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	news bulletins september 2005

• Caring for Autism Families - AutismCares
• Internet Radio Talk Show: Holistic Pediatrics for Parents
• Kids Teach Kids How To Cook On New Website
• The First Cut is the Deepest
• Greener Pastures in Teen Media

Caring for Hurricane Afflicted Autism Families - AutismCares

Families affected by the recent hurricanes are facing a a variety of challenges. Those living with autism, with an array of special needs, have not been forgotten.

"I was frantic to find these families," said Shelley Reynolds, president of Unlocking Autism, speaking to USA Today. Unlocking Autism is a national support organization based in Baton Rouge for families with autistic kids. The group called for shelter workers and others to look out for families of autistic children, who have special needs and behaviors, such as running away, that would make staying in a shelter difficult at best.

In addressing the needs of these families AutismCares was born. A coalition of autism leadership organizations came together to form the national initiative to offer assistance to the potentially thousands of displaced families living with autism. "They are coordinating and facilitating temporary assistance for families affected by autism as well as help to those with longer-term needs, such as finding therapists, housing and jobs," said Reynolds.

AutismCares has created a database on its website allowing families dealing with autism to register so that volunteers may call them to make sure they're all right and see what kind of help they need.

The website also accepts offers of help from indidivuals able to provide accommodations, transportation, services, care packages, money or other forms of beneficial help to families affected.

Sources:
AutismCares
Unlocking Autism

Internet Radio Talk Show: Holistic Pediatrics for Parents

Informative and Cutting Edge Internet Radio: Listen to the show from your computer!

The Holistic Pediatric Association (HPA) presents a radio talk show for parents, available to everyone through the Internet. The show will broadcast at the VoiceAmerica website www.VoiceAmerica.com every Wednesday at 2:00 PM PST or 5:00 PM EST beginning September 21, 2005. The shows are hosted by Randall Neustaedter OMD and Lawrence Palevsky MD.

Dr. Neustaedter is the author of Child Health Guide: Holistic Pediatrics for Parents and Education Director of the Holistic Pediatric Association (HPA).

Dr. Palevsky is a pediatrician, and president of the Holistic Pediatric Association (HPA) and the American Holistic Medical Association (AHMA).

Weekly Shows

Each show will have one or both doctors interviewing experts, authors and medical providers in the field of holistic pediatrics. This lively talk show offers practical advice to parents who are struggling with the conservative position of conventional pediatrics, seeking alternatives that fit their natural and holistic lifestyles, and looking for a supportive, health promoting, and nontoxic system of health care for their children. Each show will guide parents to the proper resources for further information and follow-through - books, websites, organizations, and practitioners.

Schedule of First Five Shows:

1. What is Holistic Pediatrics, why it is needed and safe for children? - September 21
   Presenting the principles of holistic medicine applied to children's preventive health care, acute illnesses, and chronic medical problems. Discover the benefits of a holistic approach to diet, personal care products, behavior, learning, and medical treatment for your children.
2. Nutrition for Infants & Children - The Western medical perspective - September 28
   The principles of proper fats for brain development, the appropriate introduction of solid foods, whole foods, avoidance of toxic substances, and reliance on nutrition for health and wellness. Guest: Kelly Dorfman www.kellydorfman.com
3. Nutrition for Infants & Children – The Chinese medical perspective - October 5
   Addressing the digestive needs of children to create harmony of the organ systems, and creating diet plans for individual children based on their specific types and tendency to energetic imbalances. Guest: Efrem Korngold OMD
4. Vaccinations for Infants & Children-Part 1 - October 12
   Are vaccines advisable? Do parents have a choice? Challenging the underlying theory of vaccination and the advisability of the vaccine strategy. Offering parents the option of a truly informed decision given potential toxicity and risks and benefits of vaccines. Guest: Barbara Loe Fisher, President of the National Vaccine Information Center  
5. Vaccinations for Infants & Children-Part 2 - October 19
   Are vaccines advisable? Do parents have a choice? Continuing the discussion of specific infectious diseases, their vaccines, and a holistic perspective on disease prevention.

Your Hosts:

• Randall Neustaedter OMD, LAc, CCH
  Dr. Neustaedter has practiced homeopathy and oriental medicine for over 25 years, specializing in child health care. An accomplished and well-recognized author, he has written The Vaccine Guide: Risks and Benefits for Children and Adults (North Atlantic Books, 2002), a book that helps consumers make informed choices about vaccination.
  
  His new book, Child Health Guide: Holistic Pediatrics for Parents (North Atlantic Books, 2005), represents a state of the art guide to raising children with natural medical care. He can be reached through his extensive website at www.cure-guide.com.
• Lawrence Palevsky MD, FAAP, ABHM
  Dr. Palevsky is a board certified pediatrician who uses a holistic approach in his practice of pediatric medicine. He integrates the use of western medicine and alternative therapies to prevent and treat children's illnesses, and offers options to families who are interested in a broader medical approach to their children's health and wellness.
  
  Dr. Palevsky received his medical degree from the NYU School of Medicine in 1987. He completed a three year pediatric residency at the Mount Sinai Hospital in NYC and a one year fellowship at Bellevue Hospital-NYU School of Medicine in the pediatric outpatient department and emergency room. Dr. Palevsky's clinical practice includes experience in pediatric emergency and intensive care medicine, in-patient and out-patient pediatric medicine, neonatal intensive care medicine, newborn and delivery room medicine and conventional, holistic and integrative pediatric private practice. Further information at www.holisticchildhealth.com.

Kids Teach Kids How To Cook On New Website

www.spatulatta.com combines real kids, real food and real fun.

