Polly
02-27-2007, 03:49 PM
Interesting article in the Washington Post.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/23/AR2007022301778.html
Polly
Jejune
02-27-2007, 04:01 PM
I disagree with this part:
Those numbers don't reflect an epidemic, as some reports have suggested, or even mean that the incidence of autism has necessarily increased. Instead, we are defining autism and measuring its prevalence differently than we did in the past. Isabel's story illustrates that evolution.
The numbers in California DO reflect an epidemic. I asked about it when Liam was diagnosed. Even if we count in the idea that we measure it differently or that we are catching up on diagnoses, the numbers are increasing at a rate beyond what can be explained away with the idea that more kids are being diagnosed than were caught in the past. I don't have the numbers and facts in front of me, but it's pretty conclusive stuff, and suggests some sort of major change.
Like most of the illnesses psychiatrists treat, you cannot see autism under a microscope or discover it through a lab test.
While this is fairly true, there are tests in which the brain can be examined, and autistic kids show different brain patterns and even brain size than children without autism.
Just last week, I showed her two magazine articles about my new book on autism, in which I talk about how far she has come -- farther than my wife and I, or our doctors, ever expected. "What do these articles say?" I asked. "They say I'm doing great," Isabel replied. Indeed, she is.
This part is lovely. I'm glad autism research has helped their family so much. I'm surprised he didn't mention refrigerator mothers in his article, since he was talking so much about the misconceptions around autism. For a long, long time, one of the "best" sources on autism was a man who had not had actual medical training, and who claimed that autism was the fault of cold and distant mothers. It's pretty horrific stuff, especially as I am told that this is STILL a prevalent idea in France, even if it's been officially repudiated.
Very interesting article, Polly. Thank you for posting it.