Apparently the Chicago Tribune is of the view that 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 treatment.
Although the Tribune has now published articles on two consecutive days on the subject of autism treatments it makes no mention of the most evidence based autism intervention ... ABA. While the Tribune is concerned about telling parents of autistic children what it feels is wrong in the world of autism treatments it doesn't consider it important enough to mention the widespread public health support for the evidence based effectiveness of ABA as an autism intervention.
And once again the Tribune makes no mention of the failure by public health authorities and researchers to seek all causes of autism or to attempt to find actual cures. Instead the Tribune simply ignores the real issues presented by autism disorders and sings "let them be, Lord them be" providing anecdotal evidence from Doctors that autistic children as they age will progress without intervention:
"But in evaluating a therapy, the challenge is determining how much, if any, of the progress can be credited to the treatment.
That is because, over time, children with autism do develop, said Dr. Max Wiznitzer, a pediatric neurologist and an autism expert at Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital in Cleveland. They make leaps; some may plateau or regress, but they show improvement.
"Kids are at their worst in the second and third year of life," Wiznitzer said. "That is when they are not talking. That is when they are most into themselves."
But around age 3 the children often begin to talk, he said. "Over 3 to 5 years, you see an improvement in communication skills. ... By school age, they have language to get needs and requests met," Wiznitzer said.
That is because, over time, children with autism do develop, said Dr. Max Wiznitzer, a pediatric neurologist and an autism expert at Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital in Cleveland. They make leaps; some may plateau or regress, but they show improvement.
"Kids are at their worst in the second and third year of life," Wiznitzer said. "That is when they are not talking. That is when they are most into themselves."
But around age 3 the children often begin to talk, he said. "Over 3 to 5 years, you see an improvement in communication skills. ... By school age, they have language to get needs and requests met," Wiznitzer said.
Between 10 percent and 20 percent of children with autism who were diagnosed early may make so much progress that they are indistinguishable from their peers and may "lose" the diagnosis.
This happens regardless of whether the child is undergoing alternative therapies, said Dr. Susan Levy, director of the Regional Autism Center at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. But parents may credit treatments for the gains."
This happens regardless of whether the child is undergoing alternative therapies, said Dr. Susan Levy, director of the Regional Autism Center at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. But parents may credit treatments for the gains."
And there we have it. In Chicago Tribune Autism World autism disorders do not require treatment. The solution to the challenges facing autistic children and their families can be found in the lyrics of John Lennon and Paul McCartney:
And when the broken hearted people
Living in the world agree,
There will be an answer, let it be.
For though they may be parted there is
Still a chance that they will see
There will be an answer, let it be.
Let it be, let it be. Yeah
There will be an answer, let it be.
No autism treatment, no ABA, no "alternative" treatment, no autism research into environmental causes or possible cures. the Chicago Tribune has "an answer" for parents concerned about their autistic children .... let it be.
autism
Yes, a mildly autistic child - the one in our house for his 3rd birthday - and speech therapy at home and Ont's Tyke talk program - mastered "Ju". At 4 his echolalia was "I see - elmo was playing with his friends - the tree" Different, eh?? It was much easier to teach and fix it by having him repeat the sentences sans the echolalia, than getting rid of little boys... which at 8 he still has a lot of. At 5 he used words like "Grandma and Grandpa orange house" to differentiate btwn them. At 10, many hours of private, barely any school based, and Mom based speech therapy... he speaks "normally".
ReplyDeleteWonderful... if you have a HFA/Aspie/NLD kid.
The rest of them.... Bull...Sh*T... they talk at 3.
I have to give credit, to the ABA program b/c they did what I/Tyke Talk could not - and solely by fluke. One day shortly after they started here - and not listening at all to what we had tried - they did "do this", he did hand over hand, they gave him a book to look at and promptly took it away. He was MAD - which is why I should have kicked them out then and there.... but that's another story... and said "No" and slapped his hands together (sign for "all done").
We'd spent 2.5yrs up to that pt trying to get signs/pecs/words out of him and he finally put them all together.
That was 4yrs ago about now.... he's now 8. He has words, he can tell you what he needs but he doesn't "speak". There's no conversation or small talk, he does understand you if you speak normally to him. Oh, he'll come b/c he wants you to read or tickle or chase or.... But it's 3 words or so in length. I did get at the pool on Sat "Mommy's R".... and when Dad's tickling him he'll call out "MOMMY" between the giggles.
But, in the end... as wonderful as it is... it's not speech. They lie.
"Kids are at their worst in the second and third year of life," Wiznitzer said. "That is when they are not talking. That is when they are most into themselves."
ReplyDeleteBut around age 3 the children often begin to talk, he said. "Over 3 to 5 years, you see an improvement in communication skills. ... By school age, they have language to get needs and requests met," Wiznitzer said.
Another shout out of "bullsh*t" from a reader over here. My daughter is six and a half and still has no speech. Her behavior and tantrums at five grew horrific; I was seriously thinking we might have to institutionalize her. Traditional autism preschool saw no progress, she only got bigger, more aggressive, sicker looking, and instead of potty-training just blew through all the sizes of diapers until she was in the largest sized Pull-Up.
Enter DAN! and the "quack medicine" a year and a half ago. Special diet (GFCF wasn't enough, she turned out to have many more problems) B-vitamins, probiotics, fish oil, olive leaf extract, etc., etc. and she completely toilet-trained spontaneously on her own without any extra therapy. All the weird rashes went away, the circles left her eyes. We just got this year's school photos back and compared them to last year's and she doesn't even look like the same child. Her hair is so lustrous now and her eyes so bright. Not "cured" or "recovered" by a longshot but don't tell me that she just "naturally progressed". I call bullsh*t.
Honestly, I believe very little that the media says about autism any more.
My disability is fairly mild and even with intervention, I was several years behind schedule. Without intervention, my progress would have been less. The whole reason I was earmarked for intervention was because-oh the horror-I wasn't making ANY progress even after a period of watchful waiting.
ReplyDeleteMost doctors, psychiatrists, and the like...they AREN'T quacks. They don't need to be told how to do their job and they don't need some random college kid telling them that, oh yeah, it's NORMAL not to talk by the ageof six.
"...providing anecdotal evidence from Doctors that autistic children as they age will progress without intervention"
ReplyDeleteAutism is, by definition, a developmental delay. That means these kids continue to develop.