Sep 26, 2008 — Approximately 30 Yeshiva University students made up the largest student contingent at a protest against China’s ongoing arms sales to the Sudanese government outside the Chinese Mission to the United Nations on Sept. 24.

The students were members of YU’s Social Justice Society and the YU chapter of STAND, a student-led division of the Genocide Intervention Network. They joined the American Jewish World Service (AJWS) in the nationwide protest that took place at venues in Chicago, Washington D.C., and San Francisco.

Shlomit Cohen, president of YU’s Social Justice Society, addressed the crowd. “I stand here today representing Yeshiva University and students worldwide who continue to fight on behalf of justice and peace,” said Cohen, a native of St. Louis, Miss. “We will not remain silent while the Chinese government supports the genocidal policies of the Sudanese government.”

Cohen said it was important for Jews especially to speak up. “As we enter the High Holidays, we must not forget to extend our compassion and scope of concern to the world at large,” she said.

The goal of the protest was to highlight China’s continued sale of arms to Sudan and call for an expanded U.N. arms embargo to stop the flow of arms to the Sudanese government. Notable speakers at the event included Ruth Messinger, president of AJWS; Motasim Adam, founder of the Darfur People’s Association of New York; and Reverend Herbert Daughtry, founder and president of the National Religious Leaders of African Ancestry.

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Sep 26, 2008 — The Einstein/Montefiore Center for Autism has received a three-year federal grant totaling $600,000 to develop a “Leadership in Autism” training program at its Children’s Evaluation and Rehabilitation Center (CERC).

The grant, from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, is one of 21 university and research organization grants awarded nationwide, and the only one in the New York metro area. It was made possible by the Combating Autism Act, enacted by Congress in 2007.

Diagnoses of Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) have increased nearly tenfold over the past decade. In 2007, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released data indicating that about 1 in 150 8-year-old children in the country has ASD. Based on these data, the CDC called autism a “national public health crisis.” Creation of the training program will allow the center to teach medical and allied health professionals to become leaders in the field of ASD.

“Receiving this generous grant is an important breakthrough for us?a major recognition of our efforts,” said Dr. Robert Marion, CERC’s director and principal investigator. “We can now acquire the staff to take the autism training program from a carefully-designed concept to a functioning reality. This will allow us to expand our efforts to diagnose, combat and perhaps some day cure autism.”

The recently developed Einstein/Montefiore Center for Autism brings together the extensive autism-related activities — clinical, research, training and advocacy — at Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Montefiore Medical Center. These activities include Einstein’s Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and Related Disabilities (LEND) project and research in the departments of neurology, molecular genetics and neuroscience at both Einstein and Montefiore.

Using state-of-the-art testing methods and evaluation, the center has been particularly successful at diagnosing ASD at an early age ? as early as 18 months, in some cases. Especially for children on the less-severe end of the autism spectrum, early intervention may prevent the disorder from worsening and help the child develop relatively normally.

“In order to say that something is or isn’t autism, you need to have a familiarity with a full range of developmental diagnoses in a given age group,” said Dr. Lisa Shulman, director of CERC’s RELATE program and associate clinical professor of pediatrics at Einstein. (RELATE is the acronym for Rehabilitation, Evaluation, and Learning for Autistic Infants and Toddlers at Einstein.)

The increase in the number of children diagnosed with ASD has overwhelmed programs that diagnose and treat children with ASD. The shortage of such services is perhaps most acutely felt within inner cities. At diagnostic facilities in the Bronx, for example, where the majority of residents belong to minority groups, there are long waiting lists for children who need to be evaluated for possible ASD. Public schools are forced to cope with undiagnosed children, who may not receive necessary treatment.

This grant addresses the urgent need for more trained professionals. It also allows the Einstein/Montefiore Center for Autism to expand its partnerships with other medical providers and community-based organizations, including the Bronx chapter of the Autism Society of America.

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