As I’ve said repeatedly, the media loves to downplay the severity of autism and present it as a condition that’s always been around; we just called it something else.  They’re especially good at this every April during Autism Awareness Month when we see the “nice” side of autism with children who can talk and interact.

I keep thinking about the news back in April that the Centers for Disease Control  and Prevention announced the results of their FIRST TIME EVER study on “profound autism.”

April 19, 2023, Autism Science Foundation: CDC Reports Profound Autism Statistics For The First Time

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) today reported 26.7 percent of people with autism spectrum disorder have profound autism. It is the first time this statistic has been reported using CDC-collected data and reflects a growing awareness that “profound autism” is different from the broader “autism spectrum disorder.” …

The report found that the percentage of 8-year-old children with profound autism among those with autism was 26.7 percent. Compared with children with non–profound autism, children with profound autism were more likely to be female, from racial and ethnic minority groups, of low socioeconomic status, born preterm or with low birth weight, have self-injurious behaviors, have seizure disorders, and have lower adaptive scores. In 2016, the prevalence of profound autism was 4.6 per 1,000 8-year-olds.

The first mention of “profound autism” in scientific literature came in 2021 in The Lancet Commission on the Future of Care and Clinical Research in Autism report. That report stated that the term “profound autism” was critical to distinguish people who have high dependency needs from the more verbally and intellectually able population of people with autism. In reviewing several international datasets of people with autism, the Lancet Commission estimated that close to 30 percent of the autism population falls into the category of profound autism.

…Children with profound autism often require round-the-clock care to assist with daily living activities and to keep them safe from self-injurious behaviors, wandering, and seizures. In her keynote address at the 2022 Autism Europe Congress, Dr. Catherine Lord, the George Tarjan Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry at the Semel Institute of Neuroscience and Human Behavior at the University of California, Los Angeles, reported results of a 30-year long longitudinal study that showed that the outcomes of people with profound autism are drastically different and far worse than the outcomes of those who are higher functioning.

My first reaction to this news: What took them so long to do this?

Autism numbers have been soaring for over 20 years. One would think they could have figured out the percent long before this.

This is the kind of research that will be quickly filed away on a shelf and forgotten. Thirty percent of people with autism being on the severe end doesn’t bode well for the future. The findings were probably worse than the CDC expected.

 “We need to know how many people have profound autism so that we can properly plan for their school and residential needs and improve the services they receive,” said Alison Singer, president of the Autism Science Foundation and co-author of the report. “Their needs are going to be very different than those of an autistic person graduating from Harvard Law School.”

Individuals with profound autism are also often excluded from research studies, in favor of higher functioning autistic individuals with higher IQ. “If our children are not included, then the research results don’t apply to them. We need research studies focused on the underlying medical causes of profound autism and interventions targeted at their specific needs, particularly their need to develop communication and language skills and reduce self-injury and aggression,” added Singer.

I was surprised to see Alison Singer calling for studies on “the underlying medical causes of profound autism.” Of course no CDC official would jump on that suggestion. Long ago health agencies relegated autism’s cause to genetics and perhaps, maybe some unknown environmental trigger which is something the mom can be blamed for.

Official studies associate autism with: OLD MOMS, MOMS WHO MARRY OLD DADS, FAT MOMS, DRINKING MOMS, SMOKING MOMS, MOMS WHO HAVE BABIES TOO CLOSE TOGETHER, MOMS WHO DON’T GET ENOUGH VITAMIN D WHILE PREGNANT, MOMS WHO LIVE TOO CLOSE TO FREEWAYS, and the latest research, PREGNANT MOMS WHO DRINK DIET POP.  

So much for the environmental triggers for autism. It’s always going to be bad moms.

AND if the finding that 30 percent of CHILDREN with autism have “profound autism” isn’t bad enough, advocates for that group tell us that it’s really much worse:

“It is important to note that this 27% includes only a subpopulation most severely impaired by autism,” said Jill Escher, president of the National Council on Severe Autism. “Those with IQs of 50-85, who may have language but little ability to hold an age-appropriate conversation or benefit from regular education, would be excluded from this subpopulation. It is crucial to understand the “non-profound” population discussed in this study in no way means ‘high functioning’.” That said, she added, this data is an essential start for the urgent need to better characterize the needs of the severely impaired autism population to promote stronger research and policymaking.

Which 30 percent will officials concentrate on, the 30 percent who lose their label or the 30 percent with “profound autism” who will need constant and costly support and care for life?

Anne Dachel is Media Editor for Age of Autism.

The Wuhan Cover-Up: And the Terrifying Bioweapons Arms Race (Children’s Health Defense) 

“Gain-of-function” experiments are often conducted to deliberately develop highly virulent, easily transmissible pathogens for the stated purpose of developing preemptive vaccines for animal viruses before they jump to humans. More insidious is the “dual use” nature of this research, specifically directed toward bioweapons development. The Wuhan Cover-Up pulls back the curtain on how the US government's increase in biosecurity spending after the 2001 terror attacks set in motion a plan to transform the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), under the direction of Dr. Anthony Fauci, into a de facto Defense Department agency.

Join us in congratulating Dr. Brian Hooker and Robert Kennedy, Jr. and the Children's Health Defense imprint on the huge news that Vax Unvax Let The Science Speak was #11 on the New York Times non-fiction best sellers list this week.  This is important because it tells those who feel they shouldn't question science, "Hey, it's OK to read, and learn and make your own decisions."  It's currently 124 on ALL of Amazon books.  Buy a copy HERE