Knowing this, consider the following study:

A highly respected and well-published scientist at the Utah State University, Vijendra K. Singh has further linked autism to the MMR vaccine. His study published in New Foundation of Biology, Elsevier Science BV 2001: 447-58 titled Neuro-immunopathogenesis in Autism provides brain autoantibody and virus serology evidence that links autism to MMR and postulates autism as a neuroautoimmune response that occurs at the neuroimmune biological interface.

Singh found that autoantibodies to myelin basic proteins were present in 80% of autistic children but that none were found in the normal children control group and only rarely in all other controls. These autoantibodies attack the basic proteins that constitute myelin, which surrounds the sheaths of nerve fibers. Regarding the virus serology, autistic children had a significantly higher level of measles virus antibodies as compared to controls, which suggests a temporal link of measles virus with autoimmunity in autism.

Furthermore, Singh found a very important serological association between measles antibody level and antiMBP, which showed that the higher the measles antibody titer the greater the chance of autoantibodies to myelin basic protein. The shocking fact is that none of the children had a wild-type measles infection, but they all had the measles mumps rubella (MMR) vaccine.

Singh also offers hope. He notes an open label trial of oral Sphingolin (myelin containing autoantigen) is being assessed. Preliminary results show significant improvement in autistic people, which further support the neuroimmune pathogenesis in autism.

Vijendra K. Singh, Department of Biology and Biotechnology Center, Utah State University, Logan, Utah, US Researcher links MMR to autism

It now seems very clear to me that the whole Mercury debate was a diversion from the real culprit, the dna and viruses that are bypassing the natural path into our bodies and thus wreaking havoc on our bodies natural (and evolved) method of dealing with said invaders.

I guess that lady on those old commercials was right ..”Don’t mess with mother nature”.

Hope your son is doing well —-

Been to that Marine World (and splashed by the killer whales) many a time!

I absolutely remember Knotts Berry Farm! How about Marine World when it was in Redwood City?

PDD-NOS is autism, just as Asperger’s is autism, Rhett’s is autism…

I also have a son with Sensory processing disorder. I can definitely say it is markedly different from autism. The social issues, motor issues, and communication issues that my SPD child does NOT have makes a clear distinction between him and his brother. When sensory issues are recognized and addressed, Andy is fully functional and independent. Joey needs far more support, needs to be taught things that Andy “picks up.” SPD is not an “autism lite.” Instead, it is something many autistic people have, but non-autistic people can also have, just like some kids with autism have seizures, but not all kids with seizures are autistic.

I also believe that some environmental factors must be intensifying those genetic tendencies.

I have an acquaintance whose son was diagnosed with autism at a relatively late age of 4. Although he could have accessed more services he had some questions about the diagnosis and at considerable personal expense took his son out of area to one of the nation’s more expert diagnostic clinics for a several day diagnostic panel, because he said he was more interested in seeing whether this was accurate, and if it was, well okay. The assessment there was that the initial diagnosis was incorrect, and what was more correct based on observation and assessment was semantic-pragmatic language disorder. Fast forward two years, the family solely educationally targeted those specific deficit areas and his son is no longer on an IEP and was fully included at grade level. Now, if I did not know the back story, I honestly couldn’t tell him from any other 8 year old kid.

I really have no idea what “classical autism” is compared to something else. If I had to compare, Eleanor had far more visible deficit areas than the majority of classmates in her autism classroom, a few who seemed to be pretty typical until particular events, at which point they clearly stood out. I have not recently had her reevaluated so I don’t know if the original diagnosis would hold or be classified as an intellectual disability. I also have no real perspective on what her diagnosis would have been in the past given a particular DSM.
We have many, many children diagnosed in our state, but also a different and broader criteria than in the majority of states; the incidence rate reflects that. Looking at distribution, I noted once that the urban areas and especially those closest to our diagnostic centers had a higher rate than the rest of the state.

A couple of years ago I noted that the diagnosis rate and autism classification of another state seemed to have made a significant reduction in counts. I asked a special ed administrator there what he attributed this change to, expecting some feedback about success of early intervention–without much pause he stated that the state budget for special education services had taken a major cut in some categories and that had dampened some enthusiasm for diagnosis of autism and was spurring shifting of students to other categories.

Just anecdote. Clearly more children are being diagnosed than at the time Eleanor was.

@MomtoJBG, pollution brought by NASA????…..mysteries continue….

@Paul Bradford, thanks for reading!

I think I’d read that some autistic girls don’t get diagnosed will later because they indeed are social and it’s other factors that point to an ASD diagnosis. Did you see the Nightline show on autism in girls earlier this year?

Sensory issues have seemed more and more apparent in Charlie as he’s gotten older. He’s becoming amazingly sensitive to sounds and has always been very attuned to texture, taste and smells.

My friend MothersVox does not post so much but she’s had a very interesting time figuring out what her daughter’s “actual” diagnosis is.