Early Early Screening Urged for Autism by US Pediatricians

The American Academy of Pediatrics will be recommending that all children be screened twice for autism by age 2 to allow maximum benefit from early intervention. The AAP points out early indicators of autism such as 4-month-olds not smiling at the sound of Mom or Dad's voice, babies who don't babble at 9 months, 1-year-olds who don't point to toys, or the loss of language or social skills at any age.

Conor was diagnosed 9 1/2 years ago at age 2. At that time, in New Brunswick, age 2 was an early diagnosis age for autism and we had no idea what autism was until Conor was diagnosed, initially with PDD-NOS, and as the severity of his autism became more obvious, with Autism Disorder. The early indicators for us were his failure to smile or show any response to peek a boo and other playful interaction. He had persistent fascination with sand, sifting it for lengthy periods of time but we did not find that alarming. His failure to develop any language skills by 12-14 months (other than saying the word "circle" on one occasion) was our most serious concern and we took him to our family doctor.

Our family doctor responded with the "boys develop language later" answer but we were not convinced. Our family doctor was one of those sometimes rare professionals who actually listened to our concerns though and he referred us to a pediatrician with some background in developmental disorders and after a series of tests Conor was diagnosed.

Unfortunately for Conor ABA intervention was not readily available in New Brunswick at that time. Most of the local Autism Society efforts were half day workshops on an eclectic mix of autism related topics. An activist group of parents emerged in response to the void in autism services in New Brunswick and we fought hard to get early intervention funded by the province, too late for our own children. But the benefit of those efforts will be felt by newly diagnosed autistic children in New Brunswick and that is a good thing - a very good thing.

The earlier an autism diagnosis is received, the better. And in New Brunswick today, although things are far from perfect, evidence based intervention is available for those parents who choose it for their child - if they get an early diagnosis.

National Autistic Society Calls for Realistic Autism Awareness

EDITOR's NOTE: Edited as per commentary received from 'Amused'

A badly needed breeze of fresh air and common sense is blowing westward across the Atlantic from the UK's National Autistic Society. In its Think Differently campaign the National Autistic Society UK is pointing out a lack of public knowledge about the realities of autism. Public belief that all autistic persons possess Rain Man or savant skills may be preventing autistic persons from accessing needed services.

"such a widespread belief could be detrimental to the vast majority of people with autism who do not have such special abilities and are struggling with significant communication problems.

It is estimated that one in 100 people in Wales has an autism spectrum disorder.

NAS Cymru, which launches a major campaign today, said that there is a lack of public understanding and awareness about what it really means to live with autism and autism spectrum disorders."

Sadly, even while organizations like the UK National Autistic Society try to offer the public a more realistic understanding of autism, some persons and organizations still try to obscure those often hard realities. While almost all parents find joy in their children, autistic or not, there are actually some parents, professionals, and high functioning autistic persons hard at work, trying to convince the world that we should find joy in autism, a serious neurological disorder. Fortunately, parents, family members and responsible professionals for the most part are not buying into such nonsense and are fighting hard to obtain services and a better life for their autistic loved ones, children, youths and adults.

Autism Society Ladies Night Fundraiser at Roblynn Home Hardware Oromocto

Autism Society New Brunswick Fundraiser

Roblynn Home Hardware Building Centre & Home Furniture Oromocto is having a

"Ladies Night" on Wednesday, November 7th from 7:00-9:00 pm!

The night is exclusively for ladies and it will feature decorating techniques with Home Hardware's creative director Bev Bell, entertaining ideas, demonstrations, food tasting, shopping, door prizes and more!

The store will close at our usual time at 6:00pm. Then, our doors will reopen for ladies only at 7:00pm.

Tickets for this event are $5.00 and can be purchased at our store, from the

Autism Society NB (357-2104 Nancy, 357-5526 Tamara) and participating businesses.

All proceeds will go to support the Autism Society NB.

Tickets will also be available for purchase at the door the evening of our event.

With the purchase of a ticket, the ladies will be able to shop tax free on regular priced product store wide and they will be eligible for all door prizes!

