5 ms·

It would be nice to get back on track looking for the real cause(s) of autism. Our son was diagnosed and has received intense IBT/ABA therapy (along with spech

It would be nice to get back on track looking for the real cause(s) of autism. Our son was diagnosed and has received intense IBT/ABA therapy (along with spech, OT and PT). It has been fantastic. Total turn around. No low gluten diet, Jenny McCarthy BS, just Cognitive Behavioral Therapy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_behavioral_therapy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_behavioral_therapy . Sadly as of the latest information I have, we don't know what causes Autism and CBT is one of the only effective means for treating it.

m104 17y ago
Agreed. All of this focus on vaccines has put quite a lot reputations on the line, on both sides of the debate. Once the matter is settled (will it ever be settled?), I'm concerned that we'll have autism burn-out and it'll be nearly impossible to get the funding and minds needed for further research into causes and treatments.
- smokinn 17y ago
  I would be ok with this nonsense if it were a debate but it really isn't. It's science on one side and hysteria on the other. One side says show us the evidence! The other side points to dozens of papers showing no link whatsoever. The other side doesn't say anything and then goes to another tv show and says show us the evidence! It's ridiculous but it sure does teach you a lot about herd mentality.
- philk 17y ago
  There aren't two sides to this debate. There's established medical opinion, backed up by substantial evidence, proving that vaccines are both safe and responsible for saving hundreds of millions of lives. The idea that there are two sides to the debate gives anti-vaccine activists more credibility than they are entitled to. Vaccines work and are safe. They don't cause autism and anyone who says that they do is at best deluded.
  - dpnewman 17y ago
    do you feel any concern about injecting these ingredients into your or your child's blood stream? Formaldehyde, Beta-Propiolactone, Neomycin Sulfate, Polymyxin B, Potassium Chloride, Sodium Taurodeoxycholate, Thimerosal I am not making a case for linking vaccines to autism, nor for the idea that vaccines are not often crucial factors in preventing disease spread or pandemic. However, I would say blanket statements that vaccines are simply "safe" ...end of story, seems too simplistic and potentially dangerous.
    - modoc 17y ago
      Doesn't sound much worse than most of the "food" people eat and drink. Much less what you breathe in a city like NYC or LA.
    - sabat 17y ago
      In the tiny, inconsequential doses that they have been used, no, I have had no concern at all. My four-year-old son is fully immunized and am perfectly happy with what science is producing to protect him. Remember: chemicals are everywhere in nature. Just because they have complex-looking names doesn't automatically mean they're dangerous in themselves. And just because thimerosal is chemically related to the kind of mercury that is dangerous in larger doses doesn't mean that thimerosal is itself dangerous, especially in the tiny quantity that was once used in vaccines.
    - philk 17y ago
      No. If you want to worry about your kids health make sure they eat right and get plenty of exercise. You'll do much more for their health than worrying about minuscule amounts of chemicals in vaccines.
    - run4yourlives 17y ago
      The fact that you have Potassium Chloride in your list only highlights your ignorance. It's used in "pet friendly" road salt, and sometimes even as a substitute for table salt. Sure in large doses it's lethal, but so is regular salt.
    - 17y ago
chollida1 17y ago
> No low gluten diet, Jenny McCarthy BS, I wouldn't link a low gluten diet with "Jenny McCarthy BS". My wife teaches autistic children and she told me that all the children, not most, all children in the classroom have had improvement when put on low gluten diets. I don't pretend to be as close to the issue as you, but you would be wise not to dump on an issue just because it didn't work for you:)
- tokenadult 17y ago
  http://www.asatonline.org/suggreading/reviews/elder.htm http://www.asatonline.org/suggreading/reviews/elder.htm A carefully designed study, http://norvig.com/experiment-design.html http://norvig.com/experiment-design.html rather than anecdotes, doesn't support a conclusion that gluten-free diets are helpful for autism. Nonetheless, the study reports, http://www.asatonline.org/suggreading/reviews/elder.htm http://www.asatonline.org/suggreading/reviews/elder.htm "even after being informed of these disappointing results, some parents opted to keep their child on the GfCf diet." Patient human interaction with autistic children does seem to be helpful, and my cheers to anyone who is providing that.
  - KirinDave 17y ago
    Going to show that the three most dangerous words in medicine are, "In my experience..." They are both a blessing and a curse.
    - DenisM 17y ago
      The scary part is that once I realized this I was feeling all enlightened. Then I realized it again and then I felt even more enlightened. And then I stopped and asked myself - is my current realization the final one? How deep is the rabbit hole? This is some seriously scary stuff.
- ZeroGravitas 17y ago
  Firstly, the low gluten thing, if it didn't start with Andrew Wakefield (the guy getting once again slated for his unprofessional and fraudulent behaviour), it became big because of him Second, reviews of the evidence show no evidence of a link, and suggest that the weird diets can actually be causing harm. So feel free to dump on this issue.
pwhelan 17y ago
'Denalism' by Michael Specter actually discusses the anti-vaccine movement and a bit about autism. I felt he did a good job. The fact is that there is no evidence supporting the conclusion (cue "correlation is not causation"). Also, diagnosis for specific problems would help patients and families get much better aid from insurers and schools. Sadly, we allow those who can provide no actual evidence influence the discussion (glad to see you didn't) I agree with pragmatic, we need to look at real causes and remember that outside of clean water, vaccinations are the best thing for public health.
pragmatic 17y ago
Why I say "Jenny McCarthy BS": She has appeared in print and on TV proclaiming that it was a diet, B12 shots, etc that were responsible for "curing" her son's autism. With a little research it turns out that they also used ABA. ABA was the only treatment recommended by the team that diagnosed our son (psychologist, psychiatrist, speech pathologist, OT). There wasn't anything else in the literature that was compelling treatment for Autism (that I know of). I remain open to other treatments if they are safe and effective and doctor recommended. However, a low gluten diet would be difficult for our son. He had so many sensory issues and eating was a major problem. I can't imagine trying to work in a low gluten diet at the same time.
- JesseAldridge 17y ago
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Applied_Behavioral_Analysis http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Applied_Behavioral_Analysis ABA is some very interesting stuff. I had never heard of it before. Seems pretty simple and straight-forward too. From skimming the article it seems you simply keep some kind of log of behavior, try various techniques for changing said behavior, and track changes in the behavior over time to figure out what works. I bet there's a good startup opportunity here. Hack your brain; shape your behavior. An app could aide the process of logging, measuring and tracking changes in behavior. It could suggest strategies and rank them by effectiveness. There could even be a web aspect for seeing what techniques work best for other people. Kind of like a more generalized version of RescueTime...

