tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-41053536671744615942024-03-13T08:46:30.605-07:00Success With AutismMy son is 22 year old classically autistic. He is studying engineering. It has been an arduous journey but well worth it.
While growing up, my son suffered losses of math skills - yet he is studying engineering; he lost the ability to hold a pencil - yet he draws well; he could not concentrate well enough to look at his homework - now he drives; kids half his age ran circles around him - he lettered in cross country. Behavior training? Not quiteEdR77203http://www.blogger.com/profile/06665780067578529248noreply@blogger.comBlogger40125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4105353667174461594.post-48081015914271031632015-11-29T00:41:00.001-08:002015-11-29T00:41:29.867-08:00The No Epidemic HypothesisIn 1999, when my son was in 6th grade, the CDC maintained that the autism rate was holding constant at 1/2500. At the time, my son was one of 4 autistic children in a school of 250 children. If the 1/2500 held true then my son's school would have defied some very high odds to get that many autistic children. It was not until February 2007 that the CDC admitted that the autism rate was actually higher. Two years ago my doctor was trying to convince me that the reason we are seeing so many autistic children now is because we are just better at diagnosing them. There is no real rise in the number of autistic children. For me the claims showed that the medical community was talking out of both sides of their mouth. The autism rate is 1/2500 and holding steady and it is all diagnostics says the same thing - there is no autism epidemic. <br />
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I was 28 before I ever even heard of autism. It showed up in a 60 minutes article as a very rare childhood development illness. I did not yet have children though my first was coming soon at the time. My parents had not heard of autism until I told them that my son had autism. Yet autism is so hard to miss. It is hard to miss the touch sensitivity, the sound sensitivity, the need for routine, the rocking, the stimming, the ritualistic and repetitive behaviors, the aphasia which scream autism and nothing else. When I was 28 the autism rate was said to be 1/10000. So if the autism rate was really 1/68 then we missed 146 out of 147 autistic children. Seriously?<br />
<br />
I watched as the CDC changed the autism rate from 1/10000 to 1/2500 to 1500 to 1/166 to 1/88 to 1/68 and this is not an autism epidemic? I looked at the California school statistics and saw the rates rise year by year and this is not an autism epidemic?<br />
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The Somalis came to Minnesota as refugees. If you watch the Minnesota news reports, the Minnesota school districts show that the autism rate among the Somali population is 1/32 children. But the autism population among the children born in Somalia is zero. How does this square with the idea that there is no autism epidemic? Did the Somalis callously leave their autistic children back in Somalia? This would mean that they were able to diagnose their autistic children while we medically sophistical westerners could not tell the difference between autistic children and other children. It would mean that the Somali mothers and fathers were able to overcome their conscience and en masse leave their autistic children behind. The only way to dismiss the Somali experience is to simply dismiss it. <br />
<br />
But look at the papers saying that there is no autism epidemic.<br />
<br />
http://cdp.sagepub.com/content/14/2/55.short<br />
http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/107/2/411.short<br />
http://www.jaacap.com/article/S0890-8567%2809%2962151-1/abstract<br />
<br />
There are others, but I will not belabor this blog with it. So the question is why. The medical community did not accept the idea of an autism epidemic in 1999. Many in the medical community still do not accept the idea of an autism epidemic. What is going on in the medical minds? I cannot claim to be able to read the minds of the medical community. Nevertheless here is what I see. <br />
<br />
First, the medical community has maintained that autism and vaccines are not related. There is no causal link. When parents reported that their child was progressing normally right up until they had their ____ vaccine, the medical community dismissed every one of these claims as anecdotal. Without controlled studies, it is not possible to simply accept the idea that there were children who regressed into autism after vaccination. Then when other parents produced video evidence belying the medical community's idea that they could dismiss the parents' claims as anecdotal, it became a matter of simply being post hoc events. Autism regression occurs at these ages. Just because the child regresses after a vaccination does not mean that the vaccination caused the autistic regression. Fair enough, but for vaccination to cause autistic regression, it has to occur prior to the autistic regression. The video evidence and the parents' testimony all say the same thing, vaccine followed by autistic regression. While you can't prove vaccines caused autistic regression simply by proving that the regression happened after the vaccination, you can prove that the vaccine had nothing to do with it if the autistic regression happened before the vaccine. So far, no such proof has been forthcoming. <br />
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Second, the medical community regards vaccination as a pillar of modern health. How will they answer the question, "If 1/68 children become autistic then how is the vaccination program worth this sacrifice?" This is countered with exaggeration and scare tactics. Look at the measles:<br />
<br />
http://www.cdc.gov/measles/about/parents-top4.html<br />
<br />
The CDC claims that:<br />
<ul>
<li>About 1 in 4 people in the U.S. who get measles will be hospitalized</li>
<li>1 out of every 1,000 people with measles will develop brain swelling, which could lead to brain damage</li>
<li>1 or 2 out of 1,000 people with measles will die, even with the best care</li>
</ul>
From 1958 to 1960 there were an average of <strong><span style="font-weight: normal; text-align: left;">503,282 cases of measles reported in the US with an average of 432 deaths. http://www.nvic.org/vaccines-and-diseases/measles/measles-history-in-america.aspx. But these were the reported measles cases. The unreported cases were many times the reported cases. The reported death rate in the US prior to the measles vaccination is greatly exaggerated. The actual numbers may have been as high as 5 million cases. That would have overwhelmed the hospitals with over 1 million hospitalized cases. Here is the death rates reported for the US for measles. How much of the change is due to the vaccine? Right now most Americans believe the medical community when they say that there is no connection between autism and vaccines. If the American people stop believing then they will start to pay attention to the data shown below in the graph.</span></strong><br />
<br />
<strong><span style="font-weight: normal; text-align: left;"><img alt="us-measles" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1139" height="395" src="http://www.vaccinationinformationnetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/us-measles.jpg" width="640" /> </span></strong> <br />
<br />
Here is the real problem of an autism epidemic. Autism is not communicable. There is no such thing as a genetic epidemic. People's genes do not change that quickly and they do not change all over the world among different populations spontaneously. It requires an environmental cause. That cause has to correlate with the autism epidemic.<br />
<br />
It has to grow up in the last three decades. There was no epidemic in the 50's and 60's. There is now.<br />
It has to be world wide.<br />
It has to affect infants and toddlers.<br />
It has to have access to the brain.<br />
It has to be able to cause inflammation since autistic autopsies consistently show inflammation markers in the brains of autistic children.<br />
<br />
Vaccines correlate as a possible environmental cause. So far, nobody has come up with another serious contender. Proof? A good lawyer can get them off the hook for beyond any reasonable doubt. On the other hand, vaccines are still the number one suspect in the autism epidemic. If doctors believed that vaccines caused autism then they would know that all of these cases of autism were done by their hands. That is a good reason for not wanting to believe that there is an autism epidemic. EdR77203http://www.blogger.com/profile/06665780067578529248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4105353667174461594.post-76710758330022124252012-04-15T19:11:00.000-07:002012-04-15T19:11:52.359-07:00Vaccine tableTake a look at this table. This is a table taken from CDC vaccine data showing three of the ingredients in vaccines. The method of showing that a vaccine has nothing to do with autism is to take a vaccinated population and remove one of the vaccines, one of the lines from the table. Then when the rate of autism is not significantly different from the normal vaccinated population, that vaccine is declared to have no effect on the autism rate. <br />
<br />
But suppose that one of these three ingredients were responsible for the autism rate. How would removing one of many vaccines from the vaccine schedule significantly affect the autism rate? It wouldn't. If one of these three ingredients were responsible for the autism epidemic then not even the excluded vaccine could be exonerated. <br />
<br />
The bottom line is that the conclusion that any vaccine has been exonerated by such experiments is invalid. All such experiments have to be thrown out. Unfortunately, this is the method that has been used by the med community to "prove" that there is no connection between autism and vaccines. <br />
<br />
So much for leaving science to the scientists.<br />
<br />
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<br />
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 375px;"><colgroup><col style="mso-width-alt: 5660; mso-width-source: userset; width: 119pt;" width="159"></col> <col style="mso-width-alt: 2275; mso-width-source: userset; width: 48pt;" width="64"></col> <col style="mso-width-alt: 2787; mso-width-source: userset; width: 59pt;" width="78"></col> <col style="mso-width-alt: 2616; mso-width-source: userset; width: 55pt;" width="74"></col> </colgroup><tbody>
<tr height="38" style="height: 28.8pt;"> <td class="xl63" height="38" style="height: 28.8pt; width: 119pt;" width="159"></td> <td style="width: 48pt;" width="64">Aluminum</td> <td class="xl63" style="width: 59pt;" width="78">Foreign Protein</td> <td class="xl63" style="width: 55pt;" width="74">Form-aldehyde</td> </tr>
<tr height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;"> <td class="xl63" height="19" style="height: 14.4pt; width: 119pt;" width="159">Adenovirus</td> <td></td> <td>x</td> <td></td> </tr>
