May 22
I can’t wait to see all the wonderful people I know and get to meet lots of new advocates in the autism community. I’ll be writing about it when I get back!
May 22
There’s very little to celebrate here.
Autism insurance mandate wins in Minnesota
Advocates for children with autism are celebrating the passage of an insurance mandate that will require some – but not most – Minnesota health plans to cover an intensive form of therapy that can cost $100,000 a year.
The mandate, which was approved by the Legislature over the weekend, is scheduled to take effect in January.
Most Minnesota health insurers have refused until now to pay for the therapy – known as early intensive behavioral intervention – because of concerns about its cost and effectiveness….
In practice, the mandate will apply only to a fraction of Minnesota employers – those with 50 or more employees in state-regulated health plans.
The mandate would cover 750,000 Minnesotans, or about 14 percent of the state population, according to state estimates. But it does not apply to the vast majority of large employers, which are self-insured and exempt from state insurance regulation. …
The mandate is likely to drive up health insurance costs for the affected companies, said Jay McLaren, director of government relations for Medica Health Plans. He predicted that it will give employers another reason to switch to self-insurance to avoid state mandates.
Under the new rules, state-regulated health plans would have to pay for any autism treatment that’s considered medically necessary for children up to age 18. The most intensive programs provide one-on-one therapy for up to 40 hours a week, often in the child’s home.
Minnesota is the 33rd state to adopt an autism insurance mandate, according to the national advocacy group Autism Speaks.
Comments:
This story doesn’t tell us, but the current U.S. autism rate is now one in every 50 children. Among boys alone, it’s one in every 31. Those frightening statistics apply only to children. No one has been able to show us a comparable rate among adults. Experts tell us that 80 percent of autistic Americans are under the age of 18.
Employers might not be interested in providing needed therapy for children with autism, but in the near future everyone will be faced with the cost of caring for autistic young adults who age out of the school system and become dependent on the taxpayers for their support and care. Denying help now will only increase the eventual cost of autism.
Anne Dachel, Media editor: Age of Autism
Preparing autistic children to be as self-sufficient as possible should be a huge priority for this country, that includes all the necessary therapies that are out there for these children.
Parents are frightened over what will happen when they’re no longer around to care for their autistic children.
On April 26, 2013, Canadian TV: Decision to drop off autistic son gut wrenching says Ottawa couple.
Exclusive: Couple leaves autistic son in care of the state
(Her adult son with autism functions on the level of a two year old.)
“Philippe requires nursing care for his diabetes as well as his bathing, toileting and personal care. His food intake also has to be strictly managed because of his diabetes.”
“Parents of autistic adult son not alone in their desperation, say advocates”
Listen to the mother talk about how Philippe recently wandered away. He is in need of constant supervision.
Neglecting autistic children now won’t make the problem go away.
Anne Dachel, Media editor: Age of Autism
May 22
As the Lake Charles story shows, the demand is growing and services simply don’t exist for young adults with autism. Reports from Ohio, California, and New York make it clear that they are being victimized . It’s hard to imagine how much worse this situation will get as more and more children with autism age out of school.
May 14, 2013, YouTube: Young adult with autism in residential care in OH assaulted and neglected
My son Marquis is an wonderful young man. He has autism and is currently committed to an abusive and dangerous state icf/mr facility in Ohio.
May 21, 2013, KPLCTV-Lake Charles, LA, Housing needed for adults with autism
May 20, 2013, San Diego Union-Times: Caregivers sentenced in autism case
May 20, 2013, NY1: Family Of Autistic Man Claims He Was Tortured At Bronx Group Home
May 21
Silly us! It’s been OVER-DIAGNOSIS!! Parents were just after the diagnosis that “virtually guarantees a whole host of therapies.”
No comment section here—naturally.
The DSM-5 is here: What the controversial new changes mean for mental health care
Over the past decade, the United States has seen a striking increase in the amount of autism diagnoses, with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimating that one in 88 children suffers from an autism spectrum disorder. According to Kolvezon, numerous epidemiological studies have found that the majority of children accounting for this incidence are those with PDD-NOS – a diagnosis given to those with communication issues and pattern behavior but who do not meet the full criteria for autism or another pervasive developmental disorder.
Kolevzon said it’s possible that over-diagnosis of PDD-NOS has led to this increase in autism spectrum disorder cases.
“What happens in the community is that the diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder virtually guarantees a whole host of therapies – such as speech therapy, occupational therapy, behavioral therapy, and potentially physical therapy,” Kolevzon said. “Theoretically, it’s possible that community providers and clinicians are incentivized to label kids with PDD-NOS, because it would make it more likely to receive appropriate services.”
The autism spectrum disorder scale will further refine the way providers diagnose autism, Kolevzon said, by recognizing differences from person to person rather than trying to generalize them into one of four categories.
May 21
I have no words…
Child’s autism cited in drowning
Andrew J. Howell, a 2-year-old Akron boy with autism, drowned in the Muskingum River just before 8 p.m. Saturday.
The family was on a camping trip at a cottage in Dresden when Andrew reportedly wandered toward the river, 100 yards away.
