A constant theme in 2008 was the rebranding of autism, as Orac at Respectful Insolence referred to how the likes of David Kirby have been constantly saying that “autism isn’t autism”—-it’s “mercury poisoning,” “vaccine-aggravated mitochondrial disorder,” “mercury-induced neurological disorder,” etc., etc.

(April being Autism Awareness Month—-does your child know about this—let’s not get into what such “rebranding” would do to the month…….)

The notorious Judge Rotenburg Center in Canton, Massachusetts uses electroshock “treatment” on some its residents, some of whom are autistic. In April, one of its staff was charged with rape, assault, and battery of another staff member—-more about the very, very questionable practices at the JRC is noted here.

Dr. Andrew Wakefield can be said to be the figure who set in motion the claims of a link between the MMR vaccine and autism. He is currently being charged with alleged violations of medical ethics by the General Medical Council in the UK. At a hearing in April, Dr. Wakefield noted that he is “‘perfectly willing to accept [his] understanding was wrong.’”—- Also on the legal front: 2008 saw a version of “vaccine litigation subpoenagate,” with Neurodiversity blogger Kathleen Seidel successfully quashing a subpoena issued to her by vaccine litigation lawyer Clifford Shoemaker, and Dr. Marie McCormick also issued a subpoena.

More about the presidential candidates’ views on autism became apparent, especially those of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, and, yes, on vaccines—-and as to why vaccines, and topics like the so-called “autism epidemic,” continue to be discussed, seems to be a sign of at least a little paranoia and politicking……….

In a speech on Monday in Golden, Colorado, Vice-Presidential candidate Sarah Palin noted that, along with energy policy and government reform, “special needs” would be one of the issues she would focus on, should she and Senator John McCain be elected. The September 17th, Education Week notes that Gov. Palin’s reference to “special needs” is followed by mention of curing “our most dreaded diseases.” Here’s what she said:

I’ve told Senator McCain a few things I’ve learned as a senator and as a mom. Ever since I took the chief executive’s job up north, I’ve pushed for more funding for students with special needs. It’s touched my heart for years, especially about 13 years ago with the beautiful addition to our extended family of a nephew with autism. And now, my family and I, we have added special perspective with the birth of our beautiful baby boy, Trig, just four months ago. …

We can join so many American families that know that some of life’s greatest joys sometimes come with some unique challenges. We’re going to make sure that government is on their side too. And part of that effort is going to involve making sure that our most dreadful diseases have our most effective efforts.

Too often, government gets in the way when innovators take on cancer or Parkinson’s or Alzheimer’s to find a cure…our administration will lead the effort to find new treatments and new cures. That’s going to be a commitment in our administration.

Education Week notes that “funding for children with severe disabilities who need specialized care has indeed gone up” during Palin’s tenure as Governor of Alaska—but these are children who “make up a relatively small part of the special education population, however.” Palin did not mention the Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act (IDEA) and instead focused on talking about curing “our most dreadful diseases.” Indeed, as Education Week notes,

The state [of Alaska] does not provide funding to school districts specifically for special education students with less severe needs, but does give an additional block grant to districts that they can use at their own discretion for special education, gifted education, education of English language learners, and vocational education……

Also, the disability advocates I’ve had the opportunity to interview seem to care less about government obstruction, and more about just having enough funding to explore the topics they consider important. One research avenue, federal funding of embryonic stem cell research, is something Palin opposes, as do many social conservatives and President Bush. McCain, however, says he does support federal funding of such efforts. (Skip to question #8)

Curing diseases and living with a disability—a lifelong on, such as autism—-are two different things.

And we only know Gov. Palin’s views somewhat on one.

More discussion of Palin’s views on disability (not on “dreadful diseases”), and also on Obama’s, can be found here.

Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin on the issues she intends to focus on should John McCain and her be elected in November, from Jonathan Martin’s blog on today’s Washington Examiner:

“John and I have worked out a plan, what I want to concentrate on and what he would like to kind of tap into me to help with,” Palin said at a rally just outside Denver this morning. “My mission is going to energy security and government reform. And another thing near and dear to my heart, it’s going to be helping families who have special needs and children with special needs. And we’re going to be pushing for innovative cures for diseases.”

Martin notes that Palin has a child with Down Syndrome and an autistic nephew.

From her statement, it seems that she views whatever conditions fall under “special needs” as diseases (including, one may infer, autism) and hence is speaking about “cures.” What “innovative” means, is much vaguer.

