Autism
 

My Aunt sent me a newspaper clipping about the renovated elementary school being open in her town of probably less than 3500 people.

The article said there are 370 students in grades K through 4. It also said, there are 12 students with Autism and 1 with language-based learning disabilities, although it's unclear if the 13 are included in the 370 figure.

12 with Autism struck me as high for only 370 students. Is this problem increasing? :confused:

Could be its just diagnosed more, but perhaps its something else, or a combo. I've heard of speculated connections (rather convincing) to the preservatives used in some older childhood vaccinations. I think we talked about it here a while back...I'll look for the link. It could be the reporter is just lumping some other developmental delays into a quick label of "autism", small town paper and all. ?

I don't know.

This is what I do know. The Federal government says there is no link to mercury based imunizations and that they have phased out most of them. So if the 80's have gone and the imunizations are now clean then where are these new cases comming from? Is it the new fad label out there?

The schools use Autism as an umbrella term in order to get funds. What the doctors usually say if it isn't true autism is it is a 'developmental disorder' organic in the nerological make up. Have you ever heard of Non-Verbal learning disorder? It's a person who is dominatly left brained. Who cannot see in pictures. I think these people have always been here but our schools are so large now days that these kids who are outside of the norm get put in special classes. Is it any wonder that charter and alternative schools are becomming increasingly popular?

I don't know. I've worked alot on labels with my own kid. I explain alot. I don't think some things are a disability. I think secondary symptoms of anxiety about being different is. I think obsessive compulsive thinking is too and those can be controled by meds and a strong will to learn.

I did a little "field experience" (teacher shadowing) last semester through my school's education department and where I went was an alternative school for kids with severe ADD/ADHD, publicly funded. I was told there that some of the kids "have a form of autism" that has very similar symptoms to kids with bad ADHD. I'm wondering if the schools could be using kids who have been diagnosed as "potentially having" that form of autism to boost their numbers in hopes of getting more funding?

I think the schools do use the 'Autism' label for all developmental delays.



I've wondered that myself. I have wondered if it just isn't this fast paced world we live in. Some kids need extra time and quiet spaces. Maybe these kids where always there but in times past they were either ignored or faded into the background?

Does that state and/or school distric have a particularly good reputation for treating autistic kids?

My first lover's brother was severly autistic...he put an enormous strain on that family. At 13 he had the body of an 18 year-old physically.

Also, in an area with a variety of private schools, public schools will have a higher percentage of autistic (and other developmentally disabled) kids, since the private schools don't take them.

In a town of 3500, that may not be the case, though. Any factories nearby dumping mercury into the water?

One that I subbed in seemed to.

What makes you say that?

I was overgeneralizing. I'll put it this way - private schools can kick them out if they become too much of a financial or resource burden, and public schools can't.

Private schools often don't hire people with training to deal with them, as well.

Oh yeah, that's true....
But at the same time, public school districts will sometimes pay a (qualified) private school tuition for a student they can't or don't want to deal with.

I can offer first hand validation of jinx's point. She is correct.

Well, my son has full blown autism/PDD. Noone knows what caused it, and I have heard too many theories at this point. While I applaud the research into the cause, I am much too focused in the here and now to really care too much.

Autism is on the rise. This could be because of better diagnosis, or, as someone pointed out, a more lax diagnosis.

There is a reason Autism is called a spectrum. Deciding where autism begins is like trying to pick the point in a spectrum where blue begins. It really involves a checklist of behaviors. Very high functioning people with autism might simply be labelled as socially inept or 'nerds'.


Here is a table from a report to the California legislature

No factories, not much of any industry, and no public water.
You may be right about alternate schools, though. I imagine some of the kids are going to Catholic school (major bus ride), or private/home schooled. Probably not many of those though. :confused: