AGE OF AUTISM

Order Ready, Set, Potty! By Brenda Batts for Autism and Developmental Disorders

Toilet training a child with autism. Scary stuff, isn't it? There's a new book that hits the bookstores on August 15th. It's called Ready, Set, Potty! by Brenda Batts. I met Brenda at the NAA conference in early November of 2007. I was mesmerized by Brenda's system. It made so much sense to me, and I was eager to get my Bella out of diapers.  I followed Brenda's instructions to the letter and sure enough, after 48 hours, Bella had released into the toilet several times and was on her way to success. Previous attempts meant literally hours sitting on the toilet with no success, only to have a puddle on the floor seconds after leaving the bathroom. Go ahead, Pamper yourself. Get the book.  ;)  Kim

Pre-order your copy HERE. You should buy one for your school too so you're on the same page. Here's the description from the publisher, Jessica Kingsley Publications.

Potty training a child with developmental disorders can present a vast array of challenges, many of which are not associated with teaching a neurotypical child how to use a potty. In this book, Brenda Batts overcomes difficulties and provides tried and tested methods that really work, tailored to each individual child. Bursting with ideas on how to see past conventional strategies and adapt toilet training to suit your child, this book outlines methods that have helped even the most despairing of parents and caregivers. Examples of success range from two year olds to adults aged twenty, and show that no matter how difficult it may seem, a little creativity and adaptation can get anyone toilet trained, no matter how many previous attempts have failed. The program itself is supported by plenty of helpful hints and tips, as Brenda covers all you need to get your child past the diaper stage and help them achieve a big step towards independence. This book will be essential reading for anybody looking to toilet train someone with developmental disorders.

Brenda Batts is a Behavior Consultant, the mother of two sons, Alex, an 18 year old teen with Autism, and Douglas (JR), a typical, 21 year old college student. She is owner and director of Focus on the Future Training Center, a private school for students with Autism and other related developmental disorders located in Plano, Texas. Brenda holds a BS Degree in Special Education, and a Masters of Education with specialization in Exceptional Student Education. Through her workshops and presentations as a national and international speaker in the field of special needs, coupled with her own personal journey as a parent of a teen with Autism, Brenda is committed to the path of helping special needs students achieve independence.

Young Man With Autism Dies, Forgotten in Hot Car

20 year old Bryan Nevins died after being left in a hot car by his "caregivers" who didn't notice he was missing until his meds were due.

Didn't notice he was missing until his meds were due.

Didn't notice he was missing until his MEDS WERE DUE.

This story is a stark reminder of what little boys and girls might face as they become adults. Our sincere condolences to Bryan Nevin's family.

Read more at NBC Philadelphia and Gothamist. A follow up to the story is HERE.

Autistic Man Left in Hot Car by Caregiver Dies

Investigators want to know how a man with autism could be left inside a van for hours in the intense heat just steps from the facility where he lived.

The unidentified 20-year-old man died after spending more than five hours inside a van operated by Woods Services in Middletown Township, Pa. last Saturday, police say.

The man, whose autism left him unable to speak, was in the backseat of the van for a return trip from Sesame Place in Langhorne, Pa. with three other residents and two caregivers.

Autism is Not The New Normal: Bronx Mother (Allegedly) Murders Autistic Son

By Kim Stagliano

This morning Tanner's Dad (Tim Welsh) Tweeted a blog entry HERE from a pediatrician who talked about autism, and that it's "normalized" for him. Really doc? Autism is not the new normal. Asperger's or autism - the joys our kids bring are many. But so are the stresses. Normalized? Feel free to comment on how normal your life is at his blog HERE. Last week I was on HLN talking about the mother in Dallas who brutally murdered her two young children with autism. I told Jane Velez Mitchell's producer, "Hang onto your hat, there will be many more such tragedies as autism overwhelms families." I didn't expect one so soon.

NY Daily News: Bronx Mother Kills Son, Self Cops Say

Frustrated over the demands of raising an autistic child, police believe, a Bronx mother shot the boy to death before turning the gun on herself Wednesday night, cops said. Micaela Jackson, 37, and Kenneth Holmes, 12, both killed by a gunshot to the head, were found in bed in the single mother's apartment on Loring Place in Morris Heights, police said. The suspected murder-suicide - the second in as many weeks in the city - left Jackson's family and Kenneth's father shattered. Read more: HERE.

Kim Stagliano is Managing Editor of Age of Autism. Her book from Skyhorse Publishing, All I Can Handle I'm No Mother Teresa; A Life Raising Three Daughters with Autism is available now for preorder and debuts November 1st. Visit her website at www.kimstagliano.com.

Are Doctors Classifying Children with Autism as Something other Than Human?

Managing Editor's Note: The red headline below begins Judy Converse's letter to the journal Pediatrics in response to the article titled, Feeding Symptoms, Dietary Patterns, and Growth in Young Children With Autism Spectrum Disorders.  Judy runs Nutrition Care of Children. 

Alan Emond, MD, Pauline Emmett, PhD, Colin Steer, MSc, Jean Golding, PhD Here's the abstract:

Centre for Child and Adolescent Health, Department of Community Based Medicine, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom

Objective To investigate the feeding, diet and growth of young children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD).

Method Data on feeding and food frequency were collected by questionnaires completed at 6, 15, 24, 38 and 54 months by participants in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children. A food variety score was created, and the content of the diet was calculated at 38 m. The feeding and dietary patterns of 79 children with ASD were compared with 12 901 controls.

Results The median ages of ASD children were 28 months at referral and 45 months at diagnosis. ASD infants showed late introduction of solids after 6 months (p = .004) and were described as "slow feeders" at 6 months (p = .04). From 15–54 months ASD children were consistently reported to be "difficult to feed" (p < .001) and "very choosy" (p < .001). From 15 months, the ASD group had a less varied diet than controls, were more likely to have different meals from their mother from 24 months, and by 54 months 8% of ASD children were taking a special diet for "allergy."

ASD children consumed less vegetables, salad and fresh fruit, but also less sweets and fizzy drinks. At 38 months intakes of energy, total fat, carbohydrate and protein were similar, but the ASD group consumed less vitamins C (p = .02) and D (p = .003). There were no differences in weight, height or BMI at 18 months and 7 years, or in hemoglobin concentrations at 7 years.