I blogger earlier today about Palin and the broader disability community and noted in particular her “dismissive mockery of community organizing and its portent for the disability community,” as stated in a guest post by the directors of the Beach Center on Disability in Kansas. For more on Palin’s saying that she plans to be an “advocate” for those with special needs, see today’s Body Impolitic, which also refers readers back to an April analysis by disabilities scholar Michael Bérubé on the topic of Obama and Clinton and disability, and on notions of accessibility and truly understanding the world from a disability perspective.

The September 13th St. Paul Pioneer Press notes this about Vice-Presidential candidate Sarah Palin’s “track record” on spending for special needs:

In the budget she signed into law earlier this year, Palin approved a dramatic raise in spending on children who have what Alaska officials call “intensive needs,” including children who need nurses full time or cannot breathe without ventilators.

When Palin took office, the state was spending $27,000 a year on each such child. The budget she signed this year raises funding to $49,000 per child. In three years, the amount will rise to $74,000, roughly equal to the $75,000 a year cost of educating such children.

The public school teachers union in Alaska, the National Education Association-Alaska, has lauded Palin’s action, although it has not endorsed her.

Several other disability programs received increases. Since she became governor in 2006, she has nearly doubled state spending to combat fetal alcohol syndrome and increased spending on adult mental health services by 59 percent. She also has shifted about $1.25 million in state money to faith-based programs that provide social services.

Regarding Governor Palin’s position on education, and special education, more specifically (the “intensive needs” of the children noted above seem to be more strictly medical), is an article from the August Education Week about the education funding bill signed by Governor Palin in March. While Alaska “[u]nlike many other states, ….. has relatively flush budget coffers, thanks to a rise in oil and gas revenues,” funding for schools will still be “fairly level next year”:

This plan enacted in the recently concluded session of the legislature, is based on recommendations issued by a legislative task force last year. It will phase in a greater flow of money to districts outside of Anchorage, Alaska’s largest city, over the next five years.

Advocates for rural and remote schools have lobbied for years for more funding, in particular noting the higher fuel, transportation, and other costs associated with providing education in communities scattered across the vast state.

A second part of the measure raises spending for students with special needs to $73,840 in fiscal 2011, from the current $26,900 per student in fiscal 2008, according to the Alaska Department of Education and Early Development.

Unlike many other states, Alaska has relatively flush budget coffers, thanks to a rise in oil and gas revenues. Funding for schools will remain fairly level next year, however. Overall per-pupil funding across the state will rise by $100, to $5,480, in fiscal 2009. Total K-12 funding will rise to $1.2 billion from $1.1 billion, when transportation, energy, and other state funds are included, according to estimates from the governor’s Office of Management and Budget.

If you go to the link about the K-12 Education Funding Plan, you see this. After costs for fuel, transportation, and the like, how much of the increase is meant for training of teachers, facilities and classrooms, staff:student ratios?

The St. Paul Pioneer Press refers to President John F. Kennedy’s sister Rosemary, who had intellectual disabilities, and interviews Anthony Shriver, whose mother, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, founded the Special Olympics.

“The more advocates there are for children with special needs, the better,” said Anthony Shriver, founder of Best Buddies, which has raised money and provided services for children with such disabilities for 20 years.

But he is somewhat skeptical about Palin and the GOP.

“Historically, Republicans haven’t been that interested,” Shriver said. “To have an advocate in the Republican Party is a new twist and welcome addition.”

Shriver noted that last year, his sister, California first lady Maria Shriver, sent letters to the nation’s governors, including Palin, asking them to employ people with intellectual disabilities. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has made two such hires. Palin replied that she would refer the matter to an aide and did not commit to making a hire.

In Anthony Shriver’s view, Palin acted “as if we don’t need anybody’s help — thanks but no thanks. … She kind of blew us off. I’m glad she has had the conversation.”

Go here to read about Presidential candidate Barack Obama’s support for fulling funding IDEA, and here regarding his support for Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and about the employment of persons with disabilities.Patricia E. Bauer say this on her website about disability news and advocacy:

Some parents of children with disabilities are enthusiastic over Gov. Palin’s pledge of support, but advocacy on behalf of the disability community has not been “a centerpiece of Ms. Palin’s 20-months in office or any of her campaigns for office.”

