The Week In Autism - TWTWTWIA iv

Welcome to the New Republic's That Was The Week That Was in Autism, part four. If you're of a Shiny, Happy disposition, leave now: Brian here, is just to soften you up for the blow we're aiming at your solar plexus. So please, while you can, enjoy TWTWTWIA iv:

Probably the most perfect kids blog ever written

Brian Snail's Welcome to Brian's World is probably the most perfect kids blog ever written. In fact, it's so perfect as to make the New Republic wonder if it is, in fact, a teaser for a forthcoming children's TV series, penned by some frustrated journalist turned advertising copywriter...

My brother Anthony who is evil and makes my life hell

Hi,my name is Brian Snail I live in Maidstone in Kent England with my Mum, my brother Anthony who is evil and makes my life hell, I don't think he is actually my brother and there was a mix up at the hospital...

In Brian's post Gary McKinnon My Views, he sets out his thoughts on the soon to be extradited, suicidal hacker

His thoughts on the soon to be extradited, suicidal hacker

...He admitted his crime which in itself is unusual when every day in the press you read about crimes committed by Police and MP’s being denied or even described as errors of judgement...

McKinnon made an error of judgment

...Gary McKinnon made an error of judgment when he decided to sit in his bedroom and hack looking for UFO’s but I don’t think when MP’s claim when questioned about for example claiming money on a mortgage they don’t have they made a error of judgment...

Feeling like sitting on death row

I would imagine the punishment of feeling like sitting on death row for the last eight years and stress of his illness and whole life being controlled and driven by just trying to stay in the country he was born has been punishment enough...

Brian desperately wants to be famous

Brian desperately wants to be famous and at this rate, with that name, ginger hair and a precocious writing style, he probably will. He's also on Twitter where you can follow the ups and downs of his life in a Kentish market town.

BlogPost of the Week

The New Republic's BlogPost of the Week award goes to Nev, of the Nev Filter - superficially writing about McKinnon in his post Home Secretary Explains Mental Health, but with a healthy sub-text of the reality of life for people with Asperger's Syndrome

We know where you're coming from Nev

Look, I heard all about this old Asperger's skive when I was in charge of the Department for Work and Pensions," chuckled Mr Johnston.

Heard all about this old Asperger's skive

...Some bleeding-heart do-gooder from the National Autistic Society had the front to tell me it was an autistic spectrum disorder which seriously affects a person's perceptions and their ability to interact with others, and said that these people should be counted as disabled.

Some bleeding-heart do-gooder from the National Autistic Society

Well, I told him it's a convenient excuse for bone-idle nerds to fiddle with their todgers all day long and whine that they're 'special', and sent the officious little twat away with a clip round the ear for trying it on.

Bone-idle nerds to fiddle with their todgers

Who do these arseholes think they are, telling me my job? I don't need a bunch of hoity-toity doctors to tell me who's disabled - I've got a pair of eyes in my head, and if a doley's got two arms, two legs and a head that isn't dribbling down a bib, the bugger's fit for anything a Jobcentre advisor can strongarm them into...

Mark Ty-Walton, former sound engineer for Duran Duran turned Autistic advocate muses on psychic abilities , and comes up with a very interesting hypothesis

A voice in my head (my voice) says

I am lying in bed half awake and a voice in my head (my voice) says “sounds like an alarm going off”. The sentence ends and a car alarm starts up! So what happened here?

Between the sleeping and waking state

You may or may not know that between the sleeping and waking state, we are considered by psychics to be most tuned in.

Dreams runs backwards

You may or may not also know that dream scientists have discovered the memory of dreams runs backwards then is rearranged by the mind to form a story.

Running a jumbled time line

If some psychics are dyslexics running a jumbled time line could that grab you as an explanation?

Sandeep Gautam author of the The Mousetrap blog, wonders if Autism and Schizophrenia are at the opposite ends of the same continuum, not realising that Autism lies at one end of, and blends into 'Normal'

Putting this theory in words

I have blogged extensively about the Autism and Schizophrenia as opposites on a continuum theory. I remember first putting this theory in words in an article 3 yrs back on the mouse trap titled Autism and Schizophrenia: the two cultures.

