Dachel Media Update: Teacher Shortages, Post High School
By Anne Dachel
Read Anne's commentary and view the links after the jump. The Dachel Media Update is sponsored by Lee Silsby Compounding Pharmacy and their OurKidsASD brand.
Oct 28, 2014, Health Impact News: Flu Vaccine is the most Dangerous Vaccine in the U. S. based on Settled Cases for Injuries
Oct 28, 2014, Left Brain Right Brain: Emily Willingham: winner of the 2014 John Maddox Prize for Standing up for Science
Oct 27, 2014, Cal State Fullerton: Vaccines should be federally mandated
Oct 27, 2014, San Jose Mercury News: Autism surge creates special education teacher shortages
Oct 27, 2014, KTAR, Scottsdale, AZ: People with autism and other invisible disabilities face barriers to finding work
Oct 27, 2014, Medical Express: Autism After High School
Emily Willingham is one of the best writers on the science and social aspects of autism. ... Emily Willingham, a US writer, has brought discussion about evidence, from school shootings to home birth, to large audiences through her writing. She has continued to reach across conflict and disputes about evidence to the people trying to make sense of them. She is facing a lawsuit for an article about the purported link between vaccines and autism....
I've been following Willingham for years and writing about her. Emily Willingham on "Mispresenting the Facts" in Forbes The Continued Weirdness of Emily Willingham And of course she's included in my book, The Big Autism Cover Up, since she's done so much writing on autism.
Health Impact News
The last report issued in 2013 by the Department of Justice (Vaccine Court), for compensation made by the Health and Human Services for people injured or killed by vaccines, was released in December 2013, covering the period of 8/16/2013 through 11/15/2013.
Stunning news from the shadowy world of vaccine injury cases.
Since the discovery of the modern vaccine 200 years ago, over nine million lives a year have been saved worldwide. That number could increase to 25 million a year if we begin to use vaccines against all potentially vaccine-preventable diseases, according to UNICEF.
Heather Ann Meyers, a student at Fullerton, believes there should be a FEDERAL MANDATE for vaccines. Heather notes the "discovery" of vaccines 200 years ago.
I wonder if she knows about ACIP recommendations. Or that thimerosal contains untested mercury.
Regressive autism following vaccination is "purely coincidence."
Where is the natural skepticism about establishment practices one would expect of a college student? Young people in college should be challenging the medical--industrial complex, not accepting their worthless claims blindly.
Young adults like this scare me. (I posted comments and I do like the ones from others. People aren't buying her vaccine promotion.)
Jeffrey Esquivel let go of his mother's hand and slowly brushed a miniature donkey, the only moment at his school's Halloween carnival that the first-grader with autism stepped outside of his shell.
It was a contact with the world his mother, Helen Esquivel, deeply wishes he could learn more about in school, but for most of last year and so far this year, the 6-year-old had no credentialed special-education teacher for his class at Proctor Elementary School.
Like many area school districts, Castro Valley Unified has had a shortage of specialized teachers, especially special-education ones. The demand for special-education teachers nationwide has grown, as more children are diagnosed with autism..
More kids with autism has led to a shortage of special ed teachers. (And we're talking about kids who don't talk.) WHAT IS THIS TELLING US? A teacher is quoted saying that when she started the autism rate was one in every 1,000 kids, today it's one in 88 (a rate that is even worse today at one in every 68). The assist. superintendent of schools says, "As more is know about autism, more children are being diagnosed with the condition."
Another superintendent says, "The numbers are staggering."
Of course they are, but nobody will do anything about it. They can't. We have to continue to pretend that it's always been like this. And the kids will keep coming and coming until we're broke.
Matt Cottle named his home bakery Stuttering King, drawing inspiration from King George VI's fight with his stammer. Instead of delivering speeches, the challenge for Cottle is establishing himself in the job market as a person with autism.
After graduating from high school, Cottle found himself interested in baking and started searching for culinary training opportunities. However, both traditional and special culinary school turned out to be frustrating.
His mother, Peggy, said noise, clutter, activity and sequencing are stressful for anyone, but most people's brains function to allow them to overcome them.
