FRIDAY, Sept. 27 (HealthDay News) -- Sleep education for parents of children with autism helps improve the youngsters' behavior and quality of life, according to a new study. Autism is a neurodevelopmental disorder marked by difficulties in social interactions and communications. Autism spectrum disorders encompass a wide range from mild to severe. For the study, researchers provided sleep education for the parents of 80 children, aged 2 to 10, with an autism spectrum disorder. During the sessions, the parents learned about daytime and evening habits that promote sleep, including the importance of increasing exercise, limiting caffeine, and lessening the use of video games and computers close to bedtime. In addition, sleep educators helped the parents create a visual schedule for their children to help them establish a bedtime routine and talked about ways to help kids get back to sleep if they woke up at night. "We found that one hour of one-on-one sleep education or four hours of group sleep education delivered to parents, combined with two brief follow-up phone calls, improved sleep as well as anxiety, attention, repetitive behavior and quality of life in children with [autism spectrum disorders] who had difficulty falling asleep," study author Dr. Beth … Continue reading →

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SUMTER, S.C., Oct. 1, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --Early Autism Project, Inc., (EAP) a leading provider of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) therapy to children and young adults who have autism spectrum and related disorders, promoted Ann Eldridge to executive vice president and chief operating officer, and Susan Butler to senior vice president of business development. Eldridge, who previously served as executive director of clinical services, and Butler, who was executive director of administrative services, founded EAP in 1995, after Butler struggled to find an effective and convenient treatment program for her son, Collin, who was diagnosed with autism that year. Eldridge, who was then a special education instructor at Collin's school, was encouraged to create a custom ABA treatment program after Collin showed dramatic improvements as a result of receiving ABA therapy. By 2007, EAP was serving large public school systems and private-pay patients. In 2009, Butler and Eldridge helped facilitate the passage of "Ryan's Law" requiring commercial insurers to provide autism treatment coverage in South Carolina. EAP now has 450 therapists providing services to more than 800 children each year. The company operates clinics in Charleston, Columbia, Greenville and Sumter, S.C., and will open a clinic in Tampa, Fla., this year. … Continue reading →

SAN BERNARDINO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- EMQ FamiliesFirst, Californias largest childrens services agency, today launched the Autism Spectrum Disorder program, providing services at its San Bernardino campus and in the community, as well as on-call treatment in surrounding areas in Riverside County. Autism Spectrum Disorder is the fastest growing serious developmental disability in the United States that affects 1 in every 88 children in all racial, ethnic and socioeconomic groups1. Recent California insurance reform has opened the door to affordable services for more children with Autism and their families. EMQ FamiliesFirst is committed to helping families receive the services they need at the earliest point possible and at the place of need. In 2012, California passed the Autism Insurance Reform Law requiring that California insurers and health plans that are subject to the bill provide coverage for treatment to develop or restore, to the maximum extent practicable, the functioning of an individual with pervasive developmental disorder or autism2. Without insurance coverage for this diagnosis, California families had been forced to pay out of pocket or rely on tax-funded programs for treatment. California currently has the highest number of children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder, with nearly 30% of those diagnosed placed on … Continue reading →

by Wilfred Pilo, reporters@theborneopost.com. Posted on October 1, 2013, Tuesday KUCHING: The Sarawak General Hospital (SGH) gets about two stroke patients every day on the average in the past one to two years. SGH Neurologist Dr Rachael Sim Siew Hung said that on average 50 per cent of the patients would end up in the operating theater. She added that 50 per cent of stroke patients would suffer severe physical disabilities within five years. When that happens, they would have to undergo physical rehabilitation, she told a press conference to announce the staging of the state-level `World Stroke Day 2013 celebration at Batu Kawa Health Clinic from 9am to 1pm this coming Oct 27. Also present were Assistant Minister of Public Health Datuk Dr Jerip Susil, who has been invited to officiate at the launching ceremony on Oct 27, deputy state health director Dr Chin Zin Hing, SGH Rehabilitation Physician Unit head Dr Leong Be Kim, state nursing head Matron Fu Choon Kee and SGH nursing head Matron Ng Yeng Lai. Dr Sim hoped that the event at Batu Kawa Health Clinic would create greater awareness among members of the public on the dangers of stroke. She added that preventive … Continue reading →

Public release date: 1-Oct-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ] Contact: Ben Porter ben.porter@utdallas.edu 972-883-2193 University of Texas at Dallas Researchers at The University of Texas at Dallas have taken a step toward developing a new treatment to aid the recovery of limb function after strokes. In a study published online in the journal Neurobiology of Disease, researchers report the full recovery of forelimb strength in animals receiving vagus nerve stimulation. "Stroke is a leading cause of disability worldwide," said Dr. Navid Khodaparast, a postdoctoral researcher in the School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences and lead author of the study. "Every 40 seconds, someone in the U.S. has a stroke. Our results mark a major step in the development of a possible treatment." Vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) is an FDA-approved method for treating various illnesses, such as depression and epilepsy. It involves sending a mild electric pulse through the vagus nerve, which relays information about the state of the body to the brain. Khodaparast and his colleagues used vagus nerve stimulation precisely timed to coincide with rehabilitative movements in rats. Each of the animals had previously experienced a stroke that impaired their ability to pull a handle. Stimulation of the … Continue reading →

Public release date: 1-Oct-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ] Contact: Connie Hughes connie.hughes@wolterskluwer.com 646-674-6348 Wolters Kluwer Health Philadelphia, Pa. (October 1, 2013) A telestroke service increases the rate of effective tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) therapy for patients with acute ischemic stroke treated at community hospitals, according to a report in the October issue of Neurosurgery, official journal of the Congress of Neurological SurgeonsCongress of Neurological Surgeons. The journal is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health. Other studies in the October Neurosurgery find that known gene variants don't affect the size of brain aneurysms and that surgery for a brain defect called Chiari malformation I (CMI) improves outcomes important to patients. Remote Stroke Service Increases tPA Use at Community Hospitals Dr. Stavropoula Tjoumakaris and colleagues of Thomas Jefferson University Hospital evaluated the effects of a telestroke network including 28 community hospitals in the Philadelphia area. In the network, stroke specialists used "remote presence" technology to consult on the care of stroke patients seen at hospitals that didn't have a specialized stroke unit. The study evaluated the rate of appropriate treatment with tPAan effective "clot-busting" drug that can be given only within the first few … Continue reading →

Newswise Researchers at The University of Texas at Dallas have taken a step toward developing a new treatment to aid the recovery of limb function after strokes. In a study published online in the journal Neurobiology of Disease, researchers report the full recovery of forelimb strength in animals receiving vagus nerve stimulation. Stroke is a leading cause of disability worldwide, said Dr. Navid Khodaparast, a postdoctoral researcher in the School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences and lead author of the study. Every 40 seconds, someone in the U.S. has a stroke. Our results mark a major step in the development of a possible treatment. Vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) is an FDA-approved method for treating various illnesses, such as depression and epilepsy. It involves sending a mild electric pulse through the vagus nerve, which relays information about the state of the body to the brain. Khodaparast and his colleagues used vagus nerve stimulation precisely timed to coincide with rehabilitative movements in rats. Each of the animals had previously experienced a stroke that impaired their ability to pull a handle. Stimulation of the vagus nerve causes the release of chemicals in the brain known to enhance learning and memory called neurotransmitters, specifically … Continue reading →