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"Children who enter grade school with cognitive and social-emotional delays are at an increased risk for reading problems, academic underachievement, and becoming disengaged or disinterested in school." This assessment, from Janet Welsh, a research associate at Penn State University's Prevention research Center for the Promotion of Human Development, is at the heart of a new intervention program developed by researchers at the school to help families with kindergarteners at risk for poor school performance.

Recently, there have been several announcements about the number of people who have autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). These numbers, which are widely reported by the media, keep going up, causing both interest and alarm. In late 2009, more new figures were released -- 1 in 110, 1 in 100, 1 in 91 -- and these again showed an increase, even over figures from just a few years ago. Where are these numbers coming from, and how were they calculated? How are we defining autism spectrum disorder, and how many people have one according to that definition? Do more and more people truly have ASD, or are we getting better at identifying the condition? Are we counting everybody, or are some people being missed? We look to the latest studies on autism rates to find out.

Identifying High-Ability/High Potential Students What: A hands-on workshop on best practices in Identification for Gifted Education Programming for Administrators, School Psychologists and Gifted Education Coordinators. Participants will gain information about achievement and ability testing, observation tools, portfolios and using multiple criteria for identification. Opportunities for discussions to allow for adaptation of material for each school setting will be included. Featured Workshop Facilitator: Dr. Karen L. Westberg is a faculty member in the Gifted/Creative/Talented education program at the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota. She spent ten years as a faculty member at the University of Connecticut where she was a principal investigator at the National Research Center on the Gifted and Talented (NRC/GT) and taught coursework in gifted education and Research methodology. She began her career as a classroom teacher and gifted education specialist in Minnesota schools. She has served on the Executive Committee of the National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC) and is a member of the Gifted Child Quarterly Editorial Board. Her Research interests include classroom practices, gifted education identification, program development and differentiating instruction. When: Friday, January 21, 2011 Where: Montana State University-Billings Student Union Building Lewis/Clark Room 8:30 A.M. – 4 P.M.   Registration: There is no fee for the workshop, but registration is required. Lunch is provided and OPI renewal units will be available. For Registration Contact: Deb Poole, Gifted and Talented Specialist, at debpoole@mt.gov (406) 444-4317

A week after calling research that first suggested a link between autism and vaccines an “elaborate fraud” a follow-up article in the British Medical Journal now says the researcher behind the study planned to make upwards of $43 million annually selling replacement vaccines and diagnostic products.

This guide is based on over 20 years of research conducted by the Frostig Center in Pasadena, California. The research traced the lives of individuals with learning disabilities in an attempt to identify factors that predicted successful life outcomes. The guide has been developed by Dr. Marshall H. Raskind, Dr. Roberta J. Goldberg, along with research associates Dr. Eleanor L. Higgins and Dr. Kenneth L. Herman.

the 2011 Plan has been updated by the IACC to reflect important new scientific advances in the field over the past year, emerging areas of opportunity, and areas where more research is necessary. Input from the ASD community, advocacy groups, research funding organizations, and the scientific community has continued to be a critical aspect of the updating process.

Click here to register for this event What: With the growing prevalence of autism spectrum disorders, public school districts are faced with an exploding demand for autism services.  This webinar will propose promising applications of scalable technology to enhance training and supervision of staff, and collaboration among clinicians to provide evidence-based educational services for students with autism.  Results from an independent study of Rethink Autism's web-based platform to improve paraprofessional and student performance in a public school program will also be presented.   When: Tuesday, August 23, 2011 12:00p - 1:00p Mountain   

Click Here For More Information, and to Make Reservations What:Conference - Plain Talk About Reading (heralded as the nation's premier reading institute because of its clear focus on providing the latest scientifically based reading research (SBRR) and strategies for those who teach reading at all ages and grade levels). From the nation's leading researchers and seasoned practioners, atendees will learn the current findings on reading instruction, reading difficulties and reading intervention, and classroom strategies that put this knowledge to work.     $575 per person (if received before 9/30/11)    $645 per person (if received between 10/1/11 - 3/2/12)    $745 per person (if received after 3/2/12) Sessions In-depth information on today's most burning reading issues Early childhood literacy and language development  Getting adolescent literacy right Integrating literacy strategies across the disciplines at all grade levels  Practical strategies for increasing vocabulary Increasing reading comprehension  Teaching reading to English language learners Implementing Response to Intervention at all levels Leadership that yields increases in student literacy levels  Increasing teacher knowledge and skills Broad session choices: Sessions that target early childhood classrooms  Sessions that address how to meet the needs of special education students   Content-centered sessions on strategies for the classroom Sessions delivering the latest research on reading, RtI, language development, attention, and other related topics Sessions especially for school and district leaders Sessions focused on English language learners When:April 29, 2012 - 4:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. (Mountain Time) – RegistrationApril 30, 2012 - 8:00 a.m. - 4:45 p.m. (Mountain Time) - Day 1May 1, 2012 - 8:00 a.m. - 4:45 p.m. (Mountain Time) - Day 2May 2, 2012 - 8:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. (Mountain Time) - Day 3