Conclusions ASD children showed feeding symptoms from infancy and had a less varied diet from 15 months, but energy intake and growth were not impaired.

Pediatrics: Nutrition Doesn't Matter For Kids? 22 July 2010

Judith M Converse MPH RD LD,
pediatric RD
Nutrition Care of Children 
Send letter to journal:
Re: Journal of Pediatrics: Nutrition Doesn't Matter For Kids?

According to this research, kids with autism tend to eat terrible diets, but this doesn't affect growth or nutrition status.

I'm a licensed registered dietitian who has been in practice for more than ten years, working with special needs children. I have quantified food intakes and assessed growth patterns on hundreds of children with autism.

My experience in practice strongly disagrees with this conclusion, but I will leave it to a parent to illustrate with her own quote how preposterous this study’s conclusion is (as printed in The Chelsea Standard (Parents Adjust To Life With Autistic Child ) "...he suddenly stopped talking. He stopped eating any food except for pretzels. Instead, he ate sand, wood and rocks."

The message from the Journal of Pediatrics on this permits clinicians to conclude that this should trigger no particular concern. It's okay for kids to eat nothing but pretzels, sand, wood, and rocks. No medical intervention required.

Did the research mean to suggest this is only okay for kids with autism? In a fashion similar to how it has become acceptable and too frequent for young school children with autism to be tasered (as in HERE), but not typical kids?

Is this where we are going - classifying children with autism as something other than human?

I've seen eating patterns like this in kids with autism many times. Any classic nutrition text describes "pica". This research even noted that the children with autism had pica at nearly six times the rate of their typical peers – but inexplicably, the authors don’t mention that finding in their discussion or conclusions. Mercury poisoning, lead toxicity, poor zinc status, copper imbalance, or iron deficiency tend to accompany an eating pattern like this, in any child. Pica is not benign; it is associated with poor impulse control and obsessive compulsive behaviors - common features for children with autism - and with dangerous exposures to metals that can injure the brain. This is just one of many nutrition problems I routinely find when I assess children with autism.

In fact, in 11 years in practice, I have never encountered a child with autism who did not have a treatable nutrition problem. They do typically eat extremely limited diets. It isn't unusual for me to see no more than three items on a food diary: "Gogurt x 3; chocolate milk 4-5 cups/day; plain noodles, 1 big bowl" …and this is what a child will have been eating year in and year out. It's no stretch to intuit that this will leave any child bereft of adequate nutrition to learn, grow, sleep, thrive, or behave to their potential. We would never leave a typically developing child on a diet of nothing but literally only coffee cake and milk for years (another example from my practice).

What happens to children who eat like this? My case files illustrate that they get sick more often, become constipated, behave poorly, acquire anemia, acquire deficits of nutrients that impair them functionally, can't focus, don't sleep, and may not grow as expected, just for starters. But now, we can rest assured knowing that this is okay, as long as your child has autism, thanks to this research.

I noted astounding methodology flaws in this paper that let the data show - essentially, nothing. Here's where the study went wrong – the errors are many, and egregious:

Influenza Vaccine Special Meeting Today: Public Invited to Participate

Interim Influenza Vaccine Information Statements Special Meeting
Thursday July 29, 1 to 2 pm ET

The Advisory Commission on Childhood Vaccines will review the CDC's draft statements slated for distribution during the 2010-2011 flu season. The conference call meeting is open to the public. Persons who wish to make oral statements may announce their intent at the time of the public comment period.

To join, phone 1-888-606-5950
Leader’s Name: Dr. Geoffrey Evans
Password: ACCV

See http://www.hrsa.gov/vaccinecompensation/ for details on the right hand column.

Brian Deer: Portrait of a Narcissist

By Jake Crosby

Conflicted “journalist” Brian Deer’s website is perhaps one of the biggest resources of disinformation on the internet. Even worse, there is likely no better example of one man’s online shrine to himself than briandeer.com – a cesspool of self-adulation. Nothing quite sums this up better than a particular webpage that reads “Brian’s pictures” at the bottom of the homepage. You’d think it would be the many different photos of news events from his journalistic exploits, but a click of the mouse shows that it is in fact – literally – all him. See for yourself (WARNING, MAY INDUCE NAUSEA):

(CLICK HERE)  UPDATE: The link no longer goes to the portrait gallery. Below is what the link looked like earlier today. Click the photo to enlarge.

From birth till present, Brian Deer graces us with his portrait. Starved for attention, Brian Deer knew how to get it – by targeting Dr. Andrew Wakefield.

Jake Crosby is a college student with Asperger Syndrome at Brandeis University who is double majoring in History and Health: Science, Society and Policy.

Autism: Transitioning To Adulthood with Chantal Sicile Kira & Son Jeremy

 

Join Us In Cooperation with Beth Israel Medical Center's
Department of Developmental Pediatrics

Chantal Sicile-Kira and her son Jeremy

 
Transitioning to Adulthood with Autism: Hope, Inspiration and Information

Date: Thursday, July 29, 2010
Time:  2:00 pm - 4:30 pm
Location:  Beth Israel Medical Center
10 Union Square East
New York, NY 10003
2nd  Floor Conference Center
Conference Rooms 2 and
There is no fee and no registration required.

The Nanny Vs. The Nanny State: Drescher Questions Sebelius on Vaccines

Managing Editor's Note: Fran Drescher is  a noted actress, cancer survivor, author and founder of Cancer Schmancer. Kathleen Sebelius is head of Health and Human Services. Secretary Sebelius told Reader's Digest that she encourages media censorship when it comes to vaccines, "There are groups out there that insist that vaccines are responsible for a variety of problems despite all scientific evidence to the contrary. We have reached out to media outlets to try to get them to not give the views of these people equal weight in their reporting to what science has shown and continues to show about the safety of vaccines,” (See HERE). Thank God someone forgot to tell Fran Drescher about the blackout. (Insert fabulous laugh here.)
  