<tr height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;"> <td class="xl63" height="19" style="height: 14.4pt; width: 119pt;" width="159">Anthrax (Biothrax)</td> <td>x</td> <td>x</td> <td>x</td> </tr>
<tr height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;"> <td class="xl63" height="19" style="height: 14.4pt; width: 119pt;" width="159">BCG (Tice)</td> <td></td> <td></td> <td></td> </tr>
<tr height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;"> <td class="xl63" height="19" style="height: 14.4pt; width: 119pt;" width="159">DT (Sanofi)</td> <td>x</td> <td>x</td> <td>x</td> </tr>
<tr height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;"> <td class="xl63" height="19" style="height: 14.4pt; width: 119pt;" width="159">DTaP (Daptacel)</td> <td>x</td> <td>x</td> <td>x</td> </tr>
<tr height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;"> <td class="xl63" height="19" style="height: 14.4pt; width: 119pt;" width="159">DTaP (Infanrix)</td> <td>x</td> <td>x</td> <td>x</td> </tr>
<tr height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;"> <td class="xl63" height="19" style="height: 14.4pt; width: 119pt;" width="159">DTaP (Tripedia)</td> <td>x</td> <td>x</td> <td>x</td> </tr>
<tr height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;"> <td class="xl63" height="19" style="height: 14.4pt; width: 119pt;" width="159">DTaP-IPV (Kinrix)</td> <td>x</td> <td>x</td> <td>x</td> </tr>
<tr height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;"> <td class="xl63" height="19" style="height: 14.4pt; width: 119pt;" width="159">DTaP-HepB-IPV (Pediarix)</td> <td>x</td> <td>x</td> <td>x</td> </tr>
<tr height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;"> <td class="xl63" height="19" style="height: 14.4pt; width: 119pt;" width="159">DTaP-IPV/Hib (Pentacel)</td> <td>x</td> <td>x</td> <td>x</td> </tr>
<tr height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;"> <td class="xl63" height="19" style="height: 14.4pt; width: 119pt;" width="159">Hib (ActHIB)</td> <td></td> <td>x</td> <td>x</td> </tr>
<tr height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;"> <td class="xl63" height="19" style="height: 14.4pt; width: 119pt;" width="159">Hib (Hiberix)</td> <td></td> <td></td> <td>x</td> </tr>
<tr height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;"> <td class="xl63" height="19" style="height: 14.4pt; width: 119pt;" width="159">Hib (PedvaxHIB)</td> <td>x</td> <td></td> <td></td> </tr>
<tr height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;"> <td class="xl63" height="19" style="height: 14.4pt; width: 119pt;" width="159">Hib/Hep B (Convax)</td> <td>x</td> <td>x</td> <td>x</td> </tr>
<tr height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;"> <td class="xl63" height="19" style="height: 14.4pt; width: 119pt;" width="159">Hep A (Havrix)</td> <td>x</td> <td>x</td> <td>x</td> </tr>
<tr height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;"> <td class="xl63" height="19" style="height: 14.4pt; width: 119pt;" width="159">Hep A (Vaqta)</td> <td>x</td> <td>x</td> <td>x</td> </tr>
<tr height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;"> <td class="xl63" height="19" style="height: 14.4pt; width: 119pt;" width="159">Hep B (Engerix-B)</td> <td>x</td> <td>x</td> <td></td> </tr>
<tr height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;"> <td class="xl63" height="19" style="height: 14.4pt; width: 119pt;" width="159">Hep B (Recombivax)</td> <td>x</td> <td>x</td> <td>x</td> </tr>
<tr height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;"> <td class="xl63" height="19" style="height: 14.4pt; width: 119pt;" width="159">HepA/Hep B (Twinrix)</td> <td>x</td> <td>x</td> <td>x</td> </tr>
<tr height="38" style="height: 28.8pt;"> <td class="xl63" height="38" style="height: 28.8pt; width: 119pt;" width="159">Human Papillomavirus (HPV) (Gardasil)</td> <td>x</td> <td>x</td> <td></td> </tr>
<tr height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;"> <td class="xl63" height="19" style="height: 14.4pt; width: 119pt;" width="159">Influenza (Afluria)</td> <td></td> <td></td> <td></td> </tr>
<tr height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;"> <td class="xl63" height="19" style="height: 14.4pt; width: 119pt;" width="159">Influenza (Fluarrix)</td> <td></td> <td></td> <td>x</td> </tr>
<tr height="58" style="height: 43.2pt;"> <td class="xl63" height="58" style="height: 43.2pt; width: 119pt;" width="159">Influenza (Fluvirin)</td> <td></td> <td>x</td> <td class="xl63" style="width: 55pt;" width="74">Nonylhenol ethoxylate</td> </tr>
<tr height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;"> <td class="xl63" height="19" style="height: 14.4pt; width: 119pt;" width="159">Influenza (Flulaval)</td> <td></td> <td>x</td> <td>x</td> </tr>
<tr height="58" style="height: 43.2pt;"> <td class="xl63" height="58" style="height: 43.2pt; width: 119pt;" width="159">Influenza (Fluzone: Standard, High-Dose, & Intradermal)</td> <td></td> <td>x</td> <td>x</td> </tr>
<tr height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;"> <td class="xl63" height="19" style="height: 14.4pt; width: 119pt;" width="159">Influenza (Flumist)</td> <td></td> <td>x</td> <td></td> </tr>
<tr height="38" style="height: 28.8pt;"> <td class="xl63" height="38" style="height: 28.8pt; width: 119pt;" width="159">Japanese Encephalitis (Ixiaro)</td> <td>x</td> <td>x</td> <td>x</td> </tr>
<tr height="38" style="height: 28.8pt;"> <td class="xl63" height="38" style="height: 28.8pt; width: 119pt;" width="159">Meningococcal (MCV4-Menactra)</td> <td></td> <td></td> <td>x</td> </tr>
<tr height="38" style="height: 28.8pt;"> <td class="xl63" height="38" style="height: 28.8pt; width: 119pt;" width="159">Meningococcal (MCV4-Menveo)</td> <td></td> <td>x</td> <td>x</td> </tr>
<tr height="38" style="height: 28.8pt;"> <td class="xl63" height="38" style="height: 28.8pt; width: 119pt;" width="159">Meningococcal (MPSV4-Menomune)</td> <td></td> <td>x</td> <td></td> </tr>
<tr height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;"> <td class="xl63" height="19" style="height: 14.4pt; width: 119pt;" width="159">MMR (MMR-II)</td> <td></td> <td>x</td> <td></td> </tr>
<tr height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;"> <td class="xl63" height="19" style="height: 14.4pt; width: 119pt;" width="159">MMRV (ProQuad)</td> <td></td> <td>x</td> <td></td> </tr>
<tr height="46" style="height: 34.8pt; mso-height-source: userset;"> <td class="xl63" height="46" style="height: 34.8pt; width: 119pt;" width="159">Pneumococcal (PCV12 - Prevnar 13)</td> <td>x</td> <td>x</td> <td></td> </tr>
<tr height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;"> <td class="xl63" height="19" style="height: 14.4pt; width: 119pt;" width="159">Polio (IPV - Ipol)</td> <td></td> <td>x</td> <td>x</td> </tr>
<tr height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;"> <td class="xl63" height="19" style="height: 14.4pt; width: 119pt;" width="159">Rabies (RabAvert)</td> <td></td> <td>x</td> <td>phenol</td> </tr>
<tr height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;"> <td class="xl63" height="19" style="height: 14.4pt; width: 119pt;" width="159">Rotovirus (RotaTeq)</td> <td></td> <td>x</td> <td></td> </tr>
<tr height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;"> <td class="xl63" height="19" style="height: 14.4pt; width: 119pt;" width="159">Rotavirus (Rotarix)</td> <td></td> <td>x</td> <td></td> </tr>
<tr height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;"> <td class="xl63" height="19" style="height: 14.4pt; width: 119pt;" width="159">Smallpox (Vaccinia - </td> <td></td> <td>x</td> <td>phenol</td> </tr>
<tr height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;"> <td class="xl63" height="19" style="height: 14.4pt; width: 119pt;" width="159">ACAM2000)</td> <td></td> <td></td> <td></td> </tr>
<tr height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;"> <td class="xl63" height="19" style="height: 14.4pt; width: 119pt;" width="159">Td (Decavac)</td> <td>x</td> <td>x</td> <td>x</td> </tr>
<tr height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;"> <td class="xl63" height="19" style="height: 14.4pt; width: 119pt;" width="159">Td (Tenivac)</td> <td>x</td> <td>x</td> <td>x</td> </tr>
<tr height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;"> <td class="xl63" height="19" style="height: 14.4pt; width: 119pt;" width="159">Tdap (Adacel)</td> <td>x</td> <td>x</td> <td>x</td> </tr>
<tr height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;"> <td class="xl63" height="19" style="height: 14.4pt; width: 119pt;" width="159">Tdap (Boostrix)</td> <td>x</td> <td>x</td> <td>x</td> </tr>
<tr height="38" style="height: 28.8pt;"> <td class="xl63" height="38" style="height: 28.8pt; width: 119pt;" width="159">Typhoid (inactivated - Typhim V1)</td> <td></td> <td></td> <td>phenol</td> </tr>
<tr height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;"> <td class="xl63" height="19" style="height: 14.4pt; width: 119pt;" width="159">Typhoid (oral - Ty21A)</td> <td></td> <td>x</td> <td></td> </tr>
<tr height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;"> <td class="xl63" height="19" style="height: 14.4pt; width: 119pt;" width="159">Varicella (Varivax)</td> <td></td> <td>x</td> <td></td> </tr>
<tr height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;"> <td class="xl63" height="19" style="height: 14.4pt; width: 119pt;" width="159">Yellow Fever (YF-Vax)</td> <td></td> <td>x</td> <td></td> </tr>
<tr height="38" style="height: 28.8pt;"> <td class="xl63" height="38" style="height: 28.8pt; width: 119pt;" width="159">Zoster (Shingles - Zostavax)</td> <td></td> <td>x</td> <td></td> </tr>
</tbody></table>EdR77203http://www.blogger.com/profile/06665780067578529248noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4105353667174461594.post-24784200934560202322011-09-05T20:39:00.000-07:002011-09-05T20:39:17.221-07:00One year to goDavid is now 24 years old. He is starting on his last year before he will achieve a BS in Electrical Engineering. He is starting on his senior project where he is working on a robot car with a few other EE students. He is still doing well and maintaining a high B average. <br />
<br />
I have him living in his own apartment. This is not because I want him out of the house. It is because I want him to learn all of the things about living by himself that will make him self reliant. He has to handle a checkbook and pay bills like the rest of us. He has to do his own cooking and his own laundry. He has to keep his apartment clean. <br />
<br />
He graduates in May.EdR77203http://www.blogger.com/profile/06665780067578529248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4105353667174461594.post-81049342000625120042010-09-05T19:39:00.000-07:002010-09-05T19:39:31.309-07:00A major changeHow many believe in the gluten free, casein free (GFCF) diet? It did not work for David. He was on it for about a year without any change. For me, the GFCF diet is the right idea with the wrong approach. It works for a small percent of the autistic population, though I have to say that if you have an autistic child who is one of that percentage, it can be a big thing. My brother's son is an Aspie. Both he and his wife have told me that the GFCF diet is a real pain to keep up with. At the same time, it is not nearly as bad as what happens to their son when he gets off the GFCF diet.<br />
