Lawsuit challenges use of restraint, seclusion in California special education school

Four special education students and their parents or guardians filed a lawsuit last week against the state of California claiming they were emotionally and physically harmed when they were illegally put in restraint holds and secluded during behavioral interventions at their Concord school.

The four students attended Floyd I. Marchus School, operated by the Contra Costa County Office of Education. The public school offers special education services and integrated counseling to 85 children with emotional and behavioral disabilities. Students are referred to the school from districts in Contra Costa County and neighboring counties.

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Class Action Seeks to End Illegal and Abusive Restraints and Seclusion Practices Used Against Children with Disabilities in California

Four elementary school children with disabilities and their parents and guardians filed a class action lawsuit Monday against the California Department of Education (CDE), directors of the Contra Costa County Office of Education, and staff at Floyd I. Marchus School to challenge the illegal and abusive use of restraints and seclusion in non-emergency situations.

More >> Class Action Seeks to End Illegal and Abusive Restraints and Seclusion Practices Used Against Children with Disabilities in California

Trump Says Parents Must Vaccinate Children as Measles Outbreak Reaches Record Highs

Measles cases in the United States have surpassed the highest number on record since the disease was declared eliminated nationwide in 2000.

Overall, there have been 681 measles cases across 22 states this year, according to CNN's analysis of data from state and local health departments.

More >> Trump Says Parents Must Vaccinate Children as Measles Outbreak Reaches Record Highs

• 2019 measles outbreak: How to track the spread in the US and other countries

Raising a child with ADHD costs five times more than raising a child without ADHD, study finds

Raising a child with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) costs American families an estimated $5.8 billion every year—five times more than raising a child without ADHD—according to a new study by researchers at FIU’s Center for Children and Families.

This is the first study to calculate children’s social, behavioral and academic difficulties into a family’s cost of raising a child with ADHD.

More >> Raising a child with ADHD costs five times more than raising a child without ADHD, study finds

Facebook launches offensive to combat misinformation on vaccines

Washington, Mar 8 Facebook launched an offensive Thursday to suppress the spread of misinformation about vaccines on the 2.3-billion-member social network.

The company has faced pressure in recent weeks to tackle the problem, amid outbreaks of measles around the United States attributed to growing numbers of parents who refuse to vaccinate their children.

US lawmakers have decried the higher incidences of preventable diseases in the wake of a movement against child vaccination, in large part due to rumors they can cause health or developmental issues.

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Nearly 1 In 7 US Kids And Teens Have A Mental Health Condition — Half Go Untreated, Study Says

Half of children with a mental health condition in the United States go without treatment, according to a new study published Monday in the journal JAMA Pediatrics.

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Unvaccinated Kids In Mass. Can Seek Immunization Without Parental Permission

More than 40 cases of measles, most in children under 10, have been reported in Washington State, largely because parents are not getting their kids vaccinated. Now unvaccinated children themselves are asking how they can get their shots without their parents’ consent.

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Hong Kong government urged to give subsidies to families to treat ADHD, as affected kids face long wait in public health care

Carrie Ng, 49, said her jaw dropped when she learned that her 10-year-old daughter would not be able to have an appointment at the public Queen Mary Hospital’s children psychiatry division until 2020.

Ng’s first trip to the hospital was in July 2017, soon after her daughter had begun pulling her own hair and banging her head against walls.

More >> Hong Kong government urged to give subsidies to families to treat ADHD, as affected kids face long wait in public health care

Activists Protest the Drugging of Japanese Toddlers

TOKYO, January 3, 2019 (Newswire.com) - Members of the mental health watchdog Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR) protested against psychiatrists for administering powerful psychotropic drugs to children.

Dozens of irate protesters took to the streets with bullhorns and banners at the annual congress of the Japanese Society for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry in Tokyo, demanding an end to the drugging of children. Among them was a mother whose son was prescribed three kinds of psychotropic drugs at the age of 3.

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Families use medical marijuana to treat autism

Some families are calling medical marijuana a miracle drug, after they've seen positive results when using it to treat autism in children.

New York has a strict list of qualifying conditions for a doctor to prescribe medical marijuana, and autism is not on the list.

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California teachers can pin students face down. Does the danger outweigh the benefit?

It’s a scenario that sounds more likely in jails than schools: Arms pulled behind their back, a person is forced into a “prone restraint,” pinned face down on the floor with limbs held immobile by at least two people.

