By Katie Wright
I can’t wait to get to D.C. for the Greening the Vaccines rally! Washington needs to see how our community can mobilize and stand up for our kids. I am so happy that so many people who love my son and care about all of our kids are coming with me, Andreas and our two boys. Joining us will be my sister, my brother-in-law, my aunt, wonderful therapists, and my Mom, Suzanne Wright.
By Nancy Hokkanen
When Laura Kasemodel calculated that her home state of Minnesota led the nation in autism prevalence for several years, she logically concluded that local media would be interested in finding out why. Unfortunately a medium that epitomizes attention deficit disorder gave Laura's information a rather different treatment than she desired.
Laura knows numbers; she uses them daily at her job. She and husband Tim, a volunteer lobbyist, have two sons; one is autistic. For years Team Kasemodel has monitored IDEA data listed on the state Department of Education's website. This spring Laura tracked, graphed and plotted each year's birth cohort not only for autism, but for all IDEA categories.
In April the Kasemodels sent Minneapolis/St. Paul newspapers, TV and radio stations a document compellingly titled "Minnesota – Unfortunately, Still Number One." Cited were the MDE figures, and Fighting Autism's incidence rate of 1 in 81 based on the 2006 IDEA data. The "Land of 10,000 Lakes" also has that many children identified with autism – 9,929 in 2006, then 11,314 in 2007 – for a total gain of 1,385. or an increase of 13.9%.
(NOTE: You can donate to Dean's team, info at the end of this post.)
By Dean Fulton
The Tacoma City Marathon this Saturday has special significance this year, although few in the crowd may realize it. A lone runner in a gaudy red jersey will be unapologetically moving his feet for one of the growing grassroots autism support organizations aimed at forwarding the agenda of providing active, meaningful ground support for families living with autism.
That runner is me - Dean Fulton - a freshly minted Talk About Curing Autism (TACA) Dad in Washington State.
By Harry Hofherr
If you've had an email address for more than 24 hours, odds are you've been introduced to The Darwin Awards. These are the Oscars of stupid human stunts. The Darwin's are awarded to those among us who exhibit a monumental disregard for double digit I.Q.'s. These are creatures that should not be allowed to pass on their DNA. They pee in the gene pool.
I got a new list of nominations not long ago and it got me thinking.
Leo Kanner, the guy who first described autism, coined the term "Refrigerator Mom", but Bruno Bettelheim is more closely identified with the phrase. Bruno made the expression his. He gave refrigerator moms their day in the sun. He put his stamp on the term and reaps the well earned disdain.
Congratulations to our Parent Perspective contributor Cathy Jameson and her husband Steve on the birth of their baby daughter this week!
By Julie Obradovic
Maybe I'm crazy. Maybe you're crazy. This week a new study published in the Journal of Pediatrics (HERE) says if you're the parent of an autistic child, there's a good chance you are.
The large scale population study done in Sweden attempts to conclusively link psychiatric conditions in parents with an increased risk for Autism in their children. Other studies on a smaller scale have suggested the link in the past.
My immediate reaction to the result was one of extreme anger. I'm not sure why this one made me so mad, whether it was the last straw on a pile of stupid studies being done to ultimately blame my child's Autism on my husband and I (you know, old dads and too much television), or the implication that when all is said and done, I am simply more likely to be insane (it's only the mom's, by the way). As a friend suggested, this is why it's good I don't have a gun in the house.
Continue reading "PEDIATRICS: MENTALLY ILL PARENTS AND AUTISM" »
This is the the transcript of a DVD sent to the Presidential candidates by Rebecca Estepp.
Vaccine Safety Requests For Our Next Commander in Chief
My name is Rebecca Estepp. I am a proud military wife and mother of two boys. My husband is currently deployed overseas. This is his third deployment in five years. My oldest son, Eric, is a child living with autism.
I followed the recommended vaccine schedule for my son Eric. He developed typically until he had a vaccine reaction. Eric was later diagnosed with autism.
Continue reading "FOR MOTHER'S DAY: START LISTENING TO MOMS. STOP BLAMING THEM." »
By Kim Stagliano
We have new health insurance. It's just like our old health insurance. A lot of money for very little return. Let's see, we've had "Aetna, If you have autism we'll forget ya." We've had "InHumana." We've had "Useless Healthcare." And now we have "Stigma."
Speech is not covered for my children. Why? Because the insurance companies have already decided that our children, including the beautiful girl you see here, will never catch up in speech. They don't believe Bella or your son or daughter even deserves speech. I spoke about this travesty on Good Morning America (watch here.) Here's the insurance company's take on our kids.
