Autism Is A Disability In West Virginia Woods

The Jacob Allen story has turned out well with the 18 year old low functioning autistic teen with limited communication skills found alive 4 days after getting lost in West Virigina woods while hiking with his parents. His severely limited communication skills could have cost him his life:

A spokesman for the rescue effort said Allen was found in the Dolly Sods Wilderness Area about a mile from where he left his parents during a hike on Sunday.

Because he is in good health and has hiking experience, and because temperatures have not been too cold, searchers had held out hope that he had survived. But his autism prevented him from speaking and responding to calls from searchers.

Neurodiversity advocates would have the world believe that autism is not a disorder; not a disability. This incident in West Virgina puts the lie to that absurd claim. So too does the case of Tiffany Pinckney, an autistic woman who starved to death. unable to help herself, while she depended on the care of her adoptive sister. So too does the case of the 50 year old autistic woman in a Long Island residential care facility who, unable to communicate what was happening to her, was repeatedly assaulted by attendants at the facility until the assaults were caught on video.

Hopefully neuodiversity icons like Professor Morton Ann Gernsbacher and Dr. Laurent Mottron will take time from studying high functioning autistic persons to give some thought to the more severely autistic persons who can not function in the real world and who are dependent on the good will of others to live. Maybe then they will not participate in creating the potentially dangerous myth that autism is not a disability.

Autistic Teen Found Alive In West Virgina!

Jacob Allen, a severely autistic teen with limited communication skills was found alive in the woods of West Virgina 4 days after getting lost while hiking with his parents!

And Still ANOTHER TASER Death

Amnesty International is again calling for a moratorium on police TASER use after the second death by a victim of a TASER jolt in Canada in the past week.

I wonder if an official investigation will conclude THIS TIME that the TASER jolt which immediately preceded the man's death might have contributed to that death?

Nah. It can't be anything that obvious. There must be another explanation.

Autistic Teen Missing in W Va , Let Us Hope He Is Found Safe

All parents fear an event like this one. I have experienced some of the fear of the family in this story although for nowhere near as long a time. When your child has little or no communication skills and restricted intellectual capacity the fears are extremely intense.

Let us all hope that Jacob Allen is found safe and in good health.


Autistic teen still missing in W. Va.

Family, rescuers worry that 3 days have now gone by

Thursday, October 18, 2007

By Anya Sostek, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

LANEVILLE, W.Va. -- Hundreds of people searching for an autistic teenager lost in the woods of West Virginia tried to keep their spirits up yesterday as a third full day passed with little sign of 18-year-old Jacob Allen.

Mr. Allen, of Morgantown, wandered away from his parents during a Sunday afternoon hike in the Dolly Sods Wilderness Area. He cannot communicate verbally and has the mental capacity of a 3- or 4-year-old child.

"Every minute that passes is harder and harder," said his 22-year-old sister, Brittany. "I just feel like I'm sitting there waiting for the phone to ring."

Time is critical because "the odds of a successful rescue go down significantly after 72 hours," said Greg Davenport, of Stevenson, Wash., who has written six books on survival. That deadline lapsed yesterday afternoon.

New Brunswick Human Rights Commission Guidelines Discriminate Against Autistic Students

The New Brunswick Human Rights Commision has adopted new guidelines to accommodating students with a disability in New Brunswick schools - New Brunswick Human Rights Commission, Guideline on Accommodating Students with a Disability. Unfortunately for some New Brunswick students with Autism Disorder the guidelines themselves fail to accommodate their disability and in doing so discriminate against some students with profound Autism Disorder. The guidelines fail to accommodate by creating a "norm" or presumption in favor of mainstream classroom placement even though, for some autistic students, the mainstream classroom in not an appropriate place of learning, can be overwhelming to environmentally sensitive autistic children and can be result in dangerous, self injurious behavior.

When the NB Human Rights Commission says that mainstream classroom placement is the norm education officials will quite understandably feel that it is necessary to place all children in the classroom. Essentially this "norm" will push students into the classroom who should be in a different, quieter, less busy location within the school in order for them to learn, and to not be overwhelmed. For those school districts who do not want to spend the money from their budget to accommodate more individualized instruction necessary for some autistic students placing them in the classroom without individualized instruction by autism specific trained Teacher Aides will be a cheap solution, as it has been in the past. And the presumption or norm created by the HRC will assist them in justifying their decision.

New Brunswick schools have, over the past 30 years, been dominated by an extreme inclusion model which saw all children dumped in the mainstream classroom without proper support and without regard for the individual conditions of some children with disabilities such as some severely autistic children. The result has been disruption in the classroom, failure to learn by some children, and in some cases, including my profoundly autistic son, dangerously self injurious behavior. Fortunately, over the past several years, the rigid ideological approach of the classroom inclusion for all philosophy has given way in some instances to an evidence based approach which requires examination of what actually works for each child. Educate the child in the way he or she learns best, in the environment in which he or she learns best. An evidence based approach is consistent with human rights policies by requiring an examination of the disability issues presented by the individual student. This evidence based approach was promised by the Province of New Brunswick Inter-Departmental Committee that examined autism services in New Brunswick between 1999 and 2001.