Inspired by Daniel Nettle’s 2005 article

That 2006 article, in turn, was inspired by Daniel Nettle’s 2005 article in Journal of Research in Personality where Nettle had also proposed the dichotomy and that paper helped crystallize my thoughts on the subject, a theory which I had been building on my own and now supported by someone like Nettle who I respect a lot.

Meanwhile in Finding a New Normal, Niksmom struggles with a growing (and climbing) child

....you know that things have not been exactly smooth and easy sailing of late. Nik’s hyperactivity has gone beyond mere “making up for lost time” and has, in fact, morphed into flat-out dangerous at times and more than a bit exhausting at others.

Morphed into flat-out dangerous

Nik now requires constant supervision; that makes for some very stressful days while my husband is at work. Sleep has been in short supply which means that fraying tempers and impatience have been in greater evidence lately.

Sleep has been in short supply

We begin each day by removing all the pillows and sofa cushions —Nik has figured out how to stack them to use as a platform from which he climbs on top of the TV cabinet (which is already five feet tall). If he’s able to get on top of the cabinet, Nik has been known to try to swing from the track lights above it...

Alicia, aka Dr. Mom is also coping with a rapidly growing child - her 13 year old Autistic daughter - you can read all about it on her post, How To Derail a Train With A Lump of Sugar

...The only one who is not naked, or getting their butt publicly wiped around here, is my poor husband. He is the epitome of modesty.

Getting their butt publicly wiped

Back to the diaper changing. I don't know what protocol is exactly for changing a pubertal teen, so I just do what I do with my 15 month old.

Slap out the hazmat clean up gear and get to work, where ever the incident is discovered (and I'm talking about when we're HOME, not out in public, so don't get all crazy!)

I mean, it's not like I can fit her on a changing table

I mean, it's not like I can fit her on a changing table. Furthermore, she lacks any semblance of modesty and my 4, 3, and 1 year old really don't register nudity-related issues . Well, at least that is what I THOUGHT until today's Stumpper.

Kinds of questions your kids throw at you that make your brain freeze

You know, The Stumppers: the kinds of questions your kids throw at you that make your brain freeze and your mouth go "hommina hommina hommina."

Stephanie Lynn Keil, on her blog A Grand Illusion ponders a cure for Autism

Picture by and copyright 2009 - Stephanie Lynn Keil

I most definitely want a cure for those most profoundly disabled; I want a cure for my most disabling aspects. Autism has ruined my life, like it has ruined many others: I can't lie.

Autism has ruined my life

And no, I don't believe the self-diagnosed have any right to speak for the most profoundly disabled or really for anyone with autism.

Most people with autism need some kinds of cure

My interest in "Neurodiversity" lies mostly in ethical treatment, not in "cures." A cure for autism is indisputable: most people with autism need some kinds of cure, or should I more properly call "treatment"...

...But I suppose "curing" and "treating" the most disabling aspects are completely different...

Meanwhile Zachery Lassiter also ponders and then acts to cure his ills... By attempting to kill himself, live on YouTube (again)

Does the sight of someone trying to kill themselves disturb you?

I can no longer cope or handle the pain. So I have to go, I can’t just sit in an adult foster care with nothing to do and deal with all this pain. I can’t handle this pain alone like everyone expects me to.

I can no longer cope or handle the pain

Zach, from Kalamazoo in Michigan has a diagnosis of Asperger's Syndrome - that shiny, happy variety of Mild Autism so deserving of utter contempt from the Martyrdom Mummies or indeed anyone who's ever had to deal with a screaming, low-functioning Autistic child covered in poo.

Deserving of utter contempt from the Martyrdom Mummies

Zach's girlfriend is pregnant with their child. Neither of them are considered fit parents - and their baby is to be taken off of them at birth and handed over to a stranger.

Neither of them are considered fit parents

Everyone seems to expect me to just ‘get over’ loosing my daughter and never being able to even see her. Kate’s dad is like you never wanted kids, and I still truely don’t but I can’t just abandon our daughter.

To tell her I’m sorry

That daughter will always be part of me. I want to be able to hold her before I give her up, to tell her I’m sorry even though she won’t understand.

After escaping from Adult Foster Care

What Zach doesn't realise after escaping from Adult Foster Care (umm? wtf? Adult foster care? You mean someone with Asperger's Syndrome may need to be looked after like a child? Who'd've ever thought?) is that with his history of suicide attempts, no doctor is ever going to give him enough of the right pills to do the Job properly.

