Autism Vox

46 opinions for Beautiful, Precious and Happy: Katherine McCarron

• Autism Blog Web Design Blog: » Katie McCarron
  Jun 12, 2006 at 3:14 pm

  […] UPDATE: Stephen at Not Dead Yet also received some photo’s of Katie, as did Kristina. […]

• squaregirl
  Jun 12, 2006 at 3:27 pm

  What a truly beautiful and girl. Thank you Kristina and to the McCarron family for sharing these with us.

• squaregirl
  Jun 12, 2006 at 3:28 pm

  ETA: What a truly beautiful and PRECIOUS girl. Thank you Kristina and the McCarron family for sharing these with us.

• Kristina Chew, PhD
  Jun 12, 2006 at 4:27 pm

  Thank you, Square Girl—–Thanks most of all to the McCarrons for sharing Katie with us.

• A. Temple
  Jun 12, 2006 at 6:11 pm

  Thank you, this is precisely what we have been looking for.

• Don M
  Jun 13, 2006 at 6:10 am

  My grand daughter has just been diagnosed with autism…and just five months ago my daughter called me in a fit of anger threatening to kill her. My wife and I told her…and we still would do it we will take her but whatever you do don’t hurt her…We have her step children and her husband watching her constantly…and my fear is that she will read this and think this is the way out. Katie was a baeutiful child…thanks for sharing her with us. And for the media who thinks killing an innocent child is mercy one can only hope that some day they dont have a child or grand child with autism.

• WIMN’s Voices: A Group Blog on Women, Media, AND… » Blog Archive » Mothers Who Kill
  Jun 13, 2006 at 8:30 am

  […] Photos of Katie McCarron have been made available to the online community several places, including on Kristina Chew’s blog, Autism Vox. Provided by Katie’s grandfather Michael McCarron, they show a happy little girl playing with toys; in one, a grinning Katie watches someone off-camera, a shimmering lake behind her. […]

• Bonnie Ventura
  Jun 13, 2006 at 8:31 am

  Don M., please call Child Protective Services today and tell them exactly what you have written here. I understand that you don’t want to cause trouble for your daughter, but you can’t rely on her stepchildren to prevent her from committing murder. If she is so dangerous that she needs to be watched constantly, then she needs a caseworker, a psychiatrist, and probably medication of some sort. The agency can also help to make arrangements for you to take custody of your granddaughter. Please don’t delay. And let us know what happens. We care.

• Don M
  Jun 13, 2006 at 9:50 am

  I did call them. In fact my wife and I drove over 1800 miles in 4 days with 13 hours cumulative sleep to try to convince them to send her home with us. Family services said that our complaint was unfounded. and they refused to allow us to take her home…I just hope that there investigation does not prove to be wrong.

• Kristina Chew, PhD
  Jun 13, 2006 at 2:11 pm

  Don M., please keep us informed about what is happened. What does your granddaughter’s father think about the situation?

• Don M
  Jun 14, 2006 at 4:57 am

  My daughter was diagnosed as bi-polar as a teenager. She refused to take her medication back then and she is not on medication now. I do know that in the past few months she indicated that her adoptive mother has given her some of her lithium, however, that concerns me because she is currently pregnant, and Lithium is toxic to an unborn fetus. In addition I have grave concerns about anyone who would hand out there medication to someone else.

  My daughter’s husband seems to think that she doesn,t need medication that “there is nothing wrong with her” and she has allegedly talked to a “professional” who states that there is no way she could be bi-polar, because they can’t diagnose it in someone as young as she was at the time (15-16).

  My concerns continue to be as follows: 1. She continues to take this child to a multitude of doctors who tell her that my granddaughter is diagnosed as autistic, however when my wife and I were there, she seemed to interact appropriately as long as we set limits. Example: We would not allow her to get in the face of her baby sister, because everyone knows when babies are exploring with there hands she could accidentally have poked her in the eye etc. When I told my granddaughter not to do this she acted as if she was going to poke the baby in the eye. I see that more as a issue of simply training the child that you don’t poke your baby sister in the eye. 2. My daughter is married to a man who is in his mid 40’s, while she is only 26. Since they were married they have had three children in less than three years, and she is pregnant again. With a diagnosis of bipolar, and one child having been diagnosed as autistic we don’t beleive that they are thinking too clearly having another child. This would also mean that he has 8 children, ages mid twenties to age one. 3. The Family services hotline assured us when we made the report that my wife and I were doing the right thing, however my daughter claims that a. They told her who made the complaint. b. That they blew off the allegations that she had threatend to “beat” and or “Kill” her baby. This was verified in our minds when they determine the complaint was unfounded. It seems to me that child and family services should have an obligation to error on the side of caution and allowed a court to hear testimony and make a decision in the best interest of the child. My wife and I are so worried because we can see the manic behavior.