Speech therapy is generally not appropriate for use in prelingual children when there is no identified underlying medical condition or there is no possibility of the child reaching an age-appropriate level of speech (e.g., speech therapy for learning disabilities, autism, developmental delay or mental retardation; therapy provided for aversion to food, the inability to construct sentences, stuttering or tongue thrust) (Johnson, 2005; Bressmann, 2005; Kroll, 2005).
Kim Stagliano is Managing Editor of Age of Autism.
(Thanks to Harry for this piece, most appropriate since The Pope just visited America.)
By Harry Hofherr
In fifth grade I was selected to be an altar boy. In a Catholic parish in the fifties, in Chicago or anywhere for that matter, this was a big deal. It was sort of like NFL draft day on ESPN. The priests and nuns were sizing us up to see if we heard "The Calling".
A major drawback to being selected was memorizing the entire mass in Latin, a living, breathing dead language. I remember having to recite the mass to my father one Saturday before I could go to the movies with my friends. It was cruel and unusual, but I managed to mumble my way through.
By Nancy Hokkanen
It was evening bath time, and my nine-year-old son was carefully scavenging tiny dark lint balls from the cloudy water and lining them up on the tub rim.
I made a motion to whisk them off to the side, but with urgency he stopped me. “Don’t -- those are my friends!”
I sighed. Another inconvenient autistic obsession. “Sweetie, I don’t anthropomorphize lint. I throw it away.”
He knew what the big word meant, but the other concept took him more than a moment to process.
He sighed even deeper. “I feel like when you throw them away, you’re throwing away pieces of myself.”
Please let the world know about the Autism Yesterday movie screening you hosted or attended in our comments section. Thank you.
This is the trailer for the movie Autism Yesterday. You can purchase a copy of the DVD at Amazon.
Editor’s Note: This is a repeat post of David Kirby’s review of the film Autism Yesterday, premiering tonight in more than 140 venues around the world. If you aren’t headed to a screening, the film is now available at Amazon..
By David Kirby
At a time when Big Medicine, Big Government and Big Media are trying hard to make the vaccine-autism debate go away, along comes a quiet little film like “Autism Yesterday” to throw a wrench in the establishment’s best laid plans to stifle the pesky vaccine chatter once and for all.
Anyone out there still declaring that this debate is over, that medical science has fully exonerated mercury and vaccines, and that thousands of parents who insist otherwise don’t know what they are talking about, really should watch THIS film before embarrassing themselves further.
Continue reading ""AUTISM YESTERDAY" - A TRIBUTE TO TIRELESS PARENTING" »
So this is dedicated to Lisa Randall, who fights against mothers and fathers whose children have a serious disease, without any understanding of the basic science behind their appeal for more research, while she takes cash from vaccine manufacturers.
By Tracy Stewart
I attended the vaccine safety working group in DC on Friday, April 11th. Some of the materials distributed by the committee were interesting, such as the observation that those who suffer the “typical” adverse reactions to vaccines such as fever and seizures were often found to have elevated serum levels of cytokines, the immune-system’s chemical signaling molecules. Of course, this is found in autism as well (which should signal the need for some investigation concerning vaccinations just on its own). The group is considering goals and study of some areas that are surprising and dare I say, encouraging, such as:
• Question A-V (their labeling): Is immunization associated with risk for neurological deterioration in children with mitochondrial dysfunction (although I would add can it cause their mitochondrial dysfunction)?
Continue reading "LISA RANDALL AND THE VACCINE SAFETY WORKING GROUP" »
By Wendy Fournier
I’ve attended almost every Defeat Autism Now! Conference since my daughter was diagnosed with Autism. Getting together with other parents and with professionals who validate our beliefs on what happened to our kids can be quite an emotional experience. I used to find myself in tears pretty often at these events, but through the years have been able to keep the hurt and anger in check a little bit better.
But during Jenny McCarthy’s talk in Cherry Hill, NJ, I completely fell apart. Jenny brought her film crew along to get footage for the documentary that she and Jim Carrey are producing. She spoke to a huge, standing-room-only crowd and as I looked around that room, all I could think was that there were so many people there - this should have been over long ago, and none of these parents should have to be here.
By Kent Heckenlively, Esq.
I’m really very ecumenical when it comes to trying to figure how to help my daughter, Jacqueline. All I want is something that works.
