Autism News

We've gathered some autism spectrum disorder news and opportunities to learn more:

- This story comes from Thrive by Five in Washington: A breakthrough in autism research holds both the potential for earlier diagnosis of the disorder (a core component of Help Me Grow) and a better understanding of the important role social interactions play in early childhood development. The new study from the University of Washington's Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences (I-LABS) found brain activity among toddlers with autism can predict later cognitive, linguistic and adaptive development.

"Infants use social cues, such as tracking adults’ eye movements to learn the names of things, and must be interested in people to learn in this way. Paying attention to people is a way for babies to sort through all that is happening around them and serves as a gate to know what is important. But with autism, social impairments impede children’s interest in, and ability to pick up cues. They find themselves paying attention to many other things, especially objects as opposed to people."

- NPR reviewed new research about autistic children's response to human voice. Additionally, this story describes the strides museums are taking to respond to the needs of visitors with ASD.

- To find out more about making your business more autism-friendly or if you're looking for autism-friendly events and other supports, contact Autism Society of Alabama (1-877-4AUTISM).

- If you're interested in autism spectrum disorder and want to know more, you should register for this post-conference autism workshop as part of the 29th Annual Early Intervention and Preschool Conference at the Birmingham Jefferson Convention Center in November:

Evidence-based Intervention for the Young Child with Autism: Making the strategies work for you
Little Champions....Big Dreams
November 20, 2013; 8:30 AM – 4:30 PM
2101 Richard Arrington Jr. Blvd, N, Birmingham, AL 35213

Workshop Content:
· Review the most recent research in evidence based models of intervention for very young children with autism spectrum disorder
· Discuss similarities and differences among models in order to highlight key strategies
· Overview “key strategies”
· Discuss strategies drawn from research with case examples and audience participation

Elizabeth McMahon Griffith, PhD is an Assistant Professor in the section of Neurodevelopmental Behavioral Pediatrics at the University of Colorado and a practicing Psychologist on the Child Development Unit at Children’s Hospital Colorado. She received her doctorate from the University of Denver and completed her clinical training at the University of Alabama Birmingham School of Medicine in the LEND program. She has extensive experience in evaluation and intervention with individuals with developmental disabilities. Her primary areas of interest are in working with very young children with autism and their families, and in dissemination of ‘best practices’ into community settings. She is trained in a variety of intervention models, and is both a certified provider and a trainer in the Early Start Denver Model (ESDM).

For hotel reservations, call 205-324-5000 or follow this link. Sheraton Hotel Room rates: $113 for single/double plus tax (cut-off date is October 19, 2013). For conference registration and more information, go to http://www.ucpalabama.org/.
$100 Registration fee (or $50 if also attending the regular conference)

Pregnancy Prevention

When it comes to supporting strong families and healthy children, we care about all ages! The Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Branch of Family Health Services is hosting their 2nd Annual Professional Development Conference on June 27-28, 2013 at the Alabama Activity Center (201 Dexter Avenue, Montgomery). Keynote speaker will be David Walsh, PhD, one of the world's leading authorities on children, teens, parenting, family life, and the impacts of technology on children's health and development. Additional speakers will cover topics related to early brain development, youth at risk, bullying and human trafficking. The Conference fee is $25 and this includes lunch and snacks. Seating is limited and the registration deadline is June 21st, so register now!

According to The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unwanted Pregnancy, the national teen pregnancy and parenting rate has plummeted over the past two decades, but few Americans are aware of this great success. Their infographic, The Greatest Story Never Told (pdf), reflects data collected from a national telephone survey conducted by Social Science Research Solutions for The National Campaign. We hope you'll share the good news and continue to support Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention.

Alabama Quality Child Care

The Alabama Department of Human Resources (DHR) is excited to launch the pilot for the Alabama Quality STARS Quality Rating and Improvement System (QRIS). QRIS is a process for supporting and recognizing child care centers for providing high-quality child care. Because so many of Alabama’s young children participate in early learning programs, it is important to make sure these programs provide children with the best possible start.

