A comprehensive lecture series for the community begins Aug. 29 at Sonoma State University to provide support and insight into what appears to be a dramatic increase in the prevelance of autism among young children.
The Collaborative Autism Training and Support Program is offering a Tuesday seminar series from 10-11:30 a.m. in the SSU Student Union multi-purpose room. Admission is $5 and there is a $2.50 parking fee.
The lecture series runs from Aug. 29 through Nov. 29 and covers autism's impact on families, early intervention strategies, ways to support children's developing abilities, supporting autistic adults in the community, an overview of autism theories and intervention, and careers in the autism field.
For a complete description of each lecture visit http://www.sonoma.edu/psychology/autism.
This program is funded by the California Department of Developmental Services through a collaborative grant to North Bay Regional Center and Sonoma State University.
Catford reports that 30% of the special ed preschoolers in Sonoma County are now on the autism spectrum. This percentage has gone up from 24% a couple of years ago. Among older students, ages six and up, 17% of the June count of pupils in special day classes were on the autism spectrum, which ranges from severe autism up to more functional children and those with Asperger's syndrome.
The unprecedented increase in autism in California is real and cannot be explained away by artificial factors, such as misclassification and criteria changes, according to the results of a recent large statewide epidemiological study made by the M.I.N.D. Institute recently.
"Speculation about the increase in autism in California has led some to try to explain it away as a statistical issue or with other factors that artificially inflated the numbers," said UC Davis pediatric epidemiologist Robert S. Byrd, who is the principal investigator on the study.
"Instead, we found that autism is on the rise in the state and we still do not know why. The results of this study are, without a doubt, sobering."
Rick Rollens of the M.I.N.D. institute up at Davis reports that the number of professionally diagnosed children with full symptom autism now exceeds 30.000 in California. Ten years ago there were just under 2,800.
In the period between January 4 and April 4, 2006, the California State Department of Developmental Services reported that 757 new children were added to the support services system of regional centers that provide services for children with autism and other developmental disabilities.
SSU is also offering a service-learning course, also made possible by the Wellness Grant to North Bay Regional Center from the California State Department of Developmental Services. Students will learn to work with children diagnosed on the autism spectrum through a combination of lectures, discussion, reflection, and field work.
The goal is for students to understand the etiology, implications and treatment of autism spectrum disorders in the context of home, school, and the community. Topics include history and research on autism, impact on the family, assessment and intervention procedures, collaborative program planning, and how to implement effective interventions.
For more information, contact: Dr. Lorna Catford, Sonoma State University, (707) 664-2402, or Richard Ruge, North Bay Regional Center, (707) 569-2017.
The Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Sonoma State University is offering an eight-week lecture series on the Vietnam War from Sept. 13 to Nov. 1.
The series will highlight how the U.S. became involved in Vietnam, how the war was conducted, how Vietnam has opened to the West since the war, and the legacies and lessons of this important chapter in American history.
Prominent Santa Rosa lawyer Dan Lanahan, who was instrumental in opening Vietnam to the West in the 1990's, will provide historical and cultural background on Vietnam and talk about how Vietnam has changed in the last few decades.
Popular local speaker, United Nations historian and prolific writer, Chris O'Sullivan, will provide background on how Cold War attitudes and strategies influenced U.S. thinking about the situation in Vietnam.
Daniel Ellsberg, who worked at the highest levels in the Pentagon, spent years on the ground in Vietnam, and studied the war for the RAND Corporation, will also be participating in the series. Based on his insider role, he will provide us his view as to how the secret war aims of John Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon differed from what the public was being told and then explain why this knowledge led him to release the famous Pentagon Papers.
Well known writer Maxine Hong-Kingston, who has for decades helped Vietnam Veterans express their memories and feelings about their participation in the war, will bring in some of these Veterans to tell their stories.
Ellsberg, Lanahan and O'Sullivan will provide their views as to how the current situation in Iraq compares to the Vietnam War, how similar these experiences really are, and whether the lessons from one can be applied to the other.
The series will be held on Wednesday afternoons from 1 to 2:45 p.m. in the Cooperage at SSU. It is a part of the Osher Lifelong Learning fall program that includes ten other courses on topics such as the Enlightenment, the Legacy of Egypt, Election 2006, and the Analysis of Dreams.
The series is available to Osher LLI members. Institute membership is available for $150, plus a $60 administrative fee, and entitles members to take up to four eight-week classes.
For more information, please call (707) 664-2691 or visit the Osher Lifelong Learning Web site at www.sonoma.edu/exed/lifelong/.
Sonoma State University geology professor Terry Wright is available for comment on last night's 4.4 earthquake in the North Bay.
Wright is an expert in the field of earthquakes and faults and specifically in the geology of Sonoma County.
He can be reached today at (707) 479-0884.
His e-mail address is terry.wright@sonoma.edu.
