AGE OF AUTISM

The Artist Formerly Known as Severely Autistic: Sam Debold Wows the Crowd at Autism One

Managing Editor's Note: On Saturday night at the Autism One dinner, young Sam Debold turned on the charm (and every tear duct in the room) with his muscial performance. Here is Dr. Andrew Wakefield's introduction of Sam.  You can see Sam's complete performance, including the intro, on the other side of the post jump. Just click down.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I have just a very, very small role tonight and that is to introduce someone that I first met some years ago in Detroit. He’s a Red Wings fan.  And a when I met Sam Debold through my great friend Vicky Debold, his mother, Sam was profoundly autistic.  And back then when I knew very little about this disease, I wondered quite what the prospects for Sam were.  And I’ve been following his progress over the years and Sam has been doing extremely well.

And then I received the other day a YouTube video of Sam which his mother instructed me to watch of Sam playing Hotel California - he’d only just heard it, I believe, for the first time that day and it was one of the most extraordinary things I’d ever seen.  And so it is a great great privilege for me and without any further adieu for me to introduce Sam Debold.

I should just say that Sam is dressed in a way that makes me look under-dressed.  I forgive him for that.  Sam, over to you man.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tDeEtGNNexg&feature=channel_page/

How Long Must We Sing This Song?
Vicky Debold, PhD, RN

In 1983, the band U2 released an album titled War which includes Sunday Bloody Sunday, a song widely considered to be one of the most powerful political protest songs of all times.  For anyone who doesn’t know the song’s history, it captures the anguish of an observer who witnessed Northern Irish civil rights protesters being fired upon by the British army (lyrics below). 

For those of us within the vaccine-injured communities who are fighting on behalf of our children for the basic human right to make voluntary, informed vaccination decisions that are based on sound science rather than ideology, it is a battle.  And it is personal.  Like the victims of the civil war described in Sunday Bloody Sunday, many lives have been lost, our families torn apart, and everyday there’s unbelievable news where indeed, “fact” is fiction and TV becomes reality. 

For anyone fortunate enough to be able to attend this weekend’s outstanding Autism One conference and Saturday night’s dinner, they heard my 11 year-old son, Sam, sing Sunday Bloody Sunday. 

Age of Autism Contest: Leeann Whiffen's A Child's Journey Out of Autism

Congrats to our five winners, Judy G, Valerie Carlson, Barbara Bucknam, Amy in Idaho and Garth Boyd.

The contest is now closed for Sourcebooks' new release by author Leeann Whiffen: A Child's Journey out of Autism. Visit LeeAnn's website to read more and to buy the book HERE. Sourcebooks has generously donated FIVE books to the contest!

From the publisher:

Told with the intensity of a medical thriller, the extraordinary story of how Clay Whiffen and his family conquered autism.

Best of A of A: Autism Recovery Story

This and other stories of recovery can be found on the Testimonials page at Generation Rescue.

By Kelli, Warrior Mother to Evan

My son was diagnosed with ASD in July 2006 at the age of 4. He had always been called “quirky” by his pre-school teachers, but I knew in my heart that there was much more to his tantrums, speech delay, behaviors and massive gut issues than was being addressed.

So, the official diagnosis came of no real surprise. However, hearing the word “autism” sent a jolt through my soul that empowered me to get busy doing everything and anything I could to help my sweet, darling boy.

Autism Yesterday at the Orlando Film Festival

Autism Yesterday has been accepted to the Orlando Film Festival and the film will premiere Saturday, November 8th at 4pm at The Gallery at Avalon in downtown Orlando. Admission to the screening is free, so please plan to attend if you live in the Orlando area or happen to be in town.

From the Orlando Film Festival website HERE:

The 2008 Orlando Film Festival will hold its third annual event November 5th - 9th in Orlando, Florida. Festival events occur in and around the heart of the City, where our patrons are able to enjoy great films in exciting venues while experiencing Orlando's Downtown lifestyle.

Are you interested in being on a panel after the movie as either a parent or a doctor? If so, please contact Generation Rescue: info2@generationrescue.org

Recovery Story: Gannon

Click HERE to watch a 19 minute video recovery story of a boy named Gannon.