DHR is offering a series of Awareness Sessions, which are meetings conducted in various regions of the state to provide more information about Alabama Quality STARS. The Awareness Sessions will help child care program leaders (child care administrators, directors and owners) understand QRIS, the program components and requirements, and the tools that will be used to evaluate program quality. The Awareness Sessions will also provide an opportunity for program leaders to ask questions and to volunteer their site to be a part of the pilot project.

Those who attend an Awareness Session and complete a form to volunteer as a potential pilot site will be mailed the Environment Rating Scales (ERS) booklet(s) that is appropriate for your provider setting and a Program Administration Scale (PAS) booklet.

See schedule and note all sessions are limited to 50 participants each.

Thursday, June 13, 2013
1:00 P.M. – 3:00 P.M. & 5:00 – 7:00 P.M.
Gadsden State Community College, Gadsden State CC Library, 1801 Coleman Road, Anniston, AL 36207
Registration: 256-362-1390

Tuesday, June 18, 2013
2:00 P.M. – 4:00 P.M. & 5:00 P.M. – 7:00 P.M.
Calhoun Community College-Huntsville Campus, 102 Wynn Dr. NW – Room #47, Huntsville, AL 35805
Registration: 256-551-7016

Wednesday, June 19, 2013
1:00 P.M. – 3:00 P.M.
Fort Payne CRN Resource Library, 651 Wallace Ave., NE, Fort Payne, AL 35967
Registration: 256-845-8238

Friday, June 21, 2013
9:00 A.M. – 11:00 A.M. & 2:00 P.M. – 4:00 P.M.
Child Care Resource Center, 510 South 7th Street, Opelika, AL 36801
Registration: 334-749-8400, Ext.222

Monday, June 24, 2013
9:00 A.M. – 11:00 A.M. & 1:00 P.M. – 3:00 P.M. & 6:00 P.M. – 8:00 P.M.
Childcare Resources, 1904 1st Avenue North, Birmingham, AL 35203
Registration: 205-252-1991 Ext. 300

Tuesday, June 25, 2013
9:00 A.M. – 11:00 A.M. & 1:00 P.M. – 3:00 P.M.
Childcare Resources, 1904 1st Avenue North, Birmingham, AL 35203
Registration: 205-252-1991 Ext. 300

Thursday, June 27, 2013
9:00 A.M. -11:00 A.M. & 1:00 P.M. – 3:00 P.M. & 4:00 P.M. – 6:00 P.M.
Family Guidance Center of AL, 2358 Fairlane Drive, Building D, Montgomery, AL 36116
Registration: 334-270-4100 Ext. 235

Tuesday, July 9, 2013
9:00 A.M. – 11:00 A.M. & 1:00 P.M. – 3:00 P.M. & 6:30 P.M. – 8:30 P.M.
GRCMA Early Childhood Directions, 3100 Cottage Hill Road, Bldg. 4, Suite 400, Mobile, AL 36606
Registration: 251-473-1060 Ext. 115

Tuesday, July 16, 2013
1:30 P.M. – 3:30 P.M. & 4:00 P.M. – 6:00 P.M.
Wallace Community College, Rane Hall, 1141 Wallace Drive, Dothan, AL 36303
Registration: 334-712-7777 or 1-800-290-0933 Ext.225 or 224

Should you have questions please contact Clementine McGinnis, Quality Enhancement Coordinator at (334) 353-5207.

Relevant Research

May has been a busy month in the world of early childhood research. We've created a short list of some newly released resources!

- Dr. Dworkin, Director of the Help Me Grow National Center, has updated his blog again. This time it's filled with links to interesting brain research as presented by Jack Shonkoff and others regarding the impact of early adversity on young children and the importance of strong communities! Visit his post and explore the latest in baby brain science.

- Charles Bruner, executive director of the Child and Family Policy Center, has shared a brief summary that covers the existing and potential opportunities for financing from Medicaid for Help Me Grow. In the summary, he illuminates opportunities for expansion and sustainability for Help Me Grow affiliates around the nation. See the description here or download the summary (pdf) directly here.

