The Lawyer Novelist

I spent the morning finalizing submission packages for the novel. The first batch will go out this week.

The law practice seems to have reached a point where I need to start thinking about support staff. I had hoped to avoid this in order to minimize overhead, but as I scan the mounds of files in my dining room, I realize that this can't be done.

Once again I find myself in La Canada and, for the sake of my boys, I have decided to remain here.

It seems an appropriate time to end this chapter. I will be starting another blog next week. You can find it at http://quietdesperation1.blogspot.com/.

For those of you who have been so supportive, I thank you.

I am still not sure that I am capable of successfully juggling the conflicting demands of being a lawyer, novelist and father. However, I shall keep at it. And I'll blog about it.

I'm taking a break from blogland.

At the end of the day, when we look through that darkened window and see our reflections, we see the truth. It's all about the kids. Even when you don't want to admit that to yourself. Trying to stray from that will rip your soul into shreds that cannot ever be sewn back together.

I may hurt others - others whom I love more than life itself - but my kids come first.

Anyone who thinks otherwise has never had kids.

This just has to be posted:


Cops: T-Ball Coach Took 'Hit' On Challenged Player

(from thepittsburgchannel.com)

NORTH UNION TOWNSHIP, Pa. -- A T-ball coach seeking to keep a player with a mental disability off the field allegedly asked another player to hurt the boy, state police said Friday.

The alleged incident happened June 27 at R.W. Clark Little League Field in North Union Township, Fayette County, police said.

During pre-game warmups, Mark Reed Downs Jr. offered one of his players $25 to hit the 8-year-old boy in the head with a baseball, according to a police news release.

After speaking with Downs, the second player hit the victim near his left ear and in the groin area, leaving him unable to play in that night's game, state police said.

"The coach seemed to find excuses not to play this child because he wasn't that talented," Trooper Thomas Broadwater told Channel 4 Action News. "On the 27th, the child was basically beaned in the head with a baseball."

The injured boy's mother was suspicious, so she approached the player who threw the ball and he told her about the payment offer, Broadwater said.

Downs, 27, of Dunbar, was charged Friday with criminal solicitation to commit aggravated assault, corruption of minors and reckless endangerment. He is free on bond and faces a preliminary hearing on July 28.

Number of Autism Cases Declines in Calif.
Number of New Cases of Autism in California Declines for the First Time in More Than 10 Years

The Associated Press picks up story, gets national distribution. http://abcnews.go.com/Health/print?id=937092

The number of new cases of autism in California has fallen for the first time in more than 10 years in what may be a bellwether for autism rates nationwide, according to new data compiled by the state Department of Developmental Services. The total number of autistic children receiving special education services from the state continues to grow bringing the current total to 28,046 but the rate of increase peaked in 2002 and has dropped slightly since then.
California has the best reporting system for autism in the United States because it guarantees special education services for autistic children. Because of its tracking system, the state is generally considered a predictor of what is to come for the rest of the country.
Experts said, however, that they don't know what's causing the numbers to fall off.
"Perhaps whatever caused (the number of cases) to go up ... is no longer present," said Dr. Robert Hendren, executive director of the University of California, Davis MIND Institute, which researches neurodevelopmental disorders. "It's all speculation. I wish we had good studies." Parent activist Rick Rollens of Sacramento, who played a key role in the creation of the MIND Institute, said that the trend roughly corresponds to the removal of mercury preservatives from pediatric vaccines. Many activist groups say that the use of mercury in the vaccines caused the sudden increase in autism cases.
Federal scientists, however, have continually said that the evidence does not support such a link.
The state data do not include children under the age of 3. About 90 percent of all autistic children are entered into the system before the age of 6, the department said.
According to the state data, 2002 was a record year for new autism diagnoses, with 3,259 cases. In 2003, the number of new cases slipped to 3,125. In 2004, the number was 3,074.
For the first half of 2005, there were 1,470 new cases, compared to 1,518 in the same period in 2004.
Information from: Los Angeles Times, http://www.latimes.com

***

Now, this could be complete ignorance on my part, but could the rates be declining because those doing the counting don't want to admit that the problem continues?

In California, it is my belief that the data on the rate of autism is collected from the various regional centers, which are the entities contracted by the state to provide services to residents who have specified developmental disabilities, such as autism. The problem is that because of the budgetary crisis in California, the regional centers have been forced to curtail services.

My clients are uniformly finding it harder and harder to get regional centers to agree that their children have autism even when they have assessments from recognized experts in the field.

So is there a true decline, or is California simply turning a blind eye for short term financial savings? "Savings" that are going to ultimately cost this state in the long run.

Call me a cynic.

Autism in Hawaii Nearly Doubles In 4 Years

By Associated Press http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/living/health/12116935.htm

HONOLULU - The number of autistic children in Hawaii's public school system has nearly doubled in the past four years, state education officials said.
There were 1,143 students diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders last month compared to 656 students August 2001, officials told the Board of Education on Monday.
Autism includes a range of neuropsychiatric disorders affecting a person's ability to interact socially and communicate, causing unusual and repetitive behavior.
Dr. Paul Ban, director of the Education Department's Special Education Services Branch, said although autism is on the rise, the percentage of students with learning disabilities and other special-education needs has held steady at around 12 percent.
Hawaii's increase follows a national trend, but the state's numbers are "on the high side," said Marilyn Jakeway, the department's education specialist for autism.
The increase may strain schools, which already are facing a teacher shortage, especially in special-education teachers.
Ban said Hawaii has been a little behind in trying to make up a "5 to 7 percent" state shortfall of special-education teachers.
The Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act of 2004 requires that all special-education teachers be "highly qualified" under a range of criteria. The law went into effect July 1 and the Department of Education has a year to meet the teacher requirements.
Although autism is on the rise, the percentage of students with learning disabilities and other special-education needs has held steady at around 12 percent of the 180,000-student population, Ban said.
The state in 2001 began the transition in care for autistic children from the Department of Health to the Department of Education. Some parents have been critical of the care during the takeover.
Maung Kyi, who has a 14-year-old autistic son, said a lack of continuity in providers has hampered his son's progress.
"We get a lot of promises from the DOE about this and that, but all we want is continuity. That's the most important thing to an autistic child," he said.
Ban said the Department of Education's takeover is in transition and said that there is high turnover in personnel, which he blames on "burnout" in those dealing with autistic children.
Much of the care is handled by private contractors, but the Department of Education plans to move to a system of more direct care, he said.
ON THE NET State Department of Education: http://doe.k12.hi.us/

Turmoil is a word a friend recently used to describe my life. And, she is correct. But no matter how horrid the turmoil, I can't give up, no matter how seductive that sounds at times.

I've started a second novel. I've finished my submission letter and synopsis of the first in the hopes of finding an agent. Not too bad.

The new federal laws and regulations related to educating children with disabilities is now effective. And as I said a few months back, they are not good, but not the disaster they might have been.

So, enough wallowing. Time to move forward.

(And I commit to myself that I'm going to post here more often.)