By Anne Dachel
 
July 22, 2010 U.S, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius joined several women, including actress and cancer survivor Fran Drescher for “web chat” about the Affordable Care Act.

This was put on by the Public Affairs Dept at HHS and we were told about the new law that “is designed to put you in control of your health care.”

It was a half hour show and the beginning was about health care needs in this country and about what the new legislation would do.  Among the participants was actress and women’s health advocate, Fran Drescher.   She talked about “living preventatively.”  Addressing women, Drescher spoke about the effects of “what we expose ourselves to on a daily basis,” including cleaning products and what we put in our bodies, what we eat.  She pointed out that we should eat foods that are “low in pesticides and chemicals.”  She advocated for “more whole foods” saying, “Even Wal-Mart is offering organic food now days.”

Sebelius was asked whether vaccine coverage is in the new health care bill.  She assured everyone that it is.

At that point Drescher said, “Can I interject a minute?”

She brought up the subject of vaccine safety.  “Do you have an opinion or is there any effort,…on looking into spacing apart immunizations?

Because over the decades, there have been more and more immunizations offered to children.  Where there might have been seven at one point, now there is like 18 I think.  And I was just wondering whether you had any thoughts on it or whether you think that there is any kind of growing awareness raising in the medical community toward spacing them a little bit.”
 
Kathleen Sebelius responded:

“I know that at the National Institutes of Health, there’s an Institute on Vaccinations and one of the things they do is constantly run clinical trials, testing not only safety of individual vaccines, but safety of vaccines given together, spacing components, how frequently they have to be given in terms of boosting immunization.

"So that’s the safety features, something that we’re very aware of and concerned about.  It’s a bit of a Catch 22,.  What you want to do is to offer them in a way that’s convenient, so if your child can safely have a couple of things taken care of at same time, you want to do that as opposed to saying to a busy mom or dad, come back three weeks in a row.  But clearly, the safety issues are primary, so that’s constantly being tested and evaluated.”

This exchange took only a few short minutes but it immediately got a response from the autism community.   Many people are very angry at the blanket assurances from Sebelius that there’s such a focus on safety when it comes to vaccines. 

A Tribute To National Autism Association Co-founder JoAnne Pike

Managing Editor's Note: Jo Pike was a co-founder of The National Autism Association. She died on July 9th, after a battle with cancer.

The Butterfly Effect

By Lori McIlwain

I believe that to be a leader, you must have more hope in your heart than fear. Fear won’t allow you to take a stand without reluctance, or speak without anticipated rejection. It won’t give you an original point of view, or allow you to remain unapologetic. It will only make you believe that change is too difficult, and that no human life is valuable enough to initiate it.

Jo Pike never had fear in her heart, only hope.

The only way I know how to write about Jo is through my own perspective based on experiences that I know and understand. It’s my hope that in writing this tribute, I not only communicate just how strong she was, but how the determination of just one person can have a gradual, widespread effect. 

I’ll acknowledge upfront that whenever people we love leave this earth, it’s difficult to do anything but champion them. They were perfect. They did no wrong. They were extraordinary. Like anyone, Jo was far from perfect, so I won’t pretend otherwise. But unlike most, she was absolutely extraordinary.

March 4, 2010
Lori, I have given it up to God and know that no matter what happens, it is his will. Love you, Jo

JoAnne Pike was born in Fairfield, Maine in 1966. A military wife, she moved around quite a bit until she ended up in Marion, South Carolina, where she lived with her husband, Greg and their four children, Matt, Aaron, Hunter, and Taylor. She officially became a part of the autism community on Valentine’s Day, 2000, when Hunter was diagnosed with autism.

October 2005
It’s not that I didn’t know something might be wrong before that date but to hear that official diagnosis made it all so real. ‘Autism,’ a word that we hoped we’d never hear. There was no denying it any longer. How could my two-year-old son have a diagnosis that we were told time after time was hopeless. Words like institution, aggression, no cure were everywhere we looked. - Jo Pike

My son Connor was diagnosed not long after Hunter, and by 2002, Jo and I were parallel posters on autism discussion boards. For a good year I had studied research, treatment options and just about every trick other parents had up their sleeves. Like many moms, I saw changes in my child after his immunizations and I was looking for ways to reverse those effects. And like others, I had a lot of questions. It wasn’t something I would let go. Jo’s posts, as I came to notice, showed that she wasn’t letting go either. She demonstrated enthusiasm, ambition and drive, not only to help her son, but in getting answers about the autism-vaccine connection. She was what I considered a “let’s do” sort. Let’s do this. Let’s do that. Let’s not give up on our kids. Let’s get the research. Let’s stop talking and do.

May 2002
I was told by doctors that my son had no hope that I should just take him home and love him and just plan on him being in an institution and that wasn't acceptable. That's not acceptable to me. I will find a way, and there
is a way, and we are going to find it, and the research will tell everything. - Jo Pike

When Jo posted an energetic message asking parents to come together to place a full-page ad in a national publication about the autism-vaccine connection, I wrote with an apprehensive offer to help. I loved the idea of mass awareness of the issue.  At the same time I knew there would be a good amount of grief involved in executing an ad like that.

Jo’s reply was almost instantaneous. What I remember most about her at that time was her ability to do the opposite of what I expected. Here was a mom with passion and ideas, which typically leaves room for little compromise. But to my amazement, she was flexible. She had no sense of ownership. She was willing to listen instead of tell. She’d encourage participation from everyone around her and championed his or her ideas. It was a “you before me” attitude. Give and take. She made it easy for people to work together, and want to work with her.

July 2002
This full-page ad will educate the public about how environmental toxins are affecting the world's children. Its message will also appeal to senators and congressmen who can help our children today and in the future. - Jo Pike

Using the Internet, Jo and I began reaching out to parents. It was nonstop posting from morning until evening asking everyone who had an affected child to donate a dollar. Several organizations stepped in to help and we found ourselves surrounded by enthusiastic parents who were tired of being accused of blaming others for their child’s autism. To us, we were simply relaying the patterns we saw. Our children regressed after vaccines. Vaccines contained mercury.  We found high mercury levels in our children.  It wasn’t about blame or money or emotion, it was about speaking honestly for the sake of getting honest answers.