CHICAGO – Many of today’s parents struggle with balancing careers, running the household and spending quality time with their children. The new website, www.spatulatta.com - Cooking 4 Kids, provides an easy solution, especially at mealtime.

Spatulatta.com is the only cooking website that features kids teaching kids -- including their successes and failures, just as in real life -- all of which leads to learning. On the site, nine-year-old Isabella and her seven-year-old sister Olivia demonstrate recipes in their kitchen on a series of streaming videos, under the supervision of their mom, Heidi. All recipes on the site are archived, along with helpful information about cooking equipment and terms, plus outtakes that are sure to make everyone laugh.

Spatulatta.com delivers a growing number of cooking theme pages organized by cuisine (Greek, Italian, Mexican) or by holiday. Children see the recipe and then click to see a two-minute step-by-step video. These mini-programs sometimes include guest cooks (other children and their parents) and guest chefs. Currently up on the site is a field trip to the kitchen of “That Little Mexican Café” in Evanston. Chef Jorge guides Isabella and Olivia through recipes including guacamole, veggie tacos, Mexican hot chocolate, and even how to grow an avocado tree! In addition, kids can access cultural and geographic information about the recipes they are preparing, as well as related arts-and-crafts projects.

“So many families struggle around food issues,” says the site’s creator, filmmaker Gaylon Emerzian, of Evanston, Illinois. “Parents find themselves preparing two separate meals -- one for the children, another for the adults. Picky eaters can turn the dinner table into a battleground. Sometimes it feels as if all children want to eat is unhealthy fast food.”

Aimed at six- to ten-year-olds, Spatulatta.com is uncomplicated and fun to use. Kids navigate by icon so even beginning readers can intuitively make their way through areas like weights and measures and basic skills. In addition to the video clips, text recipes and printable recipes make the site practical and compelling, not to mention the sense of accomplishment as the family enjoys a kid-prepared recipe!

“We’re not scientists, but experience has shown us that children are more willing to try a food that they have actually had a hand in making,” adds Emerzian. “Yes, we’ve even gotten so-called spinach haters to eat spinach if they were the ones folding the phyllo dough into little triangles.”,

The statistics seem to give Gaylon’s idea timely credence. A Harvard study found that families who ate together were twice as likely to have five servings of fruits and vegetables a day. With more than a quarter of U.S. children in Spatulatta.com’s target age group considered obese, a focus on nutritional, ingredient-based cooking instead of highly processed fast food is more vital than ever. A Kaiser Family Foundation study of more than 2,000 3rd through 12th graders found that kids today are using recreational media –- including computers -– an average of six hours a day.

Gaylon adds, "It’s crucial that we engage kids in positive endeavors. They’re already so comfortable with technology; why not give them something gratifying and productive to do with it?"

With the kitchen now serving as the household hub and center of family life, www.spatulatta.com is designed as a counter-top companion that children and their families can use on a computer, so often found right in the kitchen. But even if the computer is in the family room, with printable recipes and streaming videos, it’s an invaluable resource.

Children respond best to watching other kids, with child-sized hands and child-level dexterity as they complete a task. While they may be fascinated watching an adult, knowing that another child had to struggle to balance the gallon of milk at the right angle to pour is invaluable for building self-confidence.

The new website encourages children to view cooking as a lifestyle, not a task. Geography and crafts are often included to enhance the recipe. And, at a time when obesity rates among Americans are spiraling upward, in a very subtle way the site encourages children to work from basic ingredients and make wise eating choices.

Kids in Spatulatta.com’s test market group have already been having fun on the website. Hannah, who is almost seven, can’t wait to check out what’s new. Her mom Liz says, "She loves the crafts, and she made great macaroni and cheese." Little sister Julia wants to make the bunny cupcakes. "Everything I’ve made so far tastes really good!" Hannah grins. "I could have my own restaurant some day."

The First Cut is the Deepest

Parents, child advocates and activists have rallied for years against circumcision, deeming it both unnecessary and unkind. A new article in the current issue of the Journal of Medical Ethics states that additionally, circumcision is ethically inappropriate and unlawful. According to authors M. Fox and M. Thomson, from the School of Law, Keele University, UK, "We conclude that it is ethically inappropriate to subject children—male or female—to the acknowledged risks of circumcision and contend that there is no compelling legal authority for the common view that male circumcision is lawful."

The article "A covenant with the status quo? Male circumcision and the new BMA guidance to doctors" exposes circumcision proponents as "evangelists" and their continued commitment to mass circumcision "problematic in a number of
respects."

Increasingly, attention is being paid to the ethics surrounding routine circumcision—and to a child's human rights including that of self-determination. As a result, longstanding medical and cultural arguments favoring routine circumcision are being evidenced as moot or insignificant in comparison.

For more information, see the current issue of Mothering, on newsstands now, and Mothering’s Circumcision Reprint.

Greener Pastures in Teen Media

Want to expose the teens in your life to something far afield from the pervasive, superficial youth oriented media? Supportive and substantial, The Tracking Way is a new magazine for teens that fosters reverence for the environment, appreciation for cultural diversity, and connection to peers. It’s also engaging—actively inviting readers to share and contribute their thoughts, opinions, writing, artwork and humor. Offering teens a respectful forum for meaningful expression lies at the heart of The Tracking Way’s mission. The magazine is published by In This Place, a non-profit educational organization based in western Massachusetts. They also offer workshops and trainings for kids, teens and adults in: nature awareness, wilderness skills, art, and creative writing. In This Place has a diverse and esteemed board of directors and editorial advisors, and has received a grant from longtime Mothering ally Bioneers to support their efforts. A newsletter for educators is also available. To subscribe to The Tracking Way or for more information, visit www.inthisplace.org or call 978-544-2399.