Autism Vox

This and Last’s Weeks Top Posts

by Kristina Chew, PhD on March 23rd, 2008

It might be better to ask what wasn’t discussed about autism in the past two weeks—-below are posts about genetics, the special diet, Hannah Poling, vaccines, music, education, Ashley X, diagnosis, special education, mitochondrial disease. And a racehorse. And a very very personal matter.

Thanks for reading and please keep letting me know what you think!

• A Horse Named Autism Awareness
  Autism Awareness won $90,000 for his El Camino victory and paid off at $126, beating 62-1 odds. Hurt and no longer running for the roses, owner Johnny Taboada “insists his horse is meant to do something really special.”
• Metaphors, Mitochondria, and the MMR
  More and more on the case of Hannah Poling.
• In College, On the Spectrum
  Increasing numbers of autistic students—-in part because of better educational services earlier in their lives, “federally mandated mainstreaming into regular classrooms,” and parental advocacy —are going to college.
• A Question About Theories of What Causes Autism
  Even though there is more and more evidence in support of a genetic theory of autism, why does so much public opinion seems so hesitant to accept this, and so interested in environmental theories of autism?
• Another Hidden Hoard?: Vaccine Court, Better Diagnosis, and Another Concession
  Just as more educators are now classifying children as having autism for the purposes of special education and services, will there be more claims that a child who was compensated by the vaccine court and who did not then have an autism diagnosis, now be said (retroactively) to have “symptoms of autism” from a vaccine?
• Vaccine Fixation But Where’s the Education
  The concerns about a vaccine-autism link have quite diverted the attention of the public, and of the autism community itself, from concerns about education, therapies, and services that autistic children and autistic adults need today and now, from an individualized, appropriate school program to employment to housing opportunities.
• Special Diet, Charlie Style
  More or less or sometimes gluten-free and casein-free; make sure there’s sushi, rice, and eel.
• The Ashley Treatment, Revisited
  Ashley X is a Seattle area girl whose parents, fearing how to take care of her as she grew older and bigger, had doctors (including endocrinologist Dr. Daniel Gunther, who died last fall) perform the “Ashley Treatment,” in which her uterus and breast buds were removed and estrogen given to her.
• A Lot of Knowledge Can Be a Harmful Thing
  It’s “highly educated parents” who are more likely not to have their children vaccinated with the MMR shot, the Daily Mail reports.
• Autism Myths: Let the Debunking Begin
  Do you think that there are prevailing myths related to autism? What are they?
• “Try Not To Cure Too Much Of It”
  14-year-old Isaac Law: “‘When they manage to cure autism, try not to cure too much of it……because autism might help create more amazing, imaginative minds like mine.’”
• New Study Casts Doubt on Leaky Gut Theory of Autism
  A new study in the Archives of Disease in Childhood suggests that autistic children do not appear to have proteins leaking into their intestinal systems and causing damage.
• Thinking in Music
  We’ve thought that perhaps Charlie has been able to learn to read music much more quickly and readily than words because reading music can offer immediate feedback in the form of the sounds and songs that Charlie play. (And go here to read about the cast and director of Autism: The Musical.
• What’s In a Classification (vs. a Diagnosis)
  How does a certain diagnosis—autism, PDD-NOS, Asperger’s—affect the services and programs that a child receives?
• Disruptions in Contactin 4 and Autism
  Disruptions in the gene contactin 4—which helps the brain make connections—can stop the gene from working properly, and prevent from the brain from making networks, according to researchers in the Journal of Medical Genetics.
• It’s Not the Vaccines
  From the March 24th Newsweek: “Chew believes that vaccines had nothing to do with her son’s condition and she worries that all the vaccine attention detracts from the more-urgent needs of people with autism, who require intensive behavioral interventions and social services—the kind of help her son has received.”
• A Personal Matter
  I answer a reader’s question: “Dr. Chew, if you found yourself pregnant tomorrow, would you take any additional precautions to try to mitigate the risk of your unborn child developing autism?”

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POSTED IN: Animals, Cause, College, Diagnosis, Education, Family, Food and Diet, Genetics, Health, Music, Myth, Science, Stereotypes, Vaccines, cello, piano