<br />
I have several problems with the GFCF diet. It is based on leakage of gluten and casein peptides into the blood stream through the blood gut barrier. There is evidence for this in the urine samples. It makes sense to try it because as medical interventions go, a) It does not hurt, b) It is not that expensive, c) It is hard to think of any way it would have side effects, d) With those for whom it does work, the effects can be profound. On the other hand, are gluten and casein peptides the only peptides that leak into the gut? And, if the blood-gut barrier is permeable, then what about the blood-brain barrier? The GFCF diet begs both of those questions. Yet these two questions could explain why the GFCF diet is effective on some and not on others. It could also explain why the GFCF diet helps but it does not change the fundamental fact that the child is autistic.<br />
<br />
When David was in the seventh grade, I came across a paper that talked about glutathione being in the bile which is secreted by the liver. Anyone who has read my previous posts knows that I am interested in glutathione and the sulfur amino acid chemistry. So the question was why does the liver put glutathione in the bile? It is very seldom that you find the body doing something like this without a reason. The paper speculated that glutathione is in the bile to preserve the blood-gut barrier. Put this with the low levels of autistic glutathione and gut leakage it is a reasonable, though unproven hypothesis that low levels of glutathione mean gut leakage which in turn means behavior problems for autistic children. I don't claim that this is all that autism is. But being able to take care of one aspect of what autism is can be a positive development. For this reason, I decided to try having David take glutathione with cod liver oil and fish oil. The amounts were as follows:<br />
<br />
250 mg glutathione<br />
1000 mg fish oil<br />
500 mg cod liver oil<br />
<br />
I typically spent 2 hours a night dragging David through his homework. I had to get David to focus on each problem long enough to recognize what the problem was. David would read the problem and realize that he did not know the answer. Then I would turn the page to where the answer was. Then I would get him to focus on it long enough to read the answer. More effort would be required to get him to write the answer in a sentence form. An answer that required three sentences would bring howls of protest.<br />
<br />
That was David before the glutathione and fish oil. After two weeks of being given this each day, David was doing homework by himself. I can't prove that it was the glutathione and the fish oil that made the change. At the same time, the change was too dramatic to ignore. <br />
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I don't claim that it will work for others. But if you should try it, post your results if you will. EdR77203http://www.blogger.com/profile/06665780067578529248noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4105353667174461594.post-80275765606618834532010-03-21T20:40:00.000-07:002010-03-21T20:43:45.606-07:00The miracle that is DavidDavid is autistic. He still is. The diagnosis still is, just as would be expected as autism is a lifelong condition. As a three year old, he had all of the signs: aphasia, which in his case meant that he could not talk; perseverative behaviors; ritualistic behaviors, sound sensitivity; some touch sensitivity; the autistic lookaway; inability to relate with other children. And yet, all of this only belied the spark of spirit and intelligence that lay underneath.<br />
<br />
At the start of second grade, David suffered a huge setback. He lost some prodigious math skills, going from add with carry, subtraction with borrow, negative numbers, getting a grasp of multiplication and division facts to only being able to add past five by counting on his fingers. His magic ability to look at a word and remember how it was spelled went away.<br />
<br />
In fourth grade, a little of his ability in math came back. David could add and subtract, albeit slowly and only with a struggle. This progress was offset when at the end of the year, David lost the ability to hold a pencil. It was a real low in my life and I am sure that it was a real low in David's life as well. Homework became a 2 - 3 hour ordeal each night when after David came down off the ritalin used to help his stay still in class. <br />
<br />
This lasted through seventh grade when David suddenly started doing his homework by himself. All of his subjects became easier. It all happened just as quickly as it had when he suffered his losses in second grade. From seventh grade, math for him evolved from a near impossible chore to something that he could do. He took up cross country in high school and went from dead last to the middle of the pack. He suddenly started being able to touch type. And he developed a knack for drawing, something he obviously did not get from me. Still his science was so-so and his English was only passing. When he graduated, David was off to vocational school. College was clearly not in the cards.<br />
<br />
David did well in vocational school and was able to handle the computer design programs well. Toward the end of it he announce that he wanted to be an engineer. My first instinct was to steer him back to the path my wife and I had sent him on. But when I looked at him I could see that he really meant it. Still, I did not want him to be crushed if he could not handle a curricula that is heavily laden with math, physics and other science. He would also have to be able to handle the English courses and other courses that would require writing. None of my objections dissuaded him. So we enrolled him in 12 credit hours of the math classes and physics classes that he would have to take before he could even consider engineering as a career.<br />
<br />
We were pleased with David's performance that semester. He had a B average from that semester. Okay. But what about the next semester. Courses would get tougher. David had to respond. And he did. Each semester he has been getting better so that last semester he was placed on the Dean's list. <br />
<br />
David truly is a walking miracle. He has gone from not able to add past five without counting on his fingers to being placed on the Dean's list in electrical engineering. He has learned to draw after losing the ability to hold a pencil. He has learned to run when his autistic gait made running very hard.EdR77203http://www.blogger.com/profile/06665780067578529248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4105353667174461594.post-80800010861018992682010-01-31T17:16:00.000-08:002010-01-31T17:16:08.378-08:00How a vaccine worksWhen a vaccine is administered to a child, a weakened or dead form of the virus is injected. Along with the virus, adjuvants such as aluminum phosphate, aluminum hydroxide, squalene are injected. The purpose of the adjuvants is to promote an immune reaction. The hope is that the immune reaction will be against the injected virus. If the immune system is stimulated, is there any reason why a reaction to other foreign substances could not be triggered? The real question is given the 26-30 shots that are given, and the number of children of different genetic background, can vaccines be causing the asthma epidemic we have been seeing?<br />
<br />
I don't have the answer to this, but neither does the medical community. If such a thing is happening, the medical community does not want to know.EdR77203http://www.blogger.com/profile/06665780067578529248noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4105353667174461594.post-89770334084873028202009-12-19T11:12:00.000-08:002009-12-19T11:12:01.997-08:00Autism's Trigger (Another Misnomer)There are so many things out in the world about autism that are just plain wrong. If autism is to gain any treatment inroads these wrong things have to be cleared away. So let's start with something simple - the word trigger as it is used with respect to autism. <br />
<br />
The medical community likes to use the word trigger with the onset of autism. The implication is that an event happened that innocently caused the autism onset, much like an icicle falling from a tree might trigger an avalanche. The word is euphomistic and as such, it has magic. It means that the onset of autism is a fluke of nature. Whether it is an icicle falling or a man skiing in the wrong place, it was going to happen anyway. Nothing is really to blame. Nobody did anything to cause the child to be autistic. It is a very safe word. <br />
<br />
The truth is that autism hits children like an incoming mortar round. In some children, like my son, the damage is relatively mild. (If you could ever call any case of autism mild) In other children, they are disabled to the point where they can never care for themselves. What I am implying is not politically correct. I am implying that there is brain damage. The word trigger implies a metamorphosis, like a pupae into a butterfly. <br />
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Of course, I understand that there are genes that make it more likely that a child will develop autism. For me that means that they are more likely to suffer the damage that causes autism. And so I prefer the word stroke, even though the symptoms of a stroke are not the same as the symptoms of autism. I prefer it because when the time comes and we understand how autism occurs, we can do something to prevent it. EdR77203http://www.blogger.com/profile/06665780067578529248noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4105353667174461594.post-2987916562053728762009-12-06T18:29:00.000-08:002009-12-06T18:29:46.456-08:00The problem with autism researchHow many studies have been done to prove that there is no link between autism and vaccines. It has to be a lot. All of them have been statistical. All of them reach the conclusion that there is no link between autism and vaccines. The truly amazing thing is that the first requirement for such a statistical study is a control group. There has never been a published study that includes the one control group that is needed, the group of unvaccinated children. This is symptomatic of a mindset which is:<br />
<br />
We know that there is no link between vaccines and autism. Now let's prove it.<br />
<br />
This mindset does two things, it listens to anything that supports the argument that there is no connection between autism and vaccines and it ignores anything that says that there might be a connection between autism and vaccines. Because of that mindset, the following are given specious arguments:<br />
<br />
The lack of any control group (unvaccinated children) measurement<br />
The change in the rate of autism <br />
The numerous documented pre (normal) and post (autistic) vaccine cases<br />
<br />
The lack of any control group measurement is a valid criticism. I have heard that it is too hard. It would not be ethical. I have heard mockery. I have heard that the Japanese MMR study had the control group (they only kept their control group free of the MMR vaccine (which only says that the unique ingredients of the MMR are not responsible for the autism rate). All of the arguments I have heard for not doing a measurement of the control group are specious.<br />