"A person with autism does not," she said.
These stories are always local and there's always a mom talking about their struggle. As usual, there no alarm or any statistics given, but AUTISM is in the title of the story.
"Invisible disability"? Not for long. Soon all these ASD kids aging out of school will bankrupt us. I can't what to see how all the experts will handle it.
Jay did not qualify for an official high school diploma, so the path to college or career is a tricky one. Melanie laments that many people with disabilities end up living in poverty unless they have families and other resources that can save and plan for them. With an ever-increasing number of students on the autism spectrum coming through the school pipeline, questions abound as to what they can do to build a life for themselves beyond school.
A new study at the University of Kentucky College of Education helps frame the conversation around this transition. The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) has awarded a $693,000 grant to College of Education Professor Lisa Ruble and a cross-disciplinary team of co-investigators at UK and Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis.
Something is so wrong here. Just as a nation, we've stood by with only a passing interest as the rates of neuro-developmental disorders in our children went through the roof, hitting an all-time high autism rate of one in every 68 kids, one in every 42 boys, we'll probably likewise scratch our collective heads as so why there's nothing for all these young adults after high school.
NIMH awarded a grant of almost three quarters of a million dollars to the U of KT and Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis to study this problem. Notice that no one is really worried. Autism mom Melanie Tyner-Wilson is happy this issue is getting attention. She hopes it will lead to a future for her son and others like him.
The reporter here doesn't give us any statistics on the number of people this applies to. She tells us the young man's mother is excited about the grant and the prospects for help.
I'm sorry, but I don't share her enthusiasm. Officials haven't really cared about all the children with autism. No one at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has ever even called autism "a crisis." They've been completely mystified over all the autism in kids in the U.S. and I'm sure they'll be just as blank as all the adults come into the picture.
'We need to figure out how we are going to meet their needs and give them a quality of life,' according to this parent. 'We want to make sure our children are okay after we are gone.'
So how is that ever going to happen? Someone somewhere is going to have to recognize that it hasn't always been like this and that autism has to be addressed as an epidemic.
I can't imagine anyone on the federal level ever doing that. The autism disaster will be left to the states. The taxpayers of Kentucky and all the other states will be paying more and more and more to support a never-ending population of disabled young people who weren't here 20 years ago. As far as the NIMH study goes, I'm sure Thomas Insel will bring up the results at a future IAAC meeting and then move on to the next topic on the agenda.
I'm not posting a comment. No one sees a problem. Surely officials are looking into this and they'll come up with a program to provide for these kids. The reporter casually tells us about "an ever-increasing number of students on the autism spectrum coming through the school pipeline," with no explanation. Autism is a given. It happens. Get used to it. We just to do something for those who have it.
"The powerful thing about this study is that it brings national attention to it beyond just some parent like me saying 'oh dear, my poor child,'" she says. "It is exciting because when something gets researched, it gets attention and it counts. It formalizes things and forces people to begin to pay more attention in this area. We have all kinds of people like my son Jay in the far reaches of this state and we need to figure out how we are going to meet their needs and give them a quality of life." The Dachel Media Update is sponsored by Lee Silsby Compounding Pharmacy and their OurKidsASD brand. Lee Silsby Compounding Pharmacy is one of the largest and most respected compounding pharmacies in the country. They use only the finest quality chemicals and equipment to prepare our patients’ compounded medications and nutritional supplements. Customizing medication and nutritional supplements for our customers allows them to achieve their unique health goals.
Anne Dachel is Media Editor for Age of Autism and author of The Big Autism Cover-Up: How and Why the Media Is Lying to the American Public, which goes on sale this Fall from Skyhorse Publishing.
I have a 20 year old son, who has autism, but who also has most behavioral symptoms under control, is able to learn, has graduated high school with a diploma (pending a final history test) and has perfect pitch and plays the piano. His vocational training has been on hold for almost 2 years - waiting for a spot to open up. This is deplorable! We would like for him to be able to use his musical talents in a career path. Does anyone have any knowledge of any program we can access for him? I'm tired of waiting on the state.
