The Rise in Autism

JRBids

Senior Member.
ive just loooked at a thread on flu vaccine...jesus, you people live with your heads buried firmly some dark and not too pleasant smelling.


Speaking of vaccines, the flu vaccine in particular. THese [people] go on and on and on about vaccines. How many hundred millions of people are vaccinated every year with the flu vaccine? Don't you think if there was something in it people would be dropping like flies? Autism, the syndrome du jour for vaccinated children: just about every child in the US is vaccinated. There should be an autistic child on every block. Seriously, people don't think, for goodness' sake. They claim they are "doing their own research", but they're just taking the easy way out: it's in a YouTube video, "Dr" Mercola said it" . . . .

Remember back in the 70s or 80s? "Every day 2,000 children are reported missing!" Finally someone did the math and figured out there should be no children anywhere, they're all missing. People used to come up with these scares in a misguided attempt to keep people safe from some danger they perceived. Now the scares are to make someone money: chemtrails, anti vax, all of it. Just puts money in someone's pockets. And the sheep keep believing.
 
There should be an autistic child on every block.
The figures were at something like 1 in every 88 children suffering from autism in the US in 2008, with no projected improvement and a likely increase in cases in the following years. There's been a rather alarming increase in autism rates in the US over the last 20 years. America really isn't all that far from an autistic child on every block at all. I've no idea if vaccination is to blame, and certainly have considerable doubts, but obviously something is up. It doesn't strike me as a 'natural' trend. Some people are blaming our corn-diet (i.e the high fructose corn-syrup that's in just about everything).
 
The figures were at something like 1 in every 88 children suffering from autism in the US in 2008, with no projected improvement and a likely increase in cases in the following years. There's been a rather alarming increase in autism rates in the US over the last 20 years. America really isn't all that far from an autistic child on every block at all. I've no idea if vaccination is to blame, and certainly have considerable doubts, but obviously something is up. It doesn't strike me as a 'natural' trend. Some people are blaming our corn-diet (i.e the high fructose corn-syrup that's in just about everything).

I heard a remarkable figure of 7000% increase since 1980, that's from memory, i imagine that was a stretched number but if you go much past 600-1000% it's hard to attribute it all to better diagnosis techniques/awareness
 


Speaking of vaccines, the flu vaccine in particular. THese [people] go on and on and on about vaccines. How many hundred millions of people are vaccinated every year with the flu vaccine? Don't you think if there was something in it people would be dropping like flies? Autism, the syndrome du jour for vaccinated children: just about every child in the US is vaccinated. There should be an autistic child on every block. Seriously, people don't think, for goodness' sake. They claim they are "doing their own research", but they're just taking the easy way out: it's in a YouTube video,

Off topic but I do have something that could be described as a phobia, or distrust in the least, over vaccines. Mainly it is over efficacy and safety. However it all stems from the Gulf War. Later I got involved with the whole Gulf War Syndrome malarky and especially the UK government wanting to cover stuff up. A good example was when some of us were due to be interviewed as part of an enquiry. I worked in our medical section and my boss essentially ordered us to reveal nothing about the vaccination regime, and other things. As we walked out his office he said "Is anyone listening to me? Please?" Sufficed to say hundreds, if not thousands, of military came forward. Goes to show something when some of the country's most loyal subjects won't keep their gobs shut.

At the time a site like this would have been great. While the premise may be to debunk it is a great place to find credible and verifiable evidence. What happens after that is up to the reader.
 
I heard a remarkable figure of 7000% increase since 1980, that's from memory, i imagine that was a stretched number but if you go much past 600-1000% it's hard to attribute it all to better diagnosis techniques/awareness

It's not simply "better" diagnosis, there's a measurable phenomenon of "diagnostic substitution". Children that were once classified as "mentally retarded", are now classified as autistic.

http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/117/4/1028.abstract
OBJECTIVE. Growing administrative prevalence of autism has stirred public controversy and concern. The extent to which increases in the administrative prevalence of autism have been associated with corresponding decreases in the use of other diagnostic categories is unknown. The main objective of this study was to examine the relationship between the rising administrative prevalence of autism in US special education and changes in the use of other classification categories.
METHODS. The main outcome measure was the administrative prevalence of autism among children ages 6 to 11 in US special education. Analysis involved estimating multilevel regression models of time-series data on the prevalence of disabilities among children in US special education from 1984 to 2003.

RESULTS. The average administrative prevalence of autism among children increased from 0.6 to 3.1 per 1000 from 1994 to 2003. By 2003, only 17 states had a special education prevalence of autism that was within the range of recent epidemiological estimates. During the same period, the prevalence of mental retardation and learning disabilities declined by 2.8 and 8.3 per 1000, respectively. Higher autism prevalence was significantly associated with corresponding declines in the prevalence of mental retardation and learning disabilities. The declining prevalence of mental retardation and learning disabilities from 1994 to 2003 represented a significant downward deflection in their preexisting trajectories of prevalence from 1984 to 1993. California was one of a handful of states that did not clearly follow this pattern.

