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Autism Vox

August 20th, 2008

Minnesota Has the Highest Autism Rate?: Depends on How You Count It

Darn, I thought it was my own state of New Jersey that does: According to the most recent figures released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2007, about 1 in 150 8-year-old children in multiple areas of the United States had an ASD, and New Jersey has the highest prevalence rate, […]

By Kristina Chew, PhD -- 23 comments

August 14th, 2008

Genetic Predispositions and Environmental Triggers

In the ongoing chicken and egg type debate over what the causes of autism might be, how often have you it said that it’s believed that a child may have a “genetic predisposition” to autism, but that it’s an “environmental trigger”—-it’s something in the environment—-that leads to a child “having autism”?
An August 13th post on […]

By Kristina Chew, PhD -- 27 comments

August 10th, 2008

Incidence, Not Incidents

Autism incidents rising, is the headline for an August 9th story in the Grand Rapids Herald-Review. Two different school districts report having 35 and 52 students diagnosed with autism, versus five and maybe two students ten years ago: It’s been the past ten years that have seen the results of changes in the diagnostic criteria […]

By Kristina Chew, PhD -- 8 comments

August 8th, 2008

Blame it On the Media

“It’s the media’s fault.”
How often do you hear that, or even say it to yourself, on hearing some tired myth or piece of misinformation about autism stated yet again? Michael Savage’s over-the-top “99% of kids are no autistic but brats” comments is but one example.
An article by a team of bioethicists and available online August […]

By Kristina Chew, PhD -- 6 comments

August 7th, 2008

IACC Autism Strategic Plan Implementation Workgroup meets tomorrow

Tomorrow, August 7th, from 11 am to 3 pm EST, there will be a meeting of the Meeting of the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee (IACC) Autism Strategic Plan Implementation Workgroup. The purpose of the meeting is to discuss budgetary requirements for the IACC Strategic Plan for Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) Research; workgroup findings will […]

By Kristina Chew, PhD -- 2 comments

July 20th, 2008

Nature-Nurture Gene?

As a parent, when I see the phrase “nature-nurture,” I get a bit stuck on the “nurture” word, as any suggestion that we didn’t provide the right emotional, social, and so forth “environment” for Charlie and did not provide enough “nurture” can lead a parent to think of the discredited “refrigerator mother” theory of autism. […]

By Kristina Chew, PhD -- 9 comments

July 10th, 2008

Chicken or Egg: What’s Behind the Increase in Autism?

Dr. Antonio Hardan, the director of the autism clinic at Stanford’s Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital, says this in a July 9th ABC Local (Bay Area) report about increases in autism diagnoses throughout the region:
“If you are diagnosed with autism you will get more services from the county from regional centers than if you just have […]

By Kristina Chew, PhD -- 20 comments

July 7th, 2008

Nature Deficit Disorder, Autism, Flame Retardants

The Daily Green mentions flame retardants and “common cleaning products” (as in “phthalates, glycol ethers and other known toxins”) as possible environmental causes of autism. And ends with a paragraph of unfounded speculations:
Others wonder if a collective “nature deficit disorder” among children plays a factor in rising autism rates. Outdoor exposure has long been associated […]

By Kristina Chew, PhD -- 12 comments

June 21st, 2008

Vaccines, Diagnosis, and Databases

After my son was diagnosed with autism in July of 1999 and we had started him in a home ABA program in September of 1999, and as we found ourselves spending more time with families with autistic children, and as we read more and more (in books, on the web) about autism, I started to […]

By Kristina Chew, PhD -- 16 comments

June 14th, 2008

The Greening of Autism

Speculation is rife about the environment, pollution, chemicals, etc., etc., etc., and the risk of autism—but could it all just be the effect of too much green noise (greening even the vaccines)?
Tags: asd, asperger, autism, autism blog, chemicals, disabilities blog, Environment, Family, family blog, green, kids, kids blog, Parenting, pdd-nos, pollution, Treatment

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By Kristina Chew, PhD -- 11 comments