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I am perennially asked whether I do or do not “believe” in autism. I suspect that on most occasions, it’s a test. Nonetheless, it’s a fair question that usually takes this form: “I know you don’t believe in ADHD; but do you believe in autism?” To be clear, it would be absurd of me to deny that there are children – plenty of them, relatively speaking – who frequently exhibit behaviors associated with the bogus diagnosis of ADHD (attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder). Those kids are problematic, for sure. But no one has ever proven that they “have” something. Childhood behavior disorders...

An Indiana school district has apologized after an 11-year-old boy with autism was given the “most annoying male” award by his teacher. Estella Castejon, who says her son Akalis is non-verbal and occasionally rocks back and forth and shakes, believes his special education teacher at Bailly Preparatory Academy should be familiar with his condition and its effects. “You’d think one would know and understand the conditions of autism and have more patience to deal with children who suffer from autism,” she told local television station WLS-TV from her home in Gary, Ind. on Tuesday. It’s part of the reason why...

If vaccines don’t cause autism, what does? The scientific community owes the world an answer to this question. Amidst measles outbreaks like the ones unfolding in New York and Washington state, doctors have a responsibility to the public beyond haranguing parents to vaccinate their children. We must explain how we know that vaccines do not cause autism, and instead explain why autism develops. When the theory that vaccines might cause autism was advanced by the now-discredited British physician Andrew Wakefield in 1998, based on a case series of 12 patients, the scientific community took the claim seriously. The landmark test...

WASHINGTON — Anti-vaccination activists, some with their (presumably unvaccinated) children, packed the Dirksen Senate Office Building Tuesday morning for a hearing that they hoped would vindicate, or at least recognize as legitimate, their fear that protecting their families from measles runs the risk of something worse, including autism and other disorders. As the doors closed on the room where the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions was meeting, a woman could be heard pleading to be allowed in to give her side of what has become a heated, and potentially dangerous, controversy. That hope would be quickly dashed....

Children who receive the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine are not at increased risk for autism, and that includes children who are sometimes considered to be in "high risk" groups for the neurodevelopmental disorder, a massive new study finds. The new study, published today (March 4) in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine, is one of the largest studies of its kind to date. In it, researchers looked at the records of more than 657,000 children born in Denmark between 1999 and 2010, including about 6,500 who had received an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) diagnosis. ASD is a neurodevelopmental...

PEARLAND, Texas (FOX 26) - Pearland police say a woman posed as her autistic "twin", who doesn't exist, and deceived a caregiver in a hoax for her own sexual gratification. According to the Pearland Police Department, Rachel Childs, 29, solicited a caregiver online under the pretense of caring for her twin sister with autism. Police say Childs instructed the caregiver to pick up her sister and take her to the caregiver's home for the night.

Today we investigate one of the biggest medical controversies of our time: vaccines. There’s little dispute about this much-- vaccines save many lives, and rarely, they injure or kill. A special federal vaccine court has paid out billions for injuries from brain damage to death. But not for the form of brain injury we call autism. Now—we have remarkable new information: a respected pro-vaccine medical expert used by the federal government to debunk the vaccine-autism link, says vaccines can cause autism after all. He claims he told that to government officials long ago, but they kept it secret. Yates Hazlehurst...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHbrOg092GA

A 13-year-old with autism is urging lawmakers to pass legislation banning “seclusion rooms” at schools. Alex Campbell visited Capitol Hill last week to speak with lawmakers, staff and others in support of the Keeping All Students Safe act. Campbell told NBC News that as a student with autism spectrum disorder, he was taken to his elementary school’s “crisis room,” a converted storage closet with one small window, over half a dozen times. "When I asked for help or asked if anyone was still there, nobody would answer," he said. "I felt alone. I felt scared." Alex’s school reportedly never notified...

A Victoria naturopath who controversially used rabies-infected saliva to treat a child has surrendered her licence with the College of Naturopathic Physicians of B.C. However, Anke Zimmermann will continue to work as an unregulated homeopath. The college investigated whether Zimmermann “met the standard of care in her treatment of the young boy with lyssinum,” Howard Greenstein, the college’s registrar and CEO, said in a statement. The college also conducted an investigation into Zimmermann’s use of CEASE therapy, an acronym for “complete elimination of autism spectrum expression.” Advocates of the therapy claim that homeopathy can be used to eliminate autism, based...

