Posted on 08/11/2005 1:48:37 PM PDT by Dont Mention the War
Instinctively, I disagree, but of course I cannot prove it. Between my husband and I, we have encountered quite a number of people with children diagnosed with Asperger. It is not nearly as common to encounter a child with true autism. In real life, I haven't met one yet.
funding is not an issue with us - it is definitely a medical and scientific problem for my children.
I am still wondering how many with this mindset actually have an autistic child?
I think what Domestic Church meant was that your children, were they involved with a study, might help us to find answers about autism. It could be illustrative to find out what the similarities and differences are in brain reactions, areas of activity, between your children (who differ in how severe they are).
It is a funding issue on the grand scale...it should never be one for the true autistic child or his family but it can be if their district isn't geared to the special education funding machine (that will also result in over diagnosis by it's industrial self perpetuation.)
In order to properly treat this, the system exaggerates the need.
Can you clue me in on this "special education funding machine" - i am sure my district would love to know how to receive more special education funding for our disabled kids.
I am trying to follow what you are saying here, and I am trying to be open-minded to what you are saying, but to be honest I don't understand what you are saying, other than diagnosed ASD kids are only diagnosed for funding issues. I can assure you, my three are most definitely ASD - they could come visit you for a few days so you could see for yourself.
I am not trying to be difficult, but as the mother of multiple ASD kids, i find it frustrating to have the perception that people are so dismissive of ASD.
I have met Temple Grandin, and she is an amazing person. I love listening to her lectures. I can only pray my boys do as well as she has.
Bookmarking for a later read...
Exactly. It shouldn't be something that is churned through the public education system at all - that is a complete waste of federal funds which should have a more direct route and it should be the physician that has the final say in diagnosis and in accessing the proper funds for this (federal moola, insurance moola, charitable trust grants or whatever) not the social worker or the school psychologist or the teacher. The schools shouldn't be involved with the money at all.
My children are involved in a study - have been for years. First my older boy, and then when we had the twins we were included in another study. I didn't understand that was what Domestic Church was trying to say - didn't see that at all.
"Only 40% of federally mandated special ed money is actually received by schools "
That's one mighty big piece of pie.
Not really. The Feds demand that schools provide X services. Then the Feds say...oh yeah, pay for 60% of it yourself.
Have they looked into your genetic background? We have anxiety/depressions in our family through my mother's side. I haven't read anything current, but it did seem to be shown that depressions, etc. were perpetuated through the mother's line.
My son is quite similar to my mother and me. He is our personality quirks magnified by 10.
The public school system is the most efficient way to screen and provide therapy for large numbers of children. Most children pass through that system. It isn't perfect by far. Once the feds decided that schools had to provide services for "disabled" children, the money had to come from somewhere. To sweeten the pot, the Feds tossed some money in the ring.
I think, for whatever reason, people tend to meet others whose circumstances are similar to their own. My son is severely autistic--does not speak, other than one word here and there to request food or a movie. And I have met a dozen or two other young boys much like him. I have met MORE Asperger's and high-functioning kids. That is much more prevalent. It's almost like the new ADD.
Our son is 12--and he's bigger than his mom now. My wife and I are the support team. It's not always easy, but it's manageable. We love Austin dearly, and we love each other, and it all seems to work out.
Given that Asperger's wasn't even a diagnosis 20 years ago, AND that we are seeing quite a few children diagnosed with this disorder, doesn't it stand to reason that this IS where the increase in autism is coming from?
I suspect that children, over the years, haven't changed much. We're just referring to many of them by new labels.
I guess I'm not making myself very clear. Sorry. Let me see if I can do better:
Yes, I agree completely that the OVERALL number of autism cases has spiked dramatically due to rather...liberal diagnosing of Asperger's and high-functioning autism.
But I still think there may be a true, net increase in the incidence of severe, low-functioning, major-impairment autism. That's just a hunch. And that's what I'd like to see some data on. Then we can look to see what may be happening in the environment or the genes of those severely autistic kids (like mine) to see if there isn't something causing it.
Now, maybe they'll find that there really is absolutely NO percentage increase in severe autism over the last 20 years. I'd like to see that proof. I'll believe it when I see it, in incontrovertible form. Until then, I'll continue with my hunch.
I understand. I agree, I've never seen anything that looked directly at just this group of kids. It would be helpful to know, wouldn't it?
I think also they say that progress just stops and it seems like the kids are regressing but in truth they just don't progress like their peers. I recommend the book - which I just got - Children with Emerald Eyes about all kinds of disturbed kids...written in the early 60s I think about emotionally disturbed kids from the 50s. I think you are rigth about the powers that be. My child, at age 4, profoundly deaf, was also diagnosed as PDD-NOS. I went to Dr. Robert Byrd, mentioned in this article - if its the same Dr. Byrd he works with deaf children and told me that dx was boloney for my daughter.
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