from 2008 - Yazbak - 1 in 88 Autism/ASD among Children of Military Families

[Guest guest]

from 2008.....................already 1 in 88 in military families -

wonder what it is in military families now (CDC just came out and said 1

in 88 children with autism)?

http://www.whale.to/vaccine/1_in_88.html

1 in 88 Autism/ASD among Children of Military Families

F. Yazbak,

MD, FAAP

W.

Gallup

http://www.vaproject.org/yazbak/1-in-88-20080709.htm (url no longer

works)

In October 2007, VAP published

“

When 1 in 150 is really 1 in 67”[1]

(url no longer works) and no

one, including autism groups, seemed to take notice.

Everyone evidently preferred believing the CDC.

Even smart journalists and TV news commentators were lured into believing

that the ASD prevalence rates of 1 in 150 were “new” and current as of

February 2007 when indeed they originated from a 2002 CDC study

that examined rates among 8-year-old children, children who were born in

1994.

Since 1999, all our autism prevalence research has been based on

published official statistics from the U.S. Department of Education

Annual Reports to Congress.

In the 2007 paper, we compared the number of 6-year-old children

with Autism/ASD attending U.S. schools in 2000-2001, the same

group the CDC investigated, with those attending school in

2006-2007. We found that the number of registered affected children

had significantly increased in every state except for Alaska, Oklahoma

and the District of Columbia. New Mexico recorded the greatest increase

at 350%.

The average increase was 124% nationwide, and we concluded that when the

CDC was telling the world that the “new” prevalence rate of Autism/ASD

was 1 in 150 in the United States, the “real and current” prevalence rate

was actually 1 in 67.

In the last few months, a small group of military parents also disagreed

with the CDC figures and decided to investigate the prevalence of ASD

among military dependents.

A mother requested the official information through the Freedom of

Information Act (FOIA) and the Chief, Freedom of Information Service

Center, released it all to her on June 23, 2008.

The report came on the stationary of

THE OFFICE OF THE ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF DEFENSE

HEALTH AFFAIRS

16401 EAST CENTRETECH

PARKWAY

AURORA, COLORADO 80011-9066

The assigned Control Number for the

request by the Privacy office was 2008-45 (FOIA).

For obvious reasons, we will not release the names of the parent who

requested the information and the individuals who reviewed it and

explained it to us. We can say that they are all most knowledgeable

with the subject and remarkably impressive in their research. We

are certainly most grateful to each and every one of them.

In the following electronically-reproduced box, the Chief of FOI Service

Center listed all the reported diseases by name and code. It should

be noted that the Military omit the decimal point so that for example

autism is listed as 29900 instead of the usual ICD-9 Medical Diagnosis

Code: 299.00. The information is from the past two years.

The report provided by the Privacy Office at The Department of Defense

contained the complete requested information. Unlike FOIA releases

by the CDC, there were no blank pages or huge areas blackened with magic

markers.

The following is an exact electronic copy of the provided DOD FOIA

data.

The left box lists the diagnoses, by code and the number of diagnosed

children and young adult dependents in the different categories.

ADFM stands for Active Duty Family Member. The three important

totals are those in column 2, 4 and 6 [ADFM, Retired Dependent and Grand

total].

The right box lists the children and young adults by diagnosis actually

enrolled in the TRICARE Extended Care Health Option (also known as the

ECHO program).

According to the TRICARE Operations Manual Chapter 20 Section 10, “among

the more than 1.2 million children of active duty military personnel,

approximately 8500 carry one of the autism spectrum disorder diagnoses”

giving a ratio of 1 in 141. According to the Congressional Budget

Office, 700 of the affected children are receiving some level of ABA

therapy under the TRICARE ECHO program.

The recently-released FOIA data provides, as a parent put it so well, “a

sobering picture”: There are at least 13,243 children and young adults

diagnosed with an ASD among active duty military children.

According to a 2005 study, there were 1,177,190 military dependent

children (all ages) in that population giving a ratio of 1:89 (1:88 if

not rounded) of medically-diagnosed children.

The document also states that there are 8,784 children of retired

veterans making the grand total of diagnosed children 22,356.

Because the FOIA data search only went back 24 months and did not include

patients with private insurance other than TRICARE (i.e. via an employed

spouse), there may actually be more ASD children than actually

reported.

Just as unfortunate is the fact that more than 90% of the

active-duty military children are currently getting absolutely no

behavioral intervention services through TRICARE to help them and their

families.

As the FOIA data indicate only 1374 out of the 13234

diagnosed active duty family members or 10.4% are

enrolled in the ECHO Program.

This is shameful!

Whether the problem is significant shortage of TRICARE authorized

providers in military communities, long waiting lists, restrictive

policies or lack of awareness that services are needed and mandated is

unknown. What is certain is that the United States Department of

Defense has a major problem that needs immediate attention.

Imagine the ramifications on society if 90% of children with autism and

ASD received no treatment.

The children of our men and women in uniform have truly been “left

behind”!

We would like to bring this serious situation to the attention of

our lawmakers on Capitol Hill and ask them to tell the Country what they

will personally do about this grave problem. The Armed Services

Committee has the ability to legislate the changes needed to better serve

this patient population, and Congress is facing a golden moment to do

just that. The National Defense Authorization Act (which governs

the medical benefit for military dependents) will soon come to vote on

the Senate floor. Families need a Senate leader to assist.

We call on all Autism advocacy organizations to act. Regardless of

our convictions and the names of our associations, we are first parents

and grandparents and we must join hands and help the forgotten children

with autism whose parents are serving in our armed forces. These

dear children need treatment just as much as our children. Our

military men and women who serve this great nation with honor and

integrity and deploy repeatedly to combat deserve better. Much more

needs to be done.

Talking to Dr. Sanjay Gupta of CNN on March 29, 2008, CDC Director

Gerberding said: “We can say absolutely for sure that we don't really

understand the causes of autism…”

With all due respect, it may be time for Dr Gerberding to try to

understand the causes of autism because the number of affected children

is certainly not decreasing. It is a fact that the Centers for

Disease Control and Prevention can never “control and prevent” a disease

without knowing its causes.

Meanwhile, the Director can at least disclose that the 1 in 150 rate was

antiquated in February 2007, when the CDC claimed it was new because if

she does not, she will have a great difficulty explaining why ASD

prevalence among children of active military personnel was 1 in 88.

While our scientific community disputes the causal factors of autism and

puts spin on the actual numbers and incidence rates, there is no

disputing the fact that early and intensive intervention work. This

is absent of any controversy and it is grand time we focus on treating

this precious patient population.

As a country, we have failed miserably in this regard and a lot more

needs to be done… NOW.

Our Nation’s heroes deserve nothing less.

F. Yazbak MD, FAAP

W. Gallup

Conflict of Interest

The authors have no financial conflict of interest.

Correspondence

F. Yazbak, MD, FAAP

TL Autism Research

Falmouth, Massachusetts 02540

E-mail:

TLautstudy@...

[1]

http://vaproject.org/yazbak/1-in-150-is-really-1-in-67-20071005.htm

(url no longer works)

© 2008 Vaccine Autoimmune Project

(VAP)

Sheri Nakken, former R.N., MA, Hahnemannian

Homeopath

Vaccination Information & Choice Network, Washington State, USA

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