The IDC Report issued in November 2001, disclosed the already known fact that there were at that time very few autism specific services available in New Brunswick. The most significant accomplishment of the IDC Report was that it recommended an evidence based approach to provision of autism services. The three departments that sat on the IDC were Health, Family Services and .... Education. In fact, since that time there have been some to an evidence based approach being adopted in some New Brunswick schools.

My own son, profoundly autistic, was removed from the mainstream classroom, at our request, after he repeatedly came home from school with self inflicted bite marks on his hands and wrists. He was overwhelmed by the classroom. To the full credit of school, district, and Department officials they looked at the evidence and agreed to place Conor in a separate room for his instruction for most of the day. The education officials accommodated my son's disability by looking at his actual condition and educating him in an environment suitable for him in light of the realities of his autism disorder.

During the MacKay Review of Inclusive Education Autism Society NB presented a position paper for educating autistic students which called for an evidence based approach. Teaching children how and where they learn best in light of their actual condition. As one of the autism representatives I spoke on numerous occasions about the need for an evidence based approach for autistic students. For some autistic students the mainstream classroom is the appropriate learning environment. For others, including my son, it is not. This evidence based approach is supported by research including Mesibov and Shea (1996):

The concept of full inclusion is that students with special needs can and should be educated in the same settings as their normally developing peers with appropriate support services, rather than being placed in special education classrooms or schools. According to advocates the benefits of full inclusion are increased expectations by teachers, behavioral modeling of normally developing peers, more learning, and greater selfesteem. Although the notion of full inclusion has appeal, especially for parents concerned about their children's rights, there is very little empirical evidence for this approach, especially as it relates to children with autism. This manuscript addresses the literature on full inclusion and its applicability for students with autism. Although the goals and values underlying full inclusion are laudable, neither the research literature nor thoughtful analysis of the nature of autism supports elimination of smaller, highly structured learning environments for some students with autism.

This information was present throughout the Mackay Inclusion review process. In one session I attempted, along with ASNB Education Rep Dawn Bowie, to speak specifically about autism issues and the need for an evidence based approach by which autistic students are educated in a location, whether it be in the mainstream classroom or elsewhere, according to the realities of their individual conditions. My comments were met dismissively by a New Maryland school official who asserted that we were not there to talk about autism. They were also met with angry opposition by New Brunswick Human Rights Commission Chair Gordon Porter who was present and who told me and Mrs. Bowie that "you people should be thankful for what you have ". Mr. Porter then proceeded to talk about how bad it was in the Special Education system in New Brunswick many years ago and how the inclusion model was a very substantial improvement.

Given Mr. Porter's prominent role in putting the inclusion model in place in New Brunswick, and given his strong personal views, it is not surprising that the Human Rights Commission which he chairs has issued Guidelines which create a presumption in favor of classroom inclusion for all students. It is also not surprising in that the New Brunswick Association for Community Living was tasked by the Department of Education with holding professional development days for New Brunswick teachers to explain the recommendations of the MacKay Inclusion Review. The NBACL is a fierce advocate for the total inclusion model. The NBACL has paid staff who persistently lobby for the full inclusion model. An example are the awards they hand out to teachers in New Brunswick who best demonstrate inclusion practices in New Brunswick schools. The NBACL, in hosting the inclusion professional development days for teachers asked Gordon Porter to be the keynote speaker at the event. A request by ASNB to speak at the event, to speak with the teachers about autism, and the need for an evidence based approach, was rejected by the NBACL.

Mr. Porter and NBACL are both strongly committed to the full inclusion model and that commitment to a philosophy of classroom inclusion for all is reflected in the norm espoused by the new Human Rights Commission guidelines. The promotion of that norm by the Human Rights Commission will put even more pressure on teachers and school officials to put all students in the classroom. The promotion of that norm is contrary to the evidence based approach promised for autistic persons in the IDC Report and it is contrary to the duty to accommodate the individual differences of students with disabilities, particularly some students with profound autism disorder.