Someone with Asperger's Syndrome may need to be looked after like a child

Zach counts out his 25 Wellbutrin and downs them with a swig of Lilt, obviously without having checked-out Wikipedia:

Wellbutrin overdose rarely results in death

If he'd continued to read, he will also have come across this interesting tidbit

Delusions, hallucinations, psychosis

There is evidence of several neuropsychiatric symptoms associated with bupropion in patients with depression, including delusions, hallucinations, psychosis, concentration disturbance, paranoia, and confusion.

In a strait-jacket in some godforsaken psychiatric unit

Zack at this moment maybe alive, in a strait-jacket in some godforsaken psychiatric unit, or his body might just be slumped in his car, slowly decomposing in the low temperatures of early winter in the Great Lakes. Who knows? Who really cares?

Who knows? Who really cares?

But what ever your position - don't steal the Thunder of the parents and carers of low-functioning Autistics - Their pain is always greater than your pain. Always. And without exception.

Their pain is always greater than your pain

Even if your pain leads to a premature and a pointless death over the grief of a child you will never be able to hold, let alone raise.

Premature and a pointless death over the grief of a child

Now sing with me people!

Shiny Happy Aspies laughing

Meet me in the crowd

Aspies, Aspies

Throw your love around

Love me, love me

Take it into town

Happy, happy

Put it in the ground

Where the flowers grow

Gold and silver shine..

Shiny Happy Aspies holding hands

Shiny Happy Aspies laughing

_____________________________________

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Can't Believe it's Not Quackery

The National Autistic Society - Peddling Quackery?

The United Kingdom's leading Autism charity, the National Autistic Society faces questions tonight over its appearance on the website of the well-known quackbuster James R. Laidler, MD, under the category "Non Recommended Information Sources".

Non Recommended Information Sources

The $200 million a year organisation appears with the more usual woo-meisters including Jenny McCarthy, David Kirby and the Age of Autism.

Appears with the more usual woo-meisters

Dr Laidler began his journey into the world of butt-kicking after his son was diagnosed with an ASC and initially bought into the Martyrdom Mummys' Myths:

Task of exposing the quackery

Ever since I began the Herculean (some might say Quixotic) task of exposing the quackery and pseudoscience surrounding autism, I have had people ask me, “Are you the same Jim Laidler who used to talk about chelation at autism conferences?”

I am now trying to debunk

To them, the idea that I could once have been an impassioned supporter of the very thing I am now trying to debunk is hard to fathom. Well, everyone has something in their past that they are embarrassed about—and that is mine.

Attempted to contact Dr Laidler

The New Republic attempted to contact Dr Laidler, author of the respected Autism Watch website, only to find he'd left his job as Assistant Professor of Anaesthesiology to enrol on a PhD course at Portland State University.

James L. Laidler, far left - Sam Smith, far right

Scientific field trip around the Cayman Islands

The professor is currently on a 3 month scientific field trip around the Cayman Islands aboard the research ship RV Mardi Gras, seeking to establish the limits of credulity of the post-graduate Board of Finance at the respected west coast University.

Establish the limits of credulity

James, is joined by fellow graduate students, Wen Fang, Sophia Trieu, Tanya Cheeke, Skye Klingbeil, Michelle Averbeck, and Sam Smith.

The only other man on board

Mr Smith, the only other man on board the vessel offered a brief reply to our enquiries saying

I just can't get this silly grin off my face

"I just can't get this silly grin off my face. It's been two weeks now. Jim's a happily married man more interested in counting barnacles than sunbathing with the girls - so it's all down to me.

A fat ginger bloke, with a complete set of Star Trek

Who would've ever thought? A fat ginger bloke, with a complete set of Star Trek: The Next Generation DVD's, getting all this attention".

Autism News Bytes - More Vaccines Better

Admitted he was Gay for Limeys

In a shock announcement toady, David Kirby one-time journalist turned used prophylactic rubber-ware item, admitted he was Gay for Limeys and in a long term relationship with the Texas' premier not-licensed-to-practice-medicine Colonoscopy expert, Andrew Wakefield.

His Mercury Poisoning Can Make You Rich hypothesis

Kirby's one time recruiting ground for new disciples, the Yahoo "Evidence of Harm" Group has seen a steady decline in interest in his Mercury Poisoning Can Make You Rich hypothesis over the last two years.