But prone restraints are regularly used in California schools, often on students with special needs such as those on the autism spectrum — and at a higher rate on black students, an analysis of federal data by The Sacramento Bee found.

More >> California teachers can pin students face down. Does the danger outweigh the benefit?

If parents refuse to vaccinate their kids, should the state do it for them?

A leading ethicist says every child has a right to be vaccinated and protected against measles and other childhood infections

The Vaccine Information Network, an online community of like-minded parents who believe children are being “poisoned” by vaccines, recently posted a message describing measles as a mild and harmless disease that leaves a “stronger, healthier child in its wake.”

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Mental Wellness Month: Millions of U.S. Children on Dangerous Psychiatric Drugs

With millions of U.S.children on psychiatric drugs it is imperative that families know that many of these drugs are known to result in suicidal ideation.

More >> Mental Wellness Month: Millions of U.S. Children on Dangerous Psychiatric Drugs

Critics Call Wisconsin’s Medicaid Fraud Crackdown 'Bullying'

Nurse Debra Zuhse-Green was stunned to learn the state of Wisconsin wanted her to repay $57,000 she had received for providing home care to children with significant medical needs.

An audit conducted in 2013 concluded Zuhse-Green should repay the state for six months of care to the children, who had complex health needs. The audit found she had not submitted claims for reimbursement to the family’s employer-based health plans — even though, Zuhse-Green said, "it had previously been established that the employer-based health plans would not cover the private duty nursing services."

More >> Critics Call Wisconsin’s Medicaid Fraud Crackdown 'Bullying'

Siblings of children with autism or ADHD are at elevated risk for both disorders

Later-born siblings of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are at elevated risk for both disorders, a new study led by Meghan Miller, assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and at the UC Davis MIND Institute, has concluded. The findings appear today in JAMA Pediatrics.

The study suggests that families who already have a child diagnosed with ASD or ADHD may wish to monitor younger siblings for symptoms of both conditions.

More >> Siblings of children with autism or ADHD are at elevated risk for both disorders

Probe into death of student with autism finds school violated rules

A preliminary investigation into the death of a 13-year-old student with autism at a Northern California private school has found the school violated state rules when its staff put him in a face-down restraint position for nearly an hour. The California Department of Education found "sufficient evidence" that staffers at Guiding Hands School in El Dorado Hills violated multiple state rules governing how and when physical restraints can be used on students, the Sacramento Bee reported.

The boy, identified as Max Benson, became unresponsive while being held in a "prone restraint" for nearly an hour at the school on Nov. 28 and died a day later at UC Davis Medical Center.

More >> Probe into death of student with autism finds school violated rules

Number of Kentucky Kids Not Vaccinated Grows

Doctors are warning parents of the Hepatitis A outbreak across the state, and of measles. They are urging parents to have their children vaccinated, especially since more vaccines are required for children to go to school in the Commonwealth. However, there is an increasing number of children whose parents exempt them from immunizations, for medical and religious reasons. Doctors worry the number could be growing because of misinformation circulating online.

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Family to sue over autism aid wait

A High Court judge has given the family of a four-year-old boy with autism leave to pursue aggravated damages against the HSE over its failure to deliver an assessment of need for him within the required timeframe.

The ex parte application for judicial review was made last Monday, seeking aggravated damages on behalf of the boy, and claiming that without the proper resources, there is a “serious risk that his development may be permanently affected”. It also hit out at the “futile” complaints mechanism and claims the HSE uses it as a “delaying tactic”.

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Kelly unhappy with lack of psychiatric beds for children

Incoming Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly said she is "stunned" by a state agency's lack of response to a shortage of residential psychiatric beds for children needing care in the state.

During a meeting Tuesday of a task force studying the state's child welfare system, Kelly suggested she wants significant changes after she takes office in January, The Wichita Eagle reported .

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Report: Autism Rate Rises to 1 in 40 Children

A new government study finds that roughly 1 in 40 American children has autism, a huge jump from the previous estimate of 1 in every 59 children.

The survey asked parents of more than 43,000 children between the ages of 3 and 17 whether or not their children had ever been diagnosed with autism or an autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and whether the child in question still struggled with an ASD.

More >> Report: Autism Rate Rises to 1 in 40 Children