Autumn Lingers and Conor Enjoys

Autistic Children Lost On Waiting Lists In Canada's Autism Wasteland

In Waiting list for help is long the Leader-Post this weekend reports on the autistic children getting lost on the waiting lists in Saskatchewan, Canada's Autism Wasteland. The Leader-Post reports that Saskatchewan is the only province in Canada without a comprehensive treatment program for autistic children. At the Autism Resource Centre in Regina one child has been on a waiting list for services for 2 1/2 years and is still number 66 from the top. Once at the top of the list, a child will receive a program plan and some support services but no treatment program. The extremely valuable early years development time is being lost due to government indifference.

The school years are no different in Canada's Autism Wasteland where the Saskatchewan government nonchalantly relies on the approach that schools are expected to provide all students' needs from special education funding - without the funding and trained personnel to provide autism specific educational assistance to autistic children. The result - autistic students - even non verbal autistic students - are dumped in the mainstream classrooms without proper help.

What is it in the air or the water in Saskatchewan that has caused its political and civil service leadership to be so indifferent to the needs of autistic children? How can they just ignore the needs of vulnerable children?

It is not simply a money issue. New Brunswick is on a similar economic and population footing as Saskatchewan but much more has been done here for our autistic children and much more continues to be done.

It is not like the Saskatchewan leadership can rely on ignorance as an excuse. With internet communications today it is impossible for any conscious, and conscientious, leader to pretend that they do not know that 1 in 150 children in their jurisdiction will be diagnosed with this neurological disorder.

It appears that, apart from calloused indifference, the explanation for Saskatchewan's inaction may lie in proximity to Canada's wealthiest province - Alberta. The much healthier funding for autism services in Alberta has resulted in some Saskatchewan families moving next door to obtain treatment for their autistic children.

Why is Saskatchewan Canada's Autism Wasteland? Is it possible that the Saskatchewan leadership is simply leaving it to their Alberta neighbors to deal with? It certainly looks that way.

No Autism Talk in Saskatchewan Election

Saskatchewan's Leader Post is covering autism this weekend, including profiling some autistic children and their families and notes that in Canada's Autism Wasteland the politicians are remaining silent on autism during the Saskatchewan election with none of the parties featuring an autism plank in their party platforms.

The lack of discussion of autism issues is featured in Autistic children get lost in election shuffle an article which also features SASKFEAT's Lisa Simmermon, herself the mother of an autistic child and a long time autism advocate. The provincial politicians in Saskatchewan are using their own delay and neglect of autistic children as an excuse for not being in a position to provide autism services, using the standard, "we have to consult the stakeholders", lines to explain why they are not in a position to start implementing autism specific programs.

We went through that song and dance years ago in New Brunswick when the Interdepartmental Committee on autism services took 18 months to report that there were few autism specific services in New Brunswick. That report then went unread by the lead minister on the Committee, then Health Minister Elvy Robichaud for almost a year.

In another flashback moment, a Kim Campbell moment, the Leader-Post reports that Lisa Simmermon was told by one provincial politician that "an election is not a time to comment on government services." Yeah, right.

Autism Research Conference in Wales November 9

An autism research conference, open to the public, including parents? A list of scheduled speakers and topics published in advance of the conference? Yes, the Inaugural Autism Research Conference Wales will be taking place at Cardiff on November 9 co-hosted by Autism Cymru, Wales’ national charity for autism and Autism Speaks. Speakers, including Professor Simon Baron-Cohen, Professor Anthony Bailey, Professor Anthony Monaco, Professor Martin Raff, Dr Dawn Wimpory, Professor Mark Johnson, Professor Declan Murphy, Lois Grayson, Professor Martin Knapp and Dame Stephanie Shirley will be discussing the latest in autism research developments.

Meanwhile, back in Canada, the CIHR will also be holding an Autism Research Symposium in Toronto on November 8 and 9. This event is by invitation only, with no list of speakers and no list of topics to be discussed. Only in Canada you say? Pity!

