On parenting message boards, facebook groups, and elsewhere online, I see posts by parents concerned about the development of their children and, at one time, I was making those posts. Even in groups populated by well-educated, well-informed parents, it is quite common for these concerned to be brushed off as parental worry. I’ve seen and […]
Autism 101: Hating Your Autistic Child
Before my son was diagnosed, my view of autism was overwhelmingly negative. I saw it as something that needed to be cured. Ray Hemachandra has written a beautiful piece on why it is not OK to say that we hate autism. Really thought provoking and worth considering, he explores how a person can accept autism, […]
How Blue Cross Blue Shield and a handful of Senators are blocking autism insurance reform in North Carolina.
Autism Spectrum Disorder is more common than childhood cancer, cystic fibrosis, and multiple sclerosis combined. In the US, autism affects 1 out of every 68 children, while in North Carolina, that number is 1 in 58. Although it has no cure, there are treatments and the best current treatment available, Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) therapy, […]
Military children with autism are at risk with the newest changes to their health care policy.
Edit: thank you so much for all your help. You made this change a positive one. My son was diagnosed with autism in April and, in that month, I didn’t know if I would ever have a normal Easter Egg hunt with him. He wandered around aimlessly and, since he didn’t understand pointing and only […]
We need your help. Some of the new changes to the Tricare ABA policy will hurt autistic children.
EDIT: Thank you so much for your help! The changes made have worked out to be beneficial to our family thanks to your support. We still need to fight to cover those who have retired, but we were able to keep the services we have. On September 24, the policy on ABA therapy was updated […]
It’s natural to fear a connection between vaccines and autism
When my twins were about 6 months old, we went for their 6th month checkups, and then to the immunization clinic in the same building for their shots. Shortly after that, my son, Corwin*, broke out in a high fever that reached 104.8 at its peak and a prickly red rash that spread over his […]
How to find a good ABA therapist so that ABA can be safe and helpful for your autistic child.
When my son was diagnosed with autism at 17 months by a developmental pediatrician, she suggested I enroll him in ABA therapy immediately. She gave me a sheet with a long list of providers and very little information about each one. My son’s Early Intervention coordinator had warned me that I needed to carefully screen […]
Autism rates have not increased
Amanda Baxter (Queensland Centre for Mental Health Research in Australia) and her colleagues have put together a study entitled “The epidemiology and global burden of autism spectrum disorders”. You can read it here (warning PDF). In 2010 there were an estimated 52 million cases of ASDs, equating to a prevalence of 7.6 per 1000 or […]
Stop Using my Children to Scare Parents out of Vaccinating
This article sums up why I left my local crunchy parenting group. I was sick of seeing my son treated as broken. As an autism parent, it offends me my children’s condition is being used to scare people away from life-saving medicine. I don’t want that to happen. It angers me that there are people out […]
Discussion