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