It was precisely that failure to accommodate individuals with disabilities that led Yude Henteleff QC to describe the full inclusion model as discriminatory in a paper he presented to the Canadian Assocation for Community Living in 2004. Mr. Henteleff has represented individuals with a variety of different disabilities including autism, deaf and hard of hearing,
aspergers, Tourette's syndrome, attention deficit hyperactivity disorders, developmental
disability, physical disability and the learning disabled. He has been the legal counsel for the Association of Parents of Children with Autism in Manitoba and has been associated with the Learning Disabilities Association of Canada. In The Fully Inclusive Classroom Is Only One Of The Right Ways To Meet The Best Interests Of The Special Needs Child Mr. Henteleff argued that the full inclusion approach is in itself discriminatory by failing to accommodate individual disability based differences. At page 2 he states:

It should be abundantly clear, having in mind the foregoing statistics, that for children
who suffer from emotional, mental, behavioural, cognitive, sensory, physical, expressive
language, visual and auditory difficulties (and often a combination of some of the foregoing), it is simply not possible to meet their diverse needs in one environment. One shoe simply cannot fit all.

Indeed, total inclusion is a discriminatory concept because it limits the environmental
choices, which groups of children and youth with differing difficulties have the right to make in their best interests.

I am completely dedicated to the public school system. I believe it is an integral part of
whom and what we are as Canadians living in a democratic society. That means a place where all children are welcomed - regardless of their gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, colour, religion, physical or mental condition. In other words, the public school system is a place where the social contract guaranteed by the Charter and Human Rights Codes is fulfilled. That social contract is that every individual is entitled to equality and to be free from discrimination.

However, schools being a welcoming place regardless of gender, ethnicity, colour,
religion, physical or mental condition, namely inclusivity, is far different from what is described as "full inclusion" in the general classroom. Full inclusion falls far short of guaranteeing equality.

Mr. Porter, the Commission, and the NBACL which all advocate for full inclusion will argue that establishing a norm does not mean that all children must be kept in the classroom at all times and that their disabilities are accommodated. Their argument fails to take into account the pressure this will put on parents and educators to place children in the classroom first and to ask questions later, contrary to an evidence based approach and contrary to an accommodation of the child's real needs. Some parents, will not have a professional background to rely upon when dealing with the education system. Many are talked down to by educators. When told that the classroom is the right option for their child they not be inclined, or able, to challenge that position. With the Human Rights Commission creating a presumptive norm in favor of the classroom inclusion option there will be no realistic choice for the parents to consider in deciding how, and where, their child, severely autistic or otherwise should be educated.

The full inclusion model limits choice as Mr. Henteleff points out. The persistent efforts by the NBACL and its inclusion lobbyists to promote the full inclusion model has in practice limited choice for some parents and their autistic children who might be better served in a quieter environment outside the mainstream classroom. Mr. Porter, who has been a significant part of that push for full inclusion, and who is now the Chair of the New Brunswick Human Rights Commission, has presided over Commission guidelines which will reinforce the presumption of full classroom inclusion - to the detriment of some autistic children.

Autism and the Environment - Time To Get A Grip

One of the most consistent points of controversy, amongst the many that dominate world discussion of autism issues, is the extent to which autism disorders are caused by environmental as opposed to genetic factors. Our environment today is polluted with a variety of toxic substances and we are also now experiencing a dramatic increase in diagnosed cases of autism disorders around the globe. Some of the more frequently mentioned potential culprits in influencing current autism surges are mercury and lead. We have recently seen the advancement of a unified autism theory based on genetic mutations that may also suggest environmental factors. One of the more balanced overviews of environmental influences on autism increases is that offered by Martha Herbert M.D., Ph. D., assistant professor of neurology at Harvard Medical School, and a pediatric neurologist at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston and Cambridge Health Alliance Center for Child and Adolescent Development.

In Time to Get a Grip Dr. Herbert presents the case that environment is involved in causing autism. In advancing this argument Dr. Herbert urges readers to look at the whole person and whole body because both genetic and environmental factors impact the whole body and not just the brain. Dr. Herbert's model of autism disorders suggests that something can be done about the challenges presented by autism deficits, at least to prevent, and possibly, repair such deficits. She also argues that it is important for everyone that we address the very serious environmental deterioration which threatens us all.

Today is Blog Action Day and the environment is the theme. For a balanced overview of environment and autism issues it is difficult to find a better source than Time to Get a Grip .

Yet Another TASER Death

Canada.com reports in Man dies after being tasered by RCMP that a man in his 40's has died about 4 minutes after being Taser'd by RCMP stationed at the Vancouver International Airport. The man was sweating profusely and had been screaming, pounding on a desk, and grabbing a computer off a desk before being Taser'd with 50,000 volts of electricity.

Police and the company that manufactures Tasers tell us that Tasers are safe and do not cause death. Coroners who find other causes of death where people die shortly after being Taser'd have created a medical syndrome to justify their conclusions - excited delirium syndrome - which is not a diagnosis used in psychiatry. In one case involving an autistic victim who died after being Taser'd the police actually blamed it on "autism induced excited delirium syndrome"

I recognize that the use of Tasers by police is not a black and white issue. It does not seem credible though to claim that a death which ensues minutes after receiving 50,000 volts of electricity is not caused, at least in part, by that jolt. TASER company officials and police do their credibility no good in trying to peddle that affront to common sense.

Adult Autism Care In New Brunswick

The Autism Society New Brunswick AGM was held yesterday at the Crowne Plaza in Fredericton. We had a great turnout. I was the featured speaker with lots of questions, discussion, and debate. We had guests from many parts of the province. Amongst those in attendance was Andy Scott MP for Fredericton who has been a powerful advocate for a National Autism Strategy and Barb Whitenect, one of the most autism knowledgeable public servants in our province.



Photo: Harold Doherty Speaking, A Good Turnout
Photo by Charles LeBlanc



Photo : Andy Scott Speaking, Harold Doherty Listening
Photo Courtesy of Charles LeBlanc

The subject of discussion was youth and adult residential care and treatment - a very big subject in New Brunswick. We have made great strides in pre-school intervention, education and pediatric tertiary care services but our youth and adult residential care and treatment services are abysmal. There is a need for improved services for supported living for those autistic persons who can, and choose to, live in their home environment and for a complete overhaul of the group homes. And we are totally lacking in proper care here in New Brunswick for the most serious adult autism challenges.

Photo: Tamara Downey, New ASNB President, Meets the Media
Photo by Charles LeBlanc

We also got some organizational work done with the election of a new Board of Directors led by new ASNB President Tamara Downey above.

Photo Left to Right: Nancy Blanchette, Outgoing ASNB Vice President, Dr. Theresa McKenzie (Psychologist) and Lila Barry, Outgoing ASNB President

Autism and Lead Poisoning

The focus on a mercury based preservative in some vaccines has taken public attention away from other commonly found toxic substances as possible causes, or contributing factors, in at least some of the increasingly large numbers of autism diagnoses being made today in the Canada, the US, the UK and elsewhere in the world. Yesterday CBC news carried a story Excessive lead found in water of 5 Toronto schools which as the title indicates, reports on five Toronto area schools in which testing showed the water supply exceeded the Ministry of the Environment standard of 10 micrograms of lead per litre. The school district is now supplying staff and students at the 5 schools with bottled water.

The article also notes in conclusion that "Childhood exposure to lead can cause learning problems and reduced intelligence." The CBC article also contains a link to the Ontario Ministry of the Environment web page which notes that, apart from lead pipes and drinking water there are many other sources of lead in our environment including some older lead paints. As we have learned recently lead is still being found in some popular children's toys. With respect to the health effects of drinking lead contaminated water the Ontario Environment Ministry page Lead and Drinking Water - Questions and Answers states that:

How does lead in water affect health?

Young children are more sensitive to the effects of lead because they are still developing and able to absorb ingested lead more easily than adults. Long-term exposure to lead above the standards may increase the risk of subtle impairment of learning capacity and intellectual development. Pregnant women need to limit their lead intake as much as possible to protect the fetus.

In Autism and Autistic Symptoms Associated with Childhood Lead Poisoning , published in the Journal of Applied Research, authors Theodore I. Lidsky, PhD , Department of Psychobiology, New York State Institute for Basic Research in Developmental Disabilities, Staten Island, New York and Jay S. Schneider, PhD Department of Pathology, Anatomy and Cell Biology, Thomas Jefferson University College of Medicine, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania examined two case histories of children who, during periods of severe lead poisoning, developed autism or autistic symptoms.

In the abstract portion of the article the authors noted that "These cases underscore that there are multiple causes of autism and the importance of environmental influences in some cases."
Both of these children emerged from their autism diagnoses (1 autism disorder, 1 PDD-NOS) with the passage of time but with no specialized treatment. Lidsky and Schneider concluded that:

The two case histories presented here, as well as the reports of autistic symptoms in children with disorders that produce brain lesions or encephalopa- thy, indicate that there are multiple causes of autism. Further, the ability of brain infections and lead poisoning to produce such symptoms highlights the importance of environmental factors in the etiology of *autism*.

The ability of *lead* *poisoning* to induce symptoms of *autism* is also relevant to cases of preexisting pervasive developmental disorders irrespective of etiology. Such individuals have a greater propensity to engage in pica and, as a result, are more likely to become *lead* poisoned.

In such cases, *lead* poisoning can be expected not only to negatively impact neurocognitive functioning, but also to potentially exacerbate the preexisting symptoms of *autism*. Indeed, one case report describes a decrease in hyperactivity and stereotypies in an autistic child with a blood *lead* of 42 µg/dL once this level was reduced by chelation with succimer.

In June of 2007 Dan Agin discussed the possibility of lead poisoning as a major environmental factor in autism on the Huffington Post in his article Autism and Our Passion For Simple Causes and Quick Fixes. Mr. Agin's Huffington biography states that he has a Ph.D. in Biological Psychology and thirty years laboratory research in Neurobiology. He's Emeritus Associate Professor of Molecular Genetics and Cell Biology at the University of Chicago, and for the past ten years he has been editor-in-chief of the journal ScienceWeek (www.scienceweek.com), a science digest that focuses on explicating new research in the various sciences.

No one can credibly claim that autism is purely genetic or purely environmental. The unified autism theory seems to suggest that both types of factors are involved in the development of genetic mutations giving rise to autism. There is much research to be done, and much being done, on all sides in the search to understand what causes autism. We know there are major toxic substances, including mercury and lead, polluting our environment. It would be foolish to ignore them as possible causes of autism. It would also be foolish to pretend that the research on these issues is complete and that any of these toxic substances can be ruled out as causes of autism.

Adult Autism Care in New Brunswick

Adult Autism Care in New Brunswick

Saturday October 13 at 1 pm at the Crowne Plaza Fredericton

Saturday October 13 at 1 pm at the Crowne Plaza in Fredericton the Autism Society New Brunswick will be discussing autistic youth and adult residential care and treatment. There is no admission fee and the meeting is open to any members of the public interested in autism and improving the quality of life of autistic persons in New Brunswick.

The featured speaker will be Autism Society New Brunswick board member Harold Doherty. Guests will include representatives of the provincial Departments of Health and Family Services and Fredericton MP Andy Scott.

For More Information call Harold Doherty at 472-2778 (H) or 454-8400(O) or contact by email at dohertylaw@rogers.com

Autism Speaks, Autism Leadership and Board of Education of City of New York v. Tom F., 06-637

The autism communities in the US and Canada have suffered from a common problem - a lack of strong leadership, focused on the important priorities of raising awareness, generating funds for research and advocating for effective health and education treatments for autistic persons. That scenario began to change for the better though with the emergence of Autism Speaks under the leadership of Bob and Suzanne Wright.

The Wrights' media savvy, contacts and organizational skills have worked wonders at raising autism awareness, real awareness of autism as what it is a debilitating neurological disorder. From the very best stand up comics and TV stars to NASCAR racers the Autism Speaks team have put autism into the public consciousness in a very big way. They have generated funds for important autism research. And they have participated in a significant United States Supreme Court decision Board of Education of City of New York v. Tom F., 06-637.

As set out in the Autism Speaks Press Release the New York City Department of Education had argued that even if the child's IEP is demonstrably inappropriate, a parent should not have standing to challenge their child's IEP unless the parent has first "tried out" the school district's IEP.

Autism Speaks filed an amicus brief in the case focusing on the critical nature of early intervention for children with autism which explained why parents of children with autism should not be forced to "try out" demonstrably inappropriate and ineffective IEP programs during what may well be a relatively narrow window of opportunity. The Autism Speaks press release indicates that Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg quoted from that brief during oral argument.

Here in Canada our education system operates under different legal and constitutional considerations then in the United States. And American decisions have no binding effect in Canadian courts. They can still be influential, however, directly in the court systems as non binding precedents, or indirectly, by influencing educators who take American developments under consideration. Hopefully this ruling by the US Supreme Court will have some positive influence on Canadian educators and will dissuade them from pursuing the NY City Board of Education approach.

In any event, a big Thank You to Autism Speaks for its excellent leadership in addressing the real needs of autistic children.

Autistic Woman Starved to Death in Ontario

In Toronto the trial of 32 year old Allison Cox, on charges of manslaughter and failing to provide the necessities of life for her 23 year old adoptive sister Tiffany Pinckney has begun. The prosecution, as reported in the Toronto Star, has stated that Ms Pinckney was found lying dead in her own urine and feces, weighing 84 1/2 pounds down from 200 pounds. The Star also reports that Ms Pinckney was a non verbal autistic person, who although toilet trained, functioned at a mental age of about 3.

The court will determine Ms Cox's guilt or innocence on these charges. But regardless of that legal determination this situation should be one more example to illustrate the foolishness of those who persistently advocate for the view that autism is not a disability. Ms. Pinckney was dependent on the good will and sense of responsibility of others because of her autism, her intelligence deficit and her lack of verbal abilities. And now she is dead, starved to death at age 23.

There are high functioning autistic persons who accomplish great things in life and some who get interviewed on CNN. And then there are more severely autistic persons like Ms. Pinckney who are vulnerable and dependent on the good will of others.

There was no Joy of Autism for Tiffany Pinckney.

You Are Invited to Discuss Adult Autism Care in New Brunswick

Lila Barry, President, Autism Society New Brunswick



October is Autism Awareness month in Canada. Since last October the Centre for Disease Control in the United States has changed its estimates of autism prevalence. The CDC had previously estimated that 1 in 166 persons has some form of autism disorder. In February 2007, they released a new estimate of 1 in 150. In the United Kingdom, the generally accepted estimate is 1 in 100. There is much debate over to what extent the increasingly larger estimates of the total numbers of persons with autism reflects actual increases or changes in diagnostic criteria combined with greater public awareness.