Howell was one of three children with autism who drowned this past week across the U.S.
May 21
Jesse Mojica’s son stopped talking at 18 months. WHY? That’s just the way it is with autism? Tough luck if it’s your child.
This campaign is “Maybe”…maybe it’s your child—or the kids next door, down the street. …merely teaches parents that autism is a fact of life.
It’s all about surrender.
Autism Speaks launches new campaign to reach Latino, black parents
Jesse Mojica didn’t know what autism was 13 years ago, all he knew is that his precious son Adam, at 18 months, had stopped saying words and his beautiful smile had disappeared. The sparkle in his eyes was gone, he says, replaced by a blank stare to nowhere.
“It’s tough to encapsulate in words how difficult is to see your child slipping away from you,” says Mojica, the executive director for Family and Community Engagement in the city Department of Education in New York City. “You feel like you don’t have the power to hold on to them, he was slipping into a world you could not reach him,” he adds.
After 6 months of tests, and switching doctors, Jesse and Ana Mojica finally found out the truth — their son Adam was autistic. That’s why Mojica is supporting Austism Speaks new ad campaign “Maybe” aimed at helping Latino and African American families recognize the signs their child may be autistic.
Comments:
Actually, the most recent autism rate is one in every 50 children, one in every 31 among boys alone. No matter, regardless of how bad the statistics are, no one is ever alarmed about the numbers.
Jesse Mojica’s son, Adam, stopped talking at 18 months but we’re not told why. Countless thousands of parents claim that their beautiful, thriving babies suddenly got sick, lost learned skills and regressed into autism following routine vaccinations between 18 and 24 months. Doctors can’t explain this. They say there is no link between vaccines and autism and they have lots of studies, all found to have ties to the vaccine makers, to prove it.
This link shows the dramatic increase in the number of vaccine our children received between 1983 and 2012.
Where is even one study on the cumulative effect of the increasing number of vaccines in the childhood schedule? THERE ISN’T ONE.
Anne Dachel, Media editor: Age of Autism
If you listen to the testimony of Bob Wright, (see video 2:26:20) co-founder of Autism Speaks, before the U.S. House Reform Committee on Nov 29, 2012, you’ll hear about how his 11 year old grandson Christian was born healthy and was developing normally. “We thought he was very precocious. He seemed to be brighter than average. He had an enormous vocabulary and then he lost everything.”
Mr Wright added, “I’ll tell you without any secret, my daughter firmly believes that vaccines were the relationship that triggered him into this pit.”
Thousands and thousands of parents echo the feelings of Bob Wright’s daughter. They claim that their child, like his grandson, was born healthy and was developing normally until they received certain routine vaccinations. We need to honestly, independently, and thoroughly examine the link between our ever-expanding vaccine program and the epidemic of autism now striking two percent of our children.
Anne Dachel, Media editor: Age of Autism
May 21
This is a nice human interest story. There’s nothing about the big picture. This boy seems capable of doing a lot of things.
Lake Charles La has a population of over 70,000 people. There are two group homes for autistic adults right now in Lake Charles. With two percent of children currently diagnosed with autism, they’d better get building. And of course, no one will ask why Brendan O’Reilly can’t go where autistic adults have always gone in Lake Charles.
Housing needed for adults with autism
As children with autism grow into adults, their parents strive to help them live as independently as possible. But housing to meet the needs of adults with autism is in short supply. Brendan O’Reilly is home from school and tending to chores such as bringing back the empty trash can at his grandmother’s house in Carlyss. Brendan has autism and often sees things and hears things differently from most others. He likes to make people laugh….Right now, there are two homes available for adults with autism in Lake Charles. Darcy said more are needed to help Brendan and others. “They would be able to take care of him; they would be able to assist him with daily living skills. They would be able to transport him to where he needs to go since he’s not able to drive,” said Darcy.The hope is that living in such a home with specially trained people to assist him might help Brendan to reach his full potential.The cost of another group home is estimated at between $80,000 and $100,000.
May 21
The message from Autism Speaks is, autism is a given; your job as a parent is to learn the signs.
Enlarge the photo. See the word “MAYBE” over the head of the child. How can they call this advocacy? This is surrendering to something whose cause they refuse to address.
It’s a message of helplessness. Pity those parents in the background. There’s nothing they could have done to prevent this. There’s nothing they can do to stop it if autism has struck their child like a million other kids out there.
Geraldine Dawson is included saying that the definition was broadened and that “environmental risk factors PROBABLY affected the increase.” Dawson, of course, never bothers to elaborate on just what those factors might be.
The most telling comment was from Dr. Patricia Manning-Courtney at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital. She likes the Autism Speaks ads but she’s worried because the system dealing with questions about autism is already ‘over-demanded and undersupplied.’
(Autism Speaks really doesn’t care about that aspect.)
As we know, Autism Speaks funded the study that found one in every 38 children with autism in South Korea. They’ve shown no real alarm over the latest U.S. rate of one in every 50 children with autism. I guess their awareness campaign is working! We’re finding autism everywhere! (And, because this is the NY Times, there is no comment section.)
