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Autism Awareness Month: Recent research and policy changes
Policy changes in South Carolina led to a
fivefold increase in the number of autistic children younger than 3 receiving early intensive behavioral therapy and could serve as a model for other states. Applied behavior analysis therapy (ABA) is known to sometimes dramatically improve outcomes and quality of life. However, ABA can be expensive, putting it out of reach for many families without governmental support. Prior to the policy changes, a formal diagnosis of ASD was required before BabyNet, a federal program that pays for early behavioral interventions for children 3 and under, would pay for early intervention, which led to delays in treatment.
Providing early ABA to children presumed to have ASD is critical because it is the only intervention that can potentially
improve social interaction, communication, and the IQ of an ASD child.
In a recent
study, researchers found 91 genes associated with the risk of a neurodevelopmental disorder. Of the 91, 38 genes were not previously suspected of playing a role and 25 genes were linked to forms of autism without intellectual disability. According to clinical director of the Seattle Children's Autism Center Raphael Bernier, the
researchers in this study are "continuing this project and are eager to work with interested families." Families can contact the project team at
rablab@uw.edu.
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Trans-critical Analysis: Conservatives are not alone
An Endorsement of Female Erasure
by ACPeds president, Dr. Michelle Cretella
Editor Ruth Barrett is a courageous woman who has defied political orthodoxy in publishing
Female Erasure: What you need to know about gender politics' war on women, the female sex and human rights. Barrett's masterpiece is an eclectic, incisive, well-referenced
analysis of the transgendering of society and its harmful impact upon women and children. Not only has Barrett swum headlong into the transgender tsunami, braving an onslaught of harassment, including
death threats (as have many of her contributors), but she has also reached across the political abortion divide in the process.
Barrett, like most of her contributors, is a feminist fiercely committed to abortion rights. Yet, she still approached me, President of the pro-life American College of Pediatricians, to request permission to republish my
scientific statement on gender dysphoria in her anthology. As I had more conversations with Ruth and some of her contributors, I learned that
radical feminist and conservative thought also overlap
on pornography, prostitution, sex trafficking, the sexualization of children, and the negative consequences of society's embrace of sex stereotypes.
All of these, in turn, converge in the politics of gender ideology, as
Female Erasure reveals.
Contributors to Female Erasure include physicians, mid-wives, therapists, academics, lawyers, mothers of children who have transitioned, and de-transitioning women who transgendered as teens only to discover in their late twenties that they had internalized such a degree of misogyny from family and society that they assented to a chemical and surgical assault of their bodies. Regarding the latter, they opened my eyes to the fact that many lesbian and bisexual women view transitioning one's gender as a form of internalized homophobia.
Click here
to read Dr. Cretella's complete review.
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Drug addicted infants
Are you active in the care of and advocacy for drug addicted infants? If yes, we'd like to chat. Please contact Lisa in the College office:
admin@acpeds.org.
Thank you!
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ACPeds welcomes new Associate member Kevin Kervick
A licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, Kevin Kervick is a new Associate member of the College.
His work focuses on advocating the strengthening of marriages, families, and civic institutions, as the essential ingredients for healthy communities and
teaching people how to be happy, loving, productive, and wise.
"My over-arching goal in psychotherapy is to help people build character-based competencies and endure pro-social community commitments that lead to a happy life."
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April at a glance...
The month of April commemorates the following.
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Featured resource of the month: Updated position statement
The ACPeds statement, "
When Human Life Begins
," has been updated and member approved and is now posted to the website.
"The predominance of human biological research confirms that
human life begins at conception-fertilization
.
At fertilization, the human being emerges as a whole, genetically distinct, individuated zygotic living human organism, a member of the species Homo sapiens, needing only the proper environment in order to grow and develop.
The difference between the individual in its adult stage and in its zygotic stage is one of form, not nature."
