Yes, another autistic child gets handcuffed and, as reported by WSMV (Nashville) today, put into the back seat of a police car. 10-year-old Heath Burk had “acted up at school”:

Felicia Burk adopted Heath and his sister Scarlett two years ago. Both of them have autism. She said Heath can get out of control, but he isn’t supposed to be restrained, as that only makes him act worse. Tuesday when he acted up, the Murfreesboro City school called the police.

“I didn’t like it,” said Heath of the hand-cuffing.

“The special-ed supervisor told me he was in a police car because I had complained last week that he was physically restrained and had bruises on his arm,” said Burk.

School officials do not have a comment at this time. A police representative said the boy was calm when the officer arrived. The officer said the boy asked to sit in the patrol car and be handcuffed.

But Heath’s mom said she was told a different story. “I was told later that Heath was kicking in the car, so they put handcuffs on him,” she said.

Previous reports of autistic children being handcuffed in school in North Carolina (see also here); in California;

Just after the introductory section of her speech at the Democratic Convention (transcript), as her first example of her “35 years in the trenches, advocating for children, campaigning for universal health care, helping parents balance work and family, and fighting for women’s rights here at home and around the world,” Hillary Clinton said:

I will always remember the single mom who had adopted two kids with autism. She didn’t have any health insurance, and she discovered she had cancer. But she greeted me with her bald head, painted with my name on it, and asked me to fight for health care for her and her children.

Comments Wonkette who liveblogged the Senator’s speech:

A single mom, two kids, autism, cancer, painted bald head…This is the most tragic woman in America, and Hillary Clinton found her.

Single mom (with cancer), two adopted kids (with autism): Not easy. But not so sure about rushing to judge this woman as “tragic.” Has referring to the parent of an autistic child become a shorthand way to show a certain, perhaps, compassion for those in need?

In 2005, a girl named Danielle was found amid the most literal squalor and neglect. She weighed 46 pounds and was malnourished and anemic, and  was taken from the rented house where she lived with her mother, her mother’s boyfriend, and older brothers. She was first placed in a group home, and then–8 years old and non-verbal and needing a lot of care—adopted by Bernie and Diane Lierow. An extensive report by the St. Petersburg Time describes Danielle as a “feral child,” a term once used to describe children in previous centuries who may, or may not have been, autistic. Danielle has been diagnosed with “environmental autism” and is making slow progress living her new family. Here is more coverage of her story which, in its account of shocking abuse and neglect, adoption and hope, recalls the sometimes harrowing and passionate account of adopting an abused, autistic, and non-verbal boy in Reasonable People by Ralph Savarese.

Hoping that there’s much learning and much love ahead for Danielle.

Using four different aliases, Judith Leekin adopted 11 children—some with autism and other disabilities—-between 1988 and 1996 in New York City and moved them to Florida in 1998. She received subsidies totaling over $1.68 million for the children’s care. Nine of the children (with “mental” and physical disablities) are now in Florida state custody and one, Shawn Graham (who had Down’s syndrome, autism and sickle cell anemia), is missing.

Leekin pleaded guilty to the fraud scheme in New York in May. Yesterday, she stood before a federal judge in Manhattan and was sentenced to more than 10 years in prison. As reported in the July 15th New York Times, authorities say that the children were restrained with plastic ties, kept from school, not provided with dental and other care, and were “victims of physical violence.” The New York Times also details some of the abuses against three of the children, all of whom were autistic and, well, after I read it, I got up and went to look at Charlie sleeping peacefully in his bed, wrapped in fleece blankets and with his blue backpack, photos, and favorite things all around him.

Leekin apparently used the  $1.68 million in government subsidies to lead a “lavish lifestyle.” She has pleaded guilty and a sentence of 6 ½ to 8 years was mentioned but the judge, Richard M. Berman of United States District Court, “took the unusual step last week of announcing that he was considering imposing a longer sentence”; after sentencing her on Tuesday, he called her acts “‘diabolical in nature.’”

Leekin faces the possibility of going to prison in Florida for the rest of her life if convicted of 10 counts of aggravated child abuse and other charges in Florida. She is fighting the charges. She has also been ordered to pay $1.68 million in restitution.

And the children?

