Hubie Brown and Mike Tirico

The NBA lent it support to raising autism awareness on the eve of World Autism Awareness Day as the announcers and coaches for the games broadast by ABC on April 1 wore the Autism Speaks puzzle pin. More Here...

My Dad recently sent me an Audio Digest CD to listen to with a 3 page article titled:

Autism: A developmental Pediatric Perspective
From Pediatrics Updated 2009, presented by Phoenix Children’s Hospital Ruan D. Melmed, MD Medical Director, Southwest Autism Research and Resources Centre, Phoenix, AZ and Director, Melmed centre, Scottsdale, AZ

On the third page it is talking about Educational Programs and says: More Here...

The hardest part, I think, to being an autism parent is the doubt. Not just in general but the self doubt in particular.

We ask ourselves

It doesn’t really matter where your child is on the spectrum, we all ask ourselves the same questions.

Am I doing the right thing?
Am I strong enough?
Am I smart enough?
Could I find a way to make more money?
Could I fight harder/smarter to get the services my child needs?
Am I listening to the right people?
Will what I’m doing now, be enough?
Am I making the right choices? More Here...

Among other proposed changes to the 5th edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, due in 2013, Asperger's, PDD-NOS, and all the other diagnoses on the spectrum would be classified as Autism Spectrum Disorders, instead of having separate entries.  I have no problem with this: it makes sense to refer to all those shades of functionality - from Aspergian genius to the most severely-affected, wordless recluse - as points on the same spectrum. More Here...

The latest attempt to use science to deny children with autism access to treatment came into my e-mail recently. I think this one needs to be shared. 

Here’s the background. 

The Ontario government has created a set of benchmarks to monitor progress and facilitate clinical decision-making for children in behavioral autism treatment programs. In the vernacular for the rest of us who are outside of government-based healthcare or social services, “benchmarks to facilitate ...decision-making”, means rationing of care. The general idea is to deny ongoing treatment for children with autism who don’t progress quickly, per a set government-approved schedule. This, of course, is to the benefit of the public purse at the expense of children with autism. More Here...