“I never heard Governor Palin say as governor, ‘You have an advocate in Juneau,’ ” said Sonja Kerr, a lawyer specializing in disability law in Anchorage.

A spokeswoman for Palin would not elaborate on her decision to give disability issues prominent placement in her acceptance speech.

John McCain has voted against increasing federal special education funding, and also opposes legislation that would help states move people with disabilities from institutions into community living arrangements.

From a guest post by the directors of the Beach Center on Disability in Kansas:

When a young governor line-item vetoes six appropriations for community disability services or for accessibility modifications to public accommodations, that governor gives us reason to be skeptical about promises and prospective performance. When the appropriations totaled $749,000 in a state that has a huge budget surplus, and when the governor apparently knew at the time that her nephew has autism, that governor gives us special reason to doubt her commitment to people with special needs.

Yes, state funding for “intensive special needs children” in Alaska increased for Fiscal Year 2010. But it is not yet clear exactly who those children are, how many of them are the intended beneficiaries of the appropriation, and precisely what role the governor had in proposing the appropriation or influencing the legislature to appropriate the funds.

In a word, Gov. Palin’s record on disability leaves us with our doubts about her promise.

It also prompts us to concentrate on the governor’s dismissive mockery of community organizing and its portent for the disability community.

The truth is that community organizing benefits people with disabilities.

And another voice from the disability community, Erika J., on Disability Nation, where she writes about Palin as the center of controversy for the disability community and about Palin and adults with disabilities.

Forgive me for writing another post about Governor Sarah Palin and her family. Her selection as Senator John McCain’s running mate, and the recent reporting of her 17-year-old daughter, Bristol Palin, being pregnant, have cast her thoroughly into the public eye and, one suspects, in more than unexpected ways. What first piqued my interest about Sarah Palin was that she’s the mother of a (very young) special needs child and, too, a working mother.

The September 1st New York Times describes the uproar over Palin as “Mommy Wars: Special Campaign Edition”:

With five children, including an infant with Down syndrome and, as the country learned Monday, a pregnant 17-year-old, Ms. Palin has set off a fierce argument among women about whether there are enough hours in the day for her to take on the vice presidency, and whether she is right to try.

It’s the Mommy Wars: Special Campaign Edition. But this time the battle lines are drawn inside out, with social conservatives, usually staunch advocates for stay-at-home motherhood, mostly defending her, while some others, including plenty of working mothers, worry that she is taking on too much.

“How is this really going to work?” said Karen Shopoff Rooff, an independent voter, personal trainer and mother of two in Austin, Tex. “I don’t care whether she’s the mother or the father; it’s a lot to handle,” she said, adding that Ms. Palin’s lack of national experience would only make her road more difficult.

“When I first heard about Palin, I was impressed,” said Pamela Moore, a mother of two from Birmingham, Ala. But upon reading that Ms. Palin’s special-needs child was three days old when she went back to work, Ms. Moore began questioning the governor’s judgment. Partly as a result, she plans to vote for Senator Barack Obama.

Other mothers are cheering Palin on for her pro-life stance. In the words of “conservative organizer” Phyllis Schafly, who has six children and ran for Congress:

“People who don’t have children or who have only one or two are kind of overwhelmed at the notion of five children…….I think a hard-working, well-organized C.E.O. type can handle it very well.”

I guess it could also be pointed out that people get overwhelmed at the thought of raising a special needs child. As the New York Times notes, “Infants with Down syndrome often need special care in the first years of life: extra tests, physical therapy, even surgery.” (Michael Bérubé’s Life As We Know It: A Father, a Family, and an Exceptional Child contains a harrowing account of the medical needs of the infant Jamie, who has Down Syndrome, and who required round-the-clock care.)

Charlie still requires 1:1 teaching at school with highly trained staff; I can’t just ask a neighbor to watch him. Much of Charlie’s early childhood involved one appointment after another, and hours of mental energy and attention devoted to learning about autism, learning about and accessing treatments, studying ABA and verbal behavior and oral-motor therapy, making up picture schedules and flashcards (and going through at least two laminators). I was working full-time when Charlie was diagnosed at the age of 2; we were able to do a full year of intensive ABA at home for Charlie because Jim was on sabbatical and was home all the time. I soon resigned from my job when Jim’s sabbatical ended and worked part-time for awhile, then (after we came back to New Jersey) full-time, as a writing instructor at a largish northern New Jersey university. This job involved reading and grading piles of papers every week; I think I spent almost every night for four years surrounded by papers.

