Autism One Newsletter

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Conference dates: Wednesday, May 21 - Sunday, May 25

Proud Member of the Autism Collaboration

Sunday, December 16, 2007

Dear Friends and Colleagues–

AUTISM IN THE NEWS

Flu Shots for Children Grow Near in New Jersey

TRENTON, Dec. 10 — Despite opposition from numerous parents and children’s rights advocates, a public health advisory panel voted on Monday to require all children in New Jersey who attend preschool or are in day care to get annual flu vaccinations.

Before the vote, some parents who believe in a link between vaccinations and autism spoke against the proposal, but state officials said they did not believe there was such a connection.

A recent federal study showed that New Jersey leads the nation in its rate of autism, a neurodevelopmental condition the cause of which is still a mystery. Continue reading Flu Shots Grown Near in New Jersey >

Keep talking, Imus

DON IMUS returned to the airwaves on Dec. 3, marking the end to a hypocritical media morality play and bringing a needed voice back to the radio.

So while Americans have been " protected " from Imus these past six months, what else happened in the media world? Mostly, it's been a continued sideshow of hypocrisy in action. Continue reading Keep talking, Imus >

Family Wins Case In Autism Coverage Lawsuit

Anthem Ordered To Cover Costs Of Autism Therapy

BOULDER, Colo. -- Abby Tappert was diagnosed with autism two years ago. At the time, her mother, Jill, said Abby couldn't talk or socialize like other kids.

Like most mothers, Jill Tappert searched for treatment plans -- anything that would help her daughter live as normal a life as possible. Continue reading Family Wins Case…>

Autism: To Vaccinate Or Not to Vaccinate

MIAMI (CBS4) ― A radical move in the world of medicine is advising pediatricians across the country to screen every child at age 18 months and 2 years old for signs of autism.

The greatest of medical detectives, the most loving of parents and the most genius of scientists can't seem to unravel the world of autism and the mystery of what may cause it. Now growing numbers of parents and doctors are declaring war to help find answers for the millions not yet touched by it. Continue reading Autism: To Vaccinate Or Not to Vaccinate >

Watch the CBS video Autism: To Vaccinate Or Not to Vaccinate >

Compounds in digestive system 'linked to autistic-type behaviour'

UWO researchers investigated the " gut-brain " connection after many parents of autistic children reported significant improvements in the behaviour of their autistic children when they modified their diet, eliminating dairy and wheat products, Dr Derrick MacFabe, the director of a research group at UWO in London, Ontario, told CBC News.

Researchers were particularly interested in one dietary characteristic the autistic children seemed to exhibit, he said.

" Certainly, a lot of these children had peculiar cravings for high-carbohydrate foods that caused their behaviours, " said Dr MacFabe.

" We were interested in finding a link between certain compounds that are produced by bacteria in the digestive system — particularly those occurring with early childhood infections. "

The bacteria produce propionic acid, a short chain fatty acid, which in addition to existing in the gut, is commonly found in bread and dairy products, Dr MacFabe said.

To test their hypothesis that diet plays a part in generating autistic behaviour, UWO scientists administered the compound to rats' brains. " They immediately engaged in bouts of repetitive behaviour, hyperactivity and impaired social behaviours which had close similarity to what parents are seeing with autism, " Dr MacFabe said. Continue reading Compounds in digestive system 'linked to autistic-type behaviour' >

Watch Dr. Martha Herbert’s, assistant professor in neurology at Harvard Medical School, commentary on the “Compounds in the digestive system” study.

As always Dan Olmsted at The Age of Autism continues to research, develop, and report stories of significance.

Lenny Schafer’s Autism Report excellently summaries and reports news from around the world.

LEND YOUR SUPPORT

Please consider taking a moment to fill out the Autism Research Institute’s “Parent Ratings of Behavioral Effects of Biomedical Interventions” here >>.

The Autism Research Institute has been collecting and tabulating parent ratings on the usefulness of treatments for 30 years. More than 25,000 parents have helped make this survey the premier information exchange of what works and what doesn’t.

Results are posted online to help guide you and is instrumental in developing research initiatives.

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY HOLIDAYS

Meet Rowley our volunteer coordinator and the rest of the Rocking Rowley Renegade Elves. Grab a glass of eggnog and enjoy.

AUTISM ONE RADIO

New Broadcast in Spanish

Autism One welcomes Lalama as liaison to South America! Join on her new program on Autism One Radio each 3rd and 4th Tuesday of the month.

