Earlier this year, reports that the US Federal Court of Claims had conceded that vaccines had contributed to the onset of autistic symptoms in the case of Hannah Poling led to much speculation and debate about (1) if mitochondrial disorders could be linked to autism and (2) how common mitochondrial disorders might be among autistic children. A number of experts on mitonchondrial disorders met in June to discuss the “controversial case” of Hannah Poling. An article in the November 26th PLoS One entitled Mitochondrial Disease in Autism Spectrum Disorder Patients: A Cohort Analysis investigates the medical records of 25 …read more

Among the books about autism at the public library in our town are this, this, and this—I’ve put in requests for a few other things.
To be very honest, we rarely visit our library. While there’s no lack for books of every sort at our house, Charlie’s not a reader. I was interested to read about a program called Project Inclusion, which is described in the November 26th Wausau Daily Herald (Wisconsin):
Project Inclusion’s overall goal is for the participating libraries to “take a proactive stance to address the literacy needs of children with disabilities and to make libraries meaningful and welcoming …read more

Back in July, it was reported that the rate of autism in Somali children in Minnapolis was notably high. According to the Minnesota Department of Education:
in the Minneapolis’ early childhood and kindergarten programs, more than 12 percent of the students with autism reported speaking Somali at home. According to Minneapolis school officials, more than 17 percent of the children in the district’s early childhood special education autism program are Somali speaking.
Almost 6 percent of the district’s total enrollment is made up of Somali-speaking students, and about 6 percent of the children in the district’s overall early childhood and kindergarten special …read more

So thimerosal’s not the “‘smoking gun‘” linking vaccines to autism, according to David Kirby, whose 2005 book, Evidence of Harm: Mercury in Vaccines and the Autism Epidemic: A Medical Controversy argued that thimerosal—-a mercury-based preservative—-was the culprit behind what he calls the “autism epidemic.”
From an article in today’s Star-Ledger (New Jersey) about an October 23rd forum on infant and child vaccines at the Deirdre Imus Environmental Center for Pediatric Oncology at Hackensack University Medical Center:
[Kirby]…..said he believed that thimerosal, which still exists in trace amounts in some childhood vaccines, was no longer the “smoking gun.” Several national studies have found …read more

There’s plenty to debate about regarding autism and the speech about special needs children that Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin is to give today in Pittsburgh —-her first about public policy—-should set off more. According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, she’s to deliver the speech this morning at the morning at the Airport Marriott in Pittsburgh before an invited crowd of 350.

Update 13:00 EST: Here’s the text of Palin’s speech.Palin talks about “these beautiful children” and these are her three policy proposals: more choices for parents, fully funding IDEA, and efforts to reform and refocus. I just heard about some budget …read more

“For families struggling with autism finding the latest treatments is a top priority,” begins an October 14th WCBStv story about “a controversial approach” that “is making headlines” (which, of course, has nothing to do with the actual efficacy of said approach). The approach is hyperbaric oxygen therapy and the doctor is Dr. James Neubrander, whose website refers to autism as the “treatable untreatable disorder!.” A hyperbaric chamber will set you back $21,000, WCBStv notes. Dr. Neubrander says that HBOT treats “decreases inflammation” and somehow altars the brain chemistry of autistic children and, while there’s no studies to back it …read more

As the October 1st issue of Scientific American Mind reminds us, words have power. I know this even more whenever I hear my son Charlie speak. He was very, very late to talk and he first didn’t talk at all, but used sign language. Today he speaks in short phrases and sentences, and almost-sentences.
A lot of words get thrown around about autism on the Internet, on blogs and newspaper and media websites and who knows where else. Too often, even most often, it seems that the vast percentage of those words are in the realm of misinformation, as the numerous …read more

Over at Salon on his blog sWell blog, physician Rahul K. Parikh deconstructs David Kirby’s September 24th presentation to Congressional staffers. The presentation’s title was “The Vaccine-Autism Debate: New Developments from Science and Policy” and the PowerPoint slides and a write-up are posted on the Age of Autism weblog. Sullivan has been posting about the hearing as Vaccines on the Hill III, Vaccines on the Hill II, and Vaccines on the Hill. Liz at I Speak of Dream noted that this latest attempt to “indoctrinate congressional staffers” by the usual suspects in the anti-vaccine/pro-vaccine safety annals—-Davis Kirby, Mark …read more

‘Tis September and, it seems, the season for autism books: Started off the month with Dr. Paul Offit’s Autism’s False Prophets: Bad Science, Risky Medicine and the Search for a Cure and now here comes Jenny McCarthy’s autism book #2, Mother Warriors: A Nation of Parents Healing Autism Against All Odds , and accompanying appearances on Oprah, video clips, and the like.
So there you have it. The Vaccine Doctor and the Autism Mom Heroine. In this script, Jenny and her following of David(a)s are poised, too-good non-toxicness products in their hands, to take on the evil Goliath of the Medical …read more

Seems a band called Elbow has won the Nationwide Mercury Prize—-a “staple of UK music accolade-giving since 1992“—-for its album The Seldom Seen Kid. Considering the attention devoted by some “autism activists” (Safe Minds etc.) to the belief that vaccines or something in vaccines, like the mercury-based preservative thimerosal, can be linked to autism, there would indeed be some competition for, I don’t know, “most mad about mercury” and “best talking about detoxing autism.” Jenny McCarthy—now starting up a lifestyle line of non-toxic products—would be a fair contender, as would Evidence of Harm author David Kirby who has again …read more