PhD -- 6 comments
April 4th, 2008
I grew up in California and almost all of my family still lives there, and Jim and I have talked very seriously about possibly moving out west when Charlie is an adult. My dad has lived in Oakland for all but a few years of his life and has long said exasperated things about the […]
By Kristina Chew, PhD -- 6 comments
March 30th, 2008
Less than 13 percent of American children walk to school, a new study reports. Parents cited safety as a main reason, in the form of the “speed and volume of traffic students would encounter en route to school; the possibility of crime; and the weather.” A researcher from the University of Michigan noted that the […]
By Kristina Chew, PhD -- 7 comments
March 30th, 2008
Brooklyn is to Manhattan as California’s East Bay (Oakland, Berkeley) is to San Francisco: Today’s New York Times draws these comparisons:
….there is a young, earnest population that is beating a path between artsy, gentrifying neighborhoods in Brooklyn and their counterparts in the Bay Area, especially East Oakland and the area south of Market Street in […]
By Kristina Chew, PhD -- 8 comments
February 23rd, 2008
12 cases of measles have been reported in the San Diego area, all in children who were not vaccinated due to their being too young, or due to their parents choosing not to vaccinate them. A story last week in the San Diego Union-Tribune noted that more and more parents have been exercising their right […]
By Kristina Chew, PhD -- 7 comments
February 22nd, 2008
It’s the perennial problem: Is it better for autistic students to be educated at public or private schools, in the district or out? From Union City (CA) to Noblesville (IN) to Atlantic City (NJ), school districts are confronting issues like these: Should they hire their own in-house autism consultants? Or seek the services of […]
By Kristina Chew, PhD -- 8 comments
February 13th, 2008
Five children aged 1 to 9 years old in San Diego County have been diagnosed with measles, and five more are suspected to have measles, today’s SignOn San Diego reports. All of the children were not vaccinated due to their age, or because their parents did not want them to be vaccinated, perhaps because of […]
By Kristina Chew, PhD -- 6 comments
February 2nd, 2008
A certain TV show about a certain lawyer and a certain hypothesis about what causes autism dominated autism discussions this week, for better or for worse—-when I talk about autism, I’m thinking of a very real boy, my son Charlie, and not so much about a fictional TV character. My real boy’s week was more […]
By Kristina Chew, PhD -- 5 comments
January 11th, 2008
Autism occurs in individuals regardless of race, ethnicity, family income and educational levels. But how might race, ethnicity, and other cultural factors affect whether or not a child is identified as autistic?
A January 11th Newsday article by John Hildebrand looks at why affluent school districts Long Island, NY (including Half Hollow Hills, Manhasset and Roslyn) […]
By Kristina Chew, PhD -- 29 comments
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