When Brice Glattfelder was about 3 years old, his mother was warned that he might never tie his own shoes. He was 10 when he learned despite his autism to tie his shoes, but he did learn. Educating and life-skills training come slowly to Brice, whose avid interests include football, garbage cans and cement trucks. For his last birthday, his 16th, his mother Katie said, “All he wanted was a bag of cement, and that’s what he got.” There is something else that he’s wanted. Months ago, Brice, who’s now 6-foot-6 and 300 pounds, told Katie he knew it probably...

Black Queen Tosses Her Daughter, 4, In The River Because She Couldn't Handle Her Being Autistic!

A “fist bump” and a selfie may have ended Marcus Knight’s educational career right as it started. The student, who has autism, cerebral palsy and a shunt to relieve fluid pressure on his brain, was not allowed to defend himself against allegations in two Title IX investigations this past fall, his mother told The College Fix.

A 12-year-old boy with autism is at risk of losing his two service ducks after officials in his Michigan town allegedly received complaints about the animals from neighbors. Dylan Dyke, of Georgetown Township, keeps his two ducks, named Nibbles and Bill, in a pen behind the family’s home, WOODTV.com reported. “These ducks are his everything,” Jen Dyke, the boy’s mother, told the news outlet. “They’re his whole life.”

Researchers are hailing a breakthrough after they used cutting-edge gene editing to to significantly reduce repetitive behaviour associated with the disorder. The technique, which was performed on mice, could also be developed to treat conditions ranging from opioid addiction and neuropathic pain to schizophrenia and epileptic seizures. Scientists injected gold nanoparticles covered in a “forest” of DNA chains to alter the  the genetic code of mouse models with a form of autism called fragile X syndrome (FXS). The technique, CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing, resulted in in a 30 per cent drop in repetitive digging, and a 70 reduction in leaping, both...

The ability to focus on detail, a common trait among people with autism, allowed realism to flourish in Ice Age art, according to researchers at the University of York. Around 30,000 years ago realistic art suddenly flourished in Europe. Extremely accurate depictions of bears, bison, horses and lions decorate the walls of Ice Age archaeological sites such as Chauvet Cave in southern France. Why our ice age ancestors created exceptionally realistic art rather than the very simple or stylised art of earlier modern humans has long perplexed researchers. Many have argued that psychotropic drugs were behind the detailed illustrations. The...

(KUTV) — A 12-year-old autistic boy was placed in a Juvenile Detention Center on Monday after brandishing an imaginary rifle at his art teacher, FOX 26 reports. The 5th grade teacher reportedly felt threatened by the child, identified as David Sims, who was arrested by a school police officer. "She (the officer) just put handcuffs on me and told me I need to go with her," Sims said. "They just said, 'We don't tolerate that. We take it as a threat,'" said Amy Sims, the boy's mother. "A threat? He didn't threaten anyone. He didn't do anything but play." Amy...

PICTURED: The grandfather suspected of shooting dead his wife, their daughter and her four autistic children in horror murder-suicide - as police say his former son-in-law was not involved Grandfather Peter Miles is suspected of murdering his wife, their daughter and her four autistic children They were all found dead at the family farm in Osmington, 15km from Western Australia's Margaret River It is believed Peter Miles, called police at 5am (local time) before turning the gun on himself Children's father Aaron Cockman, is not being investigated by police despite marriage breakup with his wifePolice reportedly suspect a grandfather of...

Perhaps the most puzzling thing about autism and ADD is that more than a decade into this public health crisis, our best, smartest government scientists and public health officials still say they have no idea what's causing it. Scary stuff, when parents having a child today realize there's at least an estimated 1 in 150 chance their child will have an autism disorder (1 in 90 if it's a boy). While the government has been utterly unable to stop it, or even tell us what is causing it, they say they do know one thing: it's not vaccines. But today,...

"Like many people with autism, Greg Demer is bright but has difficulty communicating. He has a passion for the history of military aircraft, but he can’t quite keep up a conversation with new people. When he meets someone, he’ll quote from movies or ask them about their favorite Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle. His mother, Linda Demer, worried that he wouldn’t be able to make complicated decisions about his finances and health care once he turned 18. So, in 2005, a judge in Los Angeles, where they live, granted her conservatorship over Greg. “I wanted to protect him,” she said of...