Win Lunch with Dr. Andrew Wakefield

Click HERE to visit the SafeMinds MercuryFree Kids 2010 Auction.

Care to wine and dine with Dr. Andrew Wakefield? Start bidding!

The Mercury Free Kids 2010 Auction is now open. The auction will run from July 20, 2010 to July 30, 2010, with proceeds going to Coalition for SafeMinds in order to restore health and protect future generations by eradicating the devastation of autism and associated health disorders induced by mercury and other environmental toxicants.

View the auction Items HERE. Happy bidding!

Why We Share Stories

By Lynne Sanchez

Recently, a nine year old boy was running away from home down my street.  I happened to be watering my lawn and having a son with autism, I knew that this little boy needed help.  He did not have a diagnosis of autism, but from what I could see he did need the supports of a very special child.  I stayed with him in my front yard.  The police came, ambulance came, his family came, and even the fire department came.  I saw the policemen genuinely trying to help and talk to this little boy.  I wanted very much to tell them all that I knew about mental disability and physical illness. I wanted them to reach out to him with more compassion rather than a lecture about running away from home.  I wanted them to know and understand what I know and understand after years of raising a child with autism and having so many friends with children on the spectrum.  I realized that it was not possible for me to give them that knowledge or experience in this short interaction, nor would I ever want them to have to live through it to understand.
 
I decided to contact a few people about possibly having a first responders training for our government agencies and people who should know more about our individuals and children with mental and social challenges and disabilities.  Nothing will come of it.  The agencies have to be open to it and there has to be someone who can with sincerity and knowledge convey the information, so that it will be accepted and used in responding to crisis and emergency situations. 

Unwanted H1N1 Vaccines Are HAZMAT And Are Being Disposed Of Accordingly

Our good friend Ginger Taylor who writes the blog Adventures in Autism wrote about the displosal of the mercury laden H1N1 vaccines that Americans refused to take:

At the beginning of last years pharma fund raiser "pandemic", I wrote a lengthy piece reminding readers just how bad mercury really is to humans, and just how high the mercury content in the H1N1 flu shot was. These are the same vaccines that public heath officials keep referring to has having 'trace amounts' of mercury. I noted that they were so mercury toxic that they were classified as hazardous material and by law must be disposed of according to hazmat rules.

Now on the other side of the disease that killed ninety thousand Americans was the mildest flu in recorded history, more than $260 million dollars worth of vaccine, at least 40 million doses, are being disposed of accordingly. Being burnt in hazmat processing facilities with mercury scrubbers to keep this neurotoxin out of our environment. Read the full blog post HERE.

Taking Care of Mom. Yes, You!

It seemed appropriate to share this blog entry by Maureen McDonnell at Saving our Kids Healing Our Planet on taking care of ourselves, the Moms. KS

What About Mom?

In addition to taking care of everyone else, busy moms need to take care of themselves too!

I grew up in an Irish-Catholic family where little self -indulgences like getting a massage, taking a hot bath with candles or even going on a solitary walk to calm the mind were unheard of.  Subsequently, it was instilled in me from a young age that serving others without focusing on my own needs was part and parcel to my role as a woman..

I went on to become a nurse, and then a mother remaining relatively oblivious to that all important  inner voice that whispers (or sometimes shouts) for us to slow down , relax and pay attention to our body’s needs.

All that changed after my first marriage ended and I became a single mother of two.   A very sensitive counselor and a few years of therapy helped me develop an understanding that carving out time to take care of me was not selfish.  I realized (in my mid-thirties) that if I was going to stay sane, be physically healthy and be the kind of mom and person I wanted to be, self-care wasn’t an option, it was an imperative!

I was prompted to write this article because lately I’ve been receiving disturbing news of a number of young moms who have developed illnesses including cancer.   I know how busy life can get and how easy it is to put your needs including your health on the back burner.  I also know  that illness is not always preventable and that in this fast paced society there are few support systems set up just for mom.   Yet,  by taking a few minutes here and there,  (in the midst of juggling the million-and-one  tasks of caring for your family),  you can make a little time for you and that can make a huge difference in your overall health and happiness!

Read the full post at Saving our Kids Healing Our Planet.

Author: Maureen H. McDonnell, RN
I am a registered nurse with a strong interest in helping to reverse the escalating number of children affected by chronic illnesses. After coordinating the Defeat Autism Now! Conferences for 10 years, I joined forces with Jill Urwick to form Saving Our Kids, Healing Our Planet. This website and our conferences focus on the role nutrition and toxins in the environment are playing in Autism, ADHD, childhood cancers, etc. More importantly, our goal is to offer solution-based information that is both practical, affordable.

 

Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee Needs Your Input

Calling all Families!  Let Your Voice Be Heard!

The Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee (IACC) is currently taking Requests For Information (RFI) on their 2010 Strategic Plan  in an effort to update for 2011. 

The committee is specifically asking what has been learned in the past year about the issues covered in each of the seven chapters of the IACC Strategic Plan, and on what are the remaining gaps in the subject area covered by each chapter. In addition, the committee is seeking input on the introductory chapter and other general comments about the Strategic Plan.

This is your chance to weigh in on critical gaps including the need for research into the link between vaccines and autism, a greater focus on environmental factors, the biological underpinning of ASD, the development of effective strategies in an and effort to both treat and prevent the development of autism.

For years parents have reported that their children regressed developmentally and physically after vaccination, and subsequently were given a diagnosis of autism.  The Vaccine Injury Compensation Program has compensated 1,322 cases on the basis of vaccine-induced brain damage, seizure disorder, acute disseminated encephalomyelitis, and encephalopathy.  Many of these cases were also diagnosed with autism after suffering the vaccine injury. Since vaccines are universally recommended and mandated in most states for all infants starting at birth, they should be subjected to the highest level of safety standards and research.  Concerns voiced by parents, physicians, and the scientific community regarding vaccine injury must be addressed with thoughtful, complete, and unbiased investigations by NIH. Unfortunately, that has not happened to date.
 