CONCLUSIONS. Prevalence findings from special education data do not support the claim of an autism epidemic because the administrative prevalence figures for most states are well below epidemiological estimates. The growing administrative prevalence of autism from 1994 to 2003 was associated with corresponding declines in the usage of other diagnostic categories.
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It's a complex situation for which there is no clear answer.
 
I included substitution in my mind when i stated better diagnosis; however the figures demonstrated in your quote are pretty much in line with what I'd expect (unscientifically speaking) with the awareness campaigns, understanding, and techniques now used to identify autism. It also suffers from 'trendiness' which the likes of other disorders repeatedly go through, e.g. bi-polar - where people actively seek a particular diagnosis based on similar symptoms, a want to be different/seen to be different or something to blame their problems on or of course a mix of all of these (or none!).

This trendiness is also seen within services, e.g. massive increase in 'personality disorder' diagnoses. This can be for perfectly valid reasons, same as autism, or bi-polar, like new research etc but it never seems that hand in hand.

the figure you've provided doesn't tally up with others even posted here of course.
 
Is there a rise in autism or a rise in the diagnosis of it? and WHY? A large amount of the increase is just better diagnosis of it.

I was in early 50s, when I was diagnosed with ADD. I did just develop it, I had had it all my life. About 8 years earlier, I was treated for bi-polar illness. I had the SAME symptoms. What changed? A better understanding of ADD was the answer. They started realizing that folks didn't 'grow out it'.

We have a LOT more mental health care today, than we had even 20 years ago. Folks are more aware of it, also.

One of the problems with most of the mental problems is that we can ONLY see the symptoms, not the cause. It makes it hard to diagnose WHICH problem is there. That is one reason why one psychiatrist thought I was bi-polar.

One does need to figure in the 'trendiness, also, and the fact that today, it can be helpful to acknowledge it. I will say this, I would rather see some that don't have it diagnosed with it, than it being ignored or considered a 'badge of shame', like mental illness was in past.

I found this comment on an autism article and I think the writer had an excellent point.
As a Special Educator, I have seen the numbers rise. Children we would never have diagnosed in previous years are diagnosed now. Parents are concerned about their child's eccentricities, low grades, social issues, OCD, etc and wants the school to fix it. We used to allow differences and eccentricity, now, for some reason it is not OK to be different. In a meeting I attended last spring, an Autism specialist agreed to diagnose a child that she had previously said did not meet the criteria. The reason? Attorneys attended the meeting. Later, after they left, she said if she looks long enough, she could qualify ANYONE as on the spectrum. Many children do need services, and exceptions, and I am there to do all I can to help those children. But honestly, many parents want their child to eligible for services because they perceive that eligibility prevents suspensions, low grades, and failure. Many teachers want a child eligible because they might be a bit more difficult to teach. They fail to see that the label in and of itself can contribute to all of that. Schools and families need to work together to help children be the best they can be on their own terms. If that includes the need for services, then great. If not, even better. How many of us who are successful adults today, would be labled if we were progressing through school in this day and age?
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You see Cairenn, I actually think a wrong diagnosis is more harmful than not having one at all (in my opinion) - absolutely agree that enjoying a diagnosis is much much better than being ashamed of it however.

Interesting as well your journey with ADD, were you incorrectly medicated as well? some of the treatment options of bi-polar can seriously throw people into the 'mental zone' in my experience and that's with people who seemingly have it, let alone people wrongly diagnosed...

I do hope people understand what i mean by trendiness, i don't mean it completely negatively or to offend anyone. just mean to highlight that with increased attention to a particular condition comes more people assuming they have it and consequently the likelihood of you being diagnosed with it. This can be bad, this can be good.

my best mate has aspergers, training as a adult nurse; great guy, did fuck all work, got rewarded endless extensions and help with essays, he got obsessed with pot where i could notably see his work getting later and of worse quality yet the marks and leniency never changed despite the decline in his performance. If you think your child does have a problem, get it diagnosed, tell your school, apply for the extras and if he/she is smart, will coast through....

certainly helped me with college....;) christ knows why i didn't at university ¬_¬.
 
I was treated with Lithium and I think it is what damaged my thyroid.

I have ADD and chronic depression, so the depression does mask it at times. I seem to have some odd ball version SAD, April and Aug seem to be problem months.

The internet has also made trendiness, worse in all ailments
 
I was treated with Lithium and I think it is what damaged my thyroid.

I have ADD and chronic depression, so the depression does mask it at times. I seem to have some odd ball version SAD, April and Aug seem to be problem months.

The internet has also made trendiness, worse in all ailments

Fuck shit girl, I sincerely hope you at least feel well at the moment. I live with bi-polar, but my base mood is depressed (or dysthymic), always has been and always will be. Notice I say live with bi-polar, I refused to be labelled any more. Just to put some perspective on my condition. I was a psychiatric nurse for 14 years (most in the army), when I left I went to univerisity and bummed arond for 10 years in Environmental Science. Since then I am a counsellor and a trainee forensic psychologist. I had a stroke last year so I cant work, my memory really works qiute odd.