Disturbing Death of Tiffany Pinckney

Tiffany Pinckney was a 23 year old autistic woman who was severely mentally challenged and could not care for herself. Tiffany Pinckney was a truly low functioning autistic person who depended on the care of her adoptive sister for support, a sister who now stands trial in Toronto for criminal negligence causing death and failure to provide the necessaries of life. She literally starved to death while in the "care" of her adoptive sister.

The Toronto Star in, Autistic woman dead 5 hours before 911 called, continues its coverage of this gut wrenching story that may be too difficult for some readers to stomach. I believe it is important that we all read this story though and understand that there are other equally challenged autistic people out there who need care as Tiffany needed care. We must all be vigilant to ensure that they receive that care.

CIHR Autism "Partnerships" and "Community Building" LOL

In invitations to its hand picked delegates to the "National" Autism Symposium scheduled for November 8 and 9 in Toronto the CIHR bragged that the symposium was "above all ... an exercise in community building". On the CIHR web site the claim is made that:

Partnerships

From its beginning, CIHR has developed a very broad, inclusive approach to partnership. The multidisciplinary research environment we encourage helps to bring together a wide variety of organizations. Partner organizations include other federal government departments and agencies, provincial funding agencies and relevant provincial and territorial departments, health charities, non-governmental organizations, industry, as well as international organizations.

The CIHR then goes on to elaborate on its philosophy of partnering:

About Partnerships

While working in partnership has many benefits, there also are responsibilities to bear in mind. Partnerships must be: Based on the ethical principles that guide all CIHR activities, Free of conflicts of interest and Operated with managerial transparency and public accountability. Successful partnerships are based on people working well together, which require flexibility, trust and understanding.

How does the CIHR demonstrate its commitments to community building, to a broad, inclusive approach to partnerships, to transparency and public accountability, and to trust and understanding?

By deciding on behalf of the autism communities in Canada who will represent them at the National Autism Symposium. By bypassing the provincial autism societies and FEAT organizations, and in some cases rejecting names that these organizations put forth, by concealing from the public and the media any information whatsoever about who would be attending the conference or the list of scheduled speakers or topics.

The distinguished persons who are organizing the CIHR National Autism Symposium may be good scientists, or may have been before they became bureaucrats and lobbyists for specific perspectives about autism and autism research, but they are lousy "community builders" and they are not even trying to be transparent and accountable. The CIHR bureaucrat/scientists may be working together with some people but it is not the parent driven autism societies in Canada. And trust is clearly not a part of the CIHR diet.

The CIHR organizers are hiding in their offices and are hiding their agendas. The proposed National Autism Symposium is, by any measure, a failure before it begins. It is a waste of government funds. And it absolutely will not reflect the interests of the community which it has ignored and insulted .

Biological Evidence That Low Functioning Autism Is A Different Disorder Than High Functioning Autism and Aspergers

One of the current autism debates on the internet is over the distinction between low functioning and high functioning autism. Mere mention of the differences between lower functioning and higher functioning autism are enough to attract condemnation from some quarters. The indisputable fact that some autistic persons have little or no communication ability, or ability to understand abstract concepts, is denied vigorously by some. Neurodiversity icons like Laurent Mottron and Michelle Dawson, who actively lobby against government provision of ABA services for autistic children in Canada, the Quirks and Quarks duo, also devise studies to "prove" that even low functioning autistic persons actually have hidden, unappreciated, intelligence. Apart from the communication deficits and lack of real world skills of low functioning autistic persons there is now also biological evidence of the very real differences between these autism disorders.

Researchers Christine Wu Nordahl, Donna Dierker, Iman Mostafavi, Cynthia M. Schumann, Susan M. Rivera, David G. Amaral, and David C. Van Essen tested for cortical shape abnormalities using surface-based morphometry across a range of autism spectrum disorders. The results reported in Cortical Folding Abnormalities in Autism Revealed by Surface-Based Morphometry, The Journal of Neuroscience, October 24, 2007, 27(43):11725-11735; ; doi: oi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0777-07.2007 are summarized in the online abstract.