We'd like to encourage everyone to share their thoughts with this important committee.  Submitting a RFI is easy. Simply click here.  You will be prompted to submit responses on the seven questions/chapters of the IACC Strategic Plan.  If time is an issue (and it usually is), we are trying to focus on questions 2 and 3. These questions address the biology, causation and prevention of autism.

Please feel free to use the official SafeMinds response as a guide to answer these questions.  All submissions must be in by Friday, July 30th.  Comments collected through this RFI will be posted to the IACC web site after the closing date.

SafeMinds is submitting an official response to the RFI that you can review and use as a model for comments. Read it HERE.  It is critical that we take advantage of all opportunities to have our voices heard. The future of our children depends on it.

Sometimes Autism Sneaks Up On You

By Rosemary Dubrowsky

The day started like any other weekday.  The alarm went off and I was up and getting Danny’s food ready to go to school.  He is 14 years old has pretty severe autism and goes to school for part of the summer.  He is on a diet that helps his significant digestive issues as well as his “stimming.”   Today it was gluten free pasta with tomato sauce and dehydrated vegetables and some mini chicken tacos.  Danny won’t eat something green on his plate, so when he was very young, I took to dehydrating just about every vegetable under the sun to try to get something healthy into his body.  Today, at 5’11” and 200 pounds, we still do that.  He will take the sprinkle bottles and put them on himself.  Little does he know that he is eating a significant amount of vegetables.
 
Upon waking, he swallowed the multitude of vitamins and drugs that help him get through the day.  He does this easily now, although that was not always the case.  I do not miss the days of putting the concoction of vitamins in his baby bottle, taking a syringe and squirting them into his body or the infamous shot glasses of mixture he would swallow begrudgingly.  At the age of 9 he started swallowing pills, which was a huge feat in our house.  Now he wants to take 7 or 8 at a time, and the amount of gratitude I have for that is not explainable.
 
He got on the bus happily and I took off upstairs for a shower so that I could go to work.  Working full time is not easy with a child like Danny.  Every time the phone rings, your heart skips a bit worried that there may be issue that has occurred and you may have to bolt out the door.  I am grateful that I have people I am surrounded by that understand. 
 
I took a pretty long shower, got dressed, hopped in the car and headed out to work.  As I usually do, I stopped to get a coffee before work and as I walked into the gas station to get my coffee there were two sets of Dad’s with their 13 or 14 year old sons. One of the boys was talking to his Dad about being so excited about going to work with him and helping him out.  That is when it happened.  BOOM!  Like a slap in the face.  It is a sight that was so simple, yet, so hurtful at the same time.  My husband is not able to do that.  Nor will he probably ever be able to.  I should know that by now, after all, Danny is 14 years old.  I know what he is.  I love him for who he is, but there it was; a knife in my heart and tears welling up in my eyes.

Win Two Free Bags of Custom Choice Gluten Free Cereal!

How would you like to win two free bags of Custom Choice Cereal?

What is it? Custom Choice Cereal lets you create your own gluten-free cereal mix through an easy-to-use website.  Start by selecting one of three bases mixes and add your favorite dried fruits, nuts and seeds to your cereal.  As you add ingredients to your mix, a nutrition label updates in real time and keeps you informed about the nutritional value of your cereal.

• become a fan of Custom Choice Cereal on FaceBook
• follow them on twitter (@CustomChoiceCereal)

Check out the Custom Choice Cereal site and tell us your "Dream Combo" in the comments! The contest ends on July 28 and is open to US residents only. We will randomly select the winner from all comments to this post. Good luck.

911 Call: Mom Didn’t Want Autistic Kids; Murdered Them.

By Kim Stagliano (Warning profanity alert.)

As Gulf sea turtles are having the oil cleansed gently from their shells and birds are feeling the soft touch of gentle hands wiping their feathers clean, two children with autism felt the paralyzing crush of their mother's despair, anger and abuse. Saiqa Akhter killed one of her children and badly injured a second (who later died), then called 911 (the call is in the Fox News report below, if you can stomach it.) The good news is that it happened in Texas and with any luck, unlike Andrea Yates who drowned her five babies, this bitch will go to her death courtesy of the Texas Justice system.

Children are not appliances that come with warranties and guarantees. Some have autism. Others are hit by a car and paralyzed. Some develop cancer. We don't get to murder them because they do not meet our standards. We don't get to murder them because we are exhausted beyond sanity. We don't get to murder them because we don't know what else to do. Period. I wrote a HuffPo earlier this year, when other parents murdered their children, Autism Should Not Be A Death Sentence.  It shouldn't.

I've shoved Gianna into the garage and slammed the door on her at 2:00 O'clock in the morning when she would not stop screaming. "One one hundred, two one hundred, three one hundred"-- I'd count until my blood pressure was low enough to open the door and guide her back to bed. It was the safe thing to do for both of us. I've left Mia wracked with the finale of a stream of seizures, postictal on the bed and stepped into a steaming shower to sob and shake and scream. I used to take crying Bella out of her crib and plop in her front of a tape loop that ran Teletubbies in the middle of the night so I could catch a few precious hours of sleep. Never in my darkest hour (and I've had many of them, I promise you) have I ever been driven to such rage (or despair) that murder crossed my mind. Not them. Not myself. Never.

I don't care if you're a Curebie rolling an IV drip of DMPS around your house or have "Risperdal-To-Go and ABA R US" on speed dial. Surely we can agree that our children have value and deserve more than a silk lined box and a shovelful of dirt?

Published : Wednesday, 21 Jul 2010, 4:15 PM CDT

Adapted for Web by Tracy DeLatte, myFOXdfw.com

IRVING, Texas - The Irving mother who strangled her two children earlier this week told a 911 operator she did so because they were both autistic and she wanted normal children.

Police said 30-year-old Saiqa Akhter strangled 5-year-old Zain and 2-year-old Faraal.

She then called 911. Listen to the call.

She can be heard in an audio recording repeating, “I kill my both kids. They are died.”

Read the full story at Fox Dallas Fort Worth.

Kim Stagliano is Managing Editor of Age of Autism. Her book from Skyhorse Publishing, All I Can Handle I'm No Mother Teresa; A Life Raising Three Daughters with Autism is available now for preorder and debuts November 1st. Contact her at kimstagliano@gmail.com to schedule a Skype book club or in-person appearance this holiday season. Visit her website at www.kimstagliano.com.