I will Google this but in the uk I managed to go to a Therapeutic Community for 3 months.


At the end of the day I hope you dont blame for all of psychiatry for your piss poor treatment. Yo said "care", and I would say there is better knowledge now.
 
'Trendiness'? Autism...?
Autism in a child is one of the most dreaded concerns a parent could ever have. Discovering your child has autism is like discovering the sunny future you had in sight will instead consist of walking an icy edge.

interesting article, but somewhat outdated, using data from 2003, some ten years ago. In the conclusion it suggest that the growing prevalence of autism 'from 1994 to 2003' was 'associated with corresponding declines in the usage of other diagnostic categories. With little mention of the years prior and of course no mention of the years after.
NSCH.gif
2003 figures side by side with 2007 figures.

autism-statistics-2009.jpg
the 'trend', charted.
Surely we've long since passed the point where it can be explained away by different diagnostic methods?
 
Surely we've long since passed the point where it can be explained away by different diagnostic methods?

I don't think "explained away" is the right way of putting it, more like "offered as a possible explanation for some or all of the increase". Nobody knows why these numbers are increasing.
 
my dad has autism Grieves, i still can see why a parent would strive for a diagnosis on the slightest concern for the potential help which can be provided. an icy edge? i hope most don't assume that's what lays ahead of them before they even start.
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JRBids and plane852 should have a discussion break, I think. Poacher turned gamekeeper... ...JR I had to unthank you, which shows you where I was coming from. :cool:

Oh my, I wouldn't have known unless you'd told me! I don't know what I said but whatever it was I apologize!
 
The figures were at something like 1 in every 88 children suffering from autism in the US in 2008, with no projected improvement and a likely increase in cases in the following years. There's been a rather alarming increase in autism rates in the US over the last 20 years. America really isn't all that far from an autistic child on every block at all. I've no idea if vaccination is to blame, and certainly have considerable doubts, but obviously something is up. It doesn't strike me as a 'natural' trend. Some people are blaming our corn-diet (i.e the high fructose corn-syrup that's in just about everything).

Some people are saying that it is just being used as a diagnosis more.
 
Some people are saying that it is just being used as a diagnosis more.

I don't think anyone disputes that it is being used as a diagnosis more, the question is if it's "just" that, or if there are other factors, possibly environmental - like pesticides, or a combination of a huge range of factors.

It's pretty much been proven not to be vaccines though. There's no statistical connection.
 
an icy edge? i hope most don't assume that's what lays ahead of them before they even start.
poor choice of words on my part. Just trying to illustrate what a daunting diagnosis it can be for the parents.
 
autism-statistics-2009.jpg
the 'trend', charted.
Surely we've long since passed the point where it can be explained away by different diagnostic methods?

The quote in the chart is saying the burden of responsibility has shifted. Given the nature and the scale of the problem, I'd tend to agree. But that does not mean it's proven to be environmental.

Here's the full context. Sorry for the long cut-and-paste, but the transcript is only available as a doc file:


DAVID KIRBY INTERVIEW WITH TOM INSEL*
December 18, 2009

DK: I would like to get your interpretation of the new autism numbers out today. Even the CDC said that “We cannot rule out” an actual increase in the risk for autism. So if better reporting, awareness and diagnosis cannot account for all the increase, what else do you think might explain it?

TI: It’s the question that everybody’s asking. I would point you to three sources for information on questions of prevalence. There is HRSA, which has done phone surveys. There is CDC, which has been using basically the same methodology across all of these different cohorts focusing just on 8 year olds and using secondary data sources. And the third source is the California registry, the DDS data, which goes back to 1987 and has data from every year on children who were referred in for services. In which case, because it is a disability services registry, you are talking about children who are on the more severe end of the autism spectrum. And as far as we know, they are not actually seeing the kids who might be called Aspergers, or on the more functional end.*

So the interesting thing about this is, from the California data we actually have a chance to investigate this question of how much of this is a real increase, and how much of it can be explained away by ascertainment, by changes in diagnosis, and by all of these other issues. And I think right now, based on what we are seeing from the California data, is that it’s not really a question about whether this increase is real or not. The question is, how much of it can be attributed to each of the many factors that one might be interested in.*

So how much of the doubling or - in this case tenfold increase over a decade - how much of it is related to change in diagnosis, how much to ascertainment? It looks like about 24 percent of the California increase can be attributed to something like a change in diagnosis criteria. They are beginning to use multiple diagnoses. So that children before, who were listed simply as mentally retarded rather than autism - but they had both - are now logged in with both. But that really caps out at around 24 percent. There’s probably another piece of this, which globally could be attributed to ascertainment. But that caps out at around 16 percent, or something like that. And when you put all of that together, you are still well below explaining 50 percent of the increase.

