A daily summary of social care stories from the main newspapers

By David Callaghan and Reg McKay.

Behaviour problems may come from lead

Abnormal levels of lead in children’s blood may explain
behavioural problems, a new study claims.

Scientists in the United States have been screening one-year-old
children for excess lead in the blood since the early 1960s. An
article printed in the Archive of Disease in Childhood highlights
the findings of research by doctors from south and west Devon
health authority after tests on 69 children who had been referred
to the child development centre in south west England.

They found that children with behavioural problems were more
likely to have raised levels of lead in their blood. Children can
come into contact with lead pipes or paint exposing them to the
poisoning which can affect the way the behave, the researchers
suggest.

Source: The Guardian Monday 24 September page 12

What a child’s drawing reveals

A new study reveals that children’s pictures hold powerful clues
to how they really think and feel, reports Jessica Davies.

Source: The Times 2 Monday 24 September page 10

How a fishy diet can help autistic children

Oils contained in fish can help children with autism scientists
have claimed. They have found that two thirds of children suffering
autism have a deficiency in fatty acids which fish can provide.

Omega-3 acids found in fish can help with concentration and
sleep patterns.

Dr Gordon Bell, a biochemist at Stirling University,
investigated a link after his seven-year-old son was diagnosed
autistic. He discovered that 65 per cent of children with autism
suffered a deficiency in fishy oils.

Source:- Daily Mail Monday 24 September page 33

MMR ‘safer than single jabs’

New research claims children are more at risk from single jabs
for measles, mumps and rubella than the combined MMR vaccine.

The Institute of Child Health and St George’s Hospital in
Tooting, south London, jointly published the paper which shows that
children face a small risk of meningitis from the mumps
inoculation. The research, published in the Archive of Disease in
Childhood, says that no country in the world has a policy of
separate vaccinations.

Source:- The Times Monday 24 September page 14

Scottish newspapers

Care plans to leave Scots worse off

Scots in nursing homes could be as much as £45 per week
worse off than their English counterparts despite the
executive’s much vaunted “free personal care”.

The discrepancy emerges as Westminster introduces its own plans
promising up to £110 per week towards nursing home costs
compared with the £65 proposed in Scotland. The
executive’s continued failure to claw back £20 million
of attendance allowances from the Treasury will add to the
discrepancies between costs of care north and south of the border
which are emerging for the first time.

Source:- The Scotsman Monday 24 September page 1

School sued by mother of suicide girl

The mother of a schoolgirl who killed herself after being
bullied by fellow pupils, is to sue one of Scotland’s top
schools, Lenzie Academy.

Rona Raphael claims that her daughter Nicola, aged 15, took her
own life after the school failed to deal effectively with bullies
who targeted her because of her love for Goth music and fashions.
Nicola died of an overdose in June of this year and had listed the
names of the people she claims were tormenting her in her
diary.

Source:- The Scotsman Monday 24 September page 8

Council is first to pay for controversial
treatment

Stirling Council has become the first local authority in the UK
to pay for a controversial treatment programme which claims to cure
children of autistic behaviour.

Stirling will pay Gary and Laura Galstaun £16,500 per year
towards applying the ‘Son-Rise’ programme to their six-year-old
son, Aaron. The programme was first developed in the USA by Barry
and Samantha Kaufman for their son, Raun, who was diagnosed with
severe autism and an IQ of less than 30. The intensive home-based
method sets about joining the child in their autistic behaviour and
coaxing them out of it.

Three years after the Kaufman’s started the programme,
Raun showed no signs of autistic behaviour. But the programme has
been criticised by health professionals and autism charities who
say that Son-Rise’s claims are not supported by medical
evidence. Other local authorities and health agencies will watch
Stirling Council’s initiative carefully for possible
extension nation-wide. There are estimated to be 28,000 people in
Scotland with autism, Asperger’s syndrome or related
disorders.

Source:- Scotland on Sunday 23 September page 8

Children of HIV parents
‘isolated’

Children of parents with HIV suffer acute anxiety and stigma
throughout their childhoods, according to new research by Children
in Scotland and Edinburgh University. The research claims that
children are taught at school that HIV is a “dirty disease”, and
feel unable to be open about their personal circumstances. There
are an estimated 714 children of HIV parents in Scotland at this
time.

Source:- The Sunday Herald 23 September page 8