From the July 16th New York Times:

As for the children, most of whom are now young adults, their futures are uncertain, Howard M. Talenfeld, a lawyer for the children, said in an interview after the hearing.

Some have shown a remarkable resilience, he said. “You’d be amazed,” he said, adding, “They still have an uphill battle.”

But for the ones who are highly disabled, he said: “Unfortunately, they’re in custodial care, in group homes. One is blind. And it’s one of the saddest, most pathetic things I’ve ever seen.”

“In psychology, I’m starting to get the weary feeling that everything gives you mental illness,” quips Williams Saletan in the May 7th Slate on Human Nature. Saletan references the recent study which found that parents who have psychiatric disorders are doubly at risk to have an autistic child (while also citing another study according to which “adoption can double a child’s risk of disruptive behavior disorder“). Have to say, I’m starting to feel that everything can give a person autism.

What hasn’t been cited as a cause of autism?

Shane Graham had Down’s syndrome, autism and sickle cell anemia and was one of 11 disabled children from New York who had been adopted by 62-year-old Judith Leekin. Today’s Associated Press reports that Leekin used four aliases to make money on the subsidies totally over $1.2 million for the children’s care. She adopted them between 1988 and 1996 and moved them to Florida in 1998 Nine of the children (aged 15 to 27; many have “mental and physical handicaps”) are in Florida state custody; one 19-year-old is on his own—-and Shane Graham is missing.

authorities are considering a murder charge against Leekin as they try to find the 11th child, a boy named Shane Graham who would now be 19. He was last seen with Leekin in 1999 or 2000. The other adopted children have said Leekin told them he died……………

«He couldn’t feed himself, bathe himself, do anything for himself,» [Port St. Lucie police Detective Stuart] Klearman said. «He couldn’t walk or speak … On his own, he could not survive.

The other children knew him only by his nickname, Moo. «He got that name because that’s about the only sound he could make,» Klearman said.

According to authorities, Leekin kept the children “like prisoners in her home. …… the children were often handcuffed, beaten, starved and locked in a room, deprived medical care and not allowed to attend school.” Leekin has pleaded not guilty to the charges brought against her and remains held on more than $4 million bail.

Why are DAN! doctors so expensive? is a question on the website for Talking About Curing Autism (TACA): Have you ever not been able to continue or even start a therapy for your child due to the costs? Today’s Columbus Dispatch reports on the costs of autism and how families and advocacy groups in several states are seeking to get insurance and Medicaid coverage for treatments and therapies.

“I just feel like taxpayers shouldn’t have to pick up the tab,” said Tamara Heydt, the boys’ mother. [Heydt's sons are both autistic.] “My insurance should have to pay for it. Insurance companies pay for other neurological disorders. I feel like it’s discrimination.”

A bill in the Ohio House would make this happen. It’s modeled after the 2-month-old mental-health parity law, which requires that health insurance cover certain psychological conditions.

The measure has bipartisan sponsorship from Reps. Jon M. Peterson, a Delaware Republican, and Ted Celeste, a Grandview Heights Democrat.

Like the mental-health parity law, this bill would apply to fully insured plans, not self-insured policies. Larger companies and governments tend to have self-insured plans that are governed by federal rules.

Joseph Gibbons, director of government relations for Medical Mutual, said his company doesn’t cover autism treatment and, to his knowledge, no employer has ever asked for such coverage.

Insurance-industry officials want more details about the House bill and are concerned it would open the door to more mandates based on a disease or health condition.

Some 17 states, including Connecticut, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, New York and Tennessee, require health plans to provide some treatment; Ohio is one among several considering such measures.

TACA mentions the following to help pay for treatments (from DAN! doctors): asking foundations and family to help; getting a loan; and asking if practitioners offer pro-bono work or special payment terms.

“It is a possession for all time, not a competition piece to be heard for the moment, that has been composed.”

So writes Thucydides, the ancient Greek historian, about his account of The Peloponnesian War. Considering that he was writing in the fifth century B.C., and about events taking place from 431-411 B.C., Thucydides was right about his work being a “possession for all time”: In light of recent political, military, and international events, New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof notes that Thucydides provides a “trenchant analysis of Iraq-style adventures” that goes beyond any analogy of the Iraq war to Vietnam.