So what does that mean? It means that, as far as I can tell, the burden of proof is upon anybody who feels that there is NOT a real increase here in the number of kids affected. Because all of the evidence we have up until now says that, well there are what we could call – I wouldn’t call them ‘trivial’ factors – but they are factors that are not related to incidence, but would be simply related to prevalence, like ascertainment. But they don’t really explain away this huge increase.*

This tells you that, you really have to take this very seriously. From everything they are looking at, this is not something that can be explained away by methodology, by diagnosis. Some piece of it can, but the whole thing can’t.*

DK: So that leads to the 64 million dollar question: If there is an actual increase in incidence year to year, wouldn’t there necessarily also have to be an environmental component to at least some cases of autism? In other words, if it was 100-percent genetic, wouldn’t you see relative stability?

TI: Yes. I don’t think anybody is arguing that it is 100-percent genetic. I mean, I think that there are just a lot of questions that this raises. And I don’t think in those terms, exactly, that it’s either genetic or it’s environmental. From my perspective, it’s almost always going to be both. And the only question is: How do you nail down this interaction, how do you go after it?

DK: If there is a true increase, wouldn’t that be due to environmental factors rather than genetic factors?*

TI: I don’t know that anybody would argue that, or that anybody has argued that. There is no question that there has got to be an environmental component here. The problem for us has been trying to find the right way to get our hands around it, and to identify what that is most likely related to. *

I think, if you look at whatever that factor is, the way we tend to do this in medicine is that you look for geographic clusters or temporal clusters. And I don’t think we have… we have a few, but there are not very many good geographic clusters. It could be that the Somali story in Minneapolis is an important geographic cluster. It could be that there are clusters that have actually been indentified in California. It’s a little too early - and I don’t think the data are published – but I have seen some data in unpublished form that would suggest that that may turn out to be the case. These are new data, from work by Peter Bierman, who is an NIH Pioneer Awardee. He’s at Columbia.

DK: Can you tell me where those clusters are in California?

TI: I don’t actually know enough of the details. He presented his work here about two months ago. So I can’t tell you exactly where they are, but I can tell you that they exist. And again, the explanation for that is not clear.

DK: Are you familiar with the Minnesota study of the Superfund sites and the increased rate of ASDs in proximity to those sites?

TI: I don’t know that. Where were those data published?

DK: I can get it for you, it was definitely peer reviewed. I don’t have it right at my fingertips, but it was a fairly recent study.

TI: You know, we have this stuff - I think it is from the CHARGE study - that looked at organophosphate fertilizers in California and exposures in the second trimester. I don’t know if you’ve seen that.

DK: I’ve seen the pesticide study from the Central Valley.

TI: Yes, the pesticide study. And, I mean, it’s pretty clear there’s a signal there. So, again, I don’t think anyone argues the fact that there’s an environmental component here. The question is – there may be many, and how do we get at these, and how do we identify them? Because the real goal here is to think about prevention – what we are really after at this point is driving the numbers in the opposite direction, so instead of a tenfold increase, you can we see a tenfold decrease.

DK: And you think that is possible?

TI: I think that, if you could identify the factors that are really pushing this, then I think you can begin to bend the curve. Here’s the issue for me, and I think I am arguing, probably, against the wave of the people that are in this field. But I think that we’re approaching autism as if it is a single thing, as if it is a syndrome that will have one cause, one treatment, and one explanation. I tend to think of it more in the way we think of fever. I think this is a collection of many, many different disorders. And part of the reason why you see so much polarization in the community is because there is a tendency for people to think that their experience is the same as everybody else with a child with autism.

It’s quite believable to me that there are many children who develop autism in the context of having severe gut pathology, of having autoimmune problems, of having lots of other problems. And some of these kids really do recover. And that is quite different from the autism that was originally described in the 1940s and 50s - where it looks like you have it and you are going to have it for the rest of your life. And at that point, it’s a disorder that is mostly manifest by these huge social deficits.*

So I don’t know if what we have here are 10 different disorders or 20 different disorders. What I think hangs up this field is the inability to indentify all these different autisms – and it’s very much where we were with infectious disease 100 years ago, before we knew how to break this down into multiple different disorders, different causes, different treatments. That’s why fever seems like the right analogy. In this context, I don’t think anyone would be able to argue very strongly that there is not some subgroup that’s going to be unrelated to genetics -- like those kids who have Fragile X -- and some subgroups that may be much cleaner on the genetic side, but will have some environmental exposure that triggers the disorder.

DK: And probably a genetic susceptibility?

TI: That hasn’t been tracked down yet. But this is the cool thing and, I think, something that many in the community don’t understand. And that is, in the last few months, or maybe year, we’ve begun to develop the tools that will allow us to get at this. And these tools are from this whole emerging field of epigenetics, or epigenomics. And in this case you are not looking at genetic sequence - which is what we’ve been doing for the last decade - but you’re looking at how the DNA is bound up with all kinds of proteins. That is largely affected by experience, or by environment. Some of it is probably hardwired, but a lot of it has to do with exposures, particularly early in development but even, as we are learning, even after birth*

So what we are really excited about here, I think, is to be able to use these new tools. And what has only happened in the last month or two is the first whole genome epigenetics effort, where we have been able to say, ‘We can map this entire aspect of genomic biology, and it tells us what someone’s exposure history might have been.’ It shows you effectively, or we are hoping it will show us, where the scars might be from early exposures.

