In an exchange at About.com: Autism AutismNewsBeat, the host of a blog which claims to serve as an evidence based autism resource for journalists, (it is really more of an ideologically driven Neurodiversity blog), has taken the position that there has been no real increase in autism over the past two decades. Yet ANB fails to understand that in taking that position he is disavowing the assertion by many that a thimerosal (mercury preservative in vaccines) causal connection to autism was di... Read Full Story
My son Conor is 13 and has a diagnosis of Autistic Disorder. He is assessed with profound developmental delays. His initial diagnosis of PDD-NOS at age 2 was changed to Autistic Disorder a short time later. In the 11 years since his diagnosis there have been significant changes in autism service delivery for children here in New Brunswick and elsewhere in Canada and the United States. But there has been almost no effort made at all to find new treatments or cures for autism disorders.The... Read Full Story
Yup Kevin Leitch opposes the interests and well being of autistic children.That is the logical conclusion of the false dichotomy Kevin Leitch creates when he accuses Bob Wright of opposing the interests ofautistic adults. Mr. Leitch has his knickers in a knot because Mr. Wright commented on the activities of a few autistic adults in disrupting a benefit and therefore in Kevin's mind he is opposed to the interests of all autistic adults. Using Kevin Logic, in attacking Bob Wright for defendin... Read Full Story
Conor returned to the Circle Place, the Nashwaaksis Commons, today for the first time in almost two years. He used to love going to the Circle Place and then he just stopped and refused to go back.Today though we were in the area anyway and with some gentle urging from Dad Conor revisited his old haunt and had a blast. He has grown at least half a foot since his last visit and his footing was a little wobbly to start but he got it back quickly and had lots of fun.Dad was happy too.autism Read Full Story
"The protesters are lucky. They're well off enough, healthy enough, to do it. I wish my grandson were able to join them."Bob Wright, New York Post, November 19, 2009Bob Wright of Autism Speaks has called out the handful of protesters, barely autistic members or followers of the Autism Spectrum Self Advocacy Network, who made yet another attention grab by protesting a celebrity benefit held to raise funds and awareness for autism disorders. Autism Speaks has critics from various points in ... Read Full Story
Apparently the only real concern facing autistic children and their families is the risks faced by treatments, and DAN doctors in particular. In two very superficial articles, yesterday's Autism treatments: Risky alternative therapies have little basis in science and an article today titled Autism treatment: Success stories more persuasive to some than hard data the Tribune continues its war against Defeat Autism Now and DAN doctors by ridiculing anecdotal evidence of successful autism trea... Read Full Story
For the most part the article Autism treatments: Risky alternative therapies have little basis in science goes over old ground in attacking alternative autism therapies. At times it appears that the article is actually going to send current autism knowledge back to 1999 when Teresa Binstock outed the medical establishment for insisting that only genetic based autism research receive scarce funding dollars and that , by implication, environmental factors played no role in causing autism. A... Read Full Story
In a press release from PR Newswire, a New Jersey based business oriented think tank, The Center for Modeling Optimal Outcomes® LLC, outlines what it believes is a model of autism causation discovered while researching neuroscientific principles in business. The think tank members themselves are not scientists but had the assistance of various scientists at different stages of developing their model which they believe has widespread applicability to other disorders and to other areas of s... Read Full Story
The Daily Gleaner makes brief mention of the Oscars for Autism event held Saturday Night at the Delta Fredericton.Neil Lacroix and Kim Gahan of Autism Connections Fredericton, and Brian Jones of TD Waterhouse, deserve applause for their hard work in making the Oscars for Autism event a huge success. Stan Cassidy Centre developmental pediatrician, Dr. Tara Kennedy, a great asset for New Brunswick's autistic children, gave an excellent overview of autism disorders. Psychologist Paul McDonnell w... Read Full Story
More than two years since I described Saskatchewan as Canada's Autism Wasteland the government of Saskatchewan is still dithering, and delaying instead of putting a quality system of autism services in place to help that province's autistic children. In all fairness to Saskatchewan's political and public service elite they may not know much about autism disorders, or the importance of timely early intervention in helping autistic children live fuller, richer lives. Their failure to provide a... Read Full Story