The gluten/casein free diet worked for my son Ben after he went mute for twelve days following the vaccinations at his eighteen month check-up. He’s seven-years-old now, completely neuro-typical and at the top of his second grade class. It was this experience which radicalized me on the issue of vaccines and negative neurological reactions. He has received no further vaccinations.
The gluten/casein free diet didn’t work for my daughter, though, who was already three and a half years into seizures and autism. That experience taught me there was so much more I need to learn and as a result I’m always interested in new ideas. What works for one child may not work for another. But something should work for every child.
By Wayne Rohde
Just to let all of you know what the hell is going on in the Sooner
State of Oklahoma. There has been a lot of national press regarding
the proceedings in our House of Representatives.
For the last 2 years, we have known that the way to get any insurance mandate bill passed in Oklahoma, we must get the bill thru the House Economic Development Committee and Chairman Ron Peterson.
There have been no mandates passed in this state since 1999. We are
one of the lowest mandated states in the nation, and we have one of
the poorest health conditions of our citizens.
By Cathy Jameson
We’ve had to Ronan-proof much of our house due to my son’s never-ending sneaky behavior. He’s gotten himself into the deep utility sink in our laundry room, filled the Jacuzzi tub while fully clothed, wedged himself into a toilet backwards and even walked out of our house into the middle of the street one Sunday afternoon.
The last incident has to be by far the scariest one I’ve had to live through since Ronan was vaccine injured. Thankfully, weekend traffic is minimal in our neighborhood since we live near a bunch of quiet retirees. Had this been a work day, I’d be afraid Ronan would have been plowed down by a car or the school bus that usually screams down our street at that time of day.
By Jack Russell
I don’t normally pay too much attention to the local news promos. But as I walked past the TV on my way to take out the trash in between Idol Gives Back segments I heard something that caught my attention.
“Did they just say they were having a segment (HERE) on vaccines and autism?” I asked my wife. We watched for more promos and sure enough they were. And not only that, it seemed from the promos that the piece would be a good one. The tag lines were questions along the lines of, “Are vaccines dangerous?”and “Can vaccines cause autism? One local mom says yes.”
It turned out the piece wasn’t running until the following night but they hyped the story again during the newscast. It sounded too good to be true. I started to worry. I started to get nervous. All the next day I wondered what the piece would say. Would they open by posing the question, “Are vaccines dangerous?” and follow it by merely flashing the word “NO” in big red letters a thousand times. Would the “one local mom” be made out to be an idiot?
On the edge of my seat I watched and my excitement and surprise grew throughout the segment. They talked about the continuing presence of thimerosal. They talked about diet and recovery. They talked about religious exemptions.
Continue reading "MORGAN FOGARTY & FOX CHARLOTTE GET AUTISM STORY RIGHT" »
Dr. Jon Poling has an opinion piece in the Atlanta Journal Constitution today. You can read it HERE.
Autism in the U.S. has reached epidemic levels, at 1 in 150 children. Dr. Julie Gerberding, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, has recently upgraded autism to "an urgent health threat." The most contentious issue of the autism debate is the link to routine childhood vaccines. My daughter's case, Hannah Poling v. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, has changed this debate forever. Hannah has pointed us in a new and promising direction —- the mitochondria.
Dr. Poling ends his piece with this paragraph.
Reform of the vaccine schedule will be an important part of the solution, whether vaccines play a major or minor role in autism. Our public health agencies and programs need a reconstruction plan. Day one of the reconstruction hopefully starts at the Vaccine Safety Advisory Committee's Working Group, to be held at HHS headquarters today in Washington.
By Harry Hofherr
Last year, during one of my son's recurring IEP meetings, the director of special education for our school district said, "I love autism."
My wife began to seethe and turn purple. I just thought the lady had lost her fookin' mind. Nobody loves autism. Ask the parent of a child with autism. Sure, you love the child, but you hate the disorder. There is nothing to LOVE about autism.
Autism sucks.
By Julie Obradovic
A little over a year ago, the school district in which I teach asked me to present an Institute Day program on Autism and our schools. (You know, what Institute Days are, right? Those days you have to find a babysitter for your kids because they have a day off while your teachers go do various things directed towards improvement?)
If you're a teacher, you know these days well.
By Monica Bice
April 7, 2005 started out like any other day. We woke up, got the kids fed, dressed, and off to school and ourselves to work. I hurried through my workload, knowing I had to be out by 2 for Jade's well baby visit. The previous evening I had spoken to my mother about the appointment. She commented that babies get too many shots now, and wished Jade didn't have to get any. I scoffed at her, exclaiming that not vaccinating was akin to child abuse!
