Thursday, July 19, 2007

An Opportunity to Support Dr. Andy Wakefield

from National Autism Association

The Austin American Statesman, the only daily newspaper in Austin, has run a disparaging story on Dr. Wakefield in yesterday’s paper.

“Austin Autism Researcher is Investigated: Man behind discredited study on autism and vaccines now runs Austin center for autistic children”

http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/07/17/0717wakefield.html

This is another in a long line of attacks that ignores the facts and relies on recycled propaganda. We want to send a message to the Statesman that this is a poor attempt at telling this complicated story and they owe their readership and the autism community something more. This story is full of inflammatory language, misquotes and mistakes and clearly calls in to question the nature, quality, and validity of the work we do here at Thoughtful House. It is vital to our efforts that this publication be told the truth and set the record straight.

Please send a brief email to the reporter and her editor letting her know your thoughts.

Send your email to:

maroser@statesman.com; dharmon@statesman.com; roppel@statesman.com

You can include any/all of the following:
• A brief version of your child’s story
• It is incorrect to say that that Dr. Wakefield’s first study was discredited and renounced. The only retraction was a retraction of the interpretation that the press made following the release of the study. It had nothing to do with the facts in the paper.
• Dr. Wakefield’s work has been replicated and supported by subsequent, peer-reviewed publications by other researchers
• A statement about what Dr. Wakefield’s work means to you and your family
• A request for a retraction or an article clarifying these inflammatory remarks
OR if you do not have time but would still like to support Dr. Wakefield, you may fill in, cut and paste and send the following message:

To Mary Ann Roser
My name is ______ and I have a _________ year old child that has been diagnosed with ____________. Your story regarding Dr. Wakefield was full of inaccuracies and innuendos that are an injustice to the families affected by autism spectrum disorders. There is a significant amount of peer-reviewed, published literature that supports his work. Many of the inaccuracies you reported are recycled, inaccurate facts that have been perpetuated through a long line of regurgitated stories. Trust and responsibility are crucial in journalism, something that seems to have been lost here. You owe the community you report for to tell an honest story, even if it is a complicated one.

Organizations that care for children with ASD, particularly those that actually listen and address real medical concerns, should be applauded. Dr. Wakefield, and all of his colleagues at Thoughtful House, should be given credit for taking care of children that others left to languish in pain.

If you are going to write a story, you should at least take the time to understand what you are saying.

Sincerely,

Your name

child-autism-parent-cafe.com

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Show Support for Dr. Andrew Wakefield – Sign The Nigel Thomas Petition: Autism: Stop The Deceit: Start The Treatment

Our autistic loved one received a measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine at age 15-months in 1993. He became ill with a fever, and would later develop a rash. He then began having chronic gastrointestinal symptoms and slowly over time became autistic, which grew worse after a second MMR shot at age 4.11. At this time, he had another autistic regression. No doctor would listen to our concerns, try to diagnosis or treat his symptoms. We were told to give him Imodium AD everyday to control diarrhea. He went on to develop a failure to thrive condition since he could no longer gain or maintain weight properly.

At age 5 we sought help from the late Dr. Bernard Rimland, of the Autism Reseach Institute, who referred us to a Defeat Autism Now! (DAN) physician in our area. Remarkable improvements were seen on the very first day of treatment, e.g. he regained his sense of smell, and the diarrhea would end for some time. Within a few weeks he began to speak spontaneously. Once we could no longer afford to continue with certain biomedical treatments, the chronic gastrointestinal symptoms returned.

Dr. Andrew Wakefield would soon publish a study in The Lancet about a bowel condition affecting a small subgroup of children with autism. This study gave our family hope, and offered validity to our loved one's medical history. A new DAN doctor referred him to a pediatric gastrointerologist who would finally listen to our story and concerns. In March, 2002 our loved one underwent a colonoscopy and endoscopy. After biopsy, he was found by an independent hospital pathologist to be moderately affected by a bowel condition, commonly known as "autistic enterocolitis." After eight years of suffering, treatment for our family member finally began. child-autism-parent-cafe

Excerpts from Barbara Loe Fisher Commentary:
Andrew Wakefield, M.D., will be defending himself against charges of professional misconduct lodged against him by British physicians running the General Medical Council of England. At the heart of the matter is the medical establishment's fury at Dr. Wakefield for daring to publish an hypothesis in the Lancet in 1998 that provided clinical evidence for an association between MMR vaccine, intestinal bowel disease and autism. Subsequently, Dr. Wakefield suggested that some genetically vulnerable children might be unable to handle being injected with three live attenuated viral vaccines at once, pointing out that children rarely are simultaneously infected with wild type measles, mumps and rubella infections in nature.

Andrew Wakefield has steadfastly resisted pressure from government, medicine and the pharmaceutical industry to halt his research into autistic enterocolitis and the possible links between childhood vaccinations, intestinal inflammation and autism. That refusal to stop investigating the potential biological mechanisms for vaccine-induced autistic enterocolitis has made him a target for those determined to make an example out of him. Like individuals who are persecuted for holding different ideological, religious or political beliefs from those in power, Dr. Wakefield is being persecuted for taking a scientific position that does not conform with the majority of those operating or profiting from the global mass vaccination system.

Many parents of vaccine injured children - regardless of which biological mechanism was involved in their children's vaccine-associated regression into autism - support the pioneering work of Andrew Wakefield and his right to pursue his scientific investigation without being persecuted.

Please show support for Dr. Andrew Wakefield. Sign the Nigel Thomas Petition: Autism: Stop The Deceit: Start The Treatment.

Sunday, July 15, 2007

Parent Advocacy Brief: Preschool Services Under IDEA

The National Center for Learning Disabilities has created a new Parent Advocacy Brief, to help parents understand their children's education rights. child-autism-parent-cafe.com


Click here to download the Parent Advocacy Brief.

Wednesday, July 04, 2007

NYS - VESID New Amendment to Part 100 Regulations

The Regulations of the Commissioner of Education have been amended to conform to IDEA 2004 and the final federal regulations to implement IDEA 2004. The Commissioner*s regulations, which were approved as an emergency action by the Board of Regents at their June 2007 meeting, are effective July 1, 2007. Public comment will be accepted until August 17, 2007. child-autism-parent-cafe.com

Click here for info

Monday, July 02, 2007

Autistic Brains Can Be Trained To Recognize Visual And Vocal Cues

Individuals with often miss the subtle meanings conveyed by a person's face and tone of voice, and have trouble determining the communicative intent of others. Neuroimaging show individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) show reduced activity in the regions of the brain that respond to such cues. In a report in the Archives of General Psychiatry and currently online, UCLA researchers providing ASD children with explicit instructions to pay more attention to facial expressions and tone of voice elicited an increased response in the medial prefrontal cortex, part of the brain's network for understanding the intentions of others. "That's significant. The fact that you can 'normalize' activity in this region in the ASD group by directing their attention to these important social cues clearly indicates there's nothing intrinsically wrong with this region in the autistic brain," said Mirella Dapretto, co-authored the study with her former graduate student Ting Wang, a postdoctoral fellow at Mount Sinai School of Medicine. "This is a very positive thing," Dapretto said, "because these findings have implications for future interventions" they suggest that you could train the autistic brain to make use of the information conveyed by the human face and voice to successfully navigate social interactions. child-autism-parent-cafe.com

Read full article