Using structural MRI imaging maps were created which showed that a low functioning autism group had a prominent shape abnormality centered on the pars opercularis of the inferior frontal gyrus that was associated with a sulcal depth difference in the anterior insula and frontal operculum. The high-functioning autism group had bilateral shape abnormalities similar to the low-functioning group, but smaller in size and centered more posteriorly, in and near the parietal operculum and ventral postcentral gyrus. Individuals with Asperger's syndrome had bilateral abnormalities in the intraparietal sulcus that correlated with age, intelligence quotient, and Autism Diagnostic.

Evidence of biological differences between low functioning and high functioning autism could have many implications and raise many questions. One important question such differences, and the drastic differences in communication and intellectual levels raise is whether very high functioning autistic persons, persons capable of making submissions to legal and political bodies, attending conferences and chatting with CNN interviewers have any legitimate basis on which to speak on behalf of lower functioning autistic persons who can not speak for themselves.

These high functioning autistic persons do not share the same life realities and ... they do not share the same disorder as low functioning autistic persons. Unless they are a parent, a caregiver or legal representative of autistic persons it is not clear that they have any inherent right to speak on behalf of lower functioning autistic persons. And certainly not to lobby against provision of services for those less fortunate individuals.

More Conor Trail Fun

One of my favorite activities is trail walking with Conor. It is a beautiful, fresh, safe and stress free time. The exercise benefits aren't really a major consideration. The chance to enjoy the fresh air and the beauty of nature without traffic or the stress, for Conor, of too much noise add up to a lot of fun - together with my buddy.

Autism Treatment Forum: Early ABA Based Intensive Intervention Is the Best Practice Treatment For Autism Disorders

In an open forum held Monday at Rutgers University, Douglass Developmental Disabilities Center representatives discussed current information about autism spectrum disorders treatment in an effort to close the gap between knowledge in research literature and what is taking place in the field.

The forum aimed at dispelling some autism treatment myths currently circulating. At Rutgers the DDDC emphasised the importance of early intensive intervention based on applied behavior analysis or ABA :

Starting in 2007 the DDDC launched the Early Intervention Program. This created a program where researchers agree an early intensive and coordinated program based on applied behavior analysis, also known as ABA, is the best practice treatment, Weiss said.

ABA dispels one of the most common misconceptions: That a child will learn if you give him or her more time.


"If children on the spectrum are going to learn to talk, I don't think it was because we gave them time," Demiri said. "Children on the spectrum do not acquire the language naturally, they need to be taught it. Instead of giving children time to learn to talk, we want to give them opportunities to learn."


Research shows the more treatment the child receives, the better the chances the child will develop typically. The early treatment program consumes up to 40 or more hours per week of the child's time.


The amount of time the treatment consumes debunks another common misconception: That autistic children cannot endure such intensive treatment. "We've actually found that a lot of our children can tolerate it," Demiri said. "In our experience, children with less hours have made the least amount of gains and have had the most difficulty retaining skills."

New Autism Genetic Data Released By John Hopkins and Autism Consortium

More detailed autism genetic data was released yesterday in a coordinated effort by the Autism Consortium and Johns Hopkins' McKusick-Nathans Institute of Genetic Medicine. As stated in the Autism Consortium and John Hopkins press releases the data was released to the world research community prior to publication in an effort to speed up research into causes of and cures for autism.

It is also interesting that parent driven organizations like Autism Speaks have been directly involved in the organization of this massive effort. The distrust of parent autism advocates and autism advocacy organizations demonstrated by Canada's CIHR does not seem to be shared by similar American agencies. The Autism Consortium DNA samples for the genome wide scans of DNA variation were provided by the Autism Genetic Resource Exchange (AGRE), a program of Autism Speaks.

The Autism Consortium consists of researchers from from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston Medical Center, Boston University, Boston University School of Medicine, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge Health Alliance, Children’s Hospital Boston, Harvard University, Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, McLean Hospital and Tufts-New England Medical Center. The Autism Consortium web site can be found at www.autismconsortium.org. More information about the Johns Hopkins' McKusick-Nathans Institute of Genetic Medicine can be found at http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/geneticmedicine/

From the Autism Consortium press release

Autism Consortium releases data on genes involved in autism to researchers worldwide

BOSTON – OCTOBER 22, 2007 – The Autism Consortium, a group of researchers, clinicians and families dedicated to radically accelerating research and enhancing clinical care for autism, announced today that it has completed the first genome scan for Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) through its Autism Gene Discovery Project and has released the reference data set to a database that autism researchers around the world can use. The scan was conducted using new, high resolution technology developed by Affymetrix on genetic data from more than 3,000 children with ASD and their families.