DK: Like a footprint?

TI: Precisely. And if that works, that would be a way in which, finally, we would have the technology that says, ‘Ah, this is somebody who was exposed to organophosphates, or perhaps to some infection, or some autoimmune process, or something like that, that could really make a difference in the way the brain is developing.’ And now they are signaling that I have to get off this call.

DK: That’s wonderful news. Let me ask you just a few quick questions more, because I want to make sure I am clear. Let me ask you your personal opinion: Is there an actual increase and is there an environmental component to it?*

TI: My personal sense, just from my clinical experience… when I was in training, I never saw a child with autism. So I went through four years of training as a psychiatrist, including a rotation – a long one – through a year of child psychiatry, and never saw a case. I got interested in autism through work I was doing in basic science research, and I wanted to see children with autism. I couldn’t find them. This was in the mid-1980s, and I had to find a specialty clinic at Children’s Hospital in Washington, and I got to see my first case there. And now I wouldn’t have to go any further than the block where I live to see kids with autism today. So if that’s not a change, I don’t know what is. On a personal experience basis, I don’t think that’s unusual. Most people who I’ve trained with would say much the same thing. So, of course, I think all of us are much more aware of autism than we would have been 20 years ago. And again, I want to stress, I don’t think it’s just a difference in awareness, I think that there is something that we need to get our hands around here.

DK: Have you looked into the XMRV connection at all?

TI: Yeah, last thing. We are hot on that, and I wish I could tell you more. All I can tell you is that we have an intramural program here which is kind of our home team, which has seen about 400 kid with autism over the last couple of years. And they have been looking at regression; they’ve been looking at recovery. They are very interested in a lot of the exciting parts of this story – they jumped on the XMRV thing even before it was published. I don’t know how they got news about this, but they had already found someone who could start to look into this.

DK: Dr. Mikovits?

TI: No, they were working with someone through the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, who apparently had antibodies. And they sent off serum, and I think they sent off CSF, cerebral-spinal fluid, one day after the presentation. And I haven’t seen the results, but they are really hot on the trail here to see if there is any story. I’ve heard that there is something coming out from the group in Nevada, but I haven’t seen the data. Have you seen it?

DK: No. She announced on television that, in a small sample of ASD kids, they found it in 40 percent.*

TI: Yeah, that’s the number I got. I have been trying to track that. There is a paper that has been submitted, but I haven’t been able to get it, and I don’t know what the data look like. But I think this is really interesting.

DK: I also understand a number of the Vaccine Court Omnibus cases are now vigorously testing and finding it to be quite common. And there are rumors that the parents are testing negative. Now, that’s just a rumor, I can’t confirm it, but that would be an interesting development.

TI: So, of course, if we could just find a small group, and the opportunity to begin an antiretroviral treatment regime, that could be terrific, wouldn’t it? I mean, that would be the kind of thing we’re really looking for in this field, is finding the subgroups that might have specific therapies that would make a difference. And that’s what we’re missing. I mean, frankly, we’re just not where we want to be yet, and we’ve got to be able to break apart this spectrum disorder into its component parts and identify who’s going to respond to which interventions.*

DK Finally, I know you have to go, will IACC reconsider vaccine research and -- given this new data -- in particular Hepatitis B coverage? Because that is something that changed significantly between 94 and 98.

TI: I don’t know what they will do. You know, I chair the committee, but I let them bring issues up. I am open to whatever they want. As you know, what happened with the whole idea of having vaccine studies earlier in the year was a majority vote. And, I think what you are going to see with this update is that there is a recognition that we need to look at subgroups who might be particularly responsive to environmental factors. And, you know, at the end of the day, the IACC will have some sort of guide on what they hope to have funded. But it’s going to be up to the institutes, and the CDC, to actually do the funding.

DK: Well, what is your opinion, or your response to the fact that in 1994 the Hep B birth dose was around 27 percent coverage, and by 1998 it was above 90, I believe?*

TI: Yeah, I don’t know what to do with that, but I have to sign off here. Maybe we can start there with our next conversation?

DK: OK great. I look forward to it in the New Year.

TI: Great. I look forward to talking with you then.
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I don't think anyone disputes that it is being used as a diagnosis more,.....

IMO the reasons for the diagnosis being used more probably deserve investigation.

I have an autistic son - and having gone through the process of diagnosis, etc, I think that lots of people are being diagnosed as "being on the autistic spectrum" who are a very long way from classic "rocking on the spot not communicating" autism.

I am one of them - apparently I have mild Aspergers (my son was originaly "diagnosed" as Aspergers too). And my dad also "has" mild Aspergers.

