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<blockquote style="border-left: 2px solid rgb(0, 0, 255); padding-left: 5px; margin-left: 5px; margin-right: 0px;">Hello! I just read the following article from NPR which again didn't find any conclusive cause of autism. However, their findings are interesting. Those of us who work with parents who didn't finish high school, who are <span style="font-style: italic;">not</span> white, and who don't have access to autism services are much <span style="font-style: italic;">less</span> likely to get their children diagnosed. <br><br>These are the parents most of us work with. If these parents don't have older children in school, we may be their primary link to information about autism. Remember, recent research shows that about 1 in 100 people are diagnosed on the autism spectrum so chances are very high that you will encounter a parent or child with the disorder.<br><br>Now might be a good time to take a look at the information on the RFHF website about working with children with special needs: <a href="http://www.oregon.gov/OSL/LD/youthsvcs/rfhf.special.topics.shtml#Children_with_Special_Needs" target="_blank">http://www.oregon.gov/OSL/LD/youthsvcs/rfhf.special.topics.shtml#Children_with_Special_Needs</a><br><br>Don't forget these websites:<br><br>-First 100 Days Kit: A tool kit to assist families in getting the critical information they need in the first 100 dats after an autism diagnosis <a href="http://www.autismspeaks.org/docs/family_services_docs/100_day_kit.pdf" target="_blank">http://www.autismspeaks.org/docs/family_services_docs/100_day_kit.pdf</a><br><br>-Autism Society of America <a href="http://www.autism-society.org/site/PageServer" target="_blank">http://www.autism-society.org/site/PageServer</a><br><br>-National Autism Association <a href="http://www.nationalautismassociation.org/" target="_blank">http://www.nationalautismassociation.org/</a><br><br>-Libraries and Autism: We're Connected <a href="http://www.thejointlibrary.org/autism/resources.htm" target="_blank">http://www.thejointlibrary.org/autism/resources.htm</a><br><br>-Programming for Children with Special Needs (Association for Library Services to Children) <a href="http://www.alsc.ala.org/blog/?p=800" target="_blank">http://www.alsc.ala.org/blog/?p=800</a><br><br>If the links don't work, try cutting and pasting the URL into your browser or cutting and pasting the title into your Google search box.<br><br>Katie<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"> Katie Anderson, Library Development Services<br>* Youth Services Consultant * Oregon Center for the Book Coordinator *<br> Oregon State Library, 250 Winter St. NE, Salem, OR 97301<br> <a href="mailto:katie.anderson@state.or.us">katie.anderson@state.or.us</a>, 503-378-2528<br><br><div style="text-align: left;"><h1>Autism 'Clusters' Linked to Parents' Education</h1><div class="bucketwrap byline" id="res122256275"><p class="byline"><a href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=122256276&ft=1&f=1001" target="_blank">http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=122256276&ft=1&f=1001</a> <br></p><p class="byline">by <a href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=2100615"><span>Jon Hamilton</span></a></p><p class="byline"><a href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=2100615"><span></span></a><span class="date">January 6, 2010</span></p><p class="byline"><a href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=2100615"></a></p><div id="storytext" class="storylocation"><div class="dateblock"> </div><p>Clusters
of children diagnosed with autism tend to occur in places where parents
are older, more educated, and white, according to a study by
researchers at the University of California, Davis.</p><p></p><div class="captionwrap enlarge"><font size="1"><a class="enlargeicon" alt="Enlarge" title="Enlarge Image" href="javaRemoved*By*Webmail:void%280%29;"><span>Enlarge</span></a> <span class="creditwrap"><span class="rightsnotice">2010 UC Regents</span></span></font><p><font size="1">Locations
of "clusters" of autism found in California by researchers at UC Davis.
They are located in areas where parents have higher-than-average levels
of education.</font></p></div><p>The study
found no link to local pollution or chemical exposures — which some
consumer groups have cited as possible causes of autism clusters.</p><p>The
results suggest that areas in California with apparently high rates of
autism spectrum disorders are probably just places where parents are
more likely to obtain a diagnosis for their child, the researchers say.</p><p>"It
doesn't necessarily mean that higher education causes autism," says
Irva Hertz-Picciotto, one of the study's authors and a researcher at
the UC Davis MIND Institute. "It gets you the diagnosis more
frequently."</p><div id="res122256279" class="bucketwrap photo300"><div class="captionwrap enlarge"><font size="1"><a class="enlargeicon" alt="Enlarge" title="Enlarge Image" href="javaRemoved*By*Webmail:void%280%29;"><span>Enlarge</span></a> <span class="creditwrap"><span class="rightsnotice">2010 UC Regents</span></span></font><p><font size="1">Autism "Cluster" found in North LA County. Autism rates here were roughly double that of surrounding areas.</font></p></div><div class="enlarge_measure">The
UC Davis study looked at the geographic distribution of about 10,000
children who were born in California from 1996 through 2000 and later
diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder. </div></div><p>A cluster was
defined as a community in which the proportion of children diagnosed
with autism was a least 70 percent higher than in surrounding areas.</p><p>The study found that differences in parents' age, education and ethnicity explained the cluster most of the time.</p><p><strong>Higher Education More Diagnosis</strong></p><p>For
example, it found that children of parents who finished college were at
least four times more likely to be diagnosed than children of parents
who didn't finish high school.</p><p>Children were also more likely to
be diagnosed if they were born in a community near a regional service
center for people with autism.</p><p>Hispanic parents were
under-represented in all 10 of the clusters, according to the study.
That could be because some parents are reluctant to seek help from a
state agency if they have a member of the family who is undocumented,
Hertz-Picciotto says.</p><p><strong>No Evidence Of Environmental Risk</strong></p><p>The
study may be most interesting because it did not find any environmental
explanation for higher autism rates, says Steven Novella, a neurologist
at Yale University. </p><p>"You can't prove a negative," he says. But
the results of this and other studies suggest that "If there are
environmental factors, they're small," Novella says.</p><p>The
California results also show how widely autism diagnosis rates can vary
from place to place, Novella says. In some areas of the state, children
were four times as likely to be diagnosed as in other areas.</p><p>That
suggests that in many areas there are still a huge number of children
with autism spectrum disorders who are slipping through the cracks,
Novella says.</p></div> <h3 class="conheader">Related NPR Stories</h3><div id="res122256291" class="bucketwrap internallink"><div class="simple"><a href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=98959992&ps=rs">Teaching Kids With Autism The Art Of Conversation</a> <span class="date">Jan. 15, 2009</span></div></div><div id="res122256293" class="bucketwrap internallink"><div class="simple"><a href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=99732203&ps=rs">DVD Helps Kids With Autism Read Faces, Emotions</a> <span class="date">Jan. 27, 2009</span></div></div><div id="res122256295" class="bucketwrap internallink"><div class="simple"><a href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=120275194&ps=rs">Writing Study Ties Autism To Motor-Skill Problems</a> <span class="date">Nov. 11, 2009</span></div></div><div class="simple"><a href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=98012194&ps=rs">Coping With An Autistic Brother: A Teenager's Take</a> <span class="date">Jan. 1, 2009</span></div></div></div></div></blockquote><style>
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