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The change in the rate of autism is said to be because of a change in diagnostics. I suppose that if you have nothing to fill the void that vaccines so naturally fills, this is just as good as any other explanation. But I was there when the autism bow wave hit. My son was at the front of it. If you want to say that I am not qualified to make that judgement, okay. Then perhaps you should accept the word of Michael Chez. In his book, Autism and Its Medical Management, he recounts a meeting of Pediatric Neurologists where a question was asked. "How many of you were treating autism 20 years ago." You can guess the rest. If the autism rate had been the same back then they would have known it. Autism represents a big change to pediatric practice. The argument that autism has always been around at the same rate that it exists today is specious. The change in the autism rate is real.<br />
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Post hoc ergo propter hoc. It is the identification of a logic error that says that just because two things happen one right after the other does not mean that one causes the other. True. But the pro-vax side takes this as proof that there is no relationship between autism and vaccines. It is just as much of a mistake to conclude that it means that there is no relationship as to conclude that there is. But when there are as many cases of autism following vaccination, post hoc ergo propter hoc sounds flippant. The relationship between vaccines and autism deserves more than simply pointing out the logic error and calling it wrong (logically it is not wrong, it is inconclusive). It deserves the measurement of the control group. <br />
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In a previous post, <u>Finally, a small break</u>, I referenced the work of Dr Rosemary Waring that showed that the ability of autistics to process tylenol through the system was far less than the norm. The mechanism for processing tylenol also handles a long list of other toxins for processing through the kidneys. If this list includes any of the vaccine ingredients do you think that this thread would be pulled? No, vaccines have to be protected. <br />
<br />
There have been numerous studies that show leakage across the blood gut barrier. Does it not make sense that if something causes leakage across the blood gut barrier there may also be leakage across the blood brain barrier. That possibility was pointed out by Andrew Wakefield. When Andrew Wakefield dry lab'ed his data he lost any credibility and leakage across the blood gut and blood brain barriers became wrong. Nobody can touch it any more whether he was right about leakage or not.<br />
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The problem with autism research is that it is not scientific. It never has been. It is political. Our children will pay dearly for this.EdR77203http://www.blogger.com/profile/06665780067578529248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4105353667174461594.post-85017000217922626162009-11-25T14:38:00.000-08:002009-11-25T14:38:29.780-08:00Autism holocaust denialFor me, the denial that there is an autism epidemic is the medical equivalent of denial of the holocaust. In the spirit of protecting the vaccine industry from any linkage to autism, the pro-vax side not only denies that vaccines may be linked to autism but denies that there even is an autism epidemic. What a wonderful country. If there is no autism epidemic then vaccines don't cause autism. Case closed. March on with impugnity. <br />
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But the denial is even more important than that. The pro-vax side has no explanation for an autism epidemic. They have no way to explain the countless number of children who have changed with the sickness brought on by the childhood vaccines from normal and healthy to autistic other than to say that it is a coincidence. They have no way to explain why the autism rate which was so low when I grew up in the 60's to 1/160 now. So, it has always been that way. Problem solved. <br />
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I have always kept this tidbit in the same place as the denial of the actual autism rate which the CDC did up until February 2007 when they finally admitted that the autism rate is not 1/2500. My son was in elementary school from 1992 to 1998. At the time in a school of 250 children there were 3 autistic children. The odds agains that happening with the autism rate being 1/2500 are absurd. If it were a statistical test, it would be well beyond significant. (And I should blindly believe what the medical community tells me about vaccines and autism?) <br />
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The denial has always fallen into that category. I was thirty years old when I witnessed my first example of autism on sixty minutes. Now if I want to find an autistic person besides my son, I simply look down the street. Just as with the CDC's autism rate, simple observation belies the autism epidemic denier's claim. Still, there are those who try to convince me that the autism rate has never changed. They have always been there. We have always had children change as toddlers from normal progress to autism. <br />
<br />
Now the University of California has come out with a study that shows that the autism epidemic is not a matter of diagnostics. It is real. <a href="http://journals.lww.com/epidem/pages/articleviewer.aspx?year=2009&issue=01000&article=00016&type=abstract">http://journals.lww.com/epidem/pages/articleviewer.aspx?year=2009&issue=01000&article=00016&type=abstract</a> But the autism epidemic deniers will attack it because it is so important that there is no link between autism and vaccines. <br />
<br />
This is what happens when you start with the conclusion and look only for the evidence to support it.EdR77203http://www.blogger.com/profile/06665780067578529248noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4105353667174461594.post-13125201393235497532009-11-15T15:28:00.000-08:002009-11-15T15:28:36.247-08:00Losing the ability to hold a pencilAt the end of fourth grade, David suffered another setback. He lost the ability to hold a pencil. Prior to this, and on his IEP, we insisted that David write in cursive script because he could. His handwriting, while not beautiful, was legible. <br />
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I cannot say how David felt about this since he was not verbal enough to express his dismay. I was ready to cry. I felt like what was David was being stripped away piece by piece by some unknown assailant. While I held my tongue, inwardly I was seething. I had nothing I could do about it. There was no known cause. I had nothing to go after. I was ready to cry in dispair.<br />
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It is an interesting side note that David had had the Hepatitis B shot just prior to losing the ability to hold a pencil. I did not know this until later when I examined his shot records. I can only conclude that there is a temporal relationship between the Hep-B vaccine and David's loss of the ability to hold a pencil. I cannot conclude that there is a causal relationship but contrary to what the medical community would have me believe, I cannot conclude that there is no relationship. <br />
On the one hand:<br />
David had had shots before without any apparent side effects.<br />
David had lost abilities before without any shots.<br />
On the other hand:<br />
The loss of ability to hold a pencil occurred within days of having the Hep-B shot.<br />
The medical community has made a dog's dinner of their proof that there is no relationship between vaccines and autism by not taking any measure of the control group, i.e. the people who have never been vaccinated.<br />
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In desparation, I started giving David glutathione again. I cannot say that the glutathione is what did it, but by the fall when David returned to fifth grade, David was able to hold a pencil again. His ability to hold the pencil did not compare to what he was able to do before just as the return of his ability to add and subtract did not return to his previous level. Nevertheless, I was grateful for any improvement. <br />
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Would David have had any recovery without the glutathione? I concede that this is possible, but I have to say that it is not likely. Glutathione brought about another major change in David at the end of seventh grade. The change was so profound that only a fool would ignore it.EdR77203http://www.blogger.com/profile/06665780067578529248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4105353667174461594.post-58824453797305007772009-11-07T21:23:00.000-08:002009-11-07T21:23:55.759-08:00Finally, a small breakMy hat is off to Dr Rosemary Waring. She was the first I saw who identified something different about autistic children. I am not saying that she was the first to do so, only that she was the first one whom I saw who showed that there really is something medically different about autistic children. She showed that autistic children are statistical outliers when it comes to processing tylenol through the system. It is this discovery and my desparation that led me to try glutathione. <br />
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I was, and to a huge extent still am woefully ignorant when it comes to anything medical. When I tried glutathione, I tried it with glutamine. I had read that glutamine helped retarded children so I thought it might help David. I also read that autistic children had low levels of glutathione. My thought at the time was that the reason for slow processing of tylenol through the system was that autistic children have low levels of glutathione. So I gave him glutathione at the same time. This was done after researching the toxicity of each of these. They are not toxic. I figured that I did not really have a chance of any of this working, but I also knew that none of this would cause any harm. <br />
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And yet David started to do arithmetic. He was actually adding and subtracting numbers. He was slow. But slow is a huge jump from not able at all. I will not even say that he was as far as he was in the first grade. He wasn't. At the time, I figured that it must be the glutamine. After all, that was what was supposed to help retarded children. I stopped giving David glutathione and continued with glutamine. It was wonderful. David did not stop adding and subtracting. I was hopefult that the glutamine was doing something. It was not much of a change. David still needed constant supervision to do his homework. David still needed ritalin to stay under control in class. David still was no bright star in class. He still had trouble associating with other children. He was still my "W'appen boy". But he could finally add and subtract. What a change.<br />
