autism
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- driftlab0
Elijah (he's 5) asked to play T-Ball. So we put him on a mainstream team, with great trepidation because Aspies have serious gross motor skills. Its been amazing to watch him rise to the challenge. He has a hard enough time holding the bat up and yet he was able to hit a ball off of a pitch at a game the other day. We were all cheering with tears streaming down our cheeks. It is incredibly rewarding in so many ways, to parent a kid on the autism spectrum.
- that is fucking awesome!!!7point34
- fucking awesome. they're amazing kids. treasure him ... he'll give every bit of it back.Gucci
- I salute you my friend. Very inspiring words right there. Thank you.kona
- PS: great folioGucci
- thanks guys.driftlab
- I think that's great, but be careful of the other kids... I mean... kids are fucking mean.flavorful
- Well I'd say they don't know they're mean if they are at that age, but as they get older...flavorful
- Gucci0
i'm pretty motivated to do something to help fund my neice's therapy. It's so expensive and my brother is the sole (and low) income in his family because his wife has to stay home and take care of my neice.
She needs help so bad. I want to do so much I don't even know where to begin.
- you've already started just being there as an uncle. maybe hit up your local church or do a fundraiser. :)kona
- mg330
The interesting thing about autism from what I know is that they think diet can affect the effects of autism.
Besides being an incredibly picky eater (and I mean like "will eat Tyson chicken nuggets, will NOT eat other brands no matter what") my GF's niece is on some diet that limits protein or something, I can't remember exactly, but for it do any good she can't have certain things ever. I don't get it entirely, but does anyone know about that?
- It seems to definitely help with many of the symptoms. Eliminating gluten can do wonders, from what i hear.driftlab
- ETM0
Curious read:
The first case of autism occurred in 1943 in America, twelve years after a mercury-containing preservative, thimerosal, was added to the whooping cough (pertussis) vaccine. In the 1950s, with only four recommended vaccines, the incidence of autism was 1 in 10,000 children. As more vaccines were recommended, the incidence of autism increased dramatically. By 1981, children received 135 micrograms of mercury in vaccines. The incidence of autism increased to 1 in 2600 children. Children in 1996 received 246 micrograms of mercury in vaccines and the incidence of autism was about 1 in every 350 children. Today, 13 vaccines are recommended with varying numbers of booster shots. The incidence of autism now averages about 1 in every 250 children.
- the vaccine debate is an ongoing on and gets heated at times. http://ap.google.com…Gucci
- I'll side with the doctors for now, though. Vaccination is important.Gucci
- Seems to show a direct link though. A lot of the preservatives et al we eat started much later.ETM
- it's not when autism was "discovered". that was when they first started tracking it. big difference.sputnik2
- Gucci0
mg33 - you're probably referring to a gluten or casein free diet. Those have shown to be effective in some children, and ineffective in others. Another part of the puzzle.
I've heard that some kids with autism will play with their tummies because they can't properly process gluten and when it gums up in their system, it hurts. So you'll see them lean on couches, tables, anything with a slight edge to it. It seems that applying pressure makes them feel better, if only for a second.
A friend of mine is a speech therapist and his boss has two children with autism - she swears by a gluten free diet. She's noted that even a small piece of crust can affect her child's focus dramatically. It's VERY hard to control though. My niece for example loves anything with bread/wheat in it and is a super picky eater - so it's difficult to get her away from gluten and believe me ... there's no fooling her. It's like she can sense a piece of gluten-free whatever and puts it down in a second. She refuses to eat it.
- flashbender0
yeah, so about that vaccine link to autism being debunked...
http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/c…
- driftlab0
Happy Autism awareness day!
- Jaline0
Sorry if any of my comments earlier made it seem like I was trivializing the matter. I can't really say much about it since I don't have kids or family members with anything like this (yet). Anyway, good luck to all of you :)
- driftlab0
Jaline, give it time. :) With 1 in 50 males being born on the spectrum (and 1 in 150 people), it's only a matter of time.
And chances are everyone in this thread can remember somebody they went to school with growing up who was extremely quirky and who went on and on about subjects nobody else cared to hear about. Well those kids were likely affected with Aspergers to some degree, but nobody knew what to call it.
- hey, you just described me! *Calls doctorflashbender
- Are you also very blunt and have a hard time reading facial expressions and body language in others? :)driftlab
- oh, no. I'm blunt yes and often lack tact, but can read people's emotions just fine and can empathize with themflashbender
- - sometimes. Usually I don't really care that much though.flashbender
- driftlab0
"It seems that for success in science and art, a dash of autism is essential." - Hans Asperger
- Gucci0
That's an interesting point, driftlab. I think as knowledge of how the brain functions improves, we'll find that all of us have autistic qualities to some degree and by that time, they'll have found another name for it in it's most basic form.
I'm interested in hearing the results of studies they're currently conducting on brain density in autistic children. I hope and pray every day for a miracle of some kind.
- mg330
I read a bunch of stuff about autism last night just to familiarize myself a bit.
It's amazing how abrupt some groups are about discounting a link between vaccines and autism. Very bluntly putting it as THERE IS NO CONNECTION. THERE IS NO CONNECTION.
If scientists and doctors can admit to not knowing what causes autism, how can they reasonably admit to KNOWING vaccines are not the cause? Makes them all sound a little untrustworthy and dumb to me.
- Gucci0
I know exactly what you mean mg33. It's all still very much a mystery.
I'm not sure if they're trying to convince the public or themselves.
- bliznutty0
Paris Hilton is awwwwtistic -- not artistic
- mg330
OMG - I've had the word "Hotistic" in my head because of this thread and Paris Hilton was the first person to come to mind!
But it's my word!
- driftlab0
Mojo said -
"@Jaline
I met a 40 year old man at a gig I went to a couple of nights ago, I heard him saying how he was just diagnosed with aspegers. He'd seen hundreds of therapists, psychiatrists etc. 40 years old. Just diagnosed. Definately aspergers, like I said, my brother has asperger's - I can spot them a mile off!"lol, i totally can tell now too. Thanks to all the books I've read because of Elijah's diagnosis. Any time I encounter someone who says whatever is on their mind regardless of how it might make somebody else feel and then can't figure out how what they said was offensive, I can't help but think, "yup, Aspie". It's a very black and white world they live in, you know. :) It's all about the facts with them.
You know Bill Gates is supposedly an Aspie, and so was Einstein.
- oh and because now that mine is 5 years old, he's starting to show some of the characterizing traits.driftlab
- peanut5550
april is autism awareness month
- designbot0
I agree with spendogg, and what others are saying (didn't read all the threads).
Vaccincations contain very high ammounts of mercury and have been proven beyond a shadow of a doubt to be linked to autism. Why is it that the FDA warns pregnant women not to eat Tuna due to mercury content, but then the government claims it is okay to pump roughly 10 times the ammount of mercury directly into our infants bodies through vaccinations? The problem is that this is a multibillion dollar industry. My wife did a a lot of research before we decided not to get our son vaccinated. I think there are many factors that play into a child being diagnosed with autism, even the contamination of water (from pollution) is a factor and there are many types of fish that contain high ammounts of mercury as a direct result of this. Every child has different tolerance levels as to how much mercury their bodies can take (any ammount is bad of course), I think for some kids they get vaccinated, and then maybe they swim in contaminated water or eat contaminated food that pushes their mercury level over the edge and they end up with autism.
I think the U.S. vaccinations are (have been) changed thanks to the dedicated work of some non-profit groups. <<I just watched a special on PBS on this.
- there have been reports that WiFi causes autism too... http://autism.about.…robotron3k