Patti's Blog - Advocate for Elders, People with Disabilities and Their Families

Science Shows Music Helps Speech Development for Kids with Special Needs

Excerpt from Special Needs Neighborhood: (click for entire article)

The American Association for the Advancement of Science, www.aaas.org, met this past weekend.  The scientists agreed that a connection exists in the brain between words and music.  They said that music education can help children with developmental delays, including autism, to use speech more accurately. 

Dr. Gottfried Schlaug, Associate Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School, told the meeting that music is a  multisensory experience that activates several links to parts of the brain.  Nina Kraus, Director of the Auditory Neuroscience Laboratory at Northwestern University, reported that new studies show that musical training enhances the brain’s ability to do other things.  For example, playing an instrument may help youngsters better process speech in noisy classrooms and to process social nuances.

Have you tried music with your child?  To learn more about music therapy benefits for kids with special needs click here: www.specialneedsneighborhood.com/wordpress/?p=111.

To find a music therapist in your area, See: www.musictherapy.org.

A Bird's-Eye View Of Health Lobbying

Excerpt from Kaiser Health News: (click for entire article)

The Center for Public Integrity's new "analysis of Senate lobbying disclosure forms shows that more than 1,750 companies and organizations hired about 4,525 lobbyists — eight for each member of Congress — to influence health reform bills in 2009." The AARP, a retirees' advocacy group which is among the most active organizations in Congress, mustered 58 lobbyists to health overhaul issues. The Chamber of Commerce used 47.

"Businesses and organizations that lobbied on health reform spent more than $1.2 billion on their overall lobby efforts," the report finds, out of a total of $3.47 billion for all reported lobbying last year. However, the amount spent on health overhaul issues is not reported independent of other issues the same organizations lobbied on. The total number of lobbyists working on health care doubled last year.

"From an industry perspective, it was money well spent. A close look at the health reform bills that passed the House and Senate show lobbyists were apparently effective at blocking provisions like a robust government-run insurance program, and blunting the effect of cost-cutting measures on health care companies." Some industry groups, however, are now concerned their compromises and lobbying successes will be lost on a scaled-back overhaul (Eaton and Pell, 2/23).

Ann Arbor CIL: Computer Lab Available for Public Use

Excerpt from DD News Blog: (click for entire article)

From the Ann Arbor Center for Independent Living:

The Ann Arbor CIL’s computer lab contains four computers for public use. The computers can be used to connect to the Internet and have the Microsoft Office Suite and other software for your use.

A range of assistive technologies such as voice recognition, screen readers, and alternative keyboards are also available on some of the computers. The computer lab is available for drop-in use between the hours of 9am and 4pm Monday through Friday. (Occasionally, it may be closed for classes or other activities.)

Ann Arbor Center for Independent Living
3941 Research Park Drive
Ann Arbor, MI 48108
(734) 971-0277 phone

Internet Use and Depression

Excerpt from FWD: (click for entire article)

Readers may be aware of a study published earlier this year which seemed to suggest a link between Internet use and depression. “The Relationship Between Excessive Internet Use and Depression” was published by researchers at the University of Leeds. A number of news outlets picked the story up, with a variety of sensational headlines. Given that news outlets have been publishing scare articles for years about how the Internet makes everyone isolated and depressed, I’m always curious to delve a little bit more deeply into the studies cited to see if they actually came to the conclusions reported in the media.

Science reporting in the mainstream media can be pretty dubious. Journalists exaggerate conclusions or massage the numbers so that they can have a more extreme headline or so that they can make stronger claims in their articles. And few articles examine or question the methodology of the studies they report on. I don’t think this is because journalists reporting on science don’t know how to question methodology. I think it’s because they think that the general public is not interested or isn’t capable of following.

I think that’s an erroneous assumption. Depriving members of the public of deeper analysis on the assumption that they aren’t interested or can’t follow is just insulting. And since this study is being bandied about a lot, I thought it might be worth discussing it here. Please note that I am not a scientist, so I’m not really qualified to critique scientific methodologies in-depth, at all; other contribs and readers are scientists and may have additional thoughts which I would love to read in comments.

AIG: Still Losing Money!

Excerpt from NPR: (click for entire article)

AIG lost $8.9 billion in the fourth quarter of last year. Sure, it sounds bad -- until you compare it to the $61.7 billion the company lost in the fourth quarter of 2008. AIG's main business lines actually turned a small profit in the last three months of 2009. But the company took some big hits to its balance sheet as it paid back part of its bailout, set more money aside to cover its insurance policies, and sold a subsidiary on the cheap. Here's more from Bloomberg.

Still feeling angry about the bailouts? Arne Duncan would like a word with you. In this morning's Washington Post, the education secretary leans on old-school, anti-bank populism to push the Obama administration's plan to change how student loans work. Under the current system, "the banks earn profits on the interest; if students default, taxpayers take the loss, not the banks," he writes. "In other words, working Americans pay while bankers get rich." (Here's a counterpoint from Sallie Mae, which could lose big under the administration's plan.) A student-loan bill passed the House last year, but has been held up in the Senate.

Autism is like the Olympics

Excerpt from StimTalk: (click for entire post)

The Thrill of Victory…and the Agony of Defeat.  My last post was clearly a thrill of victory one.  This one  is more of an agony of defeat kind.

Been going through a rough patch with Fabio. I recently messed with his diet in one of my very rare attempts to broaden it ever so slightly. Nothing crazy or not permitted. Just some things high in salicylates, which he is kind of sensitive to…so we avoid them for long stretches of time and then periodically attempt to reintroduce them.