Autism Recovery Story: Noah

Managing Editor's Note:  This piece is part of a series of recovery stories presented by Generation Rescue. The introduction rings especially true to me.  Two of my girls were diagnosed by a colleague of Dr. Max Wiznitzer at University Hospitals of Cleveland.  He's the "expert" on autism in Cleveland, especially if you're a pharmaceutical company in a vaccine trial looking for an expert witness for the defense. We left that office with absolutely nothing except a bill and two little girls whose lives had just been written off by a neurologist.  Seems it happens everywhere. And I'm sure it's still happening.

Noah's Journey

At the age of three, having come to the conclusion that our son would most likely be diagnosed PDD-NOS, we wanted to take him to "the best" doctors for their opinion.

We ended up at Johns Hopkins' Kennedy Krieger Center, seeing Dr. Andrew Zimmerman who was considered one of the leading autism experts in the country.  This was the biggest waste of time and money we have ever invested in anything. Zimmerman told us Noah was probably mentally retarded, would never talk and would never be much different than he was at that point.

With a wave of his hand he brushed off aggressive therapies and the notion that vaccines could have caused Noah's misery. Treatment? Get therapy for YOURSELVES, he said, to learn to deal with what you have.

Recovery Story: Evan

Presented By Generation Rescue

My son was diagnosed with ASD in July 2006 at the age of 4. He had always been called “quirky” by his pre-school teachers, but I knew in my heart that there was much more to his tantrums, speech delay, behaviors and massive gut issues than was being addressed.

So, the official diagnosis came of no real surprise. However, hearing the word “autism” sent a jolt through my soul that empowered me to get busy doing everything and anything I could to help my sweet, darling boy.

Immediately, we began with the traditional modalities: ABA, speech and occupational therapy. Slowly, I began to engulf myself in research. Thank Heaven for the internet! I enrolled him in a social skills group at the local University, a swim therapy group with his ST and OT; I started my own social skills program for other families with ASD children; but he was still struggling for control of himself.

Recovery Story: Austin

Austin’s Journey
Presented By Generation Rescue

I hope that my son, Austin’s story will give hope for some families and maybe even shed some light for a few. His is different from most that you read about because he was never actually diagnosed with autism, but he was, undoubtedly, “becoming autistic.” What you do need to know is what he was diagnosed with.

He was born in March, 1998- 3 weeks to the day after my 18th birthday. I was always a single parent, with the help of my own parents. He was always normal- just a very happy & content little baby. He did most things right on cue and a few he was a late bloomer on, but nothing unusual. He received his 15 month MMR & Hep B vaccines on the same day. He was 17 months old (we were a little behind). Within 21 days he could no longer move- he just laid there staring at the ceiling unless you touched him……then he screamed the most bloodcurdling scream that you’ve ever heard.

Recovery Story: Quinn

Quinn’s Journey
Presented By Generation Rescue

Two and a half years ago I read the testimonials on this website and wept. I still do when I need a good cry. Those tears were an overflowing of my hope for my son, Quinn, and all children and families with autism. The stories confirmed for me what I knew in my heart: my son will recover from autism.

We’re almost there. Here’s a bit of our story. I hope that it will help you.

I had a normal pregnancy and delivery. I had a flu shot in the second trimester and a high fever in the third, but nothing extraordinary. Quinn was mildly jaundiced at birth and a big baby (10 pounds, and no, it wasn’t a c-section). I nursed him for 3 months, but couldn’t keep it up once I went back to work. His development was all pretty normal for the first year, and he started stimming around 12-15 months, after his MMR.

RECOVERY STORY: PETE

Pete’s Journey
Presented By Generation Rescue

My name is Hope, mother of Pete. My son's half sister is a nonverbal child affected by autism. Pete was a normal full term baby born in August of 2000. I was concerned about vaccines because Pete’s half sister is a nonverbal child affected by autism. I only allowed single shots even though my doctor was adamantly against this practice. I ended up spreading the vaccines out because he seemed to develop "allergies/sinus" problems for several weeks after most shots. Pete has a continuous runny nose from the time he was about eight months old until food was removed from his diet at about 2.9 months old. The damage was final after the HIB vaccine on March 28, 2003. Pete lost words he had since he was eight months old. He threw fits where he would bang his head and pass out. I sought medical advice because I thought Pete may be having seizures. My once easy going child could no longer go anywhere and neither could I. Pete also suffered from constant constipation. He no longer slept through the night. When he did sleep he was very active and would often flip out of the bed.