Harold Doherty

Surely, of all the dangers that confront many autistic children the simplest danger to eradicate, the one that doesn't have to exist,  is the danger of an autistic child being left alone on a school bus, van or other vehicle while parked in scorching heat or while it departs for other destinations.  Yesterday though, as reported on Newsday ,  a 6 year old autistic boy in Nassau, Long Island, was left on a school bus unattended that left before school personnel became aware he was missing... Read Full Story

I have great respect for Kim Oakley  a California mother who has been honestly and courageously documenting her severely autistic son's self-injurious behavior on Youtube, Classic Autism kgaccount's channel ,  for several years.  Within the past year she has also begun  a blog,  Autism, Epilepsy and Self-Injurious Behavior , on  which she presents her views on autism with  the same honesty and courage.  Ms. Oakley's most recent blog comment  DSM-5 Autistic Spectrum Disorder Disaster is... Read Full Story

DSM-5 Autism Spectrum Disorder Will Exclude  Autism's Vast Majority   Of Intellectually Disabled While the New York Times, the CBC and other mainstream media giants debate the DSM5's potential exclusion of high functioning autistic persons from autism diagnosis barely a whisper is heard about the express exclusion of  autism's vast majority  of intellectually disabled. The exclusion of the intellectually disabled from the DSM5's New Autism Spectrum Disorder is not a potential effect, it is... Read Full Story

Second from Left, NB Premier and Woodstock MLA David Alward  PHOTO BY MICHAEL MACDONALD/NBCC WOODSTOCK On January 4 2012 I emailed New Brunswick Premier David Alward and relevant cabinet ministers the following inquiry which asked simply whether his government was considering helping autistic adults and is working on a modern, reality based model. I also asked if such an undertaking was not being considered to please say so straight up.  Health Minister Madeleine Dubé's office was the... Read Full Story

The Bricks and Mortar Office of the Ombudsman 548 York Street, Fredericton,New Brunswick, at the Staying Connected consultations, in which I participated, Ombudsman Bernard Richard and NBACL President Clarence Box both dismissed Long Term Residential Care and Treatment Facilities for Autistic Youth and Adults as " Bricks and Mortar Solutions " The Centre of Excellence which the Ombudsman's office has promoted so heavily is not an actual center, it is a bureaucratic fantasy which will not... Read Full Story

Run, Jump, Fly Boy 2007 Run, Jump, Fly Boy 2011 There are many news reports concerning possible connections between obesity and medications prescribed for children and adults with autism and other developmental disorder.  Those reports help stiffen our resolve to avoid medications for our autistic son Conor, our Run, Jump, Fly Boy. In the article In Treating Disabled, Potent Drugs and Few Rules   the NYT examined the psychotropic medications given with few guidelines to children... Read Full Story

Just a tiny bit of the joy that Conor brought to his Mom and Dad every day in 2011. Read Full Story

The Ombudsman and the community living bureaucracy in New Brunswick can Connect all The Dots and hold as many cheer leading sessions as they want but none of them have done anything to address the need for decent residential care and treatment facilities for severely autistic adults in New Brunswick.  When it comes to the need for modern properly staffed residential care and treatment for New Brunswick adults with severe autism disorders  our community living cliché addicted government... Read Full Story

The abstract following is for the article   Testing the Construct Validity of Proposed Criteria for DSM-5 Autism Spectrum Disorder , authors  William P.L. Mandy, D.Clin.Psy., Tony Charman, Ph.D., David H. Skuse, M.D. Accepted 21 October 2011. published online 05 December 2011.  The study participants were 708 children and young persons who had mild to severe autistic difficulties. The authors, as I have highlighted in bold in the abstract, concluded that   the two-factor DSM-5 model for the... Read Full Story

My children have received their recommended vaccinations. I have had some although I am old enough that I received my measles and mumps shots the old fashioned way ... I had bad cases of both mumps and measles as a child.  I have not ... as yet ... attributed my son's autistic disorder to any injections he received, or that his mother received while carrying him, although I keep an open mind on the subject. I refuse to simply accept either  camp's dogmatic conclusions. I believe that the... Read Full Story