Ryan Cos. and RSP Architects encountered a unique design challenge when they were selected to build what is essentially the first high school for autistic students in the country.

There were no templates for creating a building that could meet the challenges of teaching core high school curriculum and providing therapy to autistic teens. But when the new 50,000-square-foot addition to the Minnesota Autism Center (MAC) in Eagan opened this month, it became clear the challenge had been met, and then some.

Minnesota Autism Center Chief Executive Kathryn Marshall said she “loves everything” about the $11 million structure at 2120 Silver Bell Road, which she had specified must be suited to her organization’s methods of educating autistic students.

“One of the things that makes our program unique in the world of autism is we kind of pull them into the real world,” she said while showing off the facility’s full gymnasium. “It isn’t a cloistered program where the lights are low and everybody’s quiet. We wanted the building to reflect the real world, such as with a real gym, which can be loud and active."

Readers are just supposed to accept that autism is now a fact of life in our schools, and we have to adjust. No one asks WHY this school is necessary. Somehow we're all supposed to believe that kids like this have always been, but we just didn't do anything to specifically address their needs. I guess "better diagnosing" has now spread to schools, and we will now have "better educating."

The CBS11 reporter warns that even the vaccinated need to fear THE VACCINE EXEMPTORS.

 Dallas doctor: "[Vaccines] ...are not a personal decision" 

Anti-Vaccine Trend Worries North Texas Doctors

VIDEO:
“A growing number of people in the medical field are worried about the number of Texas parents opting out of state required vaccinations. Tens of thousands of students in Texas classrooms without immunizations.”

CBS11 reporter Robbie Owens: “Medical experts say the easier it becomes for parents to opt out of required vaccinations, means that eventually coming to school will become a little less safe even for even those who are. …

“It has become a contentious difference of opinion… Experts say that puts public health at stake.

Pediatrician Hillary Lewis: “Vaccines are a public health concern, they’re not a personal decision.”

We’re told Lewis is “worried about the anti-vaccine trend, because it’s spreading.”

“Herd immunity” is threatened by those who don’t vaccinate

CBS11: To vaccinate or not? It’s a contentious difference of opinion around North Texas and the nation that some experts say puts public health at risk.

“Vaccines are a public health concern– they’re not a personal decision,” says Dallas pediatrician Hillary Lewis.

Dr. Lewis is among those worried about the anti-vaccine trend, in part, because it’s spreading. “What you decide and what you do can affect your neighbor. It can affect your grandparents, it can affect everyone around you.”

Experts say since Texas began allowing non-medical exemptions to required vaccines in 2003, tens of thousands of students now head to class without being immunized.

And eventually, they say, even students who have been vaccinated will be less protected. It’s a concept called ‘herd immunity’— if enough people are vaccinated against a disease, those too young, too ill, or for whom the vaccine was not effective, gain protection....

“I usually say… what makes you worried about vaccines? And typically it’s something they’ve read on Facebook.” Dr. Lewis admits that discredited junk science linking vaccines to autism has left some parents worried.

“When you make it easy for someone to not vaccinate, we lose the opportunity to talk to families and figure out why they’re worried.”

When afforded those opportunities, Dr. Lewis says it is often her status as ‘Mom’ that soothes concerns, faster than science.

“Just talking through it, and knowing that we all come in and we vaccinate our own children … that makes them feel a lot better,” says Dr. Lewis.

Anne Dachel is Media Editor for Age of Autism.