Posted by: Nick's Mom | October 30, 2014 at 08:20 AM
The reports for the two subsequent quarters are here and here.
Posted by: Godfrey Wyl | October 29, 2014 at 06:52 PM
An example from the other day. At the beginning of the year, the students learned the capitals of the states. In our homeschooling we're also going to do that again, after having spent six months four years ago on it, and my daughter learned them all. I printed a list of the states and their capitals, and started down the alphabetical list. My daughter knew all of the first fifteen, but then very few of the other thirty-five. I realized that the para had helped her learn them and drilled her, but although she did great on those they got to, when the rest of the class moved on to something else, no one cared to work on the others with Cecily. After all, who cares? The para is paid to rehash whatever the teacher and the class are working on at that time, understanding and mastery have no value at all when it comes to instruction of the autistic. We'll work on them in homeschooling until she has relearned them all.
Posted by: cia parker | October 29, 2014 at 05:45 PM
Beyond that, there's a SERIOUS shortage of any kind of teacher who has any idea at all as to how to approach teaching students with autism. COMPLETELY clueless and inept. Yeah, they'll give them a para, who earnestly repeats what the teacher just said and then, because the language is ALWAYS still too hard, they'll do the worksheets assigned for the student, or possibly tell her what to write as an answer (as with my daughter). They call it "scaffolding," the theory is that they do it for them now, while they're earnestly observing and soaking it all up, one day (like ninety years from now) maybe they can do it independently. The language therapy absolutely NOT designed to help autistic students whose brain has been damaged by vaccines learn to use language.
Posted by: cia parker | October 29, 2014 at 05:39 PM
I would urge all AoA readers to visit the Health Impact News site that Anne has posted above .... it states
the last report issued in 2013 by the Dept of Justice (Vaccine Court), for compensation made by the HHS for people injured or killed by vaccines, was released in December 2013, covering the period of 8/16/2013 through 11/15/2013.
That my friends is a total of three months .. almost a full year ago .. yet .. it contains some stunning information .. that .. predictably .. did not make our Evening News shows.
Consider .. there were 139 claims settled during those three months .. with 70 of them being compensated .. which means just over 50% of claims filed for serious vaccine damages .. which included .. "neurological injury, encephalopathy, peripheral neuropathy, painful myalgias, vertigo, opsoclonus-myoclonus syndrome, cerebellar ataxia, demyelinating injury, corneal transplant failure, transverse myelitis, hypersensitivity reaction, acute demyelinating encetalomyelitis, gastrointestinal and menstrual issues, symptomatic orthostatic hypotension, recurrent cluster headaches, juvenile dermatomyositis, relapsing/remitting multiple sclerosis
and .. even more disturbing ..
the compensation for fifteen (15) out of the fifty (50) claims .. for Guillain-Barre Syndrome (GBS) victims that specifically received the "flu" vaccine that remains .. none-the-less .. highly recommended for pregnant women and children.
How in God's name can so many vaccine injuries be "compensated" .. over a three month period .. and .. the urban myth that vaccine injuries are "rare" continues .. unabated?
Indeed .. I know people are sick of the analogy with other products .. but .. I do not think it unfair to compare the consequences suffered by manufactureres of other products found to be "unsafe" .. such as .. air bags in autos, trampolines, infant car seats, toys that can cause a child to choke, on and on.
Those products were immediately removed from the market ..
not because the manufacturers wanted to protect consumers .. but .. because those manufacturers were well aware of the fact that their products .. did not enjoy the same product liability protections guaranteed vaccine manufacturers.
And so .. we have public health officials continuing to promote a product (vaccines).. that .. by judgment of their own Vaccine Court .. has been found to cause serious "damage" in 50% of the claims .. THEY adjudicated.
I don't know about you .. but .. as a grandparent .. 50% of claims adjudicated in favor of the vaccine injured .. is an indication that vaccines are neither "safe" .. nor .. are serious injuries "rare".
Posted by: BoB Moffitt | October 29, 2014 at 03:54 PM