Aiming Autism Ads at Hispanic and African-American Parents -
AUTISM Speaks, the autism and science advocacy organization, this week is introducing a new public service advertising campaign aimed at Hispanic and African-American parents.
The campaign, developed with the Advertising Council, which has worked with Autism Speaks since 2005, was created by the New York office of BBDO and LatinWorks of Austin, Tex., both part of the Omnicom Group. The campaign describes early signs of autism in detail and encourages parents to take immediate action if their child does not meet standard developmental milestones.
Autism is the fastest-growing serious developmental disorder in the United States. According to a study released last year by the C.D.C., in 2008, one in 88 children was diagnosed with autism by a doctor or other medical professional, a 78 percent increase over 2002. For boys, the ratio was one in 54.
Dr. Geraldine Dawson, chief science officer of Autism Speaks, said the increase in autism diagnoses was partly because of a broadening of the definition of the disorder. She also said environmental risk factors probably affected the increase. …
TV ads, made in 15- and 30-second versions, show parents and infants. In all cases, the parents offer a variety of excuses for the child’s behavior, like “maybe he’s not a smiler” or “maybe he needs more stimulation.” All spots end with the voice-over saying, “Maybe is all you need to find out more about autism.”
Besides advertising, Autism Speaks will also work with clergy, local community groups, volunteer clinicians and federal and state partners to spread the message to African-American and Hispanic parents. The group also will use text-messaging to encourage parents to learn the signs of autism. …
Dr. Patricia Manning-Courtney, director of the Kelly O’Leary Center for Autism Spectrum Disorders at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, said the advertising was the first she had seen “with information presented in such a direct manner. It hits home a lot harder for parents who may have these questions in their mind.” Autism Speaks helps finance the center’s research.
She expressed concern, however, about the medical system’s ability to handle additional queries about autism by parents, since she said it was already “over-demanded and undersupplied.”
May 21
This blatantly biased coverage is an outrage. I posted comments.
Measles outbreaks flourish in UK years after discredited research tied measles shot to autism
More than a decade ago, British parents refused to give measles shots to at least a million children because of now discredited research that linked the vaccine to autism. Now, health officials are scrambling to catch up and stop a growing epidemic of the contagious disease.
“This is the legacy of the Wakefield scare,” said Dr. David Elliman, spokesman for the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, referring to a paper published in 1998 by Andrew Wakefield and colleagues that is widely rejected by scientists.
That work suggested a link between autism and the combined childhood vaccine for measles, mumps and rubella, called the MMR. Several large scientific studies failed to find any connection, the theory was rejected by at least a dozen major U.K. medical groups and the paper was eventually retracted by the journal that published it.
Britain’s top medical board stripped Wakefield of the right to practice medicine in the U.K., ruling that he and two of his colleagues showed a “callous disregard” for the children in the study, subjecting them to unnecessary, invasive tests. As part of his research, Wakefield took blood samples from children at his son’s birthday party, paying them about 5 pounds each ($7.60), and later joked about the incident.
May 21
I found a second story about abuse of the most vulnerable among us, this time from New York. Imagine this kind of coverage in ten years as more and more children age out of school and are dependent on the taxpayers for their support and care.
May 20, 2013, Caregivers sentenced in autism case–San Diego, CA
Two caregivers convicted of mistreating a severely autistic man in their care last summer were sentenced Monday to jail time, and one was also given probation.
Registered nurse Michael Garritson, 62, was convicted last month of two felonies and four misdemeanors for abusing Jamey Oakley, 24, at his family’s Valley Center home. …Both men had been charged with multiple felonies accusing them of willful cruelty to Jamey Oakley, who cannot speak and requires constant supervision.
Kim Oakley, the autistic man’s mother, installed a video camera in her son’s bedroom in July. Oakley contacted sheriff’s investigators after she returned from a trip out of the country in late August and reviewed the footage. She said it showed the caregivers abusing her son.
Authorities said Garritson had repeatedly poked Oakley in the eye, twisted his arm and once yanked him to the ground by his hair. McDuffie was accused of twisting Oakley’s arm, slapping him and stomping on his foot.
May 20, 2013, Family Of Autistic Man Claims He Was Tortured At Bronx Group Home–New York City
The family of an autistic man has filed a lawsuit claiming he was tortured at a Bronx group home.
The suit alleges that 24-year-old Eduardo Sandoval was burned with a heated potato masher last June by employees at the home, which is run by the not-for-profit Leake and Watts.
Two former employees have been named in the civil suit.
One was arrested last year, but felony assault charges were dropped for lack of evidence.
Sandoval’s lawyer, Sanford Rubenstein, said his client was left permanently disfigured.
“The state of New York approves these facilities, yet a young man was tortured, burned with a potato peeler, right here at this facility,” Rubenstein said. “This should not be happening in this city, state or this country.”
Rubenstein said that because of his client’s autism, he couldn’t describe the events or identify his attackers.
Leake and Watts said it fired all the employees believed to be involved, including the manager of the home, where Sandoval still lives.
