AutismParents.NET!

DESTROYING THE MYTHS OF AUTISM  [View POWERPOINT PRESENTATION HERE]

Introduction

Jo:

Hello everyone, my name’s Jo Pike. I’m a Mom to four children including a six year old son with autism.

Wendy:

And I’m Wendy Fournier, Mom of three including a four year old daughter with autism.

Jo:

We’d like to begin our presentation by letting everyone know that we’re not experts - we’re parents. This is our perspective and our opinions. Parents and professionals may not agree with everything said here today.

With the recent release of the Institute of Medicine Report on Vaccines and Autism, we feel it is more important than ever to increase autism awareness throughout the United States. The IOM has recommended research into the genetics of autism. While this is important and studies are already underway, it will do nothing to help the children affected by Autism today. It has become painfully clear that the only way the autism community will get the money it needs to conduct studies that will provide effective treatments and a cure for our children right now, is to raise it ourselves.

Wendy:

This is why we must all do our part to increase awareness. The public needs to know that autism is now affecting 1 in 166 children and if they don’t already know someone with autism, they soon will.

They need to know that these children are sick.

They need to know the pain that these kids are enduring on a daily basis and the enormous amount of effort it takes just to get through an ordinary day.

They need to know that the cost of caring for these children will be astronomical.

They need to know that we are in the midst of an epidemic and they have the power to stop it.

They need to know that they can help.

The general population knows very little about Autism and related disorders. We cannot expect people to contribute to a cause that they know nothing about. By raising awareness, we increase the number of people who can potentially help us fund the research that we so desperately need.

With this in mind, we have created a presentation that you’ll be able to take with you and share with your local community. We encourage you to arrange to present this information to groups in your schools, your public library, your town or city hall, your churches and anywhere else that you can get people to listen.

Okay, let’s begin our PowerPoint Presentation.

Slide 1: Opening Slide

√Slide 2:

Jo

Today we are going to discuss some of the major myths and misconceptions about autism and autism related disorders that may be outdated or misunderstood. It’s important to remain up-to-date on the latest information and research so that you can sort out fact from truth.

There are so many misconceptions about autism out there. We hope to leave everyone here with an understanding of what autism is and just as importantly, what it is NOT.

√ Slide 3:

Wendy

What exactly is autism?

√ Autism is a bio-neurological disorder, not a mental illness, which affects the functioning of the brain. Some theories suggest that it may be caused by genetics, viral and/or chemical exposure.

√ Autism is diagnosed four times more often in boys than girls.

√ Autism impacts the normal development of the brain in the areas of social interaction, communication skills and cognitive function.

√ The major characteristics include slowness in understanding messages; problems of the sensory system (touch, taste, and smell), hearing and language disorders, inappropriate social responses (screaming, unprovoked tantrums, laughing, crying, and resisting touch, cuddling, and eye contact); sleep disturbances, and in severe forms the child may injure themselves, constantly move various body parts, show an apparent insensitivity to pain and/or constantly isolate themselves from their parents and all others.

√ Autism does not affect life expectancy. There isn’t a cure for autism, but there are a wide variety of treatments that are effective at treating its symptoms.

_______________________

√ Slide 4:

Jo

Myth #1 – Autism is caused by “Refrigerator Mothers”.

Let’s discuss how easily bad information can spread until it’s considered fact. I’m sure many of you are familiar with the theory of Dr. Bruno Bettelheim.

Dr. Bettelheim claimed that autism had a psychological causation, in that the mothers of these children, intentionally or not, did not love their children. The term “refrigerator mother” was born, referring to the fact that the mother was cold toward her child.

For many years, this was believed to be the cause of autism. Parents, desperately seeking help for their children, were told by professionals whom they trusted, that they were the cause of the condition. This caused much needless guilt on the part of the parents. √

√ Thank God that we had people like Dr. Bernard Rimland to stand up for these parents who not only had children who were labeled, but were themselves labeled as well.

Dr. Rimland was the first to publicly disagree with Bettelheim. As the father of a son with autism, he knew that his child was indeed loved very much by his mother and believed that the symptoms of autism were biological, not psychological. Dr. Rimland is the founder of the Autism Society of America and Defeat Autism Now! He is a true hero to the autism community.

√ This takes us to our second myth…

Slide 5:

Wendy

Myth #2 – No Emotion

√ Truth: A common misconception is that our children are unloving and do not have any emotional feelings. On the surface this may seem to be the case because our children don’t always express their emotions in a way that you and I recognize. As parents of children with autism, we know that although our children are unable to show their emotions in a traditional way, they certainly do have them and many children with ASD are very attached to their parents. For anyone willing to take the time to recognize them, you will be able to pick up on the ways our children do show emotions and love. It takes looking at things from a different perspective, to see the many ways individuals with autism show their emotions. After all, how do we explain autistic children’s behavioral issues if there are no emotions. Don’t emotions elicit behaviors?

√ Slide 6:

Jo

Myth #3 – Your child just needs a good spanking!

√ √ Truth: We’ve all been out to a grocery store or running errands when we come across a child throwing a temper tantrum, including screaming, throwing, and hitting. We may wonder why a mother or father is letting their child do this without any discipline or reprimands. If this is a child with autism, he has most likely lost control due to sensory overload. The sounds, visual stimulation, and the overwhelming crowds are just too much for this child to take in which results in a melt down. Parents are unrightfully blamed for not disciplining their children.

