AUTISM TODAY: CHARTING THE RISE

Check out these links provided by Dan Hollenbeck and posted at Fighting Autism, now part of Thoughtful House Center for Children.

  1) Latest Autism Prevalence Data Graphs

  2) Autism State Rankings

  3) New Jersey Autism Prevalence

Comments

[Claire Dwoskin]

Would it be possible to compare vaccination rates per state with autism prevalence rates per state to see if there are any comparisons that can be made?

Thank you for providing the graphs and making the information available.

[Kelli Ann Davis]

Sandy,

Nancy Hokkanen has been an involved parent from MN for years! She met several times with your Attorney General Mike Hatch in an effort to get the AG’s office to do something about this issue years ago.

I joined her in 2004 for one of the meetings with the Attorney General and we brought one of the TOP LAW FIRMS in the country to that meeting. We had met earlier with the firm (they represented the state during the Tobacco Litigation) and it looked like maybe he was going to move forward to issue a lawsuit against the manufacturers. We were trying to get several states to join in.

In my opinion, Mike Hatch is partially responsible for your current rate of 1 in 81 children. He could have “stepped up to the plate” and shown some leadership – but he chickened out.

He's certainly not the first -- and unfortunately, he won't be the last.

[Mark]

Sandy,
Minnesota and Oregon (JB's home state) have been at the top of the IDEA stats for a while. But most of what has come out of Minnesota has been the Mayo Clinic saying there's not a real increase and the even if there is vaccines have no role.

You all should get busy.
Mark

[Sandy Raitt]

Oh my God! Minnesota is in first place when it comes to kids with autism attending public schools - 1 of 81 kids! We don't want to be in first place! How about last place? How in the world did this happen without our knowing about it? There's been no mention in any community newspapers or the media. Nothing has been heard from area doctors that I've seen. Where's the outrage from autistic kids' parents? Where's the outrage from the medical community? Where's the outrage from the State of Minnesota Health Department, from the Governor? Where's the outrage from the schools? Do any of the organizations mentioned know the 1 of 81 statistic? Have they read the statistic in your article? I've waited days for an articulate parent to write a comment but nothing has been forthcoming. Now that we know, how does Minnesota go about reversing the number? Is anybody stepping up to help the kids and their families? Help!