Katie Wright Reviews Dr. Andrew Wakefield in New York City

By Katie Wright

Congratulations to the New York City chapter of the NAA on a terrific night featuring Dr. Andrew Wakefield! The room was packed beyond capacity. It was so gratifying to see the word about the meeting had really gotten out. The diversity in our community is one of our biggest resources. Attendees included doctors, nurses, Wall Street parents, homeopaths, corporate lawyers, chefs, stay at home parents, professional autism advocates, parents from the Orthodox Jewish community, Pakistani grandparents physicians/ NAA directors, journalists, vaccine injured adults, skeptics, teachers, researchers, authors, ABA therapists…So much for the conjecture that we are all a group of dumb like minded automatons takings orders from our new age, anti-government conspiracy theorist leaders. Aside from autism, the people in that room don’t have much in common or time for conspiracies, they are too busy struggling to make their kids healthier.

Dr. Wakefield was terrific, happy to answer any question.  No one knows the subject of GI disorders and autism better. He took no umbrage at skeptical questions and responded respectfully and patiently.  What a contrast to groupthink plaguing IMFAR scientists! So many professional academics avoid parent groups like the plague (maybe they can develop a vaccine for that?), terrified of the questions they will be asked, preferring to stay in their safe, hermetically sealed academic world. When I made a challenging study design enquiry at IMFAR the response was a blank nervous look and the announcement we were just about out of time for questions.

Wakefield spent some time discussing the emerging and frightening macaque monkey research undertaken by Dr. Hewitson. The study was published earlier this week. It is the ONLY study on vaccinated and unvaccinated primate groups. The results are devastating. The combination of adjuvants, live and preserved viruses and our very aggressive infant and child schedule is causing GI disease and brain damage and autism- like symptoms in the monkeys. Unlike previous vaccine studies, this study was NOT financed by a vaccine company, no one from the Hewitson team sits on a vaccine company board, no one will be earning money in relation to the study’s outcome and no one who holds vaccine patents or determines our immunization schedule from the CDC or NIH played a role in this research. The Hewitson paper is exceedingly impactful because it is very rare example of truly independent, unbiased vaccine safety research. So thank you so much for to Dr. Hewitson, her courageous collegeages and all the donors.

As we viewed the slides the audience did not look surprised, only sad. Seeing the vivid PET scans of a vaccinated monkey’s brain vs. an unvaccinated monkey’ brain tells us what we already know, yet is still devastating to see. The brains of the exposed monkeys exhibit a clear pattern of maturational decline. The lights in the house are literally dimming, similar to Alzheimer’s.

As always, in our community of families, the Q &A period included a raucous debate.

Bidding is Open in the Mercury Free Kids 2010 Auction

Click HERE to visit the SafeMinds MercuryFree Kids 2010 Auction.

The Mercury Free Kids 2010 Auction is now open. The auction will run from July 20, 2010 to July 30, 2010, with proceeds going to Coalition for SafeMinds in order to restore health and protect future generations by eradicating the devastation of autism and associated health disorders induced by mercury and other environmental toxicants.

View the auction Items HERE. Happy bidding!

Military Families Fight for Autism Treatment

 By Angela Warner

A few days ago I received a copy of the Complaint (lawsuit) filed in US District Court in Washington, DC, against the United States Government, the Department of Defense, Tricare Management Activity, and Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates. You can read the Complaint HERE. Most of the letters cited in the complaint can be found in the Documents section on Autism Salutes (scroll down on the left side).

As a parent who worked on and continually wrote about what was happening with the legislative efforts mentioned in the Complaint, I have been very aware for years that the reason the DoD set up the ECHO program the way they did was to avoid paying for the expensive therapy that benefit our children with autism. That would be ABA therapy.

Since the Complaint was filed in US District Court, TRICARE Management Activity issued a letter on June 30, 2010, to the CEO’s of all its’ contractor’s, one of which is Humana. You can read the letter HERE. The letter stated that TMA was reviewing its policy on whether or not they would provide ABA under the basic Tricare program and that they expected to have this review completed by September 20, 2010. The letter also stated the contractor’s for TMA were to hold in abeyance until the review was completed; claims filed and authorization requests, for ABA. That means NO MORE DENIAL LETTERS for claims or authorization requests are to be SENT until the review is complete. Keep in mind, the letter from TMA was issued June 30th. On July 8, 2010, a denial letter was issued by one of TMA’s healthcare contractor’s.

The Moment We Become Credible

By Kent Heckenlively, Esq.

This web-site has abundantly recounted stories from our community of how the affliction of our children and subsequent efforts to determine what happened to them have earned us the ridicule of the medical community, contempt of the media, and perhaps most surprisingly, a change in attitude from friends and family about our grasp of reality.

I confess this change in attitude hit me with great force.  People had always relied on me for my good sense and intelligence.  When I graduated from high school my mother gave me a large wooden owl because she thought it symbolized my wisdom.  In college I was the school's Rhodes scholar candidate and headed up our delegation to the Model United Nations at Harvard University.  In law school I was a writer and editor for the law review.  After I got married my father-in-law referred to me as his "own personal Google" for my ability to recall anything from historical and political events to the names of actors from old movies.

But lately I've noticed a new phenomenon.  I'm becoming credible again.  People value what I have to say.

I noticed it first during this past school year in the staff lunchroom.  The issue of vaccines and autism came up and I'd held forth with what I hoped was an abridged discussion of this vast topic when one of the teachers turned to me and said, "When I have kids I'm going to talk to you about what to do."  I was momentarily taken aback by this sentiment.  I felt it had been a long time since anybody outside the autism bubble was so interested in what I had to say.

I noticed it a few weeks later with the wife of my son's boy scout troop leader.  We'd had some discussions before about autism, and she had a great interest in the subject as her own son had shown signs of autism and they endured two years of intensive therapy with him.  He still seems to have some Asperger's-like traits, but from my view is essentially indistinguishable from his peers.  Whenever she sees me she asks what's new and I inevitably end up sharing the latest research with her and my thoughts on it.