“Today’s release of genetic and phenotypic data on autism marks a significant achievement for the autism research community,” said Thomas Insel, Ph.D., Director of the National Institute for Mental Health. “Progress in finding the causes and cures for autism spectrum disorders rests in large part on improving the rapid access and sharing of data and resources That the Consortium is making the data available to the scientific community even before its own researchers have fully analyzed the information, demonstrates their high degree of commitment to and leadership in advancing autism research.”

Along with complementary data generated by Dr. Aravinda Chakravarti at Johns Hopkins and provided to the NIMH this week, these data provide the most detailed look to date at the genetic variation patterns in families with autism.

From the John Hopkins Press Release:

Hopkins Researchers Release Genome Data on Autism; Most Detailed Look at Genetic Contributions to Date

BALTIMORE, Oct. 22 (AScribe Newswire) -- Researchers at Johns Hopkins' McKusick-Nathans Institute of Genetic Medicine today are releasing newly generated genetic data to help speed autism research. The Hopkins data, coordinated with a similar data release from the Autism Consortium, aims to help uncover the underlying hereditary factors and speed the understanding of autism by encouraging scientific collaboration. These data provide the most detailed look to date at the genetic variation patterns in families with autism.

"Autism is a difficult enough genetic mystery for which we need all of the best minds and approaches to help unravel the role of genes in this neuropsychiatric illness," says Aravinda Chakravarti, Ph.D., director of the Center for Complex Disease Genomics at Hopkins.

Chakravarti and his team analyzed whole genomes from 1,250 autistic individuals, their siblings and parents; these samples were collected across the United States by many researchers under the aegis of the National Institute of Mental Health, part of the National Institutes of Health. Mark Daly, Ph.D., a senior associate member of the Broad Institute of Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard, is part of the Autism Consortium which released data acquired collected similarly from 3,000 individuals who are either affected by autism spectrum disorders (ASD) or are family members of individuals with autism.

"We're releasing raw genotype data so that other qualified researchers can take a look at it even as we're still beginning our own analysis," says Daly.

"It is really something of a landmark to have pre-publication data from our laboratories available to autism researchers. We are doing so in the spirit of the human genome project where such data releases were critical to progress long before final results were available. We are carefully looking at our collaborative findings as we continue to search for definitive information about which genes are important in causing autism spectrum disorders," says Chakravarti, who has collaborated with Daly for many years. "We hope to identify the most likely candidates over the next few months."

Neurodiversity Bloggers Still Buzzing Over Jenny

In Jenny McCarthy Knocks Over Neurodiversity Hornet's Nest I commented on the intense reaction by Neurodiversity bloggers to Jenny McCarthy's autism advocacy, advocacy prompted by her own child's autism and her efforts to treat or cure her child of that autism. Although I do not share her views about autism treatments I am amazed at the ferocious reaction her comments have generated amongst Neurodiversity bloggers. Autism Vox and Orac are two Neurodiversity bloggers who just can't seem to get her out of their minds with each posting yet again about this well known autism mother who has dared to speak publicly about autism without reading from the NeuroDiversity Manual.

Whole Picture Autism Acceptance

Parents and other autism advocates seeking to help autistic children and adults face many obstacles, not the least of which is a distorted "autism acceptance" movement. This distorted version of autism acceptance promotes the view that autism is a good thing. While persons with this perspective may pay lip service to the fact that autism is a neurological disorder, a disability, most members of this movement will not talk about the harsher realities of autism, particularly classic autism disorder. They will disparage in the harshest terms persons who talk about these realities. Whether it is called "natural variation" "neurodiversity" or "joy of autism" the autism acceptance advocates do anything but accept autism. What they do is tear the autism picture in half and accept and embrace the pretty parts of the autism picture and attack and disparage anyone who talks about the negative realities of autism. The self proclaimed autism acceptance advocates are deceiving themselves when they talk about accepting autism. They are really accepting only the pretty half of the picture not the whole picture of autism.