Dr. Jon Poling and his wife Terry have responded to Dr. Paul Offit's op-ed in the NYT.
Re “Inoculated Against Facts,” by Paul A. Offit (Op-Ed, March 31): Our daughter, Hannah, developed normally until receiving nine vaccines at once. She immediately developed a fever and encephalopathy, deteriorating into what was diagnosed, based on the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, or D.S.M. IV, as autism.
The federal government, not an “unusual court,” made the concession. The decision wasn’t “careless,” as your subheading called it. It was based on a thorough review of Hannah’s records by Health and Human Services doctors.
Read the full letter HERE.
By Kent Heckenlively, Esq.
My daughter’s new virologist is a charming man and I think we’re going to be great friends. He also thinks I’m completely wrong about vaccines and autism, and in my daughter’s case, seizures.
Between the opposing poles of these two statements is the hazy outline of what I believe is an evolving dynamic which is not yet fully understood.
Let me back up a little so you can fully appreciate the story.
About six weeks back I was given the name of a woman who had approached Generation Rescue. She has a foundation which is working on the theory that the Human Herpes Virus #6 (HHV-6) is the cause of chronic fatigue syndrome. This woman’s foundation often talked with the world’s top virologists who privately tell her their belief that HHV-6 is also implicated in multiple sclerosis, autism, and seizures. She didn’t have time to pursue HHV-6 in regards to autism, but thought we should be made aware of the theory.
By Katie Wright
Like tens of thousands of parents I watched history being made on “Larry King” Wednesday night. Jenny McCarthy held up the AAP’s 1983 infant and toddler immunization schedule and the 2008 schedule and said what all of us have known for years, “too much, too soon.” We can no longer play russian roulette with our babies’ developing central nervous systems. As Kirby so eloquently said, “the debate is over, after the Polings concession, it is a fact that vaccines can trigger autism.” Newsflash- AAP- mitochondrial disorders among ASD kids are neither rare or in most cases, pre-existing. My child has a mito disorder too. They are triggered by too many vaccines at too young an age, overloading a developing immune system.
I almost felt sorry for Dr. Tayloe, the routing he endured was painful to watch, yet well deserved.
Continue reading "WHY THE AUTISM SPEAKS BLACKOUT ON JENNY AND DAN!? " »
Here's an excerpt from the blog: Adventures In Autism about Dr. David Tayloe, who appeared on Larry King Live last night, ostensibly to allay parental fears about vaccines.
Let me say outright, I cannot imagine for the life of me why the AAP has chosen David Tayloe as their new chief. He is a PR nightmare for them! In the current climate, when every day more and more parents quit vaccinating all together, choosing a dinosaur like Tayloe who is stuck in the 1950's polio epidemic, and who does not seem to notice that the threats to children's health have dramatically changed in the last half century, is just plain stupid.
I am going to say something here... and it will be the most harsh thing I have ever said about anyone on this blog before, but it needs to be said.
Dr. Tayloe said that in his practice that has seen 100,000 patients that he has never referred one person to the Vaccine Injury Compensation Fund. If he has never seen a serious vaccine injury, it is not because he has not come across one, it is because he has his head up his ass.
Tayloe is just dangerous.
Read the full post HERE.
In 2003, Hawaii filmmakers Don and Julianne King realized something was wrong with their three-year-old son, Beau. Around age two-and-a-half, Beau started losing his ability to speak, his coordination, and was becoming disconnected from the outside world. Determined to help Beau, his parents brought him to the best doctors in the U.S. and took along a video camera to document the results. Two months later, Beau was diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).
In BEAUTIFUL SON, Don and Julianne take us on their journey through the landscape of this debilitating neurological disorder as they attempt to recover Beau from autism.
Don't forget to tune into Larry King Live tonight!
By Julie Obradovic
I was sitting here today, basking in all that has been glorious about today's World Autism Day coverage, when something astonishing occurred to me.
Was it really just one year ago that we were jumping out of our seats because Oprah actually let Katie Wright SAY the word vaccine? Does anyone else remember that? Just the WORD being on television as something related to Autism was cause for a celebration!
My how far we've come in such a short time!
By Kent Heckenlively, Esq.
On the night the Polings were to be interviewed by Larry King on CNN I had a problem. On that same night I’d been asked by the principal of the school at which I'm a science teacher to talk to the PTA about our science program.