Vaccine Safety and the Ten Year Anniversary of Broken Promises

By Lyn Redwood

It was ten years ago today, on July 18, 2000, that Sallie Bernard, Albert Enayati, Liz Birt and I sat huddled together in the back room between Congressman Dan Burton’s office and the Government Reform Committee hearing room making last minute edits to our testimony. Congressman Burton was the Chairman of the committee and, perhaps more important, is the grandfather to Christian, who had been diagnosed with autism.  Christian’s decline into autism coincided with the administration of vaccines for nine different diseases in 1 day. Burton had become a strong ally to our community in investigating the epidemic of autism and concerns with the ever increasing number of vaccines recommended for infants in the U.S.  His series of landmark hearings, spanning four years, called public attention to the growing autism epidemic, to the dangers of mercury in medicine including a thorough staff report (HERE) and to the rampant neglect and indifference of federal officials.

The July 18th, 2000 hearing, “Mercury in Medicine:  Are We Taking Unnecessary Risks?” (HERE)  began with Chairman Burton’s opening remarks, “Today we are holding a hearing about why mercury is put into vaccines that are given to children. Is that irresponsible? Of course not. If someone holds hearings about mismanagement at the Department of Education, that does not mean they are anti-education. That means they want our educational system to be as well run as possible. That is the way that I feel about our vaccine policies. No area is so sacrosanct that the world will come to an end if we ask some sensible questions and expect to get some sensible answers. I think this kind of oversight will make our vaccine program stronger not weaker. Our children are the future of this country. As a government, we have a responsibility to do everything within our power to protect them from harm, including insuring that vaccines are safe and effective. Every day that these mercury containing vaccines remain on the market is another day we are putting 8,000 children that day at risk."

Minority leader Henry Waxman, who was instrumental in drafting the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act in 1986, spoke next stating that “the question this hearing poses, however, is not whether mercury-containing thimerosal should be in vaccines in the United States. FDA decided a year ago that it should not.” With complete disregard for the Chairman’s opening statement Waxman went on to say “the purpose of this hearing appears to be to publicize the theory that thimerosal is causing autism. The evidence to support this theory is virtually nonexistent. I fear that once again we are pursuing an anti-vaccine agenda in disregard for the scientific and medical consensus on the safety of vaccines.”  It amazes me to this day how reports of injury and death following vaccines continue to pile up but anyone who wants to understand why and prevent such injury is labeled anti-vaccine and their concerns marginalized.  Ralph Nader demanded safer cars but that hardly made him anti-car.  Indeed he has always been hailed as a heroic and tireless consumer advocate.  Don't advocates of safer vaccines deserve similar respect and recognition?

The hearing started with the parent panel, many of who were founding members of SafeMinds. I was the first witness sharing the history of my son who went from meeting every developmental landmark the first year of life to being a very sick little boy riddled with multiple infections, refusing solid foods, enduring bouts of bloody diarrhea containing undigested food and suffering a complete loss of all language skills after receiving 125 times EPAs daily allowable exposure to mercury from his infant vaccines.

I also presented documentation of elevated levels of mercury in his tiny body.

On Autism One: A Conversation of Hope "Setting up an Autism-Related Charity with Shannon Nash"

Tuesday, July 20
12 noon ET
Autism One:  A Conversation of Hope with Teri Arranga
Listen at: Voice America

Setting up an Autism-Related Charity with Shannon Nash, Esq., CPA

Many people are interested in setting up an autism-related nonprofit, but the thought of doing so can be daunting. There are horror stories of the IRS approval process. Couple this with an already busy schedule in raising a child with autism, and even the most committed altruist can be dissuaded. But there's hope for those wanting to set up an autism-related charity. This process can be boiled down to its major steps, and Shannon will discuss these. Shannon Nash is a CPA, attorney, author, entrepreneur, and mom. She is the president of Nash Management Group, an entertainment, tax and business management firm. Shannon is the author of the award-winning book For the Love of Money: The 411 to Taking Control of Your Taxes and Building Your Net Worth as well as Helping the Nonprofit Client and more. She's passionate about advocating for special needs children and is the former secretary of Cure Autism Now (now Autism Speaks).

Dan Burns on Adults and Autism: "Hey, There's a Naked Man on Your Roof."

By Dan Burns

I was reading on the upstairs balcony when the cop car whipped around the corner and into my parking lot. About that time I thought I heard my son Ben's gleeful, autistic laugh behind me. But that was impossible, because I was sure that Ben was in his room reading Dr. Seuss books. Another laugh - a shriek, really. As the cop got out of the cruiser, my neighbor came trotting up, arms windmilling. "Hey, there's a naked man on your roof." I looked up and yep, there stood 22-year-old Ben in all his shameless glory, tossing pecans to the squirrels.

 Last week, a Dallas mom responded to my blog, commenting on her son with autism spectrum disorder (ASD): "He's only 13 but he's taller than I am now. That scares me because looking like an adult and behaving inappropriately can get him into so much more trouble now."

Yeah, tell me about it. I hustled Ben back through the open window. I heard the cruiser door slam as the cop walked toward us... Read the full post and please comment with your own experiences at Dallas Morning News MomsBlog

Dan E. Burns, Ph.D., former filmmaker, software developer, and businessman, taught Communication courses at Southern Methodist University, the University of Texas at Arlington, and the University of Phoenix. In 1990 his third child, Benjamin, was diagnosed with autism. Burns' memoir, Saving Ben: A Father's Story of Autism (www.SavingBenBook.com) published by UNT Press, tells of a three-year-old child's regression as an infant into autism and Burns' struggle with the medical establishment, the school system, and his family in the battle for Ben's health as a father who never gives up. Planning for the time when he and Ben's mom pass on, Dr. Burns is developing the Autism Trust of Texas, modeled on The Autism Trust (U.K.) and focused on the creation of new communities to offer a future for the increasing number of children with autism. They will provide a home base for life where adults with autism can work, live and improve their skills and talents in a creative and supportive environment.

SafeMinds: New Scientific Evidence Links Autism to Vaccines and Mercury

New Scientific Evidence Links Autism to Vaccines and Mercury. Ending the Autism Epidemic Starts with Removal of Harmful Exposures, Says SafeMinds.

