In our case Little Emerson showed signs of autism since birth, but was not diagnosed until after the age of two, after his initial MMR vaccine.  From that point after so much angst, expense, tears and most of all, effort we were making progress towards healing him. Little Em was finally starting to say words and look us in the eyes, then came time for his MMR booster shot.  We were sick to our stomachs wondering if this booster would cause regression and thwart all our efforts. The vision of injecting him with something that could hurt him further literally brought tears to my eyes. After much research I found a few things out about the MMR "booster" and what our rights are in the State of New Jersey.

First, the MMR booster is not a booster at all.  The initial vaccine inoculates approximately 94 to 95% of the population receiving it. The booster is later administered a second time across the board to simply increase the inoculation percentage up a few points to about 97 to 98%.  So out of 100 children who initially receive the MMR, about 95 already have enough antibodies and do not require the follow up shot.  Secondly, you are allowed to get what's known as a titer test. This is a blood test to measure the amount of antibodies in the blood stream.  If they are high enough, your child is exonerated from the follow up MMR vaccine.  All day care facilities and schools must accept this and cannot prevent your child from attending if your child passes the required antibody levels on the titer.

Don't Be Surprised If Doctors Are Resistant.

In our case we waited until we were in the doctor's office to receive the booster when I notified the nurse who came in with the vaccine that we wanted a script for a titer.  She became quite flustered and insisted that the booster was required.  I calmly requested to meet with the doctor.  He complied and wrote a script for a titer test, but what I find so disturbing is even with the knowledge of my son's condition, I still had to garner this information elsewhere.  Long story short, my son's antibodies were high enough and he did not require the booster.  I can't say that vaccines had any ill effect Little Em, but after all we have been going through we didn't want to risk anything.

Because of Little Em's autism we meet so many other parents in the same situation with the same pit in their stomach when it comes time for booster shots, but to my surprise they don't know of the titer. Why isn't this common knowledge?  With all the concern over vaccines how come school authorities and doctors don't advertize this choice? Sadly I think it's part economics, and part that the public is used to lining up like lemmings when it comes to doctor's orders (imagine how much less money the Pharma companies would make if 95% of the population didn't get their booster shots because they didn't need it.)

The titer test is available for the following vaccines:

• MMR (measles, mumps, rubella)
• Hepatitis B
• Diphtheria, Tetanus
• H. Influenza (Hi
• Hepatitis A
• Chicken Pox, (Varicella - zoster)
• Influenza A and B
• Polio
• Pneumococcal vaccines

So if you're up at night worried about an upcoming vaccine shot for your child, research your state laws and see if a titer test is available.  And spread the word.  With autism now affecting 1 in 100 children, (1 in 66 if it's a boy) everyone now knows someone who affected by this condition.  Who knows, at the very least you may help save another parent from that awful pit in their stomach. 

 

 

There's anew science that may finally be up to the task of explaining autism's causes. What scientists are discovering is what we do today may not only affect our health and future, but also children and our children's children.

Standing on a soap box and callingout, "It's Thimerosal, it's Vaccines, it's Pesticides, it's Mercury fromcoal burning power plants," without the "Evidence of Harm" toback up such accusations only causes our cries to ...

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Every child's autism is different and unique, however, there are also many common traits. One of the most frustrating and dangerous is what I call the deaf run. This is where the child will bolt from a parent's hand for some desired object. Normal children do this as well, however, many autistic children are particularly talented at ignoring their parents. They also may be quite fixated on a particular item or object which acts as a terrible distraction when attempting a therapy session. For instance I remember seeing a four year old bolt from his chair to go push a spring loaded door open so he could watch it automatically shut. The therapist repeatedly chased him down, took him by the arm and brought him back to the desk in an attempt to get the child reengaged at the task at hand. Of course the child resisted, flopped and whined making the time spent on therapy little more than a complete waste of time. I saw