That attempt sadly sent my little guy over the cliff just like that Olympic skiier whose famous wipe-out in the 70’s lived on for decades as the “face” of the agony of defeat.

He’s been having trouble in school attending to his work and focusing. He’s been aggressive and often full of rage when the slightest demands are put upon him.

During the never-ending month long week the kids were just off from school, I finally took him to the DAN chiro, who took one look at his eyes and said, “What did you do to his diet?” Then he looked at my eyes, full of tears. All I could blurt out before they ran over was “One of us needs medication.”

Study finds uptick in strokes among younger people

Excerpt from JS Online: (click for entire article)

A couple years ago, Brett Kissela was working a two-week stint in the neurology section at his hospital when it occurred to him that many of the stroke patients he was seeing were not much older than 50.

So he started looking at data from the Ohio-Kentucky area where he practices medicine and discovered an alarming trend that may be playing out across the country.

Stroke has been long thought of as an old person's disease, but in a little over a decade the percentage of people age 20 to 45 having strokes had jumped from 4.5% of the population to 7.3% of those living in the area.

Among whites, the incidence of stroke in that age group had more than doubled from 12 per 100,000 people a year to 25.

Among whites age 45 to 54, the annual incidence of stroke increased from 74 per 100,000 in 1993-'94 to 96 per 100,000 in 2005. Among African-Americans in that age group, strokes increased from 225 per 100,000 to 302.

The shift was so pronounced that in those dozen years, from 1993-'94 to 2005, the average age of the first stroke dropped from 71 to 68.

"This is scary," said Kissela, an associate professor of neurology at the University of Cincinnati Neuroscience Institute.

NBC's 'Parenthood' part of network's comeback plan

Excerpt from The Northwestern: (click for entire article)

Long before becoming a movie star, Bryce Dallas Howard inspired a movie.  She did it in the most direct way – by throwing up on her father, on a plane. That led to “Parenthood,” which her dad is now turning into a series that's crucial to NBC's comeback attempt.

“It's probably the most personal film ... I've been involved with,” Ron Howard said.

And it started with a 1985 flight with his wife and their daughters – twin babies and Bryce, then 4.

“I proudly thought, as kind of a forward-looking, progressive kind of dad, that she might like to try this appetizer sushi,” he recalled. “She was game, took one bite – and projectile-vomited all over my shirt.”

This was in the first hour of a 17-hour trip. “It turned out to be sort of the flight from Hell. We had 25 pieces of checked luggage …. And I thought, 'When and how did this happen to me?'”

He had been the portrait of youth – Opie on “The Andy Griffith Show,” a perpetual teen-ager in “American Graffiti” and “Happy Days.” Now he had fresh layers of vomit and daddy duties.

“It's both funny and it's painful and it's profound,” Howard said. “And we all experience it. And the idea for the movie was born.”

His “Parenthood” movie came out in 1989, with a mega-cast – Steve Martin, Mary Steenburgen, Keanu Reeve, Joaquin Phoenix, Tom Hulce, Martha Plimpton and more. That became a 1990 NBC show that tried to pack 15 actors (including Leonardo DiCaprio and David Arquette) into a half-hour situation comedy. “That was just misguided,” Howard said.

Then, somehow, the whole thing was revived two decades later.

Congressional Leaders and JFAAN Announce 20th Anniversary ADA Agenda

Excerpt from Justice For All: (click for entire article)

At a press event at the Capitol Building on Tuesday, February 23, 2010, Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (MD-5) and Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers (WA-5) joined the leadership of the Justice For All Action Network (JFAAN) in kicking off the celebration of the 20th Anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act.  The legislators each reflected on the progress of the last 20 years while recognizing the tremendous amount of work we, as a nation, have yet to do in fulfilling the promise of the ADA—equality of opportunity, full participation, independent living, and economic self-sufficiency for all people with disabilities.  Toward this end, the JFAAN steering committee announced its legislative agenda for the 2010 Congressional Session in the Spirit of the ADA Campaign.

For disabled, 'affordable' independent living is the ideal, but often out of reach

Excerpt from Medill News Reports: (click for entire article)

After the unveiling of a 500 page national report on housing opportunities for disabled Americans Tuesday, Harvey Raben stood, leaning on his walker to fight the effects of Multiple Sclerosis, and asked a pointed question.

“The heart of the housing question for disabled people is: Will there be more vouchers open so more people can get into decent housing?”

Lynn Grosso, of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, answered: “The need far outweighs the availability.”

HUD is due to announce funding for additional vouchers next month, which would allow 4,000 non-elderly people with disabilities nationwide to rent in the private market. But according to the panel from the National Council on Disability, the University of Illinois at Chicago and Access Living, the relief may be too little too late. 

Raben, who has lived with Multiple Sclerosis for 35 years, said his life changed when he acquired a voucher six years ago after a six-year wait.  He now lives in an accessible high-rise apartment on Sheridan Road where his children can visit him. He has more money left after rent to spend on food, transportation and other facets of his newly independent life. 

According to the report, Raben’s home amongst non-disabled neighbors is optimal overinstitutions like nursing homes, where residents are isolated and lose their independence. But affordability often stands in the way.

“While not a substitute for permanently affordable, universally designed and integrated housing, vouchers have the most potential for helping people with disabilities find accessible housing in a livable community,” said Janet Smith, from the Vorhees Center for Neighborhood and Community Improvement at UIC that contracted the report. “Congress must increase housing choice voucher funding targeted at people with disabilities.”