For the latest news on abortion and the dignity of human life, view the following articles:
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The American College of Pediatrician mourns the loss of Dr. Joseph Nicolosi
Dr. Joseph Nicolosi was instrumental in helping to craft the ACPeds website "
Facts About Youth" and was known as the
"Father of Reparative Therapy" during his life. Though LGBT activists and the media refer to sexual orientation change efforts (SOCE) as "conversion therapy," virtually no practitioner of such therapy refers to it that way.
In actuality, SOCE encompasses both therapy conducted by licensed therapists and counseling provided by religious or pastoral counselors who
seek to help clients with the same goal-that of
overcoming same-sex attractions and/or resisting the temptation to engage in homosexual conduct, especially when those same-sex attractions result from childhood trauma such as sexual or emotional abuse, or negative parental messages regarding one's self and gender.
Dr. Nicolosi's efforts have been instrumental in defending the rights of those with unwanted same-sex attractions to seek their own paths in life.
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Special Interest News, Articles and Studies
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What should be done for transgender children?
"The dominant culture says, 'You can choose your gender; you can change your gender.' And we have
parents advocating for their child to receive hormonal therapy to block puberty and ease the transition to sex change. Although this seems compassionate, the science is not supportive.
9
8% of gender confused boys and 88% of gender confused girls come to peace with their biological gender after going through puberty
And delaying puberty, instead of increasing options, actually pushes the decisions towards sex change. Is it really wise to move in the direction of a surgical therapy which in about 90% of cases is not necessary? Ominously, a 2011
study in Sweden showed
a suicide rate twenty times higher than expected in adults who have undergone sex change."
"I am a father of 4, grandfather of 10, retired pediatrician and member of ACPeds. I left AAP because they preferred political correctness to scientific data."
At a School Board meeting in Anoka Hennepien county, a lawyer called ACPeds a "hate group." In response,
Dr. Ross Olsen gave the above testimony and left copies of the supporting documents including the Swedish study with the board.
Click here to view the full testimony and the supporting documents he provided.
Thank you Dr. Olson for having the courage to speak your beautiful testimony.
---
Despite the minimum age of 18 years defining eligibility to undergo this irreversible procedure, reports have shown that US surgeons have been performing vaginoplasties on minor boys with Gender Dysphoria in violation of medical guidelines, ethics and law, thereby contravening the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) standards of care (SOC). See study
here
.
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Southern Poverty Law Center - not the best resource
Commonly referred to in the media as the SPLC and the organization that determines which organizations are 'hate' groups, did you know that the SPLC lists the American College of Pediatricians as a 'hate' group?
Do you know any pediatricians who are haters? Do you know pediatricians who discriminate against their patients or the parents of the patients?
Probably not.
ACPeds members are committed to providing what's best for children regardless of their circumstances
.
SPLC and others who spew ad hominem attacks, of course, only demonstrate that their positions are rooted in falsehoods. So much for the right of pediatricians to promote optimal child health by countering political correctness with scientific facts.
Click here for more information on the
fraudulent nature of the SPLC.
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"It is a happy talent to know how to play.
"
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Resilience interventions, imagery training & reducing pediatric burnout
According to the largest to date study on physician burnout within pediatrics, burnout is highly prevalent among pediatric residents. As addressing burnout is necessary to promote high quality, compassionate, and safe patient care, residency programs are being encouraged to address burnout through education and prevention.
Researchers found that helping pediatricians "
find the positive in the world around them" through resilience interventions was a major factor in successfully combating negative emotions in their daily lives. Depression rates were cut in half and burnout was reduced by two-thirds.
Another
study found that
self-guided positive imagery training could also be used as a tool to combat negative emotions. As emotions are often affected by images and visual memories, as in the case of flashbacks of traumatic events that often haunt those suffering from psychiatric conditions like PTSD, training the brain to use imagery has been found to positively affect a person's emotional state.
To learn more about resilience interventions
click here and
click here for more information on self-guided positive imagery training.
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2017 National Meeting of the American College of Pediatricians
The American College of Pediatricians and the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists (AAPLOG) have partnered again for the second annual conference.
