Top Posts from the Past Two Weeks

Saying “a lot happened” in the past two weeks kind of seems like an understatement.

• The Search for Certainty (or, why we’re going to the dentist at 3.15pm)
  An emergency dentist visit for Charlie prompts me to think about why parents so often try to find medical reasons for why something’s going on.
• David Kirby exonerates thimerosal
  Maybe not exactly but the day may be coming……
• Today Show Today on Autism and Vaccines
  I’m briefly interviewed on a feature about vaccines and Dr. Paul Offit.
• A “Crusade Against Autism”—-To What End?
  Do we really need such a “crusade”? . Michael Fitzpatrick (who’s the parent of an autistic child) writes about how such a “crusade” does more harm than good.
• The Great Now What
  Though parents of just-diagnosed children often feel so confused and uncertain, Early Intervention and preschool services and programs are (here in New Jersey, at least) in place. After that, it always seems to be “the great now what” all over again.
• Positively Autistic on CBC News
  A recent CBC News special feature, Positively Autistic, says that “since the early 90’s, an autistic rights movement has sprung up, challenging the official view of autism and working to change how the world sees autism.”
• If It’s Raining, There’s More Autism?
  Another study from Michael Waldman, who wrote an earlier paper about TV causing autism.
• Pop Pop Redux
  A post about the Mugen Pop Pop Blueberry written on Election Night,
• What does it mean to lose an autism diagnosis?
  Does losing a diagnosis mean that one is “cured” of autism?
• Sensory Differences: Research at IMFAR 2008
  Should sensory processing differences be part of the criteria for autism?
• Robert Kennedy, Jr., and the EPA?
  RFK Jr. is under consideration by President-Elect Barack Obama to head the EPA?—Not good if you care about science.
• “Strange” Play As a Marker for Autism in Infants?
  Unusual use of toys in infancy a clue to later autism, according to a stuy published in the October issue of Autism, the journal of the National Autistic Society.
• Adolescence: Not easy, but no need to end it
  Newt Gingrich argues that we should do away with adolescence.
• New Theory About Autism and Genetics
  A new theory argues that arents’ genes are “in competition.”
• Over-diagnosis? Misdiagnosis? Or Just Better Diagnosis?
  Rod Welford, the education minister of Queensland (Australia), attributes the rise in autism prevalence in his state to parents in search of more services for their children—-not.
• Looks Like the Special Needs Mommy Wars Aren’t Over
  is Sarah Palin a potential leader for working mothers of special needs children?
• The Value of Money (the real stuff)
  Charlie learns to count money in the age of the ATM card.