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Before any reflexive detractors start, let me beat you to it. It is entirely possible, maybe even likely that David would have started adding and subtracting without glutamine and glutathione. Of course. I was not convinced that anything I gave David did anything for him. Now, though, I have reason to think that the glutathione might have helped.EdR77203http://www.blogger.com/profile/06665780067578529248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4105353667174461594.post-39173194397955859092009-10-25T13:00:00.000-07:002009-10-25T13:00:56.886-07:00The decision to look for something moreBefore I begin talking about my decision to look for something more, I should talk about David's state of being when he started fourth grade. There were a number of different aspects to this and they can only be enumerated:<br />
<br />
1. David still could not do math. He could not add past 5 consistently without counting on his fingers.<br />
2. David had lost his prodigious spelling ability. Being able to look at a word and remember how to spell it was gone. His spelling, while one of the high points in the Individualized Education Program (IEP), was only mediocre. It was a struggle for him to learn new words.<br />
3. David required ritalin to attend in class. Without it, David would be disruptive. David did not like ritalin. I didn't either. When he got home, we did not give any further doses. He would start to crash at about 5 o'clock which was when I got home from work. From 5 to 7 o'clock was kept free of anything except for dinner. Homework began at seven when the ritalin crash was over.<br />
4. David perseverated when he got upset. He became the "W'appen" boy. Each time he got upset, and homework upset him a lot, there would be a long string of "What happens if" questions. Once that started, it was difficult to steer him away from them and get him back on task. <br />
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What happens if I don't do it?<br />
You don't get that choice.<br />
What happens if I get that choice and I don't do it?<br />
You have to do it anyway.<br />
What happens if I can't?<br />
I will teach you so you can.<br />
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I am not sure just how long David could have kept this up. I only know that it was longer than I could. It was a daily struggle to keep him away from perseveration and on task when he was doing his homework. <br />
5. It was every bit as painful for David to maintain eye contact with his homework as it was to give eye contact with me. I often had to cradle him in my arms and hold his finger in place to point at the homework. Still, he would drift off task and I would have to bring him back on. His homework typically took 2 to 3 hours each night to get through. <br />
6. David's reading and writing were dismal. He could not maintain any coherence to his thoughts. He could not stay on task long enough to allow him to read more than a paragraph at a time. He could not stay on task long enough to write more than 3 sentences at a time even with me there to help him through. Each year when the other children were progressing David remained back at first grade abilities. <br />
7. After two years of trying, I could not say that David made any significant progress in his math abilities since he suffered his skill losses at the beginning of second grade. <br />
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I would be lying if I said that there was never any time when I was ready to give up. All of this repetitive work, all of the disruptions David would create, the time away from the rest of my family were hard. In that time I came to a few conclusions.<br />
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1. ABA and other behavior methods were extremely time consuming. They required more time than I or the school could rightly devote. <br />
2. The efficacy of ABA and other behavior methods depends on the receptiveness of the child's brain.<br />
3. That receptiveness is a medical issue. <br />
4. While ABA and other behavior methods have given us a tool these methods are not the final answer.<br />
5. The next breakthrough in autism has to be medical.<br />
6. The medical community only has their psychiatric drugs to manage the behavior of autistic children and adults. Each of these drugs has a long list of side effects. These side effects can be serious including suicide, addiction and seizures.<br />
<br />
I could see the day when David would no longer be manageable at home, when my wife and I would be too old to care for him, when he would be too disruptive for his brother or sister to take him in, when he still could not handle life well enough to care for himself. I wanted more for him. The place to look could only be in medicine. <br />
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The medical community research has been dismal, with the largest block of research time dedicated to proving that autism and vaccines are not related. I realize that this is almost slanderous since starting with the conclusion and working backward is not how research should ever be done. If you start with the conclusion that 1=2 then you can find proof of it. The most damning thing about modern medicine's autism research is that in the 20 years since my son's diagnosis there has been no medical progress. I have done enough medical research to know that there are medical differences between autistics and the rest of the population. With medical differences there should be medical tests that can be run to diagnose autism. I know of no such test.<br />
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There it was. If I wanted to see a breakthrough with David it had to be medical. Back then, I concluded that I would not get any such breakthrough out of the medical community. To date, the medical community has done nothing to prove that conclusion wrong. If David was to have any medical change it would have to be through my own effort. I reluctantly decided to start looking. It was an insane decision. I knew less about medicine than I knew about Arabic script. I felt like I was looking for gold in the Himilayas without knowing what color it was. Still, I ran across other clueless prospectors searching for something more. I also ran across medicine men who felt like, while they had no more than their psychiatric drugs to offer, I had no business trying anything that was not approved by the medical community. Medicine men may sound derogatory, but that was and still is the level of medicine for autistic issues. <br />
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If you are a doctor or a medical researcher and you sneer at this decision, know this: You have nothing to offer besides your psychiatric drugs and I am not looking for a management tool. You deride anyone who says that there could be a link between autism and vaccines, yet you can offer no other explanation for autism. You can't even come up with a diagnostic test for autism. Explicitly or implicitly stated, your answer is for us to live with it. I chose to reject that answer and even if David had made no progress I would have no regrets for that decision.EdR77203http://www.blogger.com/profile/06665780067578529248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4105353667174461594.post-64006847453877625542009-10-11T13:25:00.000-07:002009-10-11T13:25:49.456-07:00Criticism from the right, correct and knowledgeableBack in the Dark Ages, the earth was the center of the universe and it was heresy to say otherwise. The mathematicians of the day managed to predict star positions using this theory with accuracy of 2%. Using such a theory it would be possible to navigate by the stars and get from Barcelona to Rome. If Galileo had gone to navigator and told him that his theory was all wrong but he could not tell the navigator how to get from Barcelona to Rome, the navigator's response would be for Galileo to come back when he had a better answer. While Galileo knew that the earth was not the center of the universe, he also knew that the earth and other planets revolved around the sun. That was something on which the world could build. Later with Galileo's knowledge, we could navigate by the stars from Barcelona to Rome. <br />
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I wish the medical community had that much to offer the autism community. To date, they can only tell us that it is not vaccines, it is not metals. When I hear ideas that a potent neurotoxin that is routinely added as a preservative to infant vaccinations might be to blame, that idea ranks as plausible though unproven. The medical community and the "scientists" called the idea absurd from the start. Why? It threatened one of the pillars of the medical arts, vaccinations. On the other hand, I have heard other ideas such as:<br />
<br />
There is no epidemic. It is all in the diagnostics. Can you imagine how the medical community would react if someone were to say that there is no AIDS epidemic. The AIDS epidemic does not threaten the vaccination program so I expect that any such statement would get a vociferous response. <br />
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Apoptotic cell death. Apoptotic cell death is programmed cell death. The same doctor I heard come up with this one decried the possibility that vaccines could be related to autism as impossible. I rank this one with spontaneous combustion.<br />
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My message to the medical community is two fold. First while chelation, HBO, GF-CF diets may not work, the best way to sweep them out of the public's mind is to come up with something that works. And no, your psychiatric drugs only make the autistic person more manageable. They do not make them better. Second, I have my own ideas about what autism is and while I acknowledge that they can be just as wrong the geocentric theory of the Dark Ages, my son had figuratively navigated from Barcelona to Rome after being stuck on a sand bar for several years. Is there any among the scientists and medical community who would claim that he/she could have done as well?<br />
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I don't hold out much hope for the medical research community. The work of Dr Rosemary Waring ties autism back to the trans-sulfation processes. It is too easy to tie the trans-sulfation processes back to the mercury, the aluminum, the formaldehyde used in vaccinations. It is a thread that I predict will not be pulled. The medical community is unequivocal, dogmatic, and obstreperous about the lack of a link between autism and vaccinations. <br />
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In fourth grade, David had not made any progress since he had his skill losses. ABA and other behavioral therapies are a godsend to the autism community. They work. But they only work to the extent that the autistic brain is receptive to them. Like so many other parents, I had to seek out something more than behavioral therapy. Unlike the "scientists", I do not blame parents for going to vitamin therapy, chelation, HBO, GF-CF or other therapies even though I know that their efficacy is questionable. I have been in these parents' shoes. <br />