In 2005, I started my current job as a professor of Classics at a small Jesuit college in Jersey City. Almost immediately, I was given administrative and academic advising duties. These (along with my enrollments—a good thing) have grown steadily. And then, I also started blogging in June of 2005 and, after about a year, was writing regularly here on Autism Vox.

Am I, as Schafly says, a “hard-working, well-organized C.E.O. type”? Certainly, I’ve some advantages with my job as I set my own teaching schedule and can take some work home, plus my college has always been very understanding about Charlie. Jim has been constantly involved, putting Charlie on the bus, coming home early for bike rides, taking Charlie on adventures on the bikes and in the black car on the weekends. I’m not as organized, though, as I could wish; once upon a time writing things in a notebook seemed to work but then I have to remember to check the notebook…. As for being a “C.E.O. type”: I like doing academic administrative work—helping students figure out how they can double-major in Economics and Mathematics and minor in History and keeping my eyes open to academic politicking, such as it is—-but am not for being an executive type.

Sarah Palin is just a few years older than me—-I’ll be 40 in a few months. As a special needs mom, I very often feel that all eyes are watching Charlie and me, and judging, and I tend to often (I suspect) convey an air of “I can handle it all, just watch.” In practice this is not true. Sure I can carry the bags and make sure Charlie carries his share and walk him out to the parking lot; sure I can teach several courses and teach Charlie cello and piano (until we get new teachers!). One thing I’ve been reminding myself (especially after a very hectic summer) is that it’s not possible to do it all. You can want to, but something has to give, and the many hours Charlie and I have spent together in playgrounds, the aisles of Target, doctors’ waiting rooms, and the pool have resulted in us having a solid relationship. We’re friends and of course he relies on me; more and more, I’m relying on Charlie.

So I’ll be watching Sarah Palin’s story unfold with extra interest. It’s about (as another mother recently blogged) letting go. It’s not necessarily about having it all. Indeed bieing a mother, a working mother, a special needs mother, has taught me that there’s different ways of “having it all,” of working, and of mothering, too.

Both Senators Barack Obama and John McCain have statements on their websites about autism. Obama’s is in a section on healthcare and is entitled Support Americans with Autism; he also has a plan on Autism Spectrum Disorders in his section on disabilities. McCain’s statement is also in a section on health care, with a statement about Combating Autism in America on a separate webpage.

Back in November, Senator Hillary Clinton’s website was the comprehensive about autism issues. Obama’s current two-paragraph statement on autism is the same as it was in November, as was his plan to empower Americans with disabilities. McCain’s website did not yet contain a section on autism. McCain made his entrance into autism politics with a February reference to thimerosal and the rise in the incidence of autism. In April, Obama was quoted at a Pennsylvania rally as saying that evidence linking vaccines and autism was “inconclusive” and that further research is needed.

And now it’s the end of August. Obama’s given his acceptance speech and McCain has chosen the Governor of Alaska and the mother of a young son with Down Syndrome, Sarah Palin, as his running mate. Here’s a closer look at what each candidate’s position on autism is.

On McCain’s website is a statement entitled, again, Combating Autism in America; the statement highlights the Senator’s concerns about finding out why the incidence of autism has risen in recent years. (Emphases in italics are mind.)

Combating Autism in America

John McCain is very concerned about the rising incidence of autism among America’s children and has continually supported research into its causes and treatment. He has heard countless stories about families’ hardships obtaining a diagnosis for their children’s autism and accessing quality medical treatment. He believes that federal research efforts should support broad approaches to understanding the factors that may play a role in the incidence of autism, including factors in our environment, for both prevention and treatment purposes.

John McCain was proud to lend his support to the Combating Autism Act of 2006, which he cosponsored, and worked to ensure its enactment. This law is helping to increase public awareness and screening of autism spectrum disorder, promote the use of evidence-based interventions, and create autism Centers of Excellence for Autism Spectrum Disorder Research and Epidemiology. John McCain understands that despite the federal and scientific research efforts to date, the exact causes of autism are not yet known and greater research is needed to understand this disorder. That is why in November 2007, he joined with Senator Lieberman in requesting the leadership of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, which has jurisdiction over federal research into autism, to hold a hearing on federal research efforts regarding factors affecting incidence and treatment in order to help determine where research efforts can best be directed. As President, John McCain will work to advance federal research into autism, promote early screening, and identify better treatment options, while providing support for children with autism so that they may reach their full potential.