- The Urban Institute's latest report, Disconnected Mothers and the Well-Being of Children (pdf), synthesizes research related to low-income mothers disconnected from both work and welfare. The research shows that many of the circumstances disconnected mothers face pose major risks to children's development. As shared by Zero to Three, this paper provides potential interventions to help disconnected families, including increasing and stabilizing family income, enhancing parenting skills, supporting children directly, and reaching out to disconnected mothers who are not citizens.

- We hope you'll participate in the Early Learning Day of Action on June 5th. The day is a call to action to emphasize the importance of early learning from birth to five. You could plan and participate in a community rally, or simply send out a tweet. Every action, great or small, is a step in the right direction of bringing attention to the needs of young children! Learn more and get ideas from this online toolkit.

Alabama Chapter - AAP

Linda Lee has served since 2007 as Executive Director of the Alabama Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), where she oversees administration of the 700-member state society of pediatricians. During her tenure, she has grown the Chapter’s capacity to meet pediatric goals in numerous child health priority areas. As part of her role, Linda serves on numerous task forces, coalitions and committees including the Help Me Grow Alabama leadership team. We asked Linda to share a little with us about the work she has done and how AAP’s goals overlap with Help Me Grow.

Linda Lee, Executive Director
Alabama Chapter - American Academy of Pediatrics

Since 2007, in conjunction with Alabama’s Blueprint for Zero to Five initiative, the Chapter has co-led efforts to increase the percentage of children who receive standardized developmental screening in the medical home. We started this with the Alabama Assuring Better Child Health and Development (ABCD) project, which developed pilots in pediatric practices to train pediatricians on how to implement and score the Ages and Stages Questionnaire and refer for appropriate follow-up. In partnership with Alabama Medicaid Agency and ALL Kids, one of our goals was to establish state policy for third-party payment for standardized screening in the medical home. These efforts paid off, as Medicaid, ALL Kids, and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alabama have all developed policy around and now pay pediatricians and family physicians for developmental screening (limited). 

Since the ABCD pilots, AAP’s strong alliance with partners at Alabama Department of Public Health, Alabama Partnership for Children, and Alabama Department of Mental Health has happily evolved to the Help Me Grow model, a natural step for this work. We have been pleased to join forces with the United Way of Central Alabama/Success By 6 in expanding standardized screening further in a five-county area in Central Alabama. HMG & AAP trains pediatricians on use of the Ages and Stages Questionnaire, coupled with the important benefit of having a connection to community resources via the HMG call center. We are excited about this partnership and the work that UWCA has done to make this a reality. In addition, this initiative has married AAP’s early literacy program, Reach Out and Read-Alabama, with HMG by connecting practices in the five-county area with new books for children from six months to five years of age. We owe a lot to the Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham for its support of HMG-Central Alabama.

Linda can be reached at 334-954-2543 or llee@alaap.org.

National Children's Mental Health Awareness Day

Thursday, May 9th is National Children's Mental Health Awareness Day

The U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) is the nation's leader for children's mental health services. SAMHSA's "Caring for Every Child's Mental Health" public awareness effort was created in 1994 with the mission to increase awareness around children's mental health. Every year there is a renewed public awareness effort and theme.

This year SAMHSA focuses on the importance of social connectedness—a sense of community—in enhancing resilience in young adults with mental health and substance use challenges at home, school, work, and in accessing health care services.

Watch this year's video here

Follow these links for more SAMHSA resources:
2013 - Social Connectedness Virtual Event
2012 - Juvenile Justice and Child Welfare Report

2011 - Child Resilience PSA
2010 - School Readiness PSA
2009 - Mental Health as a Priority PSA

Brain Growth

"It is widely accepted that the most critical time in a person’s life are the first few years. During the first year a child doubles in size both height and weight, but most importantly, the child grows immensely in brain power. It is that power that will decide their entire future..."

Help Me Grow Utah is a fellow Help Me Grow affiliate, their post last week is a great description of why HMG staff are passionate about serving families and helping babies grow.

Follow the link to find out why we (and HMG Utah) put such a priority on baby brain development.