Debut: Tuesday, December 18, 3:00 pm ET - Deshaciendo El Autismo - Capitulo Uno

El programa deshaciendo autismo proveerá fuentes de información para tratar de ayudar a los padres de niños diagnosticados con autismo, guiándolos a escoger el mejor tratamiento posible para sus hijos. El programa hablara de medicina integral y de cómo usted podrá utilizar estos conocimientos para hacer que los niños sufran menos y que los tratamientos bioquímicas sean más efectivos. A medida que el programa avance tocara temas de cómo hacer terapias naturales que podrán ser realizadas por familias de escasos recursos o por encontrarse en países donde no se pueden conseguir los productos convencionalmente usados en las terapias bioquímicas. El programa se transmitirá en Español el 3ro Martes de cada mes y en Ingles el 4to Martes de cada mes. El programa tambien tendrá entrevistas de profesionales, expertos y otros padres que me ayudaron contribuyendo con información valiosa, que ayudo a mi hijo a recuperarse.

Reversing Autism – Chapter ONE

Reversing Autism provides information and resources to help you, the parent, guide the best possible treatment plan for your child. The program will give information about Integrative Medicine tools and how these can be used to enhance your child’s current biomedical treatments. As the program evolves, it will have installments about more specific economical and natural treatments that can help parents in developing countries where it is not possible to follow the conventional biomedical treatments due to limited access, geography or economic status. The program will be recorded in English and Spanish and air twice a month. There will be interviews with very useful information from experts, professionals and parents who have helped recover her children.

Update on Lead Blanket Alert

Autism One Radio is continuing the investigation with regard to the lead-containing blanket sold to parent, Lois , as suggested by a representative at the parent company, Shielding International of Madras, Oregon, and ordered through a distributor in Michigan. It has been related to Autism One Radio that a representative at the parent company also let the Coordinator of the Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program, Michigan Department of Community Health, know that a child’s security blanket could be sent in to be filled. Autism One Radio has been in contact with the Section Manager, Environmental Toxicology, Public Health Division, in Portland, Oregon, and has been told that Shielding International has agreed to send a notice to distributors and put a notice in its catalog, however, this does not address the issue of notifying parents who have purchased this product or having the product recalled. Additionally, Autism One Radio was told that the CEO of Shielding International has said that they do not sell directly to the public and they do not know why (for what use) a distributor is ordering an item. Oregon will get the word out around the state to groups that work with children. Autism One Radio will air a program covering this situation when this investigation is farther along. Documentation related to the testing on the blanket shipped to Lois can be seen here.

JENNY MCCARTHY TO DELIVER THE KEYNOTE ADDRESS AT AUTISM ONE 2008

Wednesday, May 21 – Sunday, May 25, Westin O’Hare Hotel, Chicago, ILL

We are very pleased to announce McCarthy as our Keynote Speaker, Friday, May 23rd.

’s passionate journey recounting the recovery of her son touched a deep emotional need to openly begin the conversation of recovery. Like a back on a 99-yard touchdown dash, broke through the mainstream media’s “r-word” defense and within a three-day period spiked the ball on Oprah, Larry King Live! and The View. Finally, Recovery was out in the open. Some of the hosts challenged , but her knowledge would not be denied. Suddenly and without censure America heard the truth: hope and healing are real. It had been a long time in coming.

From the first documented case of recovery to national media outlets covering ’s story a long and dark decade passed. Not a word. The mighty journalistic institutions with their armies of investigative reporters we have come to depend on (with the exception of Dan Olmsted/UPI) passed on the most important story of our time. It took a mother. A mother with a forum and a deep conviction to do what needed to be done.

Autism is the story of mothers. Mothers who redefined themselves to become teachers, writers, researchers, advocates, doctors, lawyers, programmers; no job was too difficult, no burden too heavy…mothers took up the crucible and inch by inch carried on against every imaginable force and hardship. From every plain and town mothers left careers, and friends and family members who could not understand their conviction behind. Called “desperate,” and “frantic” and given no chance of success mothers met every smirk with greater resolve.

In the normal course of events the call for true courage may only be heard once or twice in a life and never heeded. In the turbulent course for mothers with children on the spectrum the call is clarion and constant.

heeded the call choosing the courageous path, instantly creating powerful enemies, but immediately bonded with the thousands of other mothers who had put motherhood before all other considerations. carries a greater truth than any one she knew before. She carries the courageous conviction of each determined mother who sacrificed untold indignities so that could save her son.

REGISTRATION IS NOW OPEN.

Refrigerator Moms 2.0

Language strikes a deep chord in each of us. The English language is a wonderful tool, but, like a gun, it can be used as a weapon. “Sodbuster” and “bureaucrat” are but two simple examples of language as a weapon, with new ones being coined all the time. Aimed at specific groups the emotionally-laden labels are meant to attach blame, separate “them” from “us” and by design tell one-half the story: the side the antagonist wants you to believe. “Sodbuster” was a term of derision aimed at farmers by ranchers, “bureaucrat” a term of contempt wielded by those who wish to highlight the many shortcomings of an organization or individual.

