Autism Vox

This and Last Weeks Top Posts: Life on the Road with Charlie Means You Have to Pay Attention

by Kristina Chew, PhD on May 18th, 2008

I never got around to making a list of last week’s top posts last week so here’s two weeks of “top posts” about autism. Rather than arrange them in chronological order, I’ve arranged them by topic:

My son Charlie turned 11 last Thursday, on May 15th. Life on the road with Charlie is my constant theme here and these posts are about his sensory sensitivities, his beloved bike rides with his beloved dad, and other things I’ve been learning on our journey. (In the photo, he’s enjoying a birthday dinner of sushi and cake on Jim’s desk.)

• Too High-Pitched to Hear
  It was a couple of months ago that my son Charlie started—for the first time in his life—to show sensitivity to sound by putting both hands over his ears.
• The Final (Bike Riding) Frontier
  Learning to use the gears is—as Jim proclaimed when he and Charlie came home after bike ride #2—the “final frontier.” Who knows what hills and mountains await?
• Back in the Swim
  Charlie goes for a swim in the pool at Saint Peter’s College in Jersey City.
• Parenting Isn’t Easy, Period—and I’m Very Glad to Be a Mother
  On Mother’s Day, an essay by Robert Hughes in today’s Chicago Tribune is entitled What Autism Means to a Father.
• Statements to the IACC (and what happened on Monday)
  Statements to the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee by Paula Durbin-Westby and myself.
• The Ides of May
  Happy Birthday to Charlie on his 11th birthday!

Several posts about science and research, causes and treatments:

• Biomed, Anecdotal Evidence, and Thoughtful House
  Whether or not to try biomedical treatments is a question that’s perhaps unavoidable for parents with an autistic child today.
• Autism and Parents with Psychiatric Disorders
  The risk of having an autistic child is doubled if a parent has schizophrenia or if a mother has psychiatric problems (depression, personality disorders), according to a study published in Pediatrics.
• The Puzzling Spectrum of Autism Causes
  What do TV, ultrasounds, insufficient vitamin D, air pollution, a mother having the flu while pregnant, mercury, have to do with each other?
• Just When You Thought You’d Heard Every Possible Treatment for Autism…
  …..here’s another one to add to the list.
• Charges Dropped Against Dr. Roy Kerry
  Charges have been dropped against Dr. Roy Kerry, the Pittsburgh-area doctor who was accused of causing the death of 5-year-old Abubakar Tariq Nadama.
• The Gluten Free Frenzy
  How many people have been telling you that they may be intolerant to gluten?
• Antipsychotics in Kids, Weight Gain, and Parental Worries
  A new study on the use of antipsychotic medications in children indicates that taking these drugs results in an almost immediate increases in body mass index (BMI) and triglyceride levels.
• Everything Causes Autism (Or So it Seems)
  What hasn’t been cited as a cause of autism?
• Genes Linked to Social Impairments
  A new study in the May 15th Biological Psychiatry has found genetic links to the “impaired social behaviors”; of autistic children.
• Regressive Autism and a Test for Babies
  Researchers at McMaster University in Canada have developed a new test that can, it is said, detect signs of autism in babies as young as 9 months old and I suspect that this test might have detected “something” in Charlie when he was that age.

Some posts about autistic adults and employment, services, and places to live.

• Symposium on Employment for ASD Adults
  Some great advice in this comment from a job developer/job coach for adults with disabilities, and the father of an autistic son.
• Where Are All the Autistic Adults?
  The British government has announced that it is planning to calculate the number of autistic adults in England, but the tools for diagnosing autism in adults are neither as valid nor as reliable as those used for children.

The vaccine issue, inevitably:

• Yes, the Vaccine Question Again
  Another round of “vaccine court” begins on Monday, May 12, with the case of William Mead and Jordan King.
• “Open Questions” about Autism, and Vaccines, and Much More
  CBS News correspondent Sharyl Attkisson interviews Dr. Bernardine Healy, a former head of the National Institutes of Health and a member of the Institute of Medicine.
• Paul Offit on Hannah Poling and the VICP
  In the May 15th New England Journal of Medicine, Dr. Offit revisits the case of Hannah Poling in light of the recent history of the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP).

Some recurring issues: Is there a real increase in autism—what do you if your child stomps and jumps and you live in a second-floor apartment—how do you take an autistic child to church—do you still feel any shame and stigma when people learn that your child, or you yourself, is/are different?

• The So-Called Autism Pandemic
  The term “autism pandemic” strikes me as a not exactly subtle attempt to make the rise in the prevalence rate of autism seem to be much more extreme, and scary,
• Stigma and Pride
  More people with severe forms of mental illness such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorders are now speaking out about their “demons” as part of “Mad Pride.”
• Oregon Family Wins Discrimination Case
  An Oregon family has won a $40,000 settlement from a Portland, Oregon apartment owner and management company.
• Autism and Faith: A Journey into Community
  Autism and Faith: A Journey into Community is a new resource for clergy, religious educators, and families of autistic children to develop “inclusive spiritual supports” for autistic individuals in religious settings.

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