Got Penis?

Here's a new one: Yale and the psychosis "prodrome" This is where they give the DCF kidnapped children antipsychotics just in case they could become "psychotic" from DCF's abuse and neglect. 'Thinking of never ending new reasons to drug people, since they refuse to do anything practical and productive, and if the money goes to help the needy, it doesn't go into the DCF's or psychiatrists pockets.

The Day newspaper, Highlights, Wed, April 21, 2001

Front Page story

Few options are available for mentally ill kids

by Karen Florin
Day Staff Writer

East Lyme-- Carolyn Duraski is terrified when her six-year old son
Zachary goes into what she calls "one of his rages."

She is frightened of her son, who she says gets a glazed look
in his eyes and makes guttural noises as he kicks, punches, and
thrashes at everything is his path. Duraski is also scared about
what could become of Zachary, who has been diagnosed with a
variety of behavior disorders, if he does not get the help he
needs.
"If I get treatment for my son right now, he has a very good
chance of going on and leading a productive life," she said. "If
he doesn't get help, he's going to be one of those kids who
goes to school and shoots somebody."
Duraski is one of the growing number of parents in Connecticut
who is frustrated by the scarcity of services for children with
mental health problems. Few hospital beds are available for children
with psychiatric needs, reflecting the decades long trend away
from institutional treatment. Child welfare services and medical
professionals admit that community services for children with behavioral
problems are also limited.
"Unfortunately it's becoming more and more of a problem," said
Karen M. Andersson, PhD, director of mental health for the Department
of Children and Families. "More and more younger children are
experiencing behavior difficulties that are so extreme they're not
able to function in the preschool environment and home."
Zachary Duraski, as first grader, has been with a wide range
of so-called disruptive behavior disorders, including Oppositional
Defiant Disorder, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Attention Deficit-
Hyperactivity Disorder, and most recently, Intermittent Explosive
Disorder.
He was sexually assaulted at age 4 while in custody of his paternal
relatives in Pennsylvania, according to his mother, and an inherited
predisposition to depression and other disorders. Doctors have
prescribed a variety of medications for Zachary over the years.**
According to Duraski, Zachary has kicked holes in the walls at
the family's Giants's Neck Heights home, punched and kicked anybody
he considers and authority figure and threatened to kill himself
with a butcher knife. His doctors and school officials have
recommended that he don't return to first grade at Lillie B. Haynes
Elementary School because he is a danger to other children.
His mother said he was caught strangling a girl on the playground,
exposed himself to other children and was kicked off his bus for
his disruptive behavior. Just last week, Zachary threatened his
younger sister for the first time, and Duraski found two lighters
in his possession.
At 70 pounds, the boy already is too strong for his mother to handle,
and Duraski's husband, Scott, a U.S., Coast Guard petty officer who is
not Zachary's biological father, is not always there to help.
The 23 year old mother, who has an 18 month old daughter at home
and is pregnant, has called the police several times when Zachary was
out of control. Police and ambulance crews restrained the boy- once
putting him in handcuffs- and took him to Lawrence and Memorial
Hospital where he was evaluated in the emergency room.
"Patient met criteria for inpatient hospitalization, but
because of the shortage of inpatient psychiatric beds in the state
of Connecticut, patient was not hospitalized."
Lawrence and Memorial Hospital does not have a psychiatric
unit for children. If a child comes into the emergency room and
staff determine that a child needs to be hospitalized, the
hospital calls all available Connecticut facilities, then looks
out of state to see what is available.
The state's total number of psychiatric beds for children
was not available. Connecticut has about 1,650 psychiatric
beds, according to the state Office of Healthcare Access, but it
is unclear how many are for children. In February, DCF had
93 beds available for children at its Riverview facility in
Middletown and placed 43 children in other facilities around the
state, according to a departmental report.
In desperation last week, after Zachary waited two days in
the L&M emergency room, Duraski said she allowed the State
Department of Children And Families to take her son into custody
so he could stabilize and receive the care he needs.
As DCF took her son to a safe house at Waterford Country
School and began the legal process of gaining custody of the
child, Duraski contacted the state legislators and continued to
make other calls on her son's behalf.
Duraski said it appears Zachary will be getting the help he
needs. He has been admitted to the Joshua Center, a Montville
facility that has a part-day hospitalization program for children,
and will attend classes at the Thames Valley Clinical Day program.
He had been on waiting lists for both programs.
Duraski is relieved, but she now must contend with DCF's
charge of neglect for refusing to take her son home from the
hospital and will have to fight a legal battle in order
for him to return home.
"They're acting like I'm an unfit parent because I was trying
to help my son," she said. What she really would like better
is services for him and help learning how to better handle his
rages, Duraski said.
State Rep Gary Orefice, D-East Lyme, who made several calls
on Duraski's behalf this week, said the state needs to develop
a logical system of dealing with these children. He said
part of the answer is money, noting that funds that were
supposed to be diverted to community programs when the state
mental hospitals closed several years ago were not.
Orefice said there also needs to be better coordination
of services. Legislators are working with mental health
providers to find a solution to what they recognize as a crisis,
Orefice said.
"In this case, the system probably worked as well as it could
have," Orefice said. "This is about as good as it gets. Everybody
did what they were supposed to do. It's just not enough."
Andersson from the DCF said the agency hopes to introduce Kidcare
the program being developed to help children like Zachary, to
eastern Connecticut this year. Emergency psychiatric units
will be able to respond to the homes of children in crisis to assess
their needs.
Children who need to be removed from the home would be taken
to a facility other than a hospital for emergency stabilization,
then, if necessary, to a hospital. Meantime, the department would
arrange for intensive, in-home therapy and hook up the family
with a care coordinator who would assist with support services for
the families.
The DCF has committed to opening more psychiatric beds for
children and is seeking about $24 million over the next two years
to improve both in-patient and community-based services."