The fact remains that most places, including New Brunswick, are in dire need of autism-specific services. Autism is not just a different personality type. It is a recognized neurological disorder with communication, behavior and social impairments varying in severity.

Some great strides have been made in New Brunswick over the past eight years in funding of pre-school interventions by properly trained autism support workers. Teacher aides are also being trained as autism support workers to assist autistic children in the school system. The departments of education, health and family services all deserve credit for making these changes, as does our political leadership before and after the last election.

The UNB-CEL is a great resource for the autism community in New Brunswick in ensuring a supply of properly trained autism support workers. Parents and family members have been at the forefront of change and the Autism Society New Brunswick has been an effective organizational vehicle for directing and moving change in the right direction, with a focus on improving the lives of autistic children and adults.

The Autism Society annual general meeting will be held at the Crowne Plaza in Fredericton on Saturday, Oct. 13 from 1-4. The subject of the meeting will be youth and adult residential care and treatment. Everyone with an interest in autism, including autistic persons, family members, professionals and government are invited to attend. There is no admission fee except one: your concern for autistic persons in New Brunswick.

Respectfully,


Lila Barry, President
Autism Society New Brunswick

Autism Rising - Are Grinker's Assumptions A Sufficient Explanation?

Autism diagnoses are rising, of that there is no dispute. In the United States the number, as estimated by the CDC, is now 1 in 150, where just 2 years ago it was lowered to 1 in 166 and it had been 1 in 250, 1 in 500 and so on. The debate is over why so many more children are being diagnosed with autism today.

There are those who argue that the causes are environmental, from pesticides to mercury based vaccine preservatives. Others argue that the increasing numbers of diagnosed autism cases are a product of changing of changing definitions, changing diagnostic criteria and increased public awareness. Roy Grinker, anthropologist, of Unstrange Minds fame, attributes the increasing numbers to these cultural factors. But what evidence are Grinker's conclusions based on?

While the factors cited by Grinker seem like probable contributors to the increases in autism cases do they provide a complete explanation? The newest genetic theories of autism causality are based on genetic mutations, leaving open the possibility of environmental triggers of such mutations. Grinker's assumptions may have to make room for these environmental considerations, in providing a complete understanding of the nature of autism. And some of the parents, physicians and other health care providers who actually work with autistic children in providing biomedical treatments may yet be proven right.

Blog Action Day, Autism and the Environment

Parents of autistic children have to plan for their children's futures, like other parents, but with the certain knowledge, in some cases, that their children will not be living independent lives, that they will require the assistance of others, whether in group homes or more institutional settings. We should also be concerned on a more global scale about what kind of environment our children will be living in after we are gone. October 15 is Blog Action Day and the subject is the environment. I urge all Autism bloggers to participate in Blog Action day this October 15. Please go to blogactionday.org for more information. Commit your blog to Blog Action Day by registering at blogactionday.org/commit.

Harold Doherty
Fredericton, NB, Canada

BLOGGERS TO UNITE ON BLOG ACTION DAY

All Blogs Invited to Take Part in Joining Voices to Help Environment

An international initiative of bloggers known as "Blog Action Day" launched today, with the aim of uniting thousands of blogging voices, talking about one issue for one day. This year on Blog Action Day, which is slated for Oct. 15, 2007, bloggers will be discussing the environment.

Major blogs have signed up to participate, including Lifehacker, Dumb Little Man, Lifehack.org, Get Rich Slowly, Web Worker Daily, GigaOm, The Simple Dollar, Zen Habits, Freelance Switch, LifeClever, Unclutterer, Pronet Advertising, Wise Bread and many more.



"For just one day, we'd like to unite as many of the millions of bloggers around the world and speak about one issue - the environment," said Collis Ta'eed, an Australian blogger from
FreelanceSwitch.com, and a cofounder of Blog Action Day. "We want to display the potential and the power of the blogging community, which is a disparate community but one with an amazing size, breadth and diversity. By bringing everyone together for one day, we can see just how much can be achieved, and how much we can be heard."


Blog Action Day is a non-profit initiative, and will be an annual event. As an alternative to blogging about the environment on Blog Action Day, bloggers can opt to participate by donating their blog's proceeds from Oct. 15 to one of several environmental organizations chosen for this purpose: Greenpeace International, The Nature Conservancy, the National Wildlife Federation (NWF), the Conservation Fund, and the Sierra Club.

Bloggers who would like to participate in Blog Action Day should visit BlogActionDay.org or email Collis Ta'eed at collis@eden.cc, so they can be listed on the Blog Action Day site. To participate, a blog just needs to write about the issue of the environment on Oct. 15, 2007, or donate its proceeds for the day to one of the chosen environmental organizations.