Two new papers published this week in the peer-reviewed neuroscience journal Acta Neurobiologiae Experimentalis point to vaccines and heavy metal toxins including mercury as causes of the alarming rise in autism. The Centers for Disease Control now estimate autism to affect one in 110 children, up 40% from just a few years ago.

“The rapid increase in autism cannot be explained solely by changes in diagnostic practices and awareness,” said Sallie Bernard, president of SafeMinds. “We must look at what babies and pregnant women are being exposed to that has created this epidemic and take immediate steps to protect our children from these hazardous substances.”  

In the first study, researchers from the University of Pittsburgh and Thoughtful House in Austin, Texas compared two sets of macaque infant monkeys.  One set of monkeys was unvaccinated while the second set received vaccines identical to the 1990s pediatric vaccine schedule, most of which contained mercury. Infant macaques were used due to their similarity to human infants. Macaques share 93.5% of the DNA found in the human genome.

The contrasting results were remarkable. The vaccinated monkeys showed increased brain growth, which the authors theorize may arise from the inability to prune neurons. Larger head size is a hallmark of human infants who later develop autism. The vaccinated primates also showed a different rate of maturation of the amygdala section of the brain than the non-vaccinated monkeys. Amygdala dysfunction has been long implicated in autism. The amygdala region is responsible for emotions, memory and learning. Individuals with autism often struggle in these areas. 

In the second paper, two scientists from the University of Northern Iowa made a critical appraisal of research that has been used to disprove a link between autism and heavy metals, and mercury in particular. They found statistical errors in several studies so that a re-analysis of the data demonstrated a greater presence of metals in autistic children than controls. The authors calculated that 43 out of 58 scientific reports suggest some link between heavy metals and autism may be present, while 13 reports suggest no link.  They concluded that while questions remain, “the weight of evidence favor[s] a connection.”

Whooping Cough Outbreaks & Vaccine Failures

By Barbara Loe Fisher

Reports of whooping cough outbreaks in California and in other states this summer are nothing new. Every four to five years – no matter how high the vaccination rate is  -  there are reports of whooping cough increases. 
 
Whooping cough is a respiratory disease. Toxins in Bordetella pertussis bacteria stimulate the production of large amounts of thick, sticky mucus that can clog the airways of tiny babies and children, making it difficult for them to take a breath without vomiting, choking and making a whooping sound as they struggle to breathe. 
 
There is an acellular pertussis vaccine – DTaP - which was licensed for American babies in 1996. DTaP replaced an older, very reactive whole cell pertussis vaccine - DPT - that was associated with more cases of high fever, collapse/shock, convulsions, brain inflammation and permanent brain damage. 
 
It is well known that pertussis vaccines, which can contain various amounts of bioactive toxins and also aluminum  and mercury additives, have killed and brain injured some children. Over half of the 2,480 awards for vaccine injury and death totaling $2 billion dollars made under the 1986 National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act involve pertussis vaccine.  
 
Pertussis vaccination rates are very high in the U.S. According to the CDC, 84 percent of children under age three have received four DTaP shots.  By the time American children enter kindergarten nearly every child has gotten all the CDC recommended pertussis shots.  In 2009, the CDC said that the proportion of totally unvaccinated children in America is only six hundredths of one percent (0.06). 
 
Even with super high pertussis vaccine coverage in America and other countries like the Netherlands, Australia, Finland and Canada, whooping cough disease cannot be prevented.  There are two main reasons for this fact.

Artist (w/ Autism) Harry Horne-Roberts (1989-2009) Exhibit Runs Through 6 August

An exhibition of the work of Harry Horne-Roberts (1989-2009) You can read about Harry and his death in 2009 HERE.
 
Alexandra Park Library
 
Alexandra Park Road N22 7UJ. 0208 489 8770.
 
The Exhibition will last from Saturday 17 July until 6th August and is 9am to 7pm Monday to Friday and 9am to 5pm Saturday and 12 to 4pm Sunday.

IACC Meeting Videocast This Morning

View event: You will be able to view the event at http://videocast.nih.gov when the event is live.
 
Air date: Friday, July 16, 2010, 10:00:00 AM

Time displayed is Eastern Time, Washington DC Local

Description: The Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee (IACC) is a Federal advisory committee that coordinates all efforts within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) concerning autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Through its inclusion of both Federal and public members, the IACC helps to ensure that a wide range of ideas and perspectives are represented and discussed in a public forum.

The IACC mission is to:

NYT: How Microbes Defend and Define Us

Dr. Alexander Khoruts had run out of options.

In 2008, Dr. Khoruts, a gastroenterologist at the University of Minnesota, took on a patient suffering from a vicious gut infection of Clostridium difficile. She was crippled by constant diarrhea, which had left her in a wheelchair wearing diapers. Dr. Khoruts treated her with an assortment of antibiotics, but nothing could stop the bacteria. His patient was wasting away, losing 60 pounds over the course of eight months. “She was just dwindling down the drain, and she probably would have died,” Dr. Khoruts said.

Dr. Khoruts decided his patient needed a transplant. But he didn’t give her a piece of someone else’s intestines, or a stomach, or any other organ. Instead, he gave her some of her husband’s bacteria.

Read the full article in The New York Times HERE.

New Study Shows Vaccines Cause Brain Changes Found in Autism

By Dan Olmsted and Mark Blaxill

Abnormal brain growth and function are features of autism, an increasingly common developmental disorder that now affects 1 in 60 boys in the US. Now researchers from the University of Pittsburgh and Thoughtful House Center for Children in Austin, Texas, have found remarkably similar brain changes to those seen in autism in infant monkeys receiving the vaccine schedule used in the 1990’s that contained the mercury-based preservative thimerosal.

The group’s findings were published yesterday in the journal Acta Neurobiologiae Experimentalis. They used scanning techniques that assessed both brain growth and brain function in the same animals over time. The research team was able to see differences in the way the brains of vaccinated and unvaccinated animals developed. Scans were performed before and after the administration of primary MMR and DTaP/Hib boosters that were given at the human equivalent of 12 months of age.