All 3 of use are fine in normal society - my son is a bit quite - but he was coding in Visual Basic, C & various scripting codes when he was 7 (I remember thinking he had 7 "languages" he could write in at 7 - not including English!), topped his 1st year at computer science at University last year, and I am hoping will write something brilliant that I can finance the initial stages of to become independantly wealthy :)

I am an analyst in the aviation sector, my dad was a teacher.

My 2nd son is better "rounded" and still very bright - he topped his highschool in Year 11, and not autistic at all.

I think the demonisation of Autism is a bad thing - while I symathise with parents who's children are "locked up" with severe autism, I wonder whether the children themselves are happy or not. I know my son seems pretty happy even though I would love him to actually communicate more with me so I could appreciate it.

Trying to "cure" autism is probably a waste of time - autistic people are what they are, and as far as I am aware THEY are happy within themselves - the discomfort of parents notwithstanding.
 
Trying to 'cure' autism is most likely the wrong thing to consider. What is needed is recognize them and to get them to learn coping skills and for those around them to understand what they can and cannot do well.

Just like with my ADD. I laugh and say that if I can't see, it don't have it. My best friend (who eats a LOT of chocolate candy) stores her beads in the deeper candy boxes. Doesn't work for me, I have to have clear boxes and more organization than she does. My dream studio would have lots of shelves, lots of clear containers, places where I could keep my wire and tools visible. My ADD is a part of me and I feel it gives me an advantage.

Recently a friend's son was diagnosed with mild Aspergers. He was upset, because he wanted to go into the military. She pointed out to him that the CIA likes those with milder forms of autism, like his, because they make better analysts.

Temple Grandon is an excellent example of someone using autism to help.

There is one theory that ADD is normal adaptation in humans, but it is the hunter adaptation, instead of the pastoral one. We need both
 
I heard a remarkable figure of 7000% increase since 1980, that's from memory, i imagine that was a stretched number but if you go much past 600-1000% it's hard to attribute it all to better diagnosis techniques/awareness

It might matter some that now it's Autism Spectrum Disorder, see they changed the definition to include multiple disorders not just Autism. If you changed Pneumonia to Pneumonia Spectrum Disorder and then include the flu, Asthma and really bad colds, rise in Pneumonia diagnoses might rival the Autism increase. However, there would be no real increases but a statistical explosion would occur. This might also blur some real increases in the various illnesses.
 
And diseases do get faddish. Take celiac disease and gluten intolerance. I picture showed up on my FB page today that had a long list of 'symptoms' of it. It was a mish mash list of everything from intestinal problems (sensible) to ADD and depression, to breast tenderness, to skin cancer and bladder infections.

I responded before I saw where it came from, naturalnews, where else.
 
Some parents shop around until they find a doctor that will diagnose their children with autism because autism is ok, but being told that it is some other behavior disorder or poor parenting isn't.
 
I remember my eldest was the first child at his primary school to have a specific diagnosis of autism. There was all sorts of help for him from teacher aides to conferences with teachers and child-health services.

The principal told us - it's fine, we'll sort him out with all this.

When he left she remarked that she'd sorted them out! :) She had thought it was something that could be "treated" and "cured" - but actually what happened was the school had to develop practices and systems to suit him!! These ranged from him having a 3-sided cardboard enclosure in the classtroom to cut down in stuimulus to standing at the back with teachers in school assembly and being allowed to have "time out" in the library during breaks.

the enclosuer was a great success - one of the problems autistic people face seem to be an inability to figure out which input is more important at any point in time - and in trying to deal with them all they end up dealing with none and/or getting frustrated and angry. By cutting out a lot of the visual input from the rest of the classroom he could concentrate on what was in front of him.

This was all trial and error at the time - no-one actually had any set plans or ideas.

Even with all that at least one of his teachers told us he didn't really have autism, he was just naughty.

It was with great satisfaction that we saw that teacher at a national level award ceremony where he was given a medal as one of the top year 8 math & computer studies students in the country :):):)
 
Sometimes a child will figure out things. I never had problems in class, I tried to sit in the middle of the front row. Exactly where you want a child with ADD. I tend to work best with a radio or TV and folks talking---I can ignore what I know is going on. Without it, I will hear the sirens on the freeway, a dog bark on the other side of the street, a cat fight 3 houses away, an argument in a neighbor's house and every car that goes down the street. The 'local' noise is a shield from the other noises. I have learned to tell my hubby if I put something up, where I can't see it.
 
I wish more men were at the primary levels in school. Boys, I was and mine were, are not girls. They are fairly disgusting and jumpy and tend not to listen well. Little girls tend, NOT all, to be more social, want to please and are 2 grades more mature than the boys eating a worm next to her. I have wondered how many female teachers who didn't have younger brothers or sons just have so much more problems with boys and that's the natural state not abnormal. However in our national obsession to quantify everything and can control everything. little boys decline to participate and that means there MUST be a problem. Sometimes there are problems, no question, but most often not.
 
