We thank Autism Vox readers for their feedback and attention over the past seven months. It has been a great experience getting to know you all, and I hope we provided opinions, news, and stories that helped you. You can continue to follow us at a new blog we will be posting soon. For more information, please contact us at jeff_stimpson@yahoo.com or girlcook@aol.com, and thanks so much again! – Jeff and Jill [Read more]

Score one for our side: A tactic used by insurance companies to deny expensive behavioral therapy to autistic children has been deemed illegal by a Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge, who has found that Kaiser Permanente’s refusal to pay for a child’s autism treatment because the provider was not licensed by the state runs counter to California’s Mental Health Parity Act. That act requires insurers to cover care for mental and behavioral problems at the same levels they do for physical illnesses. The ruling came as part of a lawsuit filed by Consumer Watchdog, a Santa Monica advocacy organization, against the California Department of Managed Health Care to require the agency to side with consumers when insurers refuse... [Read more]

Slate’s Erica Westly takes an interesting look at the increasing incidence of Asperger’s as a legal defense, citing the recent headline case of British computer whiz Gary McKinnon, who hacked into almost 100 U.S. government and NASA computers after becoming obsessed with the United States covering up UFO contact. “Criminal defendants in the United States have been using similar tactics with varying degrees of success in recent years,” Westly writes. “In fact, it’s not all that rare for criminal defendants with Asperger’s to argue for leniency in cases of computer fraud, sexual misconduct, and murder. Three years ago, the defense even made its way into an episode of ‘Boston Legal.’” Photo/D... [Read more]

ABC News reports that doctors have begun “firing” parents who decline to have thier children vaccinated. One California mom, who’s oldest child has been diagnosed with autism said her doctor said the presence of her and her child was “too much of a liability.” Doctors are apparently feeling more compelled to say “no” back to anti-vaccine parents. The issue surfaced this at the annual American Academy of Pediatrics meeting in Washington, D.C. Presenter Dr. Gary Marshall said there are some cases when it’s ethical and legal to refuse to continue to see, or treat, a child, especially if parents and the physician will never see “eye-to-eye” on a specific issue. Stipulations for such... [Read more]

Researchers at Duke University Medical Center have uncovered a new genetic signature that correlates strongly with autism and which doesn’t involve changes to the DNA sequence itself, a finding that may suggest new approaches to diagnosis and treatment. Researchers found higher-than-usual numbers of gene-regulating molecules called methyl groups in a region of the genome that regulates oxytocin receptor expression in people with autism. Previous studies have shown that giving oxytocin can improve social engagement behavior and it’s being explored as a potential treatment, and although the methylation status of the OXTR gene is not a definitive diagnosis of autism by itself, a test for methylation might be used along with other clinical... [Read more]