Unvaccinated children more likely to be Autistic

The news comes shortly after news of a new study broke, proving that unvaccinated children are more likely to be Autistic than those having the single measles vaccine and even more so than those having the MMR triple shot - proving the more vaccines the better.

Has shown that being nice to Autistic babies

Further work by scientists has shown that being nice to Autistic babies - playing with them, not making them do things they don't want to and refraining from wiring their Abilify mangled bodies up the the mains electric supply - produces significant positive behavioural benefits.

Allegations of Münchausen syndrome by proxy

When compared to the control group, with parents who continued with their usual treatment programme (force-feeding their children industrial chelating agents and spending most of their time on the internet denigrating and soliciting the murder of Autistic advocates), the Early Start Denver Model was said to be far, far more unlikely to produce referrals to child protection agencies over allegations of Münchausen syndrome by proxy.

Many Thanks to Clay Adams for the lead on the EoH collapse.

Science Bytes - Intellectual Disability and Autism

Baron Cohen, Happé, Ronald and Hoekstra

In a study just published in the British Journal of Psychiatry, super-cutie Simon Baron Cohen teamed up with Morton Ann Gernsbacher's sole rival for title of sexiest Autism Boffin, Francesca Happé and concludes that intellectual disability isn't substantially linked to severe Autistic traits.

Sole rival for title of sexiest Autism Boffin

One the paper's other two authors, Dr Rosa Hoekstra commented

"I think you're being a little harsh on both myself and Dr Angelica Ronald, who were actually responsible for most of the work in this paper, because I personally look pretty damned stunning in leopard-skin bikini...

Pretty damned stunning in leopard-skin bikini

...but most importantly, one day I hope we will discover the biological mechanisms that explain the genetic link in autism. I really feel the urgency of my work and how my research can be applied. It’s really exciting to be near the forefront of such a fast-moving field...

So you can take the piss all you want

...so you can take the piss all you want, cause Your Sort are for the fucking chop within the next two generations - and does this, really quite pretty, face look like if gives a flying fuck?

She looks best in nothing but her PhD

... and as for Angelica Ronald - well, she looks best in nothing but her PhD in quantitative genetics on a cold day, not that you're likely to be invited to that particular party, and she could certainly give that old swinger Morton a run for her money...

Too fucking naive to realise

... she does however, have a couple of vacancies on one of her projects open to people like you, who are just too fucking naive to realise you're helping us to ensure there won't be many of you around by the time I get to be Cambridge's Vice-Chancellor...

Won't be many of you around

The abstract [edited] from "Association between extreme autistic traits and intellectual disability: insights from a general population twin study"

Autism is associated with intellectual disability. The strength and origin of this association is unclear.

To investigate the association between extreme autistic traits and intellectual disability in children from a community-based sample and to examine whether the association can be explained by genetic factors.

Method

Children scoring in the extreme 5% on measures of autistic traits, IQ and academic achievement were selected from 7965 7/8-year-old and 3687 9-year-old twin pairs.

Phenotypic associations between extreme autistic traits and intellectual disability were compared with associations among the full-range scores.

Results:

Extreme autistic traits were modestly related to intellectual disability; this association was driven by communication problems characteristic of autism. Although this association was largely explained by genetic factors, the genetic correlation between autistic traits and intellectual disability was only modest.

Conclusions

Extreme autistic traits are substantially genetically independent of intellectual disability.

Action Alert: Mercury Quackery in Pulse Magazine

It's just been brought to the TNR's attention that the following "Letter of the Week" has been published in Pulse Magazine - a widely read journal for General Practitioners (Family Doctors) in the UK.

A popular, and formerly respected magazine

The promotion of the Mercury Myth, followed by a weak rebuttal from GlaxoSmithKline is disgraceful in such a popular, and formerly respected magazine:

It's reckless to use thiomersal in the swine flu vaccine

24 Nov 09

Thiomersal is a preservative that is nearly 50% mercury and has been shown to cause cell damage in tissue culture at very low concentrations. It was originally contained in baby vaccines.

The rise in autism, which appeared to parallel use of these vaccines

In the US, parental concern about the rise in autism, which appeared to parallel use of these vaccines, led to a paper by Sallie Bernard finding most vaccines contained levels of mercury greater than those decreed safe by the US Environmental Protection Agency.

