Okay, since I didn’t get a chance to blog yesterday, I’m writing another one today to make up for it. I “defined” autism in my last post, so let’s chat about the autism spectrum for a bit.
Many people don’t know that autism is a spectrum disorder. National Institutes of Health has a pretty good statement on it. “Different people with autism can have very different symptoms. Health care providers think of autism as a “spectrum” disorder, a group of disorders with similar features. One person may have mild symptoms, while another may have serious symptoms. But they both have an autism spectrum disorder.” That is a pretty good starting point.
I’m not going to get into the political battle that health insurers play with the terms, mainly because that is going to be a series of articles later this month! However, it helps folks understand why some kids seem barely affected and some kids don’t have language. The disorder has differing levels of severity and vastly different ways of showing itself.
There are also a large number of other disorders that can exist with autism. Typically a child with autism has several diagnoses. Hypotonia, or low muscle tone, is commonly associated with autism. Also, children with autism have a much higher population of folks with seizure disorder. 1 in 4 kids with autism have some sort of seizure disorder, and it is believed that autism affects the same part of the brain as epilepsy and related diseases. Motor planning issues like dyspraxia, sometimes called apraxia or motor apraxia, are common. Sensory Integration Disorder is also very common for kids on the spectrum. Speech delays are frequent, but a number of kids on the spectrum do not have speech delays. In fact, if there is no speech delay the child typically will receive a diagnosis of Aspergers Syndrome.
I find the word autism to be telling, so let’s go into some history. Dr. Leo Kanner “discovered” autism, or at least told the world about it in 1943. His paper, “Autistic Disturbance of Affective Contact” is really a fascinating piece of work. The children described are touching, but the clinical language of the day as well as the psychological perspectives are more than a little frustrating to read now. Dr. Kanner was the autism pioneer, and much of the thought regarding autism considered it a psychological condition related to the level of affection and love displayed by the mother.
Now, if you have met the moms of any kids on the spectrum you know that is patent bullshit, but that is what passed for psychology in the 1940s. The “refrigerator mom” theory was widely supported for decades, but was eventually debunked. In fact, PBS has a documentary from their POV series called “Refrigerator Mothers.” I think I’m going to buy a copy so I can see it. The site has a ton of good information and wonderful stories.
Enter Dr. Bernard Rimland, the man who gave us all hope. Dr. Rimland was the founder of the Autism Research Institute, or ARI, and was the first doctor to really push for research on the disorder. ARI served as a clearinghouse for clinical information on the disorder, and eventually the Defeat Autism Now! protocol was born out of that research.
Dr. Rimland was the first to suggest that autism is an autoimmune disorder instead of a psychological disorder, and he also first posited that autism was caused by mercury toxicity from thimerosal, a form of mercury used in vaccines. Unfortunately, rather than funding serious study into the possibility, the CDC held a secret meeting at Simpsonwood discussing the issue with several vaccine makers. They ultimately decided to cover it up, and the CDC issued a “request” for vaccines free from thimerosal.
Luckily the information did come to light, and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. wrote a scathing article about the issue called “Deadly Immunity.” He also spoke on MSNBC about it, and I’ve linked it below.
Every time I read and talk about this I get so mad I can hardly see, so I’m going to stop here. Up tomorrow: Aspergers Syndrome.