• Kristina Chew, PhD
  Jun 14, 2006 at 8:33 am

  Don M., How often are you in contact with your daughter? What kinds of doctors and other professionals have dianosed your granddaughter with autism? Autistic kids—-contary to what the DSM-IV criteria suggest—-can certainly be affectionate and interested in people; my own son definitely was. How is your granddaughter doing as far as her speech, play skills and such?

• Don M
  Jun 14, 2006 at 10:26 am

  First I have asked her to send me a copy of the testing results that the doctors sent to her which support a diagnosis of autism. I am in contact at least three to four times a week by cell phone, and my wife and I have made two trips to Georgia to visit in the last year. My granddaughter is very active and I beleive intelligent child…I don’t see where the autism diagnosis is coming from. She talks pretty well. Her play skills in my opinion are fine. For instance we bought them a pop up tent for there room. Both older girls play in it and interact, although the older one is sneaky. I have watched the older one wait till she thinks noone is looking and knock her sister down…I think thats more environmental than anything elsebut it is a concern. My daughter told us back in January she could not stand to be around her because she looked to much like her own mother, and my daughter had issues with her because at the age of 8 she just walked out of her life, and she didnt come back into her life till about two years ago when she was dying. We have never seen her bond with her…hold her hug her etc. Thats why we are so concerned that now she has taken her to doctors who have diagnosed autism. She has talked about sending our granddaughter to california to live with her aunt, who she has not seen since my daughter was three years of age. What mother would send her 2 year old to live with a complete stranger but refuse to allow the grandparents to take her? My wife of two years is a nurse, and although she has never had children of her own was willing and anxious to take this responsibility on, but the baby’s father and my daughter can’t seem to get a grasp on why we are so concerned. I really get concerned when they use statements like we would miss her and we could not bare to be away from her….shouldn’t this be about what is best for the child?

• Kassiane
  Jun 14, 2006 at 7:44 pm

  My granddaughter is very active and I beleive intelligent child…I don’t see where the autism diagnosis is coming from.

  Well the 2 aren’t mutually exclusive. My test numbers are pretty darn good, and no one (or at least no one who knows what they’re talking about) challenges my diagnosis.

  It’s a bit suspicious that the younger daughter doesn’t tell on the older one for pushing her.

  If you feel your grandchildren are in danger, keep on CPS. Those with bipolar can be good parents, but they have to take care of themselves-that includes medication usually.

  And there is some degree of evidence that autism and bipolar “run together”. LOTS of autistic kids with bipolar parents. *is the autistic bipolar child of a bipolar mother*

• Don M
  Jun 15, 2006 at 5:11 am

  It seems rather than tell on her for pushing her the other child cries. The oldest granddaughter gets very upsetif I dont talk to her every time I call…the other granddaughter does not, and they are 3 and two respectively. Her mother has always been closer to the oldest daughter I suspect because she was the first child, and she is very advanced. As I said I am concerend that I have never witnessed my daughter nurturing and or bonding with the two younger granddaughters, including the one who has been diagnosed with autism. Instead she seems to to always be angry at her because she exhibits some pretty bizarre behaviors, such as messing in her diaper, and playing it it etc. Its not that I don’t accept the dianosis of autism…I work with people with disabilities daily, and my wife and I love each of our grandchildren (we have 10) equally. My concern is that my daughter seems to be blaming the child for behaviors that she might not be able to help.

  When I lived in Georgia I worked with the local district attorney’s office, and I can’t tell you how many frustrating cases we had with Child Protective Services….this is just one more example.

  I am sorry that I have posted so many things over the last few days, but I am a frustrated grandfather…and I really don’t know which way to turn. Perhaps this is not the right place or time?