√ √ √ Imagine not being able to filter out sounds. So many of us are used to having the power to control what we take in of our environment that we cannot conceive how this child’s brain just went into overload. Individuals with autism often are not able to filter out all the other sounds in the environment, isolate sensitivity issues about bumping into people in crowds, or be capable of sorting out all the visual stimulation that exists around them at once. All this that we take for granted, an individual with autism usually has to handle item by item and sometimes they just can’t take it, their brain just gets too confused from all the input, resulting in a “blow out” or “overload”.

Traditional Discipline is not the answer for non-traditional behavior. A casual observer does not understand that first this child needs to be calmed. What we are doing to calm our child may not fit in with their opinions on what should be done, but we know best because we’ve lived with our children for all of their life. We’ve learned best how to help our child out of a blow out such as this. While the child may be acting up, the observer has no idea of how much that child has worked at being able to cope up to that point and that even during this blow out the child is trying hard to regain their composure. The observer may never consider that our children don’t like these act-outs any more than anyone else witnessing it does. They have never had their child tell them that sometimes their head goes crazy and they wish it wouldn’t.

√ Slide 7:

Wendy

Myth #4 – You’re born with autism.

√ Truth: On average, autism is diagnosed at 44 months.

√ Many children with autism meet all developmental milestones before the age of 2 and suddenly regress into autism. √ Here lies the million dollar question. What causes a typically developing child to suddenly regress into autism? The answer to this question will only come from research. At this time, it is widely believed that certain children are genetically pre-disposed to developing autism. But it takes exposure to some sort of environmental insult or “trigger” for them to regress into autism.

√ Slide 8:

Jo

Myth #5 – Vaccines do not cause autism.

√ Truth: The jury is still out on this one. Although the recent Institute of Medicine report appears to refute an association between vaccines and autism, the major autism organizations including the National Autism Association all agree that more research needs to be conducted in this area.

√ A recent study shows that children receiving vaccines containing the preservative “Thimerosal” are many times more likely to develop autism than those who receive thimerosal-free vaccines.

√ Thimerosal is 49.6% Mercury by weight. Mercury is the 2nd most toxic substance on Earth and a known neuro-toxin.

√ In the 1990’s the number of required childhood vaccinations dramatically
increased. So did the rate of autism.

√ We encourage you to do your own research on this topic before forming an opinion.

√ Slide 9:

Wendy

Myth #6 - Dustin Hoffman’s character in Rain Man is typical of a person with autism.

Truth: The character in Rain Man was a high functioning ASD person and a savant. In reality, only 2% of the ASD population exhibits such savant capabilities. All individuals with autism are different. Some are on the mild end of the spectrum with very few signs and symptoms while some are at the severe end. Caring for an ASD person can be like caring for a toddler of 18 months—they may need constant supervision, may have very few communication skills, may not sleep well, may throw tantrums when they don’t get what they want or can’t communicate what they want, and may not tolerate change very well.

√ Slide 10:

Jo

Myth #7 - Autism is a Neurological Disorder

Truth: We’re told by many experts and psychiatrists that autism is strictly a neurological disorder but based on countless parental reports (including our own), many children with the diagnosis of autism have the following physical ailments in common:

√ Allergies

√ Asthma

√ Sleep disturbances

√ Inflammatory bowel disease

√ Food Sensitivities

√ Epilepsy

√ Digestive Disorders

√ Persistent Viral Infections

√ Feeding Disorders

√ And more…

Insurance companies argue that autism is an emotional or behavioral disorder and deny coverage of medical treatment and therapy so the financial costs shift to parents and taxpayers. Current research by Dr. Richard Deth, Dr. Jill James and several other researchers confirms that autism is a bio-neurological disorder, affecting brain function. Research is now showing us that autistic symptoms are caused by bio-medical disorders in the body that in turn affect brain function. For example, a child with “leaky gut” and intestinal malabsorption is not able to process the nutrients needed for healthy brain function and development.

√ Slide 11:

Wendy

Myth #8 – The increase in the rate of autism is due to better diagnosing.

10 years ago, the rate of autism was 1 in 10,000 births. Today it is 1 in 166. This is a 5,000% increase in 10 years. If this astonishing increase is due to better diagnosing, where are the thousands and thousands of autistic adults who should have received a diagnosis 10, 20 or 30 years ago?

√ This leads us to…

√ Slide 12:

Jo

Myth #9 – Autism is a rare disorder.

With 1 in 166 children being diagnosed with autism, it can certainly no longer be considered rare. To the contrary – we have an epidemic on our hands. Every 16 minutes another child is diagnosed with autism. Add to that the number of children with Pervasive Developmental Disorder, Asperger’s Syndrome, Child Disintegrative Disorder, ADD and ADHD, and we have a frightening number of disabled children in cities and towns all across our country.

√ Slide 13 - 21:

Wendy

Cumulative Incidence Rates of Autism by State

These maps show the increase in autism since 1992. √ The darker the color, the higher the increase. √ √ √ √ You can see that as we progressed throughout 1990’s the numbers increase dramatically. √ √ And in 2003 we had several states with an increase of over 2000% from 1992. √

√ Slide 22:

Jo

Myth #10 – Autism is incurable.

We are happy to say that Autism is no longer hopeless. Children ARE being helped through bio-medical treatments including √ dietary intervention, √ nutritional supplementation, √ heavy metal chelation, √ anti-viral treatments, and therapeutic interventions such as √ Applied Behavior Analysis, √ Auditory Integration Therapy and other treatments. Many are indistinguishable from their peers.

√ Slide 23:

√ Here are some beautiful faces of children recovering from autism. √ √ √ √ √

Slide 24:

√ Final Slide

Conclusion

We have copies here of this PowerPoint Presentation and the script we’ve used on CDs for you to take with you. We will also have this information available for download on the web at www.nationalautism.org. Thank you for joining us today.