Early screening, better options for treatment, and doing what can be done to enable autistic children to “reach their full potential; important and essential. McCain’s autism webpage does not specifically refer to services or education (and special education, IDEA, and autism are not mentioned on his page on education issues).

Again, Obama’s plan on Autism Spectrum Disorders is in his section on disabilities. Here’s the plan in full (again with some points highlighted in italics by me):

BARACK OBAMA: SUPPORTING AMERICANS WITH AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDERS

More than one million Americans have Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), a complex condition that impacts communication, socialization, and behavior. And more cases of ASD are being recognized across the country at an alarming pace. Barack Obama believes that we must do more to help support Americans with ASD, their families, and their communities. Throughout his career, Barack Obama has worked with families affected by ASD to raise awareness and to provide support to parents and families living with ASD. As president, Obama will build on these many years of advocacy and ensure that his administration prioritizes ASD research, public awareness, and lifelong support services. Obama will seek to increase federal ASD funding for research, treatment, screenings, public awareness, and support services to $1 billion annually by the end of his first term in office. Obama will also continue to work with parents, physicians, providers, researchers, and schools to create opportunities and effective solutions for people with ASD.

Record of Leadership on ASD Research and Care: As an Illinois state senator, Barack Obama sponsored legislation that became law to create an ASD diagnosis education program, an initiative designed to promote the implementation of evidence-based practices. The goal of the project is to offer educational opportunities at all levels of care, including physicians, early intervention (EI) specialists, psychologists, teachers, day care providers, parents, respite workers, and speech and language therapists. Obama has personally worked side-by-side with Illinois families affected by ASD to support efforts to build the Therapeutic School and Center for Autism Research. This school and research center will bring together education, academic research, early intervention programs, and training to prepare its students for independent living.

In the U.S. Senate, Obama is a cosponsor of a measure that would expand federal funding for life-long services for people with ASD, authorizing approximately $350 million in new federal funding for key programs related to treatments, interventions and services for both children and adults with ASD.

Appoint Federal ASD Coordinator to Oversee All Federal ASD Efforts: Barack Obama will ensure all federal ASD activities occur in an efficient manner that prioritizes both research and supports for families affected by ASD. Obama will appoint a Federal ASD Coordinator to oversee federal ASD research and federal efforts to improve awareness of ASD and improve the training of medical professionals to identify and treat ASD. By establishing one top-level point person to coordinate ASD efforts in the White House, Obama will ensure that ASD receives the recognition and priority it deserves in the federal government. The Federal ASD Coordinator will also be tasked with eliminating bureaucratic obstacles that may be delaying implementation of important ASD measures and ensuring that all federal ASD dollars are being spent in a manner that prioritizes results. The Coordinator will work with state task forces on ASD to ensure effective communication and collaboration among federal, state, and local agencies.

Fully Fund the Combating Autism Act and Federal Autism Research Initiatives: Barack Obama supported the Combating Autism Act of 2006, which was signed into law in December 2006. The Combating Autism Act authorizes increased federal funding for ASD research and efforts to boost public awareness and early diagnosis of ASD. Since the bill has been enacted, however, federal funding for ASD has not increased to the levels authorized by the Combating Autism Act. As a U.S. Senator, Obama has worked to fully fund the Combating Autism Act and as president, he will ensure that his administration addresses the growing impact of ASD and other special needs on American families. President Obama will fully fund the Combating Autism Act, which provides nearly $1 billion in autism-related funding over 5 years, and work with Congress, parents and ASD experts to determine how to further improve federal and state programs.

Support Special Needs Education for Children with ASD: Barack Obama understands that children with special needs – students with visual, hearing, physical, sensory, and mental impairments – require meaningful resources to succeed both inside and outside the classroom. Obama is a strong supporter of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and supports full federal funding of the law to truly ensure that no child is left behind. The current underfunding of IDEA causes school districts throughout the country to deny necessary services to students with ASD and other special needs. Obama will also work to change IDEA’s definition of “autism” to Autism Spectrum Disorders to ensure that all children diagnosed with ASD disorders receive the
support they need.