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David is still autistic. But he is functional. He drives. He can socialize. He is studying electrical engineering in college and doing well. I do not claim that what I did with him would work for any other autistic child. Still, there are going to be those among you who after reading this history will say that what I did with him had nothing to do with his progress. I expect that because while in no way does it prove a link between autism and vaccines, it comes too close to that implication. Have a ball and trash my son's history if you must. But understand this. In fourth grade, David was not functional. Now he is. Some of the transitions were miraculous. No amount of trashing will take that away. I accept that I may be navigating following the stars with a geocentric theory. It does not matter. David and I got where we needed to go. So while I explain the history you can say what you want, secure in the knowledge that I can only be wrong. I am secure in the knowledge that with nothing to offer you could not have done better.EdR77203http://www.blogger.com/profile/06665780067578529248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4105353667174461594.post-8027228590355520232009-09-04T17:09:00.000-07:002009-09-04T17:09:24.621-07:00It is all in the statisticsThe medical community and a host of others claim that the proof is out there if we would only look. There is no connection between autism and vaccines. For those of us who have looked and for those of us who have not looked, the proof offered is statistical. As an engineer, I have learned about statistics and about the design of statistical experiments. So if I were looking to see if there is a relationship between autism and vaccines, (note I said relationship, not causal relationship) I would do the obvious experiment. I would compare the rate of autism among those the vaccinated population and the unvaccinated population. We already know the autism rate in the general population, at least to an approximation at 1 out of 160 children are autistic. With the rate of unvaccinated children being so low, the autism rate among the vaccinated children will be similar to what they are in the general population. (This assumes that the reader is willing to say that the autism rate does not increase with decreasing vaccinations.) What is missing are the statistics among unvaccinated children. <br />
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I am always amazed at the reaction among the pro-vax community when I say that we should take statistics on the autism rate among unvaccinated children. Among the reactions are:<br />
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1. Nothing we say is going to convince you... At this point that is true. I will not be convinced that anything has been proven statistically when no data has been collected from the control group. This is fundamental statistics and I do not feel that it is unreasonable to require a sample of the unvaccinated population.<br />
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2. Leave science to the scientists, You know nothing, ... If you want to say that I do not know medicine, not a problem. I am an engineer, not a doctor. But I know what a control group is and I know what its purpose is. I know that it is fundamental in the statistical search for the truth. I know that the "scientists" have never taken a sample of the unvaccinated autism rate and published it. What puzzles me is why not. No, I am not a conspiracy nut. I believe in the addage "Never ascribe to malice what can be explained by ignorance or stupidity." Missing this fundamental piece in the thesis that says that there is no connection between autism and vaccines is for me - really stupid.<br />
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3. It would be unethical .... No. It would not be. There are many parents who refuse to vaccinate their children. There are whole groups who do not vaccinate their children. This is being done without any coersion. Coersion would be unethical. (Though there are some who believe that all children should be vaccinated and that there should be laws enforcing this. That, of course is coersion.) Samples of unvaccinate children can be gotten without coersion. If the unvaccinated children showed a lower autism rate, would publishing that information be unethical? I don't think so, but I would not be surprised to find people who think that way.<br />
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4. Mockery .... You really think I am stupid for wanting to know the autism rate among the control group, the unvaccinated population?<br />
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5. This was measured in the Japanese MMR study.... No it was not. The unvaccinated in the Japanese study were not vaccinated with the MMR. They were still vaccinated with other vaccines. That disqualifies that population from the control group.<br />
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6. It is way too hard.... I think it is too hard to get past the committees. It is hard to get the pro-vax community to take this simple step. It is hard to get the pro-vax community to see the obvious value of such a survey. It can be done and it is worth the effort. <br />
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7. It would be biased toward the poor, who can't get vaccines, who can't afford the wonders of modern medicine...... Since when is autism biased toward the very poor, or the very rich for that matter? The poor in this country are vaccinated. You can't exclude children from school because they can't afford the vaccines that are mandatory for participation for public schools and therefore there are programs everywhere to make sure it happens.<br />
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Hey you scientists, the ones I should leave this debate to, the ones who are smarter than I am, I am calling you. You understand - control group, science, they go together. Do you understand that the autism rates among the unvaccinated should have been collected at the beginning of the debate? Do you understand that control group measurements are scientific? Do you understand that any argument to the contrary is specious?<br />
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The statistics are out there if we would only look. The first place to look is before vaccines. Before the great vaccine push, the CDC was saying that the autism rate was 4/10000. Now it is 1/160. The correct inference from this is that there is a chronological relationship between autism and vaccines. Note that this is not a causal relationship. You can show a chronological relationship between autism and electronics. The inference that electronics causes autism can't be drawn either. But then there are the Somalis in Minnesota. When they came to the US they had no word for autism. They do now. This is a group that went from no vaccines to the US rate of vaccines and from no autism to the US rate of autism. It is hard to explain away but there are a lot of spokesmen for the pro-vax side who try. <br />
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Some would say that I should have faith in the medical community and the vaccination program. Our children are hurt by being wrong saying that vaccines cause autism when it does not or by saying that vaccines do not cause autism when it does. There is too much at stake. I will not back off from saying that the autism rate among the unvaccinated should be scientifically measured.EdR77203http://www.blogger.com/profile/06665780067578529248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4105353667174461594.post-89215293161076446162009-08-29T21:00:00.000-07:002009-08-29T21:00:23.519-07:00Evidence of a differenceThe realization that autism had to advance medically was painful. David had participated in getting a law passed here in Colorado that defined autism as a medical condition. This effort might have been good for getting the insurance companies to participate in autism treatment, but it did nothing to get the medical community to see autism as anything more than another psychiatric condition. Medically, an autistic child was exactly the same as any other child. And then there were Dr Rosemary Waring and Dr Margaret Bauman. <br />
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Doctor Bauman performed autopsies on autistic brains. <br />
Bauman, M.L. and Kemper, T.L. (1994) Neuroanatomic observations of the brain in autism, in The Neurobiology of Autism (Bauman, M.L. and Kemper, T.L., eds), pp. 119-145. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore. <br />
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She found that there was an abnormality concerning the number of the purkinje cells in the brain. She also showed that the size of the amygdala was different. The amygdala was smaller in children like David and where the amygdala was enlarged that child was profoundly autistic. This was interesting. It was a start. It showed that there was something medically different between autistic children and other children. On the other hand, I had no clue what a purkinje cell was, what it did or why the size of the amygdala should be different in autistic children. Further, I could see no way to exploit that information in any way that might help David. Even saying as much as I have said now taxes my knowledge beyond any background I might claim. <br />
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And then there was Dr Rosemary Waring. When I first read about her, she was performing experiments with children and Tylenol (though they do not call it tylenol in England). Autistic children are statistical outliers in how long they take to process tylenol through the blood stream and out the kidneys. This led to the discovery of a lack of PST, phenol-sulfur-transferase, in autistic children. Perhaps that would explain why David took so long to get over the anesthesia stupor he suffered after the MRI. <br />
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It is another thing that is medically different among autistic children. This would seem like something that could be exploited to make autistic children better. Sadly, I have seen nothing in the autism medical bag that even acknowledges this difference. At the least, that fact that autistic children are statistical outliers in how long they take to process tylenol through the blood stream could be used as a medical marker to see if a child is autistic. They could use that or one of several aspects of this condition. Instead, medical science funds phrenology as a means for determining if a child is autistic and trumpets it as a triumph in Newsweek. <a href="http://www.newsweek.com/id/57987">http://www.newsweek.com/id/57987</a> <br />