Developmental Delay and Lyme Disease
in Children: An epidemiologic study

Participants: Children with Lyme Disease & Autism from New Jersey and Connecticut

Goals:To understand more about the association between LD and developmental delay and developmental regression

Status of study :Underway. As this is a population-based study, we are not recruiting individual patients.

Principal Investigator :Brian A. Fallon, MD

Design of the Study : This study is supported by the Wilton Lyme Disease Task Force. Based on the hypothesis that the prevalence of autism may be increased in Lyme endemic areas, the prevalence statistics for autism in the school districts of known hyperendemic areas in New Jersey and Connecticut will be compared to the prevalence statistics for autism in the school districts of areas without much Lyme Disease. The hyperendemic and non-endemic areas will be identified by categorizing rates of Lyme disease (in each area) into quantiles. Once the data has been collected and prevalence rates have been calculated for both autism and Lyme disease, an expected rate of autism will be calculated based on areas that have a low prevalence of Lyme Disease. From this rate, an expected number of cases will be determined (based on population size) and a calculation of the observed number of autism cases minus the expected number of autism cases will be made. From this calculation, graphical comparisons will be made to determine if observed values of autism more dramatically deviate from expected values in areas that have high rates of Lyme Disease. Prevalence rates will then be mapped in overlays to determine if Lyme hyperendemic areas overlap with high rates of autism. Arcview, a Geographic Information System (GIS) of which Columbia University is already in possession, will be used for all mapping purposes.

How often would Lyme Disease cause an autistic-like disorder?

This is probably a rare occurrence.

If Lyme Disease has induced an autistic-spectrum disorder, is it reversible? Based on our knowledge of Lyme Disease, we would expect that appropriately intensive intravenous antibiotic therapy would result in a marked improvement in the autistic-spectrum behaviors. We do not know how long such a treatment should last, but our experience with other patients suggests that, if six weeks of therapy do not result in significant change, a longer course of therapy may be warranted and ultimately effective.

Top

to manifestations of brain infections, with related pathophysiological research.

REFERRING TO DAVID GRANN OF THE NEW YORK TIMES, OF COURSE. Stalking Steere, and the local Medial Society at Lawrence and Memorial Hospital who all swoon when Vijay Sikand farts.