Actions to Fight Obesity
Following a moderated discussion with President Clinton at the Governor's 2010 Summit on Health, Nutrition and Obesity: Actions for Healthy Living, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger announced eight specific actions he will pursue to support healthy living in California. The actions announced by the Governor will fight childhood obesity and encourage all Californians to live a healthy, active lifestyle through promoting healthy beverages, increasing physical activity and incorporating the idea of "health in all policies."
Since taking office, Governor Schwarzenegger has led the fight against California's obesity epidemic and the actions he announced will continue the state's legacy of promoting healthy living and active lifestyles. The Governor's 2010 Summit on Health, Nutrition and Obesity brought together a cross-section of public health, education, community and local government leaders from around the state who have been active in promoting healthy eating, physical fitness and community-level health efforts.
In addition to the Summit, the Governor's Health and Human Services Secretary Kim Belshé, Department of Public Health Director Dr. Mark Horton and staff have been working since the fall to identify promising practices and innovative policy developments to further combat obesity. This includes reviewing current state programs and studies on community health and meeting with a wide variety of stakeholders including physical education, public health and think tank groups. As a culmination of this work and discussions at the Governor's 2010 Summit on Health, Nutrition and Obesity, Governor Schwarzenegger is taking specific actions to increase healthy living in California, particularly for schoolchildren, in order to reduce the rate of obesity. The Governor's actions are:
Promote the Consumption of Healthy Beverages in Schools
Adequate hydration is necessary for the academic achievement and health of students, but many students do not have access to fresh, free water in schools, particularly in low-income communities. In schools where there is water available, it is often not provided in food service areas during mealtimes, and while some school districts have found ways to provide access to water in food service areas, it is currently not a requirement for California schools.
Additionally, the consumption of electrolyte replacement beverages, which are becoming increasingly popular in public schools, is associated with weight gain, diabetes and obesity. In fact, beverage standards recommended by the Institute of Medicine call for the elimination of electrolyte replacement beverages from public schools to promote healthy beverage consumption.

Confronting The Daily Challenges Of Autism
(NAPSA)-When a child is diagnosed with autism, early and intensive treatment can be crucial. Many children wait a long time for admission to specialized learning centers, but there are ways parents and professionals can spend that critical waiting period helping children with autism learn valuable skills.
Parents and professionals now have a comprehensive online resource that offers science-based techniques to help them confront the daily challenges of autism.
The site, rethinkautism.com, provides effective and affordable tools and methods that are based on applied behavior analysis (ABA), the only intervention for autism that is endorsed by the American Academy of Pediatrics, the New York State Department of Health and the United States Surgeon General.
According to Dr. Fred Volkmar, director of the Yale Child Study Center, this Rethink Autism site will help bridge the gap between research and practice. "The explosion of research in autism has not always resulted in translation into work with children at home and in schools."
The site features a video-based curriculum, including hundreds of exercises and training modules based on proven, scientifically validated teaching techniques.
Innovative assessment tools help design individualized programming to meet the child's learning goals, while state-of-the-art data tracking systems let users track the learner's progress.
The lessons target a comprehensive range of skills that present the biggest challenges of autism: language skills, social and emotional learning, daily living, prevocational training and problem behavior.
Parents, teachers and organizations can subscribe to the Web site, rethinkautism.com. By answering a series of questions, they can begin to customize a curriculum. Users can watch the video lessons, use the techniques in sessions with their own child and track the child's progress online.
As the child progresses through the programs, the site recommends new lessons to maximize the learning process. A clinical support team answers questions by e-mail and offers suggestions for making the most of the site's resources.
These services are already being used by school districts and families nation- and worldwide.

Research shows that the most effective treatment for children with autism is early intervention, and rethinkautism.com offers resources to help.