Dr. Chris’ Autism Journal

 NEW YORK, NY (Dec 12, 2007) – Autism Speaks, the nation’s leading autism advocacy organization, today announced its Autism Treatment Network (ATN) would triple in size, expanding from five sites to fifteen sites across the United States and Canada. The ATN is a group of hospitals and medical centers dedicated to improving medical care for children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and to standardizing the care those individuals receive.

The ATN’s multi-disciplinary approach includes collaboration among specialists in areas including, but not limited to, neurology, developmental pediatrics, child psychiatry, psychology, gastroenterology, genetics, metabolic disorders, and sleep disorders. The network aims to develop common clinical standards for medical care for individuals with ASD and to increase the pool of autism medical specialists through trainee mentorship and outreach to community-based physicians. As part of this effort, families receiving care at the sites can participate in a data registry that tracks children and adolescents receiving ongoing care at participating sites. The information in the database is a crucial part of developing the evidence to create and substantiate these clinical consensus standards.

“It is imperative that all children, no matter where they live, have access to excellent, evidence-based medicine,” said Autism Speaks President Mark Roithmayr. “The continuing expansion and funding of the ATN is a significant step in that direction.”

“This dramatic expansion of the Autism Treatment Network provides real opportunity to improve the quality of health care that children and youth with autism receive, and for more children to receive that care,” said Dr. James Perrin, Director, Clinical Coordinating Center, ATN, and Director, General Pediatrics, Massachusetts General Hospital for Children. “Developing common standards of medical care across fifteen sites will allow us to get answers to the questions parents ask about their children’s care much more quickly.”

The participating ATN sites are: University of Arkansas and Arkansas Children’s Hospital (Little Rock, AR); Kaiser Permanente Medical Care Program Northern California (San Jose, CA); University of Colorado Denver, School of Medicine and The Children’s Hospital (Denver, CO); Kennedy Krieger Institute and Marcus Institute (Baltimore, MD/Atlanta, GA); LADDERS/Mass General Hospital (Boston, MA); University of Missouri (Columbia, MO); Columbia University Medical Center (New York, NY); University of Rochester (Rochester, NY); Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center (Cincinnati, OH); Bloorview Kids Rehab, Surrey Place Centre and The Hospital for Sick Children (Toronto, ON, Canada); Oregon Health & Science University (Portland, OR); University of Pittsburgh (Pittsburgh, PA); Vanderbilt University Medical School (Nashville, TN); Baylor College of Medicine (Houston, TX); University of Washington (Seattle, WA).

The ATN began as a collaboration between the Northwest Autism Foundation in Oregon and Massachusetts General Hospital for Children in Boston. In 2005, the network was established with five founding sites that came together to establish multi-disciplinary practices for the evaluation and treatment of the underlying medical conditions associated with ASD. These sites currently provide services to approximately 2,000 new cases of ASD each year, and all have taken critical steps to broaden the services available to all children in these centers. The Autism Treatment Network merged with Cure Autism Now in 2006. In February 2007, Cure Autism Now merged with Autism Speaks.

To find out more about the Autism Treatment Network, or to get connected to a site in your area, visit www.autismspeaks.org/science/programs/atn/index.php or email: atn@autismspeaks.org.

The above article is reprinted with permission and can be found in its entirety at http://www.autismspeaks.org/press/atn_network_expanded.php

Seattle, WA – TeachTown, a privately held autism research and technology company, was named a winner of the 2007 Tibbetts Awards for excellence in the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) programs. Individuals and companies selected for these national awards are recognized as having provided outstanding SBIR leadership.

Teach Town, founded in 2003, provides an education and language learning platform as well as services specifically designed and developed for children with autism and other cognitive impairments. It was conceptualized by Chief Scientist Dr. Christina Whalen, licensed psychologist, and certified behavior analyst, and developed with Eric Dallaire, and Lars Liden, Ph.D., cognitive and neural systems. Dr. Whalen will accept the award on October 10, 2007 in Washington, DC, and attend the congressional reception on Capitol Hill.

With recent increases in autism prevalence, estimates are now 1 out of 150 births, “We have a rapidly growing school-age autism population that is severely under-served.” says Dr. Chris Whalen, “Our goal is to provide affordable, available, and effective treatment.”

TeachTown received an SBIR (Department of Education) grant in 2004 to develop its first product TeachTown Basics, which was released to the market in March 2006. They also received a “Stepping Stone” grant in June 2007. The company has built up a science advisory board which includes some of the most prominent autism researchers in the US. The results of the first Teach Town: Basics study was published in the Journal of Speech and Language Pathology and Applied Behavior Analysis in March 2006.

SBIR support for product development and research has allowed Teach Town to become the only evidenced based autism treatment technology solution available which provides online synchronization and communication of the child’s activities and progress data. This addresses the main area of pain for service providers and parents which is the ability to; track, report and communicate on a child’s progress. The program includes both on and off computer activities using scientifically-based treatment approaches which are needed to be successful in teaching children with autism. TeachTown allows service providers to serve more children at one time and exceeds mandated education data reporting requirements in all 50 states.

TeachTown is now embarking on a 2 year project and will conduct research studies which will include children with autism or Asperger’s Syndrome, parents, and professionals from the autism community. This research will guide the development of a new education and treatment program targeted at grade levels 2^nd – 5^th. This innovative treatment will build on the success of TeachTown: Basics, which is now helping hundreds of younger children and being adopted by major school districts across the U.S.

Christina Whalen, PhD, BCBA

(206) 336-5585

chris@teachtown.com

About Teach Town

www.teachtown.com

TeachTown is a privately held company based in Seattle with offices in San Francisco, and is funded by the Washington Research Foundation and private investors led by Richard Fade, founder of the Autism Treatment Network.

For more information about the Tibbetts Award Click Here

It’s time again for Autism Speaks’ annual “Walk Now for Autism” fundraiser in Seattle, WA. In addition to raising money for autism research, the fundraiser’s purpose is to increase awareness about the growing number of individuals being diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). The walk in Seattle is taking place on Saturday, October 13th. If you can’t make it to this event, sign up to join one of the many walks taking place in various locations across the country, as well as in Canada and the United Kingdom.

Hosting these events is Autism Speaks, the nation’s largest non-profit organization devoted to helping the autistic community. In 2006 alone, Autism Speaks raised over $33 million dollars and committed $25 million to scientific research that helped fund multiple projects, including innovative research studies that could potentially advance autism treatment and therapies.

The “Walk Now for Autism” fundraiser is Autism Speaks’ signature fundraising and awareness event. Families and friends of those affected with Autism Spectrum Disorders are the primary participants, in addition to numerous volunteers that make this event possible. It’s not necessary to have a child with autism or work for an autism research organization to join the fun. Everyone is welcome to participate in the walk or even create their own fundraising team. Help spread autism awareness, while raising money for further research.

For more information, check out the following links:

Click Here for a list of locations and dates for the various walks!

Click Here ^{to join TEACHTOWN’s team for the Seattle Walk on October 13th}

^{Click Here to obtain details for the upcoming Seattle Walk}