September 30 and October 1, 2017
The Center for Bioethics and Human Dignity, Trinity International University
Deerfield, Illinois (
15 minutes north of O'Hare airport in Chicago)
Come and experience a great weekend with like-minded colleagues.
There will be terrific speakers, CME, and good camaraderie.
Registration is now open: Click here for details and to register. Contact Lisa at ACPeds with any questions: 352-376-1877
Outstanding speakers, great fellow conference participants, and exceptional teaching are the commendable features of this conference.
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Sexual Assault Prevention Month: Revised guidelines & pornography crisis
Pediatric
guidelines for teen victims of sexual assault were recently revised in time for Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month. According to the guidelines, not only should physicians be comfortable screening for sexual assault, they should routinely do so and know where to send their teenage patients for any additional help they might need.
Key points include the following:
- Pediatricians should acknowledge in some way that it's great the patient told someone
- Instead of asking if teen patients have ever experienced "sexual violence," peds should ask clearer questions, in language kids understand
- the "pre-college visit" is a good time to discuss alcohol, the most common date-rape drug and parents should be encouraged have an "ongoing conversation" about the issue
"What's important is that victims know they are believed and that someone cares."
In related
news, South Dakota and Virginia have joined Utah in declaring pornography a public health crisis, citing the "broad spectrum of individual and public health impacts and societal harms" that pornography causes including
the
hypersexualization of teens,
low self-esteem and body image disorders, an increase in
problematic sexual activity at younger ages and an
increased desire among adolescents.
The average age of exposure to pornography is now 11 to 12 years of age so it is quickly becoming the
first sex education that many children and youth receive, shaping their outlooks on sex. For more information about the impact of pornography on children and society as a whole,
click here or visit our webpage to view the ACPeds position statement
The Impact of Pornography on Children.
Sexual risk avoidance has been found to reduce early sexual activity which is a known risk factor for being a victim of sexual assault.
ACPeds has joined Ascend, formerly known as the National Abstinence Education Association (NAEA), and a coalition of 41 organizations
asking Congress to continue funding for Sexual Risk Avoidance.
Click here to see the letter.
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Thank you to Dr. Patty June for edits to the newsletter.
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Patient handouts are available for download free of charge
on the
Handouts
page of the
Health Professionals
(and
Parents
) section of the ACPeds website. Available In t
he members' section of the website are
patient handouts
shared by other ACPeds practitioners
, some of which may be helpful to your own patients and practice. Contact the office to get the username and password for access to the
Member Hub
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Journal: Issues in Law & Medicine - available at discount
Barry Bostrom, Editor-in-Chief for the journal, Issues in Law & Medicine has again extended a discount to members of ACPeds for a print version of the journal. To subscribe for the discounted print version, you must send your $30 check payable to "Issues in Law & Medicine," directly to:
Barry A. Bostrom, M.Div., J.D.
Editor-in-Chief Issues in Law & Medicine 7700 N. 37th Street Terre Haute, IN 47805-1147
Any questions, call Barry at: 812-917-2897 (office); 812-249-4770 (cell)
or email him at: bcbostrom@gmail.com
An online version of the journal is available for subscription but without the discount at $49/year for individuals: http://issuesinlawandmedicine.com/
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S
tart Saving at Our Online Store Now
ACPeds has contracted with a manufacturer to create on demand logo merchandise, high in quality without sacrificing affordability. These items are great for personal use as well as for gifts. Shop around on the ACPeds website at
ACPeds.org/health-professionals
/the-college-
store
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The
Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons Welcomes Submissions
The Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons is the official peer-reviewed journal of the American Association of Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS). Dr. Jane Orient, Executive Director of the AAPS, is pleased to consider original papers, commentaries and book reviews by members of the College. For manuscript requirements and author instructions, visit
http://jpands.org/.
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Stay Connected
Like ACPeds on Facebook and follow on Twitter to interact with members and to stay up to date with the College's latest news. Every week the College publishes a new blog on its website and a link to the blog is posted on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.
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