m104 17y ago

Agreed. All of this focus on vaccines has put quite a lot reputations on the line, on both sides of the debate. Once the matter is settled (will it ever be settled?), I'm concerned that we'll have autism burn-out and it'll be nearly impossible to get the funding and minds needed for further research into causes and treatments.

smokinn 17y ago
I would be ok with this nonsense if it were a debate but it really isn't. It's science on one side and hysteria on the other. One side says show us the evidence! The other side points to dozens of papers showing no link whatsoever. The other side doesn't say anything and then goes to another tv show and says show us the evidence! It's ridiculous but it sure does teach you a lot about herd mentality.
philk 17y ago
There aren't two sides to this debate. There's established medical opinion, backed up by substantial evidence, proving that vaccines are both safe and responsible for saving hundreds of millions of lives. The idea that there are two sides to the debate gives anti-vaccine activists more credibility than they are entitled to. Vaccines work and are safe. They don't cause autism and anyone who says that they do is at best deluded.
- dpnewman 17y ago
  do you feel any concern about injecting these ingredients into your or your child's blood stream? Formaldehyde, Beta-Propiolactone, Neomycin Sulfate, Polymyxin B, Potassium Chloride, Sodium Taurodeoxycholate, Thimerosal I am not making a case for linking vaccines to autism, nor for the idea that vaccines are not often crucial factors in preventing disease spread or pandemic. However, I would say blanket statements that vaccines are simply "safe" ...end of story, seems too simplistic and potentially dangerous.
  - modoc 17y ago
    Doesn't sound much worse than most of the "food" people eat and drink. Much less what you breathe in a city like NYC or LA.
  - sabat 17y ago
    In the tiny, inconsequential doses that they have been used, no, I have had no concern at all. My four-year-old son is fully immunized and am perfectly happy with what science is producing to protect him. Remember: chemicals are everywhere in nature. Just because they have complex-looking names doesn't automatically mean they're dangerous in themselves. And just because thimerosal is chemically related to the kind of mercury that is dangerous in larger doses doesn't mean that thimerosal is itself dangerous, especially in the tiny quantity that was once used in vaccines.
  - philk 17y ago
    No. If you want to worry about your kids health make sure they eat right and get plenty of exercise. You'll do much more for their health than worrying about minuscule amounts of chemicals in vaccines.
  - run4yourlives 17y ago
    The fact that you have Potassium Chloride in your list only highlights your ignorance. It's used in "pet friendly" road salt, and sometimes even as a substitute for table salt. Sure in large doses it's lethal, but so is regular salt.
  - 17y ago