I’ve been reading Thucydides’ histories tonight in preparation for my Greek history class but some more recent books have been on my mind, especially after a visit to the library this evening. I had to return an overdue book; usually Charlie prefers to wait in the car and I run, head turning back again and again, and hastily deposit my item in the drop-off bin. Tonight, though, as I was saying “Mom’s going to drop off the book fast,” Charlie said “library, yes.” And in we went: He smiled as we passed the children’s section, which he had visited a few times with a summer school class; he stood still and serious as I paid the fine and then—with Charlie showing no sign of needing to leave—renewed the book (a fine novel) and took a fast look in the “new non-fiction section,” and found a new book about vaccine history.

I’ve found blogging is well-suited for conveying the experience of autism, and of life raising an autistic child. It is every day; not too much to read; can be topical; enables exchanges of comments and views and experiences; can foster a sort of community. But books have a permanence: You can flip back and forth to reread a passage you are puzzling over, or just like a lot; you can carry them in your bag and read a few pages on the train, or while waiting (in line; to pick up your child).

A lot of autism books came out this year, like these two in September, and the novel I rechecked out. In the first part of this year, two books came out by two fathers—-Roy Richard Grinker and Ralph James Savarese—of two autistic children, Isabel Grinker and DJ Savarese. Both books—-Unstrange Minds: Remapping the World of Autism and Reasonable People: A Memoir of Autism and Adoption—and their authors, offer new insights about autism and about being the fathers of autistic children today. Professors Grinker and Savarese will both be reading at an event this Saturday, November 3rd:

EVENT IN WASHINGTON, D.C. Open to the public. Organized by Grinnell College, but being held on the GWU campus.

Reception featuring readings from the following:

Reasonable People: A Memoir of Autism and Adoption by Ralph James Savarese, Associate Professor of English, Grinnell College.

Unstrange Minds: Remapping the World of Autism by Roy Richard Grinker, The George Washington University.

The event will be this Saturday, November 3, 2007, 1 p.m., at The George Washington University, Media & Public Affairs Building, 805 21st Street, NW. The reception will begin at 1 p.m., with the program following at 1:30 p.m.

Come hear these authors read from, discuss, and sign copies of their books.

Since I can’t go, I’m glad I have the books to read.

Sad and horrible to think about.

32-year-old Allison Cox is on trial today on charges of manslaughter and failing to provide the necessities of life for Tiffany Pinckney, her adopted sister, The Star reports. On April 2, 2005, Pinckney was found in a basement apartment in Missisauga, on a rug soiled with urine and feces. She was 23 years old and weighed 84 pounds.

Diagnosed with autism at the age of three, Pinckney “was non-verbal, was toilet trained, and functioned at a mental age of about 3.” Her adoptive mother, Margaret Cox, died of cancer in 2004 and named Allison Cox as Pinckney’s legal guardian in her will. Allison Cox has pleaded not guilty.

They have all written books about autism that have been published this year, as have many others, two being Unstrange Minds: Remapping the World of Autism by Roy Richard Grinker and Kiara Brinkman’s novel, Up High in the Trees, which is not explicitly about autism, but which is a finely crafted portrait of one “quirky” child in a family of quirks and needs. I have yet to do justice to Brinkman’s book—-I have had this big project to finish for work, and it is getting towards done—and the books by Jenny McCarthy and John Elder Robison, and their authors, have been much talked about.

When I started blogging here, one of my intentions was to write about “the latest autism books.” While I do write fairly frequently about books, I soon found that there were a great many other things to write about, however they were “connected” to autism, from various theories of what causes to autism to treatments (some rather outlandish) to puzzling references to autism in limericks, not to mention the occasional post about my son Charlie’s latest doings.

There has been a lot about McCarthy’s and Robison’s recently published book but (to my thinking) one reason for writing a book is that it is someting more lasting, more permanent; something I could direct a student to find on a library bookshelf. Something that might become “classic,” that I like to read and read again, and Grinnell College creative writing professor Ralph Savarese’s Reasonable People: A Memoir of Autism and Adoption is one such book.

Of course, Reasonable People is not only written by Savarese, but also by his 15-year-old autistic son, DJ,

“a boy who can’t talk but communicates like few do”

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