I didn’t want to miss this historic interview with the parents of the first child for whom the government conceded that vaccines had “significantly aggravated” her autism, as well as her seizures. The PTA meeting didn’t actually start until just after the Larry King show ended so I asked the principal if she could open up another classroom with a television so I could watch.
“I’ll join you,” she replied, showing up two minutes before the start of the show, clutching a bag of Taco Bell takeout. Everybody at school knows I’m an activist about vaccines and autism, but my principal has always been non-committal. She listens, asks questions, but has never ventured an opinion.
By Jack Russell
Whenever you read the comments sections following any article related to the vaccine-autism link you inevitably see someone write about the “anti-vaccine” crowd and our “agenda.” There is so much so obviously wrong with these statements, starting with the “anti-vaccine” label, but I’m always most blown away by the fact that we are perceived to have some “agenda” and that it wouldn’t be a universally held one. I thought our “agenda” was merely something along the lines of this: things injected into children should be safe and not cause debilitating disease and parents should have freedom in determining what those things are. But yet there seems to be some perception that we would have something more to gain if we were to “win” this public debate.
Continue reading "CONGRATULATIONS! HERE'S WHAT YOU'VE WON!" »
By Michelle O'Neil
I agreed instantly to do a review of Autism the Musical, a film that aired on HBO last week. The movie was gorgeous and I fell in love with every single kid in it. I fell in love with the drama teacher who's vision was responsible for the whole thing. The moments of brilliance on the part of the children. A girl named Lexi, who sings like an angel but can't carry a conversation. A boy named Wyatt who deeply and openly processes his own feelings and behaviors on camera. Gentle Henry who finally calmed down enough to accept a heartfelt compliment from a friend. A non-verbal boy, that seemed to have nothing to say, but then typed out a poignant message to his dedicated mama, asking her to "listen" more.
There were moments of tension, when a mother so used to controlling everything about her son's life, is forced to let go during dress rehearsal.
A moving, somewhat lonely scene of a mother and son lighting their menorah for Hanukkah.
But as I reflected on what to write about the film, the thing that kept coming up for me was marriage. This movie went right to the heart of what autism in the family does to a marriage.
By Michelle Dozois
We all know being a parent requires a tremendous amount of energy and patience. Add to that the demands of raising a child with special needs and our personal health can easily get shoved to the back burner. I make my living helping others get fit yet, when my son was diagnosed with autism, I put all my energies into him, neglecting myself. I felt drained, tired and depressed. Who wouldn’t? By getting back into a regular exercise routine, I felt a million times better and was able to put even more energy into my family.
We all want to be there to help care for our children but how do we find time to take care of ourselves?
Continue reading "HOW CAN YOU LIVE FOREVER IF YOU DON'T TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF?" »
Thank you to Cornelia Read of The Naked Authors and mother of a 14 year old daughter who is profoundly affected by her autism. By profoundly, I mean in ways I can not fathom. And I have three girls with autism. Even if you only scroll down to the bottom of the post - take a look at that beautiful young girl. And think hard. The post parallels the vaccine/autism controvery with the history of drugs and products long removed from the market or given stark warning labels. I warn you, this post is long. It's intense. It's the work of a creative, talented mother who loves her child. If you want the CODE for it so you can run it on your own blog, email me at kim stagliano at gmail.
By Cornelia Read There's a topic I've wanted to blog about here for a long time, but it's pretty heavy stuff--not exactly the bright and breezy fare most people want to skim through online while sipping their morning beverage of choice. Over the last year or so, every time I said to myself, "hey, maybe this week, if I can just get my head around a way to make the info meaningful and compelling... to personalize it somehow so that it's not a complete drag to ingest, but yet not so bereft of necessary info that it's easy to blow off..." I'd end up scuppering the whole thing as impossible to convey. I'm still not sure I can make a blog post out of this that won't put you to sleep, but something happened this month that makes me feel like it's really, really important that I give it my very best effort right now, okay?
Doug Flutie is a former NFL footplayer, Heisman trophy winner (Boston College) and father of a son with severe autism. He and his wife Laurie founded The Flutie Foundation.
Doug Flutie on football, autism
By Jennifer Brett | Thursday, March 27, 2008, 09:21 PM
Read the full piece from The Atlanta Journal Constitution HERE.
....After his remarks Flutie took questions about both autism and sports. Here are condensed excerpts of his remarks. Questions, which came from audience members, are paraphrased.