The National Institutes of Health has awarded more than 50 autism research grants, totaling more than $65 million, which will be supported with American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds. These grants are the result of the largest funding opportunity for research on autism spectrum disorders (ASD) to date

ScienceDaily (Nov. 12, 2009) — The vast majority of school-aged children can focus on the voice of a teacher amid the cacophony of the typical classroom thanks to a brain that automatically focuses on relevant, predictable and repeating auditory information, according to new research from Northwestern University.

But for children with developmental dyslexia, the teacher's voice may get lost in the background noise of banging lockers, whispering children, playground screams and scraping chairs, the researchers say.

The disquieting side effect of our increasingly detailed longitudinal studies of students is we keep finding warning signs of a future graduation derailment earlier and earlier in a child's school years. Robert Balfanz of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore found those warning signs as early as 6th grade— chronic absences, poor behavior, failing math or language arts, which when put together lead to a 90 percent risk that a student won't graduate on time. A study to be released this morning at the American Educational Research Association convention here in New Orleans presents an even earlier warning sign: A student who can't read on grade level by 3rd grade is four times less likely to graduate by age 19 than a child who does read proficiently by that time. Add poverty to the mix, and a student is 13 times less likely to graduate on time than his or her proficient, wealthier peer.

Click here to download the flyer (PDF) What: The National Institute of Mental Health is hosting a lecture in conjunction with the Department of Health and Human Services’ month-long focus on raising autism awareness. Join us for this discussion on recent advances in autism treatment and research. When: Thursday, April 21, 2011 8:30-9:30am Mountain How to view: This event will also be by live videocast and archived for later viewing at http://videocast.nih.gov. Speakers: Susan Swedo, M.D. NIMH Pediatrics and Developmental Neuroscience Branch Rebecca Landa, Ph.D. Kennedy Krieger Institute

What: This webcast will introduce information for professionals on some of the emerging trends in biomedical research and health care environments that present new opportunities for partnership, collaboration, and support, as well as: Provide an overview of translational science, e-science and health information resources in electronic health records, including the related trends and issues affecting information professionals. Identify skills that information professionals need to work with researchers, information technology professionals, clinicians and community partners in these environments. Learn about community engagement in translational science research and roles for clinicians and information professionals in this arena. Address meaningful use of health information by patients accessing their electronic health records, as required by recent legislation to facilitate quality improvement at the point of care. The discussions at these webcasts are invaluable even if you are not in a medical library.  Please contact Tori Koch at 406-238-2226 or by email at library@billingsclinic.org if you are interested in attending. When: April 20, 2011 12:00 - 1:00pm Mountain Cost: Free

“We need more research to be able to understand how to treat core symptoms of autism in this population, as well as common associated symptoms such as anxiety, compulsive behaviors and agitation,” said Jeremy Veenstra-VanderWeele, M.D., assistant professor of Psychiatry, Pediatrics and Pharmacology and Vanderbilt Kennedy Center investigator. “Individuals, families and clinicians currently have to make decisions together, often in a state of desperation, without clear guidance on what might make things better and what might make things worse, and too often, people with autism spectrum disorders end up on one or more medications without a clear sense of whether the medicine is helping.”

Today, the journal Pediatrics published a special supplement on the health and medical treatment of children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and other neurodevelopmental disorders. The issue highlights treatment guidelines for physicians and research reports on medical issues of interest to families affected by ASD.

The approach that parents take with their children who have developmental disabilities is directly tied to how cooperative and independent they become, new research suggests. In an analysis of existing studies looking at the influence of parenting on children with special needs, researchers found that when moms and dads employed so-called positive parenting, their kids exhibited greater independence, better language skills, stronger emotional expression and social interaction as well as improved temperament.