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But it was the discovery that there are low levels of glutatathione in autistic children that intrigued me the most. More on that in the next blog entry.EdR77203http://www.blogger.com/profile/06665780067578529248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4105353667174461594.post-21350454826316147462009-08-23T09:09:00.000-07:002009-08-23T20:19:09.210-07:00The Politics of AutismSome of the mothers of autistics with whom David grew up work the politics of public care for our children. They have been doing so since David was diagnosed. Indeed, David was part of one of the bills they worked so hard to get passed. When David was young, they were fighting for health care coverage to handle the treatment issues associated with autism. They were fighting for respite care that would allow parents a break in the strenuous care that goes with many autistic children. They fought for inclusion and school services that would allow their children to be educated to the extent that they could be educated. Now they are fighting for the places for their adult children who are not capable of taking care of themselves.<br /><br />You holocost deniers should take note of the sequence of events. First it was health care, inclusion and respite care. Now it is the halfway houses and other locations that can care for their children when they are gone. If the autistics were always there then the need that drove the politics would also have always been there. I say this tongue in cheek. Holocost deniers believe with blind faith. They ignore anything that incoveniently indicates that their faith might be wrong. You holocost deniers can ignore the sequence of events since you will do so anyway.<br /><br />The individual states are cringing over the budget impacts that this is going to have, especially in the face of bad economic times and looming deficits. The impact of 380,000 autistic adults is expected to the 27 billion per year. See the Washington Post article. <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/03/AR2009040303169.html?referrer=emailarticle">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/03/AR2009040303169.html?referrer=emailarticle</a><br />In that case, they are thinking that it will be $71,000 per year per adult autistic person on average. I hope that is all.<br /><br />The logistics are going to be difficult. Finding a place for our children will be just as difficult as finding prison space. I did not choose that comparison lightly. There will be legal issues associated with housing adults who cannot take care of themselves and who cannot be legally held on any campus designed for their care. In our NIMBY culture, there will be people who do not want any such campus in their neighborhood. I don't know where we will get the people who can care for the adult autistic population. So many of the ones who could are caring for the next crop of autistic children.<br /><br />The only way out of this is to find a cure, or more likely, a way to prevent autism. That requires medical research. And that is a field that is replete with politics.EdR77203http://www.blogger.com/profile/06665780067578529248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4105353667174461594.post-77968925565679888962009-08-22T07:45:00.000-07:002009-08-22T09:07:03.882-07:00Autism has to advance medically if it is to move aheadThe period from second grade to fourth grade was one of stagnation. The rest of the class progressed from second grade in mentality, maturity and capability. David was left behind starting at a first grade level. David's gross motor and fine motor issues meant that he did not mature in the aspect of physical abilities. David could not keep up with the rest of the children on the playground either.<br /><br />When I discussed this with my sister, Grace, I learned that children with disabilities often forget what they had previously learned. But when they do, they relearn with the same facility that they had learned it in the first place. That clearly was not David's case. Something had happened. There had been no blow to the head. The tests at Children's Hospital ruled out heavy metal poisoning. There was nothing to go on except the fact that David was and is autistic.<br /><br />David stagnated. He could not focus well enough to read by himself. He could not do homework by himself. He still could not add past 5 without counting on his fingers. He could not multiply or divide. His prodigious ability to spell went away so that he was barely keeping up with the spelling lessons. No ABA methods, no speech therapy, no occupational therapy, no behavioral therapy could have put David back to where he had been in first grade.<br /><br />The reader is free to disagree with me on this and that is fine. But during that painful period I reached one conclusion. David's loss had a medical reason and had to be treated medically. The problem was and is the same. Modern medicine has no clue what to do about autism. All they can do is to treat autistic children with the same drugs that they use to treat people with mental illnesses. Indeed, that is how doctors treat our autistic children if they treat them at all. The drugs that are used for the treatment of mental illness have major side effects. Some are addictive so that you cannot simply withdraw from the treatment. If you ask one of the doctors who administers these drugs just how the drug works you get "Well, we think it..." That gets us back to the bottom line. Modern medicine has no clue what autism is beyond what the symptoms are. There is no medical test for autism. It can only be diagnosed symptomatically. There is no medical treatment for autism. Autistic children are treated with the same medicines with which schizophrenics are treated.<br /><br />One of the drugs that was prescribed for David was wellbutrin. If you go to <a href="http://www.pdrhealth.com/drugs/rx/rx-mono.aspx?contentFileName=Wel1488.html&contentName=Wellbutrin&contentId=637">http://www.pdrhealth.com/drugs/rx/rx-mono.aspx?contentFileName=Wel1488.html&contentName=Wellbutrin&contentId=637</a> you will see several things. First is that <strong>they think</strong> that this works as a reuptake inhibitor for dopamine and norepinephrine. The second thing is that its effects are different on different people. The third is that it can be addictive. The fourth is that it can cause insomnia. You should know that David had sleep issues where he slept for about 4 hours a night. Fifth, it can cause tremors. David inherited tremors from me and he did not need anything adding to it. Sixth, it can cause seizures. That was one of the few autistic symptoms that David did not have. He needs a drug that can push him over that edge? I threw the wellbutrin away and we never went back.<br /><br />I have seen the rants about quacks who give hyperbaric oxygen, chelation, B12, and other things. But even though doctors do not understand what wellbutrin does, even though it has some major side effects, even though it was clearly contraindicated for David the wellbutrin prescription was sanctioned medicine and therefore okay. In the field of autism, modern medicine is no better than the quacks. And for all of this, behavioral therapy has taken autism about as far as it can go. The next advance in autism has to be medical.EdR77203http://www.blogger.com/profile/06665780067578529248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4105353667174461594.post-20948847547703502862009-08-01T20:08:00.000-07:002009-08-01T20:26:09.647-07:00What about God?I don't count myself as a devout atheist. At the same time I don't have faith in any particular religion. It is true now and it was true then. But for a while, David saw God as the only means by which he could return to what was. For that he had me take him to a nearby church where he could learn about God and perhaps learn how he could have God give him back what he had lost. <br />The parishoners sequestered David with their children while they went to their individual worship. I stayed with David, sitting in the background and out of the way. David learned enough social skills that he could relate and play with the other children. In a reversal of roles, I sat by myself, not interacting with the others who were taking care of the children. I was the one who felt like I did not belong. <br />David had come to the church apparently so that he could get back what he had lost. Seeing that he was not getting what he was looking for, he lost interest and he stopped having me take him to the local church. As for me, I had looked to the schools, to medicine to see if I could return David's lost skills to him. I did not expect to find any solutions in church either. I was pretty depressed over it.EdR77203http://www.blogger.com/profile/06665780067578529248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4105353667174461594.post-47891354688078274662009-07-22T19:33:00.000-07:002009-07-22T19:53:13.395-07:00Believing Religiously wrt AutismThe vaccine debate has always fascinated me, mainly because the debate is so polarizing that people on both sides of the debate believe religiously, zealously and fanatically that vaccines do or do not cause autism.<br /><br />I have seen people who believe that there is no genetic connection to autism - it is all environmental even though: The identical twin studies show otherwise; Autism runs in families like mine; Certain genes have been tied to the prevalence of autism.<br /><br />I have seen people who believe that there is no way autism and vaccines can be linked even though: All of the studies have been done statistically; Not one of the statistical studies has taken a measure of the control group, i.e., the people who have not been vaccinated; The only measure of the control group occurred before vaccines and that showed a much lower rate.<br /><br />I have seen people who believe that there is no autism epidemic even though: The CDC says there is; The Ethiopians in Minnesota who suffered the autism epidemic when they came to the US had previously had no word for autism; The California school statistics says that there is; No autism epidemic would say that in families with autism, not only our sons and daughters would have autism but our brothers, sisters, aunts and uncles would also have autism.<br /><br />The autism-vaccine debate has become so polarized that it is more a matter of faith, not a dispassionate observation. This does not bode well for our children.EdR77203http://www.blogger.com/profile/06665780067578529248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4105353667174461594.post-44187012097283726642009-07-17T19:17:00.000-07:002009-07-17T19:39:37.413-07:00The MRITwo questions were: What happened? What can be done about it. I had never heard about anyone, autistic or otherwise who had lost skills like David had. Our pediatrician referred David to one of the pediatric neurologists in Children's Hospital here in Denver. The neurologist took blood samples, urine samples and hair samples and ordered an MRI done on David. The MRI required that David remain still. To keep him still, he was anesthetized. The MRI on his brain was done to look at his brain structure. <br /><br />When David awoke from his anesthesia, he was still drunk from it. He could hardly walk. I did not understand it. I had been through anesthesia and never felt as high as he seemed to when I woke up. But I carried David to the car with the assurance that he would come out of it soon. When I got home David needed to go to the bathroom. He was still staggering. He missed the bowl and was hitting the wall behind the toilet. I had to help him. It was hard to imagine someone coming out of anesthesia like David did, especially being only seven years old. I had heard that when old people come out of anesthesia, sometimes they can take a long time to get over the effects. Now that I know that there are physiological differences between autistics and the normal population, this behavior after anesthesia makes more sense.