Conor's Thanksgiving

This is the Thanksgiving weekend in Canada and Conor had a great holiday today.


Sightseeing with Dad in the Silver Car (Toyota Camry) and a visit with one of his favorite people - his Aunt Betty.

CIHR's Invisible National Autism Symposium

I have written several commentaries on this site critical of the Harper Government\CIHR National Autism Symposium. The Autism Symposium was touted as ABOVE ALL an exercise in .... community building. Except that the community reps were all hand picked by the CIHR, without input from the provincial Autism Societies or FEAT organizations.

The agenda, list of speakers, and list of invited guests, are all unknown to the "community" at this time. Now it appears that the National Autism Symposium itself will be kept hush hush to the point of being invisible.

The Autism Symposium is scheduled for November 8 and 9 in Toronto, yet it is not even listed on the general Event Listing page of the CIHR website or on the Upcoming Events section of the Institute of Neurosciences, Mental Health and Addiction (INMHA) section which actually lists NO upcoming events:

Event Listing (General)

December 4-6, 2007: Human Health Resources 2007: Connecting Issues and People
The conference will explore health human resources planning and management issues at all levels of the health-care system in Canada. CIHR is one of the organizers.
Ottawa, Ontario

November 13 and 14, 2007: The First Canadian Workshop on Bed Rest Studies
The Canadian Space Agency (CSA), the Canadian Society of Exercise Physiology (CSEP) and the CIHR Institute of Musculoskeletal Health and Arthritis (IMHA) invite you to participate in a unique event. This workshop will be held preceding the annual meeting of the CSEP at the London Convention Center, and will focus on training methods to maintain musculoskeletal and cardiovascular function in weightlessness or simulated microgravity (bed rest).
London, Ontario

October 4-5, 2007: CIHR Workshop for Journalists on Mental Health
CIHR invites journalists for a unique opportunity to explore and discuss the latest in mental health discoveries with today's research leaders from Quebec including Dr. Rémi Quirion, Dr. Sonia Lupien, Dr. Gustavo Turecki, Dr. Karim Nader, Dr. Michael Meaner, Dr. Ridha Joober, and many more.
Presentations will be held in French.
Montreal, Quebec

NMHA Calendar of Events

Upcoming Events



Past Events

Institute of Neurosciences, Mental Health and Addiction 5th Annual Meeting, in conjunction with the Canadian Association for Neuroscience, Toronto
May 22-23, 2007

Autism May Result from Wrong Amount of MeCP2 Protein, Wrong Number of Synapses

“MeCP2 has an important role in fine-tuning the amount of synaptic responses, having just the right amount of MeCP2 and the right number of synapses drives healthy brain development"

- Hsiao-Tuan Chao, M.D./Ph.D. graduate student, Baylor College of Medicine

A study published in Neuron reports evidence that problems in synapse formation early in post natal development give rise to mental retardation, Rett syndrome, autism and other developmental disorders. The protein MeCP2 (methyl-CpG binding protein 2) is critical in determining the number of synapses. And the correct number of synapses is necessary for healthy brain development. A mutation of the MeCP2 gene results in too little of the protein which further results in girls developing Rett syndrome. Boys with too much MeCP2 have spasticity and mental retardation with autism-like behavior.

In MeCP2 Controls Excitatory Synaptic Strength by Regulating Glutamatergic Synapse researchers Hsiao-Tuan Chao, Huda Y. Zoghbi, and Christian Rosenmund of the Baylor College of Medicine report conclusions of their study of two groups of mice, one group of mice with too little MeCP2, and another group with too much of the protein, to figure out what is the right number of synapses and how the number is determined. The found that too little of the MeCP2 protein meant that not enough synapses formed. Too much MeCP2 meant too many synapses formed.

As reported on the Baylor College of Medicine web site:

“The beauty of this result is that this critical process in the development of synaptic connectivity in the brain is tightly regulated by the amount of MeCP2,” said Rosenmund. “It is one of the strongest pieces of evidence that mental retardation and autism-like diseases originate with problems in synapse formation.”

Chao said, “It suggests that the pathways in which MeCP2 is involved and the proteins it regulates are probably critical for how the brain can determine how many synapses to make as it’s developing.”

“This determination of how many synapses to make happens early in life,” said Zoghbi. “If it’s not right, then the brain undergoes secondary changes to try to compensate. This is a big important observation and opens up ways to think about adult diseases that involve loss of synaptic function. It is also interesting that patients who lack this protein or have too much have features of autism. More and more, data point to the possibility that autism is a disorder of abnormal function of the synapse.”

