May 14th, 2008
The Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee (IACC) coordinates research and efforts pertaining to autism spectrum disorder (ASD) within the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). The IACC met this past Monday, May 12 in Washington, D.C. I had attended the November 2007 meeting and learned a great deal and was hoping to attend this […]
By Kristina Chew, PhD -- 30 comments
May 7th, 2008
An article in the May Scientific American explains why the next president needs a powerful science advisor.
If you consider the political pandering among the presidential candidates about the vaccine-autism myth—-it’s too obvious why.
Tags: asd, asperger, autism, barack obama, Disability Rights, Education, Epidemic, hillary clinton, History, john mccain, Junk Science, Parenting, pdd-nos, Politics, president, Science, VaccinesShare […]
By Kristina Chew, PhD -- 3 comments
May 6th, 2008
In yesterday’s Seattle Post-Intelligencer, journalist Paul Nyhan writes about parents as the “invisible casualties” when a child has autism. 4-year-old Sharky Munat’s mother, Lillie Addams, recalls when the police showed up because Sharky’s screams permeated the thin walls of their apartment. After her son was diagnosed with autism, Addams went through “depression, chest-seizing anxiety attacks, […]
By Kristina Chew, PhD -- 17 comments
April 28th, 2008
So what do you do if your state passes autism legislation (as my state, New Jersey, did in September of 2007) and then it gets stalled by budget cuts—-when the bill gets passed but there’s no funding as it’s an austere buget year” ? In Florida, the Window of Opportunity Act was passed by the […]
By Kristina Chew, PhD -- 6 comments
April 27th, 2008
Cure or acceptance?
Does one strive to do everything one can to cure, heal, recover a child from autism with the goal of the child “losing” her or his diagnosis? Or, does one learn to accept that one’s child is different, disabled, autistic?
Parents and others in the autism community tend to align themselves with one “side” […]
By Kristina Chew, PhD -- 30 comments
April 26th, 2008
After a lot of hesitation about riding his new bike, Charlie hoisted himself up, put his left foot on the left pedal, put his right foot on, and zoomed off with Jim easily catching up—that’s the image in my mind after a full week here.
Parents Going Back to School
Some parents of autistic children are returning […]
By Kristina Chew, PhD -- 0 comments
April 25th, 2008
Considering how many pressing issues there are to talk regarding children and adults—education, employment, housing, to name a very few—-why do we keep getting stuck talking about the hypothetical claim of a link between vaccines and autism?
Here’s some thoughts towards why the whole issue seems to have devolved into something approaching paranoia, not to mention […]
By Kristina Chew, PhD -- 41 comments
April 23rd, 2008
Right now (afternoon of April 23, Wednesday) over at Science Blogs there’s a number of posts about Barack Obama’s statement at a Monday rally in Pennsylvnia that evidence linking vaccines and autism was “inconclusive” and that further research is needed. (It’s also pointed out that Hillary Clinton has also embraced “anti-vaccination woo”.)
While the candidates’ views […]
By Kristina Chew, PhD -- 18 comments
April 22nd, 2008
The Pennsylvania Primary is today, with Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama battling it out. I’ve noted the candidates’ autism plans in a previous post. Today’s Washington Post hones in on another way to consider the candidates, the alleged link between vaccines and autism. Back in February, Senator John McCain linked the rise in autism […]
By Kristina Chew, PhD -- 26 comments
April 6th, 2008
It’s April, it’s Autism Awareness Month, and last week saw the inaugural World Autism Day on April 2nd, and there were a whole lot of autism stories in the news——and there’s still three more weeks to go.
This April has some added significance for me: It’s Charlie’s last month of being 10 years old as his […]
By Kristina Chew, PhD -- 3 comments
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