• Autism Vox » When Safety Means More Than Crossing the Street
  Jun 28, 2006 at 12:18 pm

  […] I have written a lot here about the killing of Katherine McCarron. I wish that I were not mentioning her name in this post; I wish that I were rather writing about her efforts to learn to cross the street and look at the red stop sign, as we are working on with our son Charlie. But I have found myself writing again and again about Katherine’s killing by her mother, Dr. Karen McCarron, in posts categorized under “safety” and “crime.” […]

• Autism Vox » Let us hope that this is not contagious
  Jul 9, 2006 at 10:02 am

  […] That is the first line of an editorial in the June 24th Peoria Journal-Star, Disabilities should not dehumanize young victims. The editorial comments on the cases of Lexus Fuller, whose mother Kellie Waremburg is charged with attempting to kill her daughter on June 23rd with an overdose of pills, and of Katherine McCarron, who mother, Karen McCarron, suffocated her with a plastic bag on May 13th. […]

• Autism Vox » “Desperation” should not be a “fact” when raising a disabled child
  Jul 9, 2006 at 10:42 am

  […] Libby Taylor, president of an autism support group, ANSWERS, and Dr. Sally Jo Winek, who has a daughter with cerebral palsy and works at Easter Seals in Peoria, both note how they “understand that ‘desperation is a fact’ when raising a child with disabilities,” while assuring that they certainly cannot “condone” Dr. Karen McCarron’s alleged killing of her three-year-old daughter Katherine McCarron on May 13th or Kellie A. Waremburg’s allegedly feeding her four-year-old daughter, Lexus Fuller, 100 over-the-counter sleeping pills and Phenobarbital on June 23rd. […]

• AJ
  Jul 15, 2006 at 5:16 am

  Such a beautiful child.

  I actually stumbled upon this site from a link from Wikipedia. You have some beautiful pictures of such a lovely child. There is never, ever, ever an excuse to kill a living child.

  It’s hard not to feel angry at such a woman.

  ~AJ~

• Kristina Chew, PhD
  Jul 15, 2006 at 5:31 am

  I can only respond in the affirmative—-

  Thanks for your words, AJ.

• Lisa Jean Collns
  Jul 17, 2006 at 7:58 am

  Dear Kristina,

  I just wanted to say thank you for all you have done to spread the word not only about the death, but about the precious short life of Katie McCarron. I read on another thread that there were some people looking for a tangible, public way to remember her. I think it was Kassianne who suggested black arm bands, but then Mike her grandfather said that he didn’t want to remember her in that way. I started thinking about colors, and of course I remembered that she really enjoyed playing in the grass. This is design I came up with:

  http://www.cafepress.com/katie_mccarron

  I superimposed the picture of Katie on a page from May 2006, the month that she was murdered. I see that she was murdered on a Saturday.

  If you click on the picture of Katie, it brings you back to your site.

• Kristina Chew, PhD
  Jul 17, 2006 at 2:56 pm

  Thanks, Lisa——disability advocates are making pink ribbons to wear for Katie.

• Autism Vox » A Ribbon for Katherine
  Jul 21, 2006 at 10:17 pm

  […] Today, July 22, is Katherine McCarron’s birthday. Katherine was a beautiful, precious, and happy little girl. Katherine was autistic. Katherine should be celebrating her fourth birthday today. […]

• Autism Vox » Greek Myths and Real Tragedies
  Aug 9, 2006 at 6:07 pm

  […] In the past few months, I have found myself reading about “parents killing their children” not in Greek tragedy but in the news: Dr. Karen McCarron, who allegedly killed her 3-year-old daughter, Katherine. William Lash III who allegedly killed his son, William Lash IV. These stories are awful to read about; instead of tragedy by ancient Greek dramatists, these are real tragedies involving real people. […]

• Autism Vox » A Tree for Katie
  Aug 15, 2006 at 9:28 pm

  […] A memorial grove of trees is being planted for Katherine McCarron in Scotland, through Trees for Life. […]

• Autism Vox » More Beautiful Autism
  Aug 31, 2006 at 4:51 pm

  […] You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site. Related Posts: A Ribbon for Katherine…Beautiful, Precious and Happy:Katherine McCarron…Think Hope…Tough Reading about Lexus Fuller…Autistic boy beaten unconscious: The violence continues…Illinois mother charged with attempted murder of disabled daughter…A Tree for Katie… […]

• Scott Shelton
  Sep 8, 2006 at 11:59 pm

  These pictures of Katherine are very beautiful. She looks so very much the happy child in them.