I notice that the recent producers of Skyderalert, an Iphone app which automates the sending of "chemtrail" images and spam messages have promoted a paper that alleges links between aluminum, the boogieman bad ingredient alleged to be in "chemtrails, and vaccines/acetaminophen. The study is by a Stephanie Seneff of MIT. She is an intersting person, especially for the fact that she appears to have no experience in biology, she has a PhD in electrical engineering and computer science.

A debunking discussion of the paper here:
http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2012/11/20/dumpster-diving-in-the-vaers-database-again/

At her home page, a familiar connection jumped out at me. The Weston A. Price Foundation(WAPF).


WAPF is a relatively small non-profit with a modest budget, but its leaders and members have been very effective in advocating a meat-centered diet, with lots of butter and whole, raw milk. Unfortunately, although some of its recommendations are laudable (such as the admonition to avoid highly processed foods, and the warning that most popular vegetarian and vegan diets are not ideal), many others are entirely out of step with modern nutritional science.

They promote a range of irresponsible and potentially dangerous ideas, including:
• Butter and butter oil are our "super foods" which contain the "X factor", discovered by Weston Price.
•Glandular Organ Extracts - to promote health and healing of the corresponding organ.
•Poached brains of animals should be added to other ground meats for better nutrition
•Raw cows milk and meat broth should be fed to newborns who don't breast feed, rather than infant formula.
•Regular ingestion of clay (Azolimite Mineral Powder) because the clay particles remove pathogens from the body.
•There are benefits of feeding sea salt to infants and babies
•Fruits and vegetables should be limited in children's diets.
http://www.vegsource.com/news/2010/07/the-truth-about-the-weston-price-foundation.html


Seneff has given several lectures for them, she is listed as an honorary member of the Board of Directors.

Many of their members, notably John Hammell, have promoted quackery and CT's. Hammell has been promoting the chemtrails hoax since before 1999, and I consider him one of the founders of the movement. He also sells sulphur, which Seneff's paper proposes as a prophylaxis for autism.

In short, the WAPF and it's 13,000 members is a verifiable nexus of quacks, many of whom are prime movers of the vaccine-autism CT, the aluminum CT, the soy CT , the Codex alimentarius CT, the margarine CT, the aspartame CT, the mercury almalgam CT, the root canal CT, the vegan CT, the High fructose corn syrup CT the Agenda 21 CT, and the chemtrails CT.

As seen above, the WAPF promotes just about every sort of quackery on earth.

Movers and shakers of the nexus:
John Hammell
Joseph Mercola
Kimberley Hartke
Russell Blaylock


products promoted by WAPF members
azomite clay
beef broth
raw milk
butter
bacon
sea salt
sulfur
 
When ever I see 'glandular extract' I am reminded of the infamous Dr Brinkley and his goat gland cure.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_R._Brinkley

As a small child, I remember my dad, a pharmacist ranting about both Dr Hoxley and his cures and the 'goat gland 'doctor''. I think those rants helped me become a skeptic.
 
I think something that deserves considerable scrutiny in this and similar issues is our dependence, perhaps artificial in nature, on pharmaceuticals as a culture. I think a lot of people fail to realize the marketing power behind the drugs being prescribed to so many on a daily basis, and how that marketing power can circumvent safety and science.
http://www.canada.com/health/Deaths...+generation+antipsychotics/8373683/story.html

Oh, I forgot. Weston A. Price people are also promoting the BIG PHARMA CT.

Yes, some pharmaceutical companies are big. That's how they can do Big Things.

On the other hand, BIG HERB and BIG supplement companies market conspiracy theories to sell their stuff, amny WAPF memebers do exactly that, which is why I am posting about it.
 
Yes, some pharmaceutical companies are big. That's how they can do Big Things.
Sometimes those big things should be criminalized, like marketing brain-altering drugs as remedies for every emotional issue under the sun,even to children, as though the full range of negative human experience is illness. Did you know grief is an illness now, with a wide range of available prescription meds? The DSM5, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, which has been a clinical guide produced by the American Psychiatric Association to classify mental illness, was recently updated with a whole slew of new mental illnesses that were previously just experiences inherent to life... suggesting entirely commonplace emotional reactions warrant clinical treatment. The backlash has been considerable, especially among psychologists.
http://dsm5response.com/statement-of-concern/
 
People do not want to feel grief and a wide range of other emotions - and often they choose to use the drugs that can alleviate them.

that is not actually criminal, and unless there is an actual harm involved I think your suggestion that psychotropic drugs should all be illegal is meddlesome nannying.
 
Sometimes those big things should be criminalized, like marketing brain-altering drugs as remedies for every emotional issue under the sun,even to children, as though the full range of negative human experience is illness. Did you know grief is an illness now, with a wide range of available prescription meds? The DSM5, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, which has been a clinical guide produced by the American Psychiatric Association to classify mental illness, was recently updated with a whole slew of new mental illnesses that were previously just experiences inherent to life... suggesting entirely commonplace emotional reactions warrant clinical treatment. The backlash has been considerable, especially among psychologists.
http://dsm5response.com/statement-of-concern/

I have a friend who is 60 years old. He has always been a little slow, a little different. His father committed suicide in his house while he was there about 8 years ago. He later moved in with his mother and took care of her through illnesses. About 2 years ago she passed away, and I have been very concerned about him. You cannot get him to leave the house. He doesn't work. I know he's living off some money she left him, but it isn't much. Grief, for him, has definitely been debilitating and I wish he would get help. So sometimes grief is too much for some people. You know, sometimes people can't just snap out of it.
 