The word-weapon of choice in the latest autism assault is “genetics” and it’s loaded and aimed at your head. Autism is no stranger to the vulgarities of language. Indeed, the entire history of autism could fairly be described “as words as instruments of blame.”

Kanner and Bettelheim, the one-two punch condemning mothers to perdition, defined autism and its legacy of blame which parasitically burrows into the host of the day -- psychiatry in the 20th Century, genetics in the 21st -- to lay its eggs of guilt and shame. Complementary theories of fault (drinking moms, older moms) vie for attention while fanning a mother’s deepest fears – the fear of unwittingly harming their child.

The “genetic” theory of autism is so full of holes it defies straightforward analysis, which is in keeping with the “Refrigerator Mom” theory of the 20th Century. Welcome to the “rabbit hole.” Central to both theories, “Admit the blame is yours then we might be able to help you.”

“Refrigerator Moms” were required to admit their poor parenting skills before their “healing” psychoanalysis sessions could begin. Resistance to admission of “guilt” was regarded as denial and grounds for removal of the child from their home.

“Genetic Moms” begins with the same premise: “The blame is yours, we know it, you know it, admit it. Donate a tissue sample and we might be able to find out what’s wrong with you,” with the implicit message: “Deny the genetic juggernaut and you put other children at risk.”

The foundational flaws in favor of a genetic cure are of such gibberish it all but paralyzes the brain from higher-order thought, freezing the esophagus in a state of disbelief. It reminds me of the old joke where a drunk is explaining to a passerby he is looking for his keys under the streetlamp although he lost them up the road because he can see better in the light.

There cannot be a genetic epidemic, leaving environmental factors as the only possible culprit. If the cause of lead poisoning is lead, if the cause of cancer is asbestos, if the cause of burns is fire remove the dangers. Don’t ask which children are genetically susceptible to lead, asbestos, and fire. Genetic apologists’ next step will be to call for bio-engineering flame-retardant kids.

Belief in genetics as the Holy Grail is a dangerous extension of “Refrigerator Moms” gussied up in 21st Century “scientific” finery. In an outstanding critical analysis of genetics Dr. Herbert is doing to the “Genetic Mom” theory what Dr. Rimland did to the “Refrigerator Mom” theory 50 years ago: discredit its foundation, premises, and false promises.

In “More than code: From genetic reductionism to complex biological systems” Dr. Herbert says, “The reduction of the physicality of DNA to notions of ‘gene’ and ‘information’ is biologically naive. Yet it pervades not only public relations but also regulatory policies and even many scientific research programmes.”

“Notions of ‘one gene, one disease (or one trait)’ are also being undermined. Gene researchers have sought to unearth the ‘genes for’ physical and neuropsychiatric disease states, as well as for behavioural and social features ranging from intelligence and physical prowess to violence.

Hitherto there has been no direct mapping from DNA to protein to such observable human behavioural traits or disorders, and even the notion of such simple mapping is inappropriate (Newman 1988b; Hubbard and Wald 1999; Paterson et al. 1999). It would indeed be peculiar if hundreds of millions of years of evolution led in a direct line to a chemical code that ‘determined’ human and animal behaviour in a manner unambiguously reflective of the hierarchical structures of capitalist industrial society. Notions of direct mapping from gene to behaviour are also dubious from the vantage point of cognitive neuroscience, since between genes, proteins and behaviour lie many mediating levels and processes, including not only

social influences but also variations in brain and body biology that are not fully determined by genes. There will be no straight path from gene to behaviour through this web of intersecting influences.”

Autism is genetics’ halting problem. Autism is genetically unsolvable. But don’t expect the impossibility of the endeavor to slow the genetic movement or their breathless headlines of “Genetic Mice with Autism Created,” “56 New Genes Identified” and “$200 Million Raised for Genetic Research.” As Dr. Herbert states, “Although scientists and biotechnology corporations have fallen far short of fulfilling initial ambitions, their enormous investment of financial and intellectual capital dictates the ongoing pursuit of the genetic ‘revolution’.”

In the land of flibbertigibbets and fantastics, “genetics” is the philosopher’s stone, alchemy and astrology rolled into one pejorative solution to the autism problem; promise everything, answer nothing. Create “scientific” barriers to entry, support the machinations of profit and profiling and above all else use “genetic” as the newest instrument to blame moms.

Lost in a hubris of genetic blame is our children are beautiful beyond words, precious beyond description. The blessed interplay of creativity, intelligence, humor, and the thousand other gifts we see shaping their solitary right to existence are not reducible to genetic claims of redemption. Their tender lives are ordained by healing –- your touch, your voice, your love, your care –- the salvation.

If we don’t get a chance to connect again before the holidays have a joyous Christmas and a wonderful New Year.

As always, please let us know if you have any questions, comments, suggestions, or ideas. Thank you.

Our Best,

Ed and Teri Arranga

714.680.0792

http://AutismOne.org

earranga@...

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