chollida1 17y ago

> No low gluten diet, Jenny McCarthy BS, I wouldn't link a low gluten diet with "Jenny McCarthy BS". My wife teaches autistic children and she told me that all the children, not most, all children in the classroom have had improvement when put on low gluten diets. I don't pretend to be as close to the issue as you, but you would be wise not to dump on an issue just because it didn't work for you:)

tokenadult 17y ago
http://www.asatonline.org/suggreading/reviews/elder.htm http://www.asatonline.org/suggreading/reviews/elder.htm A carefully designed study, http://norvig.com/experiment-design.html http://norvig.com/experiment-design.html rather than anecdotes, doesn't support a conclusion that gluten-free diets are helpful for autism. Nonetheless, the study reports, http://www.asatonline.org/suggreading/reviews/elder.htm http://www.asatonline.org/suggreading/reviews/elder.htm "even after being informed of these disappointing results, some parents opted to keep their child on the GfCf diet." Patient human interaction with autistic children does seem to be helpful, and my cheers to anyone who is providing that.
- KirinDave 17y ago
  Going to show that the three most dangerous words in medicine are, "In my experience..." They are both a blessing and a curse.
  - DenisM 17y ago
    The scary part is that once I realized this I was feeling all enlightened. Then I realized it again and then I felt even more enlightened. And then I stopped and asked myself - is my current realization the final one? How deep is the rabbit hole? This is some seriously scary stuff.
ZeroGravitas 17y ago
Firstly, the low gluten thing, if it didn't start with Andrew Wakefield (the guy getting once again slated for his unprofessional and fraudulent behaviour), it became big because of him Second, reviews of the evidence show no evidence of a link, and suggest that the weird diets can actually be causing harm. So feel free to dump on this issue.

pwhelan 17y ago

'Denalism' by Michael Specter actually discusses the anti-vaccine movement and a bit about autism. I felt he did a good job. The fact is that there is no evidence supporting the conclusion (cue "correlation is not causation"). Also, diagnosis for specific problems would help patients and families get much better aid from insurers and schools. Sadly, we allow those who can provide no actual evidence influence the discussion (glad to see you didn't) I agree with pragmatic, we need to look at real causes and remember that outside of clean water, vaccinations are the best thing for public health.

pragmatic 17y ago

Why I say "Jenny McCarthy BS": She has appeared in print and on TV proclaiming that it was a diet, B12 shots, etc that were responsible for "curing" her son's autism. With a little research it turns out that they also used ABA. ABA was the only treatment recommended by the team that diagnosed our son (psychologist, psychiatrist, speech pathologist, OT). There wasn't anything else in the literature that was compelling treatment for Autism (that I know of). I remain open to other treatments if they are safe and effective and doctor recommended. However, a low gluten diet would be difficult for our son. He had so many sensory issues and eating was a major problem. I can't imagine trying to work in a low gluten diet at the same time.

JesseAldridge 17y ago
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Applied_Behavioral_Analysis http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Applied_Behavioral_Analysis ABA is some very interesting stuff. I had never heard of it before. Seems pretty simple and straight-forward too. From skimming the article it seems you simply keep some kind of log of behavior, try various techniques for changing said behavior, and track changes in the behavior over time to figure out what works. I bet there's a good startup opportunity here. Hack your brain; shape your behavior. An app could aide the process of logging, measuring and tracking changes in behavior. It could suggest strategies and rank them by effectiveness. There could even be a web aspect for seeing what techniques work best for other people. Kind of like a more generalized version of RescueTime...