Stephen Harper's Open Agenda And What It Means for Autism in Canada

Stephen Harper can be accused of many things. He is, IMHO, an arrogant, rigid, individual who would be right at home in the inner circles of George W. Bush and Richard Cheney both in terms of political philosophy and style of government. Harper is an autocratic leader who rules his party with an iron fist. There is no room for independent thought or expression in the Stephen Harper Reform party which has, with the cooperation of a gullible Peter MacKay, stolen the Conservative label from the true Conservative party of Sir John A. MacDonald, John Diefenbaker, Robert Stanfield and Joe Clark.

Stephen Harper is all these things, but it is difficult for anyone to credibly claim that he has a "hidden agenda" as some pundits have done. Stephen Harper has been very open about his goals and his agenda. If Stephen Harper is granted majority control of Canada he will immediately begin the dismantling of our federal government reducing it to nothing more than a shell of what it is today. The result will be the dismantling of medicare, a program which has served Canadians across Canada so well for generations. Medicare coverage of ABA for autism? Not under Harper rule. It is naive to think otherwise.

The tool Harper will use to dismantle the strong federal government is simple. He will introduce plans to formally limit Ottawa's power to spend in areas of provincial jurisdiction. With restrictions on federal spending the federal government will shrink as Harper has always wanted. Federal oversight of medicare will disappear and with it any chance of a National Autism Strategy in Canada or medicare coverage of autism. The ability of autistic children in Canada to receive proper treatment for their autism disorder will depend entirely upon accidents of geography. If they live in Saskatchewan they will get little or nothing. If they move next door to Alberta they will have full coverage.

Many autism advocates, from all regions of Canada, and from all political party backgrounds, are determined to fight hard for a National Autism Strategy of substance, something more than a mediocre web page and a secretive, orchestrated, Autism Symposium of government selected delegates. To have hope of being successful in realizing the dream of a National Autism Strategy one thing is clear - we must do our best to contribute to the political demise of the Harper government.

Autistic Children - Canaries In The Coal Mine?

The classic example of animals serving as sentinels is the "canary in the coal mine". Well into the 20th century, coal miners in England and the US brought canaries into coal mines as an "early warning signal" for toxic gases including methane and carbon monoxide. The birds, being more sensitive, would become sick before the miners, who would then have a chance to escape or put on protective respirators.

- Wikipedia

Is the dramatic rise in the diagnoses of autism solely a result of changed diagnostic criteria and enhanced public awareness? Or are environmental factors also involved? Are children suffering increasingly from developmental disorders, including autism, because of degradation of the world environment? Like the canaries in the coal mines do the increasing numbers of autistic children also serve as a warning of serious environmental decay?

The thimerosal/vaccine theories have occupied much public attention over the past several years but have they also distracted from other potential environmental factors? Few would deny the very important role of genetics in autism. The Unified Theory of Autism and the concept of genetic mutation, however, suggest that genetic mutations associated with autism may arise from environmental triggers. Vaccines are not the only human source of mercury which can also be found in thermometers, dental fillings, fluorescent light bulbs, and other consumer products. Environment Canada has a web page called Mercury and the Environment which illustrates how mercury, particularly methylmercury, concentrates in in the environment, and in living organisms.

Some mercury compounds are more easily absorbed by living organisms than elemental mercury itself. When atmospheric mercury falls to earth, it may be altered by bacterial or chemical action into an organic form known as methylmercury. Methylmercury is much more toxic than the original metal molecules that drifted in the air, and has the ability to migrate through cell membranes and "bioaccumulate" in living tissue. Bioaccumulation is the process by which a substance builds up in a living organism from the surrounding air or water, or through the consumption of contaminated food. Bioaccumulation will vary for different species and will depend on emission sources as well as local factors like water chemistry and temperature.

In the following figure, the concept of accumulated methylmercury is illustrated by the red dots, however the dots are not to scale.

The bioaccumulation of methylmercury in natural ecosystems is an environmental concern because it inflicts increasing levels of harm on species higher up the food chain. This occurs through a process known as "biomagnification", whereby persistent substances like methylmercury will increase in concentration from microorganisms, to fish, to fish eating predators like otters and loons, and to humans. Elevated methylmercury levels may lead to the decline of affected wildlife populations and may affect human health when people consume significant quantities of fish or other contaminated foods.

The Environment Canada site states that the amount of mercury in the air arising from human activities has increased by a factor of 2 to 4 since industrialization. In addition to mercury there have been frequent recalls of toy products containing lead. A recent California study suggested a causal connection between some pesticides and autism rates.

With the significant environmental degradation taking place today it seems entirely possible that the increasing prevalence of autism amongst children may be due to more than changes in diagnostic criteria and public awareness. Increasing levels of toxic substances in our environment may be triggering genetic mutations and may be contributing significantly to the increasing diagnoses of autism. Autism research should pursue all possible factors, genetic and environmental. To help our autistic children - and to more thoroughly understand what we are doing to our environment and ourselves.