Challenged? On Quiz Show, He's Not

COLD SPRING HARBOR, N.Y. -- Kevin Tanen has an appetite for books, an ability to retain information, and thinks quickly under pressure.
Those qualities make the 16-year-old junior a valued member of the Cold Spring Harbor High School team competing this year in "The Challenge," the television quiz show for Long Island high school students.
Tanen also has Asperger's syndrome.

Advice for Parents of a Child Diagnosed with Autism

From Laura Shumaker at The San Francisco Chronicle's SF Gate blog.

By the time my son Matthew was given the official diagnosis of autism at age 5, I already knew. This was almost 20 years ago, and I had only heard the "A" word to describe what Matthew probably wasn't. Back then, autism was not nearly as prevalent as it is today, and it seemed that nobody wanted to be the messenger. Once the diagnosis was confirmed, it was up to me to figure out who to turn to for help.
What a difference TWO decades make! Specialists are able to detect the symptoms of autism earlier and earlier, and while it is never the diagnosis that parents want to hear, there are so many resources available now from the very beginning. I asked parents of children with autism as well as individuals on the autism spectrum to offer their best advice for families of a newly diagnosed child.

California Ranks Last in Care for Children with Special Needs

California ranks last in the nation on key measures of a quality health care system for children with special needs, according to a report based on federal data released Thursday.
One in seven children in the state – an estimated 1.4 million – have a special health care need. But only 17.1 percent of them have adequate health insurance, and receive basic preventive care and comprehensive, coordinated medical care, the report found. By comparison, 40.3 percent of children nationwide have health care that meets this minimum quality index.
The report was commissioned by the nonprofit Lucile Packard Foundation for Children's Health and produced by the Child and Adolescent Health Measurement Initiative, a research and policy group.

Classmates of Student with Down Syndrome Protest Withdrawal

ASHLAND, Ore. -- About 20 students demonstrated today at Ashland's Southern Oregon University to protest an administrative decision to withdraw a student with Down syndrome.
Twenty-year-old Eliza Schaaf, a graduate of Ashland High School, was auditing a ceramics class as a way to share the college experience with her friends from high school, her parents said.
She had completed two-thirds of the class when she received a letter Nov. 8 notifying her she would be withdrawn from the class because she was not qualified to meet academic standards and disrupted the class.

Study Shows Children with Autism Better in Academics than IQ Scores Suggest

A new research has revealed that many children with autism spectrum disorders are academically more capable than their IQ scores would suggest.
In a study by researchers at the University of Washington, 90 percent of autistic children showed a discrepancy between their IQ score and their performance on reading, spelling and math tests.
"Academic achievement is a potential source of self-worth and source of feeling of mastery that people may not have realized is available to children with autism," said Annette Estes, research assistant professor at the UW's Autism Center.

'D' Grade for New York on Premature Births

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- New York state has taken some baby steps but still gets a poor grade when it comes to preventing premature births.
"Premature birth is a very serious problem for babies," Ann Gordon, of the Institute for Basic Research into Developmental Disabilities, Willowbrook, said at Borough Hall Wednesday.
According to the March of Dimes, 12 percent of births in the state in 2008 came before the 37th week, earning the state a "D."

Dreams Come True on Cheerleading Squad

MIAMISBURG, Ohio -- Let’s hear it for the girls!
A group of young women has seen its dreams come true: They're hearing applause; they're winning trophies; they're making friends. It's something to cheer about.
The Legacy Xtreme Panthers here run a unique program that pairs special-needs girls with other young women in a highly competitive cheerleading group.