Q: Do you think there is a link between autism and vaccines?
A: There is some relation. What it is, I don’t know. I’m not a doctor. All I know is at 2, Dougie’s shooting hoops and talking smack. Next thing you know, he’s tripping over toys. I was never immunized for chicken pox. I did okay.
Q:What kinds of programming would you like to see offered to children with autism?
A: Whatever is going to push the children to be more and more independent.
Managing Editor's Note: Jack Russell sent this letter to Dr. Julie Gerberding, head of the CDC. We'll let you know if he hears back from her.
By Jack Russell
I am the father of 3 ½ year old twin boys were diagnosed with autism a little over a year ago. Our boys are on the high-functioning end of the autistic-spectrum and although our road has been and continues to be extremely tough, we have seen and met so many other parents whose daily life and future outlook is far tougher than ours.
Fortunately, my wife and I have had the scientific background, self-confidence and relative financial means to research about autism on our own and begin the biomedical treatment of our children. Through these interventions our children have made remarkable progress. While I hesitate to use the loaded word “recovered” because I know we’ll always have special challenges, we have every hope, as do the professionals that work with them, that they will lose their diagnosis prior to entering Kindergarten.
Continue reading "A LOVE LETTER FROM A FATHER FOR HIS SONS TO THE WOMAN WHO REFUSES TO LISTEN" »
by Cathy Jameson
I don’t know if it’s the recent time change, the approaching seasonal change or just crazy hormones. I seem to be in a funk more and more lately and can’t shake those nagging what-about-me feelings I have. Part of the pressure I feel is the mounting stress of preparing for a new baby in just a few weeks. Some of the stress comes from everyday living while rearing four young children, one of whom has special needs. Most of the stress is a self-induced pity party watching my child make some progress, regress a tad and then remain developmentally stagnant.
By Kathy Blanco
The other day, I was compiling a list of autism like symptoms or even separate diseases found in autism children. I began to circulate them through yahoo groups lists, and found that over eighty eight conditions are present, or in some variations, or on some variations of theme, found in these children (co morbid conditions and causal or contributory). There is probably a multitude more. Autism is a term used to refer to a spectrum of disorders whose cause is unknown-SO THEY SAY. Feel free to ADD to this list...what is wrong in autism, and wrong with the term "AUTISM".
Genetic problems cannot account for the staggering increase in autism in the past 20 years. However, genes are activated by nutrients. Some so-called genetic defects are related to the poorer nutritional status of today's mothers and children due to their diet, eating habits, infections (under our noses), toxins, metabolic poisons, ioatragenic means, and due to stress.
Here is the list..of what autism REALLY is...
1. Chronic burning diarrhea
2. Constipation with grapefruit-sized blockage
3. Intestinal diverticuli
4. Seizures (petit mal, grand mal, tonic, clonic)
Today, Tuesday, March 18th, Chantal Sicile-Kira interviews Age of Autism Managing Editor Kim Stagliano on Autism One Radio (click HERE) from 1:30 - 2:00pm Eastern Daylight Time. (The program is in the archives for six months.)
"Join Chantal and Kim as they discuss all of Kim's various activities." (To which Kim says, "All? Oh dear.)
Kim Stagliano is Managing editor of Age of Autism, a Huffington Post blogger and a writer. She and her husband Mark have three girls with autism. Mia is 13. Gianna is 11. Bella is 7. Kim lives in CT outside of NY City. Kim contributed a chapter entitled THREE SPECIAL KIDS. NO APOLOGIES NECESSARY to the book Embracing Autism: Connecting and Communicating with Children in the Autism Spectrum available at Amazon now.
You can see Kim, Dan Olmsted and Mark Blaxill at the Autism One 2008 conference in May.
By Angela Warner
Autism severely impacts the readiness of our military. How do I know? I am the mother of four children; two with autism spectrum disorders. I am also a military spouse who has experienced the impact that autism has on military readiness and family readiness three times.
While all these experiences are relived in my head daily, the second experience was by far the most memorable. Sometimes it is good to hang on to memories, especially when they lead you to take action.
I have, and many others, have taken action. Please click HERE to read how we have captured the attention of and endorsements from our senior military leaders, of the AUTISM COLLABORATION and other autism advocacy and child health advocacy organizations.
Continue reading "AUTISM SALUTES BLOGS AUTISM AND MILITARY READINESS!" »
Click HERE to see Jenny McCarthy discuss autism, vaccines and more on City TV in Toronto, Canada.