  My 3 year old son is susspected to have AS. His doctor and my sister (a special need teacher) both have incouraged my ex-wife and I to getting him tested. He was accepted into an “At Risk” pre-k program. I am fighting with my insurance company to find a good (and covered) Doctor to preform the tests. Luckly his mother and I have remained close, and she works with him every day.

• Kristina Chew, PhD
  Sep 9, 2006 at 9:39 am

  Scott, thank you for writing in here. We have had a lot of fighting, so to speak, to get Charlie the best things he needs and it is always worth it—-there are lots of parents and families out here with you!

  I hope things are well this weekend with you and yours. Has your son started the pre-k program?

  kc

• Autism Vox » Love and Hope, Not Hopelessness: Remembering Katherine McCarron
  Sep 29, 2006 at 8:03 am

  […] I have posted often about Katherine McCarron—a beautiful, precious, and happy little girl. Katie died on May 13th; her mother, Karen McCarron, allegedly killed her. I have noted how much of the media coverage surrounding Katie’s killing focused on the “toll” of raising an autistic child and about how difficult, and devastating, it is to be the parent of an autistic child. (See this earlier post, Let’s Not Blame the Victim: A Call for Restraint and Responsibility.) Raising an autistic child can, it was suggested, lead a parent to conclude that one’s child would be better of dead than alive and autistic. (See this earlier post, Karen McCarron, Alison Tepper Singer, and misplaced compassion.) […]

• Autism Vox » Karen McCarron, Alison Tepper Singer, and misplaced compassion
  Sep 29, 2006 at 8:16 am

  […] As an autism mother, I share much with Thierry and Tepper Singer and the other parents interviewed in the Autism Every Day video and in Autism: The Art of Compassionate Living. I have seen a lot of darkness but it is always washed away with the light that shines from, that is, Charlie, my beautiful, precious, and happy autistic son. Of course we need to show compassion for parents who have difficult lives and have made sacrifices for their autistic children, but the majority of our compassion—our concern—needs to start with the autistic child, with autistic persons. […]

• Autism Vox » Exploitation of Tragedy?: A few more words about that press release by the Son-Rise Program
  Oct 2, 2006 at 3:46 pm

  […] Is the reference to the killing of Katherine McCarron in a press release last week by the Autism Treatment Center of America aka the Son-Rise Program aka the Options Institute an “exploitation of tragedy,” as Stephen Drake of Not Dead Yet noted in a comment? […]

• Autism Vox
  Oct 4, 2006 at 9:40 pm

  […] In a previous post entitled Karen McCarron, Alison Tepper Singer, and misplaced compassion, I wrote about Singer and Dr. Karen McCarron, who allegedly killed her daughter Katherine McCarron on May 13th. In the Autism Every Day video, Singer says that had considered driving off the George Washington Bridge with her autistic daughter Jodie in the car— in The Huffington Post, Jodie is rather described as a “9-year-old fourth grader who continues to make tremendous strides in her battle against autism” and Singer as a dedicated working mother who works a “flexible schedule in order to accommodate the needs of both of her children.” […]

• Autism Vox » “I’m not broke and don’t need fixin’”: Reflections on the Oct. 27th Autism and Advocacy conference
  Nov 28, 2006 at 10:06 pm

  […] Conference speaker Kassiane Alexandra Sibley’s reflections on the conference are focused on her meeting Mike McCarron, Katie McCarron’s grandfather. Writes Kassiane, simply and powerfully: So for me, I guess Mr McCarron is the strongest witness to hope I had ever seen. He isn’t hoping for some miracle to bring his Katie back. It’s too late. As I understand it ‘cure’ was never on that side of the family’s agenda, as they were doing education in whichever Carolina. Just hope for justice, and hope for better, safer futures for other autistic people. Through tragedy, he has become a fierce ally. Woah. How many people would crumble? I sure would. Or I’d get angry in the impotent kind of way, or the a little too potent kind of way…but not like this. […]

• Autism Vox » Let’s Not Blame the Victim: A Call for Restraint and Responsibility
  Jan 10, 2007 at 11:02 pm

