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Here is the article which appeared in the Lafayette Journal and Courier

Newspaper this past Sunday...

LEADS A RADICAL RETHINKING OF AUTISM

He was a smart kid, knew all his alphabet letters by 2. Then, things

started changing. They changed dramatically when he was 5. A teen-ager

now, he attends a special school and requires a tremendous amount of

involvement on his mother's part and on the part of his family.

So, it is no wonder, then, that his mother has taken it upon herself to

investigate autism, its history, its perceived causes, its standard

treatments and potential new treatments. Or that she has joined with other

parents of children with the diagnosis, doctors, and researchers, in an

organization calling for a radical rethinking of autism. That organization

is the Research Institute, standing for neuro-immune dysfunction

syndromes.

The basic premise of the institute, according to the draft proposal posted

on its Web site (www.nids.net), is acquired autism and a handful of related

disorders, " are not congenital, brain-damaged conditions, but instead are

medical disease processes acquired early in life. " As such, the proposal

continues, patients " need to be viewed as suffering from an auto-immune

medical illness that is potentially treatable. "

Once considered a rare disorder, autism rates are on the rise. According to

the Medical Advisory Board, the condition occurred in one-to-three

births per 10,000 a decade ago. The NIH now estimates one in 250 children

receive the autism diagnosis.

Dr. Goldberg of Tarzana, Calif., director of the Medical

Advisory Board and a fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics, has

years of experience treating children with autism, attention-deficit

disorder, chronic fatigue syndrome and other disorders. In 1983, he began

to investigate neuro-immune dysfunction. His wife had developed a baffling

illness with recurrent flu, fatigue, sore throat and a decrease in some

cognitive functions. Blood work profiles for his wife resembled those of

many children in his care. Goldberg eventually concluded autism was a

" disease process masquerading, or being misinterpreted, as a 'developmental'

disorder. "

patients, according to Goldberg, are genetically predisposed to having

a dysregulated immune system, and then likely encounter some sort of trauma-

be it a virus, prenatal or neonatal stress, or illness- that triggers immune

system malfunction. It may be important to note makes no claim that

childhood vaccines " cause " autism, but sees vaccines as another possible

trigger of symptoms in a genetically predisposed individual.

Diagnosis for this " disease " process involves, among other things, an immune

panel of blood tests to look for abnormal levels of herpeslike viruses, low

counts of natural killer cells and imbalances in some immune cell ratios. A

NeuroSPECT scan, which measures blood flow to the brain, is also used, with

scans of patients showing reduced blood flow to such areas as the

temporal lobes. A complete listing of the proposed work-up can be

found on the Web site.

Certainly, parents of the increasing number of children involved in this

" epidemic " will want to explore for themselves the possibilities for help

offered through this group.

______________________________________________

Write to columnist Annette Clifford at Florida Today, P.O. Box 419000,

Melbourne, FL 32941-9000. Or e-mail at acliff123@...