<br /><br />The MRI showed that David's amygdala was slightly smaller than normal. The ped-neuro explained that this is normal among autistics and that if it was swollen, then David would be profoundly autistic. It is another physiological difference between autistics and the normal population. <br /><br />Finally, David showed no signs of heavy metal poisoning or anything else that might explain why David suffered the skill losses that he did. <br /><br />Years later, David solved this medical mystery that plagued him and I would relive this chapter of my life over and over.EdR77203http://www.blogger.com/profile/06665780067578529248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4105353667174461594.post-47992105319715534222009-07-05T14:35:00.000-07:002009-07-20T19:53:00.862-07:00How do I be God?I have to say that I was in shock at what had happened to David. He went from a gifted and talented, albeit autistic, child to one who simply could not retain anything that was taught to him.<br /><br />David, do you know what 6 + 7 is?<br /><br />Uh, no.<br /><br />I tried using counters so that he could see how they could be manipulated so that visually 6 + 7 would be 13. After I the manipulation, I said,<br /><br />See, it's 13.<br /><br />Oh.<br /><br />Thirty seconds later I asked him again,<br /><br />What's 6 + 7?<br /><br />I don't know!<br /><br />And David cried. At the time, David would have to be very emotional before he would say anything more than a few words. This was more than he could bear.<br /><br />Dad, how do I go back?<br /><br />How do you go back where David?<br /><br />How do I go back to being a baby?<br /><br />At that point I knew that David understood that he had lost something and I wanted to cry with him, not only for what he had lost, but because I was afraid that this was only the start. Something had bitten off a piece of what had been David and I was afraid that that shark was still lurking in the water.<br /><br />You can't go back, David.<br /><br />I have to!<br /><br />You can't and I can't do that for you.<br /><br />Who can?!<br /><br />Only God can, David.<br /><br />How do I be God?<br /><br />You can't be God, David. Only God is God.<br /><br />The arithmetic lesson was over and for the next two hours, I learned the meaning of the word perseverative. David's math abilities were gone and replaced with perseverative behavior.EdR77203http://www.blogger.com/profile/06665780067578529248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4105353667174461594.post-46934616852168998502009-06-27T10:07:00.000-07:002009-06-27T10:22:33.010-07:00Oh what a changeIn late September of second grade, David changed, and not for the better. Here was a kid who, though autistic, was in many ways far ahead of the rest of the class. David had been able to add with carry, subtract with borrow, knew multiplication tables and was emerging with division. He knew negative numbers. He had been a prodigious speller, in that he would see a word and just know how to spell it. All of that dissappeared. If David wanted to add past five, he had to use his fingers. Spelling became a struggle for him, though he was able to keep up with the rest of the class. <br /><br />It was one of the hardest times of his and consequently my life. I had been advised that sometimes learning disabled children forget what they learned. But when they do, they should relearn what they lost with the same facility that they had learned before. David had absorbed math and spelling like a sponge without any intervention required. He was not relearning what he had lost. It was clear in my mind. Something changed with David. I just did not know what. The math and the spelling ability were a part of him. David had lost it and he knew it.EdR77203http://www.blogger.com/profile/06665780067578529248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4105353667174461594.post-62460214702993937072009-03-20T19:57:00.000-07:002009-03-20T20:22:16.665-07:00What a beautiful time 1st grade wasA lot of things happened in first grade. David was blossoming. He was learning how to talk. He was participating in class. He was learning how to read. I read to him all the time. We could let him out the door and watch him walk down to the cross walk where the crossing guard would escort him and other children across the street. He was able to spell just from seeing the word. And best of all to an engineer like me, he was at the top of his class in math. He could add with carry, subtract with borrow. He knew the difference between negative and positive numbers. He just about had his multiplication and division tables down. He had gotten through the issue of not sleeping through the night. For the father of an autistic child, I was in heaven.<br /><br />David's teacher was getting a master's degree. One of the classes that she took was a class on teaching children with disabilities like cerebral palsy, Down's syndrome, fetal alcohol syndrome, mental retardation and autism. She asked me to come talk to the class to talk about what it was like to raise an autistic child. I agreed. I had a lot to talk about. I felt that I would not wish autism on anyone, but if you had to have an autistic child, David was the one you would want.<br /><br />I came to her night class with a set of 3x5 cards. Each of them had a subject on it that I could discuss in the class. I was scheduled for 45 minutes of the hour and 15 minute class. I took an hour and 10 minutes. I could have gone for another hour. The class was pleased. David's was a story of a very positive progression in spite of being autistic. It was uplifting for everyone including me. We all cheered for David at the end of the class. I had no idea what David and as a result, the rest of us were in for.EdR77203http://www.blogger.com/profile/06665780067578529248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4105353667174461594.post-10806119364412707202009-02-27T16:57:00.000-08:002009-03-01T08:12:43.513-08:00Exogenous or endogenousI pose this question to the autism community. Is autism exogenous or endogenous to the brain? That is, is the cause or the origin of autism external to the brain or is the cause inside the brain. Are the brain issues from something happening inside the brain or do they originate from a condition outside the brain?<br /><br />For many this question will be meaningless. For others, it may even be threatening. But for you in the autism community who play bridge, it is a trick question. For those of us who play bridge, we often play hands where the only way to make them is for the cards to lie a certain way. When that happens, the professionals who write bridge columns in the newspaper tell you that if the cards have to lie a certain way to make the hand you assume that the cards lie that way and play to win.<br /><br />If autism is endogenous, then everything lies behind the blood brain barrier. Any drug or treatment that would be applied to an autistic individual has to penetrate the blood brain barrier without compromising it. To compromise the blood brain barrier to treat autism is to fix one problem while causing another. Gene therapy is a long time away and may not happen in my lifetime or even my autistic son's lifetime. The assumption that autism is endogenous is a losing assumption, even if it is right.<br /><br />On the other hand, if autism or its symptoms are exogenous then they lie outside the blood brain barrier and therefore are treatable. It would then be possible for effective medical treatment to be found in my lifetime and the lifetime of my son. That makes the assumptim that autism is exogenous a winning assumption, even if it is wrong. When it comes to autism, I want to play to win.<br /><br />Fortunately, there are indicators that autism or at least some of its symptoms are exogenous. The first indicator that I saw came from Dr. Rosemary Waring. She measured how long it took autistic children to process tylenol through their bloodstreams and out through their kidneys. Autistic children were almost without exception statistical outliers taking statistically impossible times given they were part of the normal population. Autistics, like alzheimers, parkinson's, down's syndrome, Lou Gehrig's, alcoholic's dementia all have abnormalities in glutathione levels with the levels being low. The reason for the GFCF diet is that peptide products were found in the urine of many autistic children. These peptides belong locked up in the intestines and not in the blood stream. If the blood gut barrier is compromised, does it not also stand to reason that the blood brain barrier could also be compromised? Note that all of these are occurring outside the brain and therefore they should be treatable.<br /><br />This posting is meant to inform the reader of my opinion. Autism is most likely exogenous and therefore should be medically treatable. Indicators are not proof, but I will not try to prove this. The exogenous assumption is a winning assumption and the endogenous assumption is a losing assumption. For my son's sake I will only bet on the exogenous assumption.EdR77203http://www.blogger.com/profile/06665780067578529248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4105353667174461594.post-28200343030491137102009-02-22T12:48:00.000-08:002009-02-22T13:00:25.008-08:00At the Day Treatment CenterWhen David was four, we moved him from Developmental Pathways to the Day Treatment Center. It was more expensive. It meant that we would have to take him there ourselves. It meant a far greater commitment on our part than we were required with Developmental Pathways. But Yvette and I felt that David would have more intensive and more productive intervention at the Day Treatment Center. When an opening came up we moved David in.<br /><br />I took David to his first day at the center myself. I was there to introduce him to his new environment, to the other students, to the teachers. When I set David down though one of the other children walked over to David and bopped him. I was surprised at this. But David did not cry. He just acted as if nothing happened. It was an inauspicious beginning, but the rest of the day went fairly well. <br /><br />I had potty trained David and the staff was delighted. David was used as the older sibling who helped show the others how it was done. Movies were taken of David being taught how to take turns, and socialize with other children. I have to say that David got a lot out of the center and that without that experience, school would have been a lot harder.EdR77203http://www.blogger.com/profile/06665780067578529248noreply@blogger.com0