[Note: This article is for archive purposes in Autistic History. It’s to illustrate the the voices heard during this era. It’s to show how the Wrights, co-founders of Autism Speaks, and pals used their privilege purposefully to drown out the voices of the Autistic community and others.]
Early detection of autism improves chances
Treatment at younger ages leads to better recovery
By Robert Bazell
As David Melugin watches anxiously through a one-way mirror, his wife Heather takes part in a behavioral test to determine whether their 16-month-old daughter, Amy, has autism.
The Melugins know all about autism, a brain disorder that leaves children unable to form normal relations. Their six-year-old son Joe was diagnosed when he was three. Their second son, Ben, does not have it the disorder, but they worry about Amy.
“Every time we have to go in for a checkup … I worry, is everything going to be OK?” says Heather.
Autism can range from mild to severe. Many scientists now believe that if a child does have autism, early intervention through intensive interactions with adults can help some children improve over time.
Experts estimate about one out of 250 children born in the United States has some degree of autism. There is a genetic component because the risk increases to about one in 25 if the child has a brother or sister with the condition.
Dr. Rebecca Landa, a speech pathologist at the Kennedy Krieger Institute in Baltimore, checked Amy’s responses to various situations.
“By 12 months, they really should be communicating through all sorts of gestures. They should be waving ‘bye bye’ and starting to point and understanding very clearly,” says Landa.
A typical child interacts with his mother, while a child who is autistic pays little attention. Often a baby can seem normal at birth, but then show symptoms after only a few months.
“Any loss of skills that parents notice, that stay around for more than a week, parents should definitely talk to their doctor about it,” says Landa.
As for Amy, she seems free of symptoms. But her parents are taking no chances, knowing all too well that the earlier autism is diagnosed, the more likely intervention can improve the child’s life.
For more information about autism, visit the National Institutes of Health Web site or Cure Autism Now.
http://web.archive.org/web/20050305092611/http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5431987/
Cure Autism Now:
http://web.archive.org/web/20050306030232/http://www.cureautismnow.org/
NICHD:
http://web.archive.org/web/20050228092757/http://www.nichd.nih.gov/autism/
Note/Warning:
Autistic people have fought the inclusion of ABA in therapy for us since before Autism Speaks, and other non-Autistic-led autism organizations, started lobbying legislation to get it covered by insurances and Medicaid.
ABA is a myth originally sold to parents that it would keep their Autistic child out of an institution. Today, parents are told that with early intervention therapy their child will either be less Autistic or no longer Autistic by elementary school, and can be mainstreamed in typical education classes. ABA is very expensive to pay out of pocket. Essentially, Autism Speaks has justified the big price tag up front will offset the overall burden on resources for an Autistic’s lifetime. The recommendation for this therapy is 40 hours a week for children and toddlers.
The original study that showed the success rate of ABA to be at 50% has never been replicated. In fact, the study of ABA by United States Department of Defense was denounced as a failure. Not just once, but multiple times. Simply stated: ABA doesn’t work. In study after repeated study: ABA (conversion therapy) doesn’t work.
What more recent studies do show: Autistics who experienced ABA therapy are at high risk to develop PTSD and other lifelong trauma-related conditions. Historically, the autism organizations promoting ABA as a cure or solution have silenced Autistic advocates’ opposition. ABA is also known as gay conversion therapy.
The ‘cure’ for Autistics not born yet is the prevention of birth.
The ‘cure’ is a choice to terminate a pregnancy based on ‘autism risk.’ The cure is abortion. This is the same ‘cure’ society has for Down Syndrome.
This is eugenics 2021. Instead of killing Autistics and disabled children in gas chambers or ‘mercy killings’ like in Aktion T4, it’ll happen at the doctor’s office, quietly, one Autistic baby at a time. Different approaches yes, but still eugenics and the extinction of an entire minority group of people.
Fact: You can’t cure Autistics from being Autistic.
Fact: You can’t recover an Autistic from being Autistic.
Fact: You can groom an Autistic to mask and hide their traits. Somewhat. … however, this comes at the expense of the Autistic child, promotes Autistic Burnout (this should not be confused with typical burnout, Autistic Burnout can kill Autistics), and places the Autistic child at high risk for PTSD and other lifelong trauma-related conditions.
[Note: Autism is NOT a disease, but a neurodevelopmental difference and disability.]
Fact: Vaccines Do Not Cause Autism.
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