  […] In the wake of the alleged attempted killing of a four-year-old girl with cerebral palsy by her mother, Kellie A. Waremburg, earlier this week—and of Karen McCarron’s killing of her three-year-old autistic daughter, Katherine McCarron on May 13th, I would like to join Stephen Drake of Not Dead Yet in calling for restraint and responsibility in media coverage of this case. As Stephen writes in a press release today, We sincerely hope this allegation turns out to be untrue. And we are all hoping that the young girl pulls through this medical crisis. […]

• Ann
  Feb 24, 2007 at 5:45 pm

  My son who will be 36 in May. Over the years when he turns your head and looks you in the eye & puts his hand on your head and says, I love you.” So innocent, wonderful. He’s been part of my life for so long now, I could not live without him or hurt him in any way. Before he leaves every morning, we say our ritual prayer which I taught him which makes like worth it. Have Faith in Our Lord Jesus Christ.

• Ann
  Feb 24, 2007 at 5:51 pm

  My autistic son will be 36 in May. Over the years when he turns your head and looks you in the eye & puts his hand on your head and says, I love you.” So innocent, wonderful. He’s been part of my life for so long now, I could not live without him or hurt him in any way. Before he leaves every morning, we say our ritual prayer which I taught him which makes life worth it. Have Faith in Our Lord Jesus Christ.

• Autism Vox » Katherine “Katie” McCarron
  May 13, 2007 at 12:01 am

  […] McCarron 2003 - 2006 beautiful, precious, and happy in love and […]

• I wanted to take the autism out of her: Taped Confession by Karen McCarron
  Jun 5, 2007 at 8:03 pm

  […] this Tuesday afternoon. McCarron is accused of murdering her then-three-year-old autistic daughter, Katherine McCarron on May 13, 2006. A Morton woman accused of murdering her autistic daughter said in a taped […]

• Petra griffin
  Jun 26, 2007 at 8:40 am

  I have three boys with autism and can only say, that if God had blessed me with as beautiful a little girl as Katherine, I would have felt that life could not get any better. I will never forget her and will keep you in my prayers always.

• Happy Birthday Katie
  Jul 22, 2007 at 2:14 pm

  […] would have been Katie McCarron’s 5th birthday today, July 22nd. It should have been Katie’s 5th birthday […]

• Karen McCarron’s Trial Postponed Again
  Sep 22, 2007 at 11:31 am

  […] McCarron, the former pathologist who is charged with killing her three-year-old autistic daughter, Katherine McCarron, has again been postponed, and Tazewell County judge Stephen Kouri is displeased. McCarron is […]

• Karen McCarron’s Trial Postponed Again
  Nov 7, 2007 at 12:39 pm

  […] trial of Karen McCarron, the doctor who killed her then 3-year old autistic daughter Katherine on May 13, 2006, will start on December 3. McCarron’s trial has been postponed five times. As […]

• Jury Selection Begins in Trial of Karen McCarron
  Jan 2, 2008 at 8:13 pm

  […] the words of her grandfather, Michael McCarron, Katherine was very well-loved, and beautiful, and precious, and happy. ASD, Aspergers, autism, autistic, children, crime, Education, family, health, karen mccarron, […]

• Karen McCarron’s Trial Expected to Begin Monday
  Jan 4, 2008 at 10:00 pm

  […] is to start on Monday, January 7th. McCarron allegedly suffocated her three-year-old daughter, Katherine, with a plastic bag on May 13, 2006. The article provides some background about the case, which I […]

• A Letter From Mike McCarron
  Jan 27, 2008 at 4:01 pm

  […] McCarron, grandfather of Katie McCarron, has written an open letter to the Autism Hub. Here is an excerpt; go here to read the full text of […]

• Happy Birthday to Katie
  Jul 22, 2008 at 12:08 pm

  […] Katherine McCarron would have been six years old today. Wishing her a very happy birthday and and best wishes to her family. Tags: asd, asperger, autism, autism blog, birthday, children, disabilities blog, disability, Family, family blog, Health, katherine mccarron, kids, kids blog, motherhood, Parenting, pdd-nosShare This Related StoriesHappy Birthday Katie“Happy Birthday to Charlie”Happy Autistic Pride Day and Happy BirthdayA Ribbon for KatherineLove and Hope, Not Hopelessness: Remembering Katherine McCarron […]

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