Some folks can overcome grief, some can't. There was a pair of brothers, that were friends of mine. Neither had married. When one died of a heart attack the other one sunk into grief and he committed suicide a couple of months later. They lived in OK City and this happened a few months after another friend there, a first responder on the Murray Building bombing had committed suicide.

How many stories are there of folks that use alcohol to ally their grief? Sometimes something to help a person keep coping is needed.
 
unless there is an actual harm involved
Have you ever read the potential side-effects on the side of your average mood-altering medication?

I think your suggestion that psychotropic drugs should all be illegal is meddlesome nannying.
When in the world did I make such a suggestion? The issue I have is with overprescription on frivolous grounds encouraged by pharmaceutical producers, and the potential harm this could have on both individual patients and society as a whole. I'm not alone in this concern, as many multiple psychologists, university professors, clinicians and mental health professionals agree.

So sometimes grief is too much for some people. You know, sometimes people can't just snap out of it.
When one died of a heart attack the other one sunk into grief and he committed suicide a couple of months later.
Grief and debilitating depression are not the same things, even if one can stem from the other. Grief is the natural, entirely healthy response to a significant loss. When grief turns into a systemic depression, there is certainly grounds for treatment, preferably talk-therapy prior to medication. To classify grief itself, as in the negative emotional response in the direct aftermath of a significant loss, as an illness in and of itself is nonsense.

Is it meddlesome nannying to say anti-depressants and anti-psychotics are being over-prescribed, and for the wrong things, due to misleading marketing of pharmaceutical products? Is it incorrect?


If you can find the time, hear this guy out before you go siding with Pfizer on this one. He speaks a little on autism at about 9:15, speaks on grief 19 minutes in.
 
Grief can lead to depression. Do you know the effects of severe depression? Do you have any idea how severe depression can effect a person?

The whole anti depression meds movement is one started and rooted in Scientology distrust of them.

Are they over used ? I am sure they are, so is aspirin and cough syrup and allergy pills. Do they save lives? YES.
 
Do you know the effects of severe depression? Do you have any idea how severe depression can effect a person?
Having experienced and been medicated for it in my adolescence, I most certainly do. I'm thus equally aware of how pharmaceuticals sometimes do more harm than good, even when the diagnosis is accurate.

The whole anti depression meds movement is one started and rooted in Scientology distrust of them.
nonsense. Does Allen J. Frances look/sound like a Scientologist to you? There's a large body of medical professionals gravely concerned about the over-diagnosis of mental illness and the over-prescription of mind-altering drugs.

Are they over used ? I am sure they are
And that's not a problem to you? Even if they're being over used at the urging of the companies selling them?

Do they save lives? YES.
So a deliberate effort to overprescribe anti-depressants/anti-psychotics to people who don't actually need them for the sake of profit is alright, because some people actually need them?
 
I don't think there is a "deliberate effort to overprescribe anti-depressants/anti-psychotics". There are several things that does encourage the over use.
The first is folks demanding them.
That demand has roots in a lot of things and I will agree that ads for them help, but it is deeper than that. Take the over prescription of antibiotics for infant and toddler ear infections. Doctors will tell you that it is often the parents that DEMAND them, even when they are not needed. Many parents will 'doctor shop' until they find one that will. The parents want SOMETHING to stop their child's discomfort. Antibiotics are not even advertised, so that reason is not one encouraging it.
The second one is more difficult to explain, since it is cost driven to. It is cheaper for an insurance company to often pay for a drug (and the same is true of county mental health programs) than it is to pay for the hours of talk therapy that could help eliminate the need for a drug. Instead of having to pay for weekly or twice weekly hour long sessions, they can pay for a single 15 min session every 3 or 6 month. I county mental health programs there are not enough therapists for talk for as many folks that need it. I am not sure that there are enough therapists in private practice either.
Related to this is that not everyone is willing to open up to a therapist. They may not want to admit to any one, things like being raped by a family member to anyone. They don't want to remember it, but they want the depression it helped to trigger improved.
A third is that many of them, like anti-depressants can be prescribed by any doctor. Patients ask their MD for them. Sometimes this is a good thing. I have a friend that I doubt would ever go to a therapist, but they really needed some type of an anti-depressant/ or other med. They were driving all of their friends away, with their angry outbursts.

Do the drug companies like to make money? Of course they do, but they are not the major factor in the overuse.

BTW, I would prefer that prescription drugs were not advertised at all. May be informational commercials about conditions and that there are medications available to help them, should be allowed. I also don't think attorneys or hospitals or doctors should advertise either.
 
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