An analysis by the US Centers for Disease Control found statistically significant associations between thiomersal exposure and speech delay, tics and attention deficit disorder. After these revelations in 2001 the FDA removed thiomersal from vaccines in the US.

An 11-fold increase in autism at higher mercury doses

Subsequent documents uncovered using Freedom of Information legislation reported US Food and Drug Administration data from 1999 showing an 11-fold increase in autism at higher mercury doses. In 2006, Geier and Geier published a paper showing falls in neurodevelopmental disorders in the US from the time thiomersal was removed from baby vaccines.

Falls in neurodevelopmental disorders in the US from the time thiomersal was removed

Thiomersal was later removed from baby vaccines in the UK after repeated and false reassurances about its safety. So it is extraordinary that thiomersal has been included in the swine flu vaccine designed for use in children and in pregnancy.

Mercury is known to be passed across the placenta and a subgroup of children appears to be especially susceptible to its toxic effects; I consider the inclusion of thiomersal in this vaccine to be reckless and unnecessary.

From Dr Jerry Thompson, Slough, Berkshire

Who is this Dr Jerry? [Spelling misshakes uncorrected]

Dr Jerry Thompson, GMC Number: 2277389

The British Society of Ecological Medicine Approved

Specialises in: Eczema, Asthma, Irritable bowel syndrome, Autism and aspergers, Multiple sclerosis

Complementary methods used: Enzyme potentiated desensitisation, Diet and nutrional changes, Homeopathy, NLP (Neuro-linguistic programming), Vega testing, Kinesiology

Dr Jerry Thompson says: Conditions Treated: Eczema, asthma, IBS, inflammatory bowel diseases, rhinitis, recurrent infectons, hyperactivity, MS, mental problems, mercury toxicity.

Will advise on treatment and alleviation of cancer.

Dr Jerry Thompson, General Practitioner (holistic), 40 Ragstone Road, Slough, Berkshire, SL1 2PX. 01753 775545

Vega testing

This method is sometimes called electrodermal testing, and claims to diagnose food intolerances by measuring changes in your ‘electromagnetic field’ with a galvanometer or computer. Our researchers paid between £60 and £75, depending on where they had the test...

Experts’ verdict

This method cannot be recommended and Dr Morris said: ‘Clinical studies have repeatedly shown Vega testing to be ineffective in diagnosing allergies and intolerances.’ Source

Kinesiology

The kinesiology tests involve lying down and either touching or being close to vials containing ‘food extracts’. The practitioner applies pressure on your legs or arms to test resistance. The lower the resistance, the more the food is believed to interfere with the body.

Experts’ verdict

Our experts believe that the complete lack of consistency in results for both researchers shows that this technique has no use as a diagnostic tool.

They felt that the recommendations given by practitioners were worrying. Source

Dr Pim Kon, medical director of GlaxoSmithKline, replies…

Pandemrix contains very low levels of thiomersal in the antigen vial. Thiomersal is a preservative containing ethyl mercury - which does not accumulate and is metabolised much faster than the more commonly occurring methyl mercury.

It has been used in vaccines for more than 60 years and plays an important role in preventing microbial contamination.

There is extensive research documenting its safety profile. In 2004, the European Medicines Agency reported on a number of well-designed population-based studies showing no association between thiomersal-containing vaccines and neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism.

The WHO's global advisory committee on vaccine safety concluded there is currently no evidence of mercury toxicity in infants, children or adults exposed to thiomersal.

I encourage you to visit the site to comment. You will however, have to register and include sufficient evidence of your bone-fides - Pulse magazine is for professionals and they won't tolerate crappy, amateur interventions in the debate.

I left this as yet unpublished comment:

I am absolutely appalled to see this article in Pulse. The inclusion of a reply from GSK does nothing to mitigate the offence.

The inclusion of a reference to a Geier and Geier paper should be a red flag to anyone. (Geier and Geier are the inventors and promoters of the Lupron Protocol as a therapeutic intervention for Autistic children)

I demand Dr Thompson makes an immediate Declaration of Conflict of Interest statement.

I suggest you leave a comment too. Link to Letter.

E-mail: feedback@pulsetoday.co.uk

Website: www.pulsetoday.co.uk

Pulse,

Ludgate House,
245 Blackfriars Road,
London,
SE1 9UY,
United Kingdom.