Support Universal Screening: While roughly 90 percent of infants in the United States are currently screened for various potentially disabling or life-threatening conditions, fewer than half the states screen all infants for the full recommended panel of 29 disorders. Many of these conditions, if caught early, can be treated before they result in permanent impairments or even death. Barack Obama believes we should screen all infants, and also that we must set a national goal to provide re-screening for all two-year-olds, the age at which some conditions, including ASD, begin to appear. These screenings will be safe and secure, and available for every American that wants them. Part of Obama’s early childhood intervention plan will be directed at coordinating fragmented community programs to help provide all children access to screening for disabilities as infants and again as two-year olds. Achieving universal screening is essential so that disabilities can be identified early enough for those children and families to get the special supports and resources they need.

Work Together: As part of his commitment to open the doors of our government to the American people, Barack Obama is committed to facilitating open dialogue among Americans with special needs and their families, federal and state agencies, regional centers, resource centers, research institutions, school districts, first responders, and community members.

Special education and universal screening for autism in young children are specifically mentioned in Obama’s plan, as well as support for lifelong services. There’s an understanding of autism as an “autism spectrum,” and that individuals at different ends of the autism spectrumm and their families, all alike require—in varying ways—-supports and services.

Hillary Clinton mentioned autism in her speech at the Democratic National Convention and, last night, Bill Clinton did too (”I will never forget the parents of children with autism and other severe conditions who told me on the campaign trail that they couldn’t afford health care and couldn’t qualify their kids for Medicaid unless they quit work or got a divorce”). Will Obama; will McCain……..

Just after the introductory section of her speech at the Democratic Convention (transcript), as her first example of her “35 years in the trenches, advocating for children, campaigning for universal health care, helping parents balance work and family, and fighting for women’s rights here at home and around the world,” Hillary Clinton said:

I will always remember the single mom who had adopted two kids with autism. She didn’t have any health insurance, and she discovered she had cancer. But she greeted me with her bald head, painted with my name on it, and asked me to fight for health care for her and her children.

Comments Wonkette who liveblogged the Senator’s speech:

A single mom, two kids, autism, cancer, painted bald head…This is the most tragic woman in America, and Hillary Clinton found her.

Single mom (with cancer), two adopted kids (with autism): Not easy. But not so sure about rushing to judge this woman as “tragic.” Has referring to the parent of an autistic child become a shorthand way to show a certain, perhaps, compassion for those in need?

“The best is the new worst,” writes Susan Jacoby in an op-ed in yesterday’s New York Times. She cites the decline in —-prestige?—-of the notion of being “best” and “elite” in American public life over the past 40 years and, most recently, in the US presidential campaign:

Senator Hillary Clinton’s use of the phrase “elite opinion” to dismiss the near unanimous opposition of economists to her proposal for a gas tax holiday was a landmark in the use of elite to attack expertise supposedly beyond the comprehension of average Americans. One might as well say that there is no point in consulting musicians about music or ichthyologists about fish.

Noting that the Founding Fathers were not exactly envisioning a “democracy of dumbness,” Jacoby makes a call to stop downplaying the value of “elite knowledge and education”:

It is past time to retire the sliming of elite knowledge and education from public discourse. Do we want mediocre schools or the best education for our children? If we need an operation, do we want an ordinary surgeon or the best, most elite surgeon available?

It’s in reference to education in particular that Jacoby uses the word “best.” When I read her op-ed, my first thought was about education—-about how we’ve always sought nothing but “the best” when it comes to Charlie’s learning.

Under IDEA (the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act), Charlie is entitled to a “free appropriate public education” (FAPE). And “appropriate” does not always translate into “best” when a school district is looking at its budget. I’ve heard lots of arguments whose gist is “why provide a Lexus education for a child who is very likely not going to college, not going to earn the big bucks in a job, will need supports throughout his life?”

But (just to get on my soapbox for a moment) autistic students need the best education we can give them, just as every other student does. I know that’s an idealistic statement, but if we don’t push for the very best—for teachers with the best possible training and supports, sufficient numbers of aides, really good facilities and curricula—-people are going to go with the bottom line. And it makes a huge, huge difference: I’ve had my son in school districts where what was “appropriate” was provided and seen him sink; I not have him in a district that provides lots and he’s doing so well—-he’s happy, he loves school, he’s getting ready for the rest of a good life.

It’s the best I can do for him and I don’t think we can settle for anything less.

Ok, off the soapbox (soapvox….) and out for a walk with Charlie.

An article in the May Scientific American explains why the next president needs a powerful science advisor.

If you consider the political pandering among the presidential candidates about the vaccine-autism myth—-it’s too obvious why.