Most parental autism advocates yearn for whole picture autism acceptance by society. They wish they could take their children into public venues without stares and rude remarks when their children, overwhelmed by the environment around them, suffer meltdowns. They fight for autism specific health and education interventions for their children. They fight for treatment and cure for their children because they refuse to delude themselves about the nature of their children's neurological disorder. They accept their children's autism ... the whole picture and they refuse to be passive about the negative parts of the picture. These whole picture autism acceptance parents fight to help their autistic children that they love so dearly. They do not surrender to the lure of sweet surrender. They stand up and fight for their children.

Parents who accept the whole picture of their children's autism do not let a very high functioning autistic stranger tell them over the internet how they should raise, care for and ... help their autistic children. They seek to help their children overcome their deficits and for this they are reviled by self proclaimed autism acceptance advocates. They are fighting for their children because they love them ... and they accept their children's autism ... not part of the autism picture ... not just the pretty parts ... but the whole picture. Accepting autism means accepting the whole picture of autism .. including the parts that aren't so pretty.. the parts that don't get mentioned by anti-ABA crusaders in their Supreme Court of Canada and CBC Radio appearances.

Conor Enjoys Another Awesome Fredericton Fall Day

Autism Quote of the Decade - 2nd Place - MADSEC Autism Task Force Report ABA Conclusion

Conclusions

There is a wealth of validated and peer-reviewed studies supporting the efficacy of ABA

methods to improve and sustain socially significant behaviors in every domain, in individuals

with autism. Importantly, results reported include “meaningful” outcomes such as increased

social skills, communication skills academic performance, and overall cognitive functioning.

These reflect clinically-significant quality of life improvements. While studies varied as to the

magnitude of gains, all have demonstrated long term retention of gains made.

Other major contributions of ABA to the education and treatment of individuals with autism

include:

• a large number of empirically-based systematic instruction methods that lead to the

acquisition of skills, and to the decrease/elimination of aberrant behaviors;

• a technology for systematically evaluating the efficacy of interventions intended to affect

individual learning and behavior; and

• substantial cost/benefit.

Over 30 years of rigorous research and peer review of applied behavior analysis’ effectiveness

for individuals with autism demonstrate ABA has been objectively substantiated as effective

based upon the scope and quality of science. Professionals considering applied behavior

analysis should portray the method as objectively substantiated as effective. Methods of applied

behavior analysis should be considered to evaluate the effectiveness of any intervention used to

help individuals with autism. Researchers should continue to vigorously investigate behavioral

intervention as the most promising area of research and treatment benefitting individuals with

autism known today. Early interventionists should leverage early autism diagnosis with the

proven efficacy of intensive ABA for optimal outcome and long-term cost benefit.

---

Conclusions

There is a wealth of validated and peer-reviewed studies supporting the efficacy of ABA

methods to improve and sustain socially significant behaviors in every domain, in individuals

with autism. Importantly, results reported include “meaningful” outcomes such as increased

social skills, communication skills academic performance, and overall cognitive functioning.

These reflect clinically-significant quality of life improvements. While studies varied as to the

magnitude of gains, all have demonstrated long term retention of gains made.

Other major contributions of ABA to the education and treatment of individuals with autism

include:

• a large number of empirically-based systematic instruction methods that lead to the

acquisition of skills, and to the decrease/elimination of aberrant behaviors;

• a technology for systematically evaluating the efficacy of interventions intended to affect

individual learning and behavior; and

• substantial cost/benefit.

Over 30 years of rigorous research and peer review of applied behavior analysis’ effectiveness

for individuals with autism demonstrate ABA has been objectively substantiated as effective

based upon the scope and quality of science. Professionals considering applied behavior

analysis should portray the method as objectively substantiated as effective. Methods of applied

behavior analysis should be considered to evaluate the effectiveness of any intervention used to

help individuals with autism. Researchers should continue to vigorously investigate behavioral

intervention as the most promising area of research and treatment benefitting individuals with

autism known today. Early interventionists should leverage early autism diagnosis with the

proven efficacy of intensive ABA for optimal outcome and long-term cost benefit.

---

Conclusions

There is a wealth of validated and peer-reviewed studies supporting the efficacy of ABA methods to improve and sustain socially significant behaviors in every domain, in individuals with autism. Importantly, results reported include “meaningful” outcomes such as increased social skills, communication skills academic performance, and overall cognitive functioning. These reflect clinically-significant quality of life improvements. While studies varied as to the magnitude of gains, all have demonstrated long term retention of gains made.

...

Over 30 years of rigorous research and peer review of applied behavior analysis’ effectiveness for individuals with autism demonstrate ABA has been objectively substantiated as effective based upon the scope and quality of science. Professionals considering applied behavior analysis should portray the method as objectively substantiated as effective. Methods of applied behavior analysis should be considered to evaluate the effectiveness of any intervention used to help individuals with autism. Researchers should continue to vigorously investigate behavioral intervention as the most promising area of research and treatment benefitting individuals with autism known today. Early interventionists should leverage early autism diagnosis with the proven efficacy of intensive ABA for optimal outcome and long-term cost benefit.

- Report of the MADSEC Autism Task Force, 2000

Autism Quote of The Decade - ABA Is the Treatment of Choice

“there is no question that ABA is the treatment of choice for children presenting with autistic disorder based on over 35 years of research in the field.”

- Frank M. Gresham Ph.D., as quoted by Justice Allan in Auton et al. v. AGBC 2000 BCSC 1142 para. 52

Frank M. Gresham was a Professor and Director of the School Psychology Program in the School of Education at U.C.L.A. He was retained by the British Columbia government in their efforts to oppose medicare coverage of ABA intervention for autism by providing expert opinion evidence regarding the Lovaas studies of which he has been a long time critic.

Despite his criticisms of the Lovaas studies, and despite his status as a paid expert witness for the government opposing ABA medicare coverage for autistic children, Dr. Gresham, to his credit, acknowledged ABA as the treatment of choice for autism.

National Autism Symposium Script Released

The Script for the Harper Government's National Autism Symposium Stage Production has now been released. The auditions for parts in this staged production are closed (never having been open) . The actors pre-selected by the CIHR will test their acting skills by pretending that they are representative of provincial autism communities, whose organizations were not actually consulted and did not pick their own delegates. Actors must be able to portray real delegates earnestly engaged in discussion of autism issues. The audience will see these skilled actors pretend to arrive at the following conclusions in the final scene:

1) There is no actual increase in autism, it is a figment of our collective consciousness. The authors of one Montreal study say so.

2) There is no consensus about autism treatments, contrary to the silly beliefs of the state agencies in New York, California, Maine, the US Surgeon General, the dozens of Ph.D's and MD's who form the advisory board of the Association for Science in Autism Treatment, the researchers who contributed to the recent Cambridge University research sponsored report by Research Autism which ranked autism interventions, the hundreds of thousands of parents across North America seeking ABA services of their autistic children, and the authors of hundreds of research studies showing gains for children who received ABA.

All of these sources will be revealed in the National Autism Symposium Stage Production as having foolishly leaped to the conclusion that ABA is the treatment of choice for autism and should not be accepted as evidence of a consensus about autism treatments.

These are some elements of the script which will be followed at the Stephen Harper National Autism Symposium Stage Production scheduled to be performed November 8 and 9. The full script can be found in the Harper Government Response to the Report of the Standing Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology, Pay Now or Pay Later - Autism Families in Crisis.

Regretfully, members of organizations composed of actual Autism Families in Crisis will be unable to view the Autism Symposium Stage Production. After all this is Canada, not the US, where democracy and law require open public performances at events of importance and where actors must audition for their parts and be democratically selected by the communities they pretend to represent. And after all someone might disrupt the performance, and violate the sensitivities and human rights of the actors, by shouting out such obscenities as "Applied Behavior Analysis", "ABA" or "Medicare".

Conor Lowers the Flag

Conor lowers the New Brunswick flag at Nashwaaksis Middle School with friends Brad and Karen.