FEAT Dinner

Robin, I hope you won't mind if I copy your blurb about this here:

Chefs and celebrities will get together to serve you as Families For Effective Autism Treatment (FEAT) of Louisville Inc. hosts its annual fundraiser on Friday, May 18, at the Louisville Marriott Downtown, 280 W. Jefferson St. The proceeds will be used to support FEAT’s mission of autism treatment, education and advocacy.

Guests will be served a five-course meal by Chefs Agostino Gabriele of Vincenzo’s, Anoosh Shariat of Park Place on Main and Browning’s, Dean Corbett of Equus, Clark Wade of the Marriott Downtown, Coby Ming and P.J. Knight of Wiltshire Pantry and Josh Lococo of Tologono. Each chef will be joined by a local “celeb” to demonstrate the course.

Ticket prices are $125 per person. For info, call FEAT, 244-4925 or 386-5802.

Is anyone else going to this? I'll be there and I'd love to say hello to any forumites who might be attending!

[Robin Garr]

Robin, I hope you won't mind if I copy your blurb about this here:

What! How dare you!

No, it's fine, Erin. That's a good idea, really. We rarely have much room for those "Nibbles" announcements at the end of the LEO column, so I try to reserve them for important charitable fund-raisers or really interesting news tidbits. The location is fine in the print edition, but they do tend to get lost down at the end of the online version, so reprinting them as separate posts is A Good Thing. I should start doing that routinely, and thanks for the nudge.

This is a great foodie event. You get the top chefs in the market demonstrating their stuff. I have been twice and participated one of those times. Good food a great bar and a great cause. 1 in 150 kids is now being diagnosed with Autism. Families for Effective Autism Treatment ( FEAT) has set up a great school for these kids and it is really helping. I urge everyone to go if you can. You will have a great time and support a worthy cause.

Will

1 in 150 kids is now being diagnosed with Autism.

Will

That is truly scary. What is causing this massive increase in incidence of the disease? Is it vaccines? Is it environmental? 1 out of 150 ought to be prompting more of an outcry for finding the cause of this.

I have a niece who is autistic, and I wish I would have known about this event sooner - we have tix to Spamalot for tomorrow night, but I will still make a donation.

I believe that there isn't necessarily a 'cause' for the increase in autistic children, but that they are understanding it more, therefore, more children who are being diagnosed with it. It is often misdiagnosed as mental retardation. And there is a complete realm of autism. I have another relative who was diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome, which is a form of autism which is much less likely to be identified, and I bet most of you have known someone you would suspect has this syndrome. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asperger_syndrome I believe one of my nephews has it as he incredibly intelligent, but extremely non-social, hates to be touched (will only hug his immediate family and his grandma), and is very sensitive to external stimuli. He's always hated the zoo, carnivals, etc. because he can't stand the smells or the loud sounds. Anyway, I'm not speaking as an expert, but this is my educated guess.

[Robin Garr]

we have tix to Spamalot for tomorrow night

You're gonna love it! We went last night, and also saw it in NYC. This is worth a separate thread ...

I believe that there isn't necessarily a 'cause' for the increase in autistic children, but that they are understanding it more, therefore, more children who are being diagnosed with it. It is often misdiagnosed as mental retardation.

It really is growing in numbers and not a case of misdiagnosis in the past. UC Irvine looked at this 5 years ago and their study showed it was an increase in cases. The incidences of Autism far surpass childhood diabetes, and childhood cancer combined. It is a epidemic. When my son was diagnosed 10 years ago it was 1 in 1500 kids now it is 1 in 150.

Will

It really is growing in numbers and not a case of misdiagnosis in the past. UC Irvine looked at this 5 years ago and their study showed it was an increase in cases. The incidences of Autism far surpass childhood diabetes, and childhood cancer combined. It is a epidemic. When my son was diagnosed 10 years ago it was 1 in 1500 kids now it is 1 in 150.

Like I said, I am so not an expert, or even as well informed as I should be, considering. But it sounds like you and my sister could possibly share some information. They live on Long Island, and have participated in an early intervention program since her daughter was an infant. That has helped tremendously, but the school system re-evaluated her about 2 weeks ago, and tried to say she was mentally retarded, because their test didn't show the typical symptoms of autism. Talk about a catch 22. Put her in a program to help the child learn to accept outside stimuli, etc., and punish them later because they can??? My sister was able to make them understand in a conference with the board what Lauren's behavior is truly like, but it shook her up, because the alternative school would not have offered the type of enrichment that Lauren is getting now. Anyway, I would love to hear more about your son. If you're not comfortable posting, feel free to pm, but I would love if you and my sister could exchange emails. I'll warn you though - her life is crazy, so she may not respond immediately, but I bet she would love the support/conversation.

Also - do you really think there has been an increase in the incidence? They are so still learning about this syndrome, and it's difficult to detect in a lot of cases. I have so often wondered about the causes myself, and if you have link to studies, if you could email them to me, I would much appreciate it.

Thanks much, Will, and we will definitely be out soon to taste your wonderful food we've heard so much about, and would love to meet you, and your son, if possible. Very glad your place is still an option!

we have tix to Spamalot for tomorrow night

You're gonna love it! We went last night, and also saw it in NYC. This is worth a separate thread ...

Oh good! We're pretty psyched, and are going to eat at Jarfi's first, for the first time! Watched the 'Holy Grail' again last night for a refresher! Run Away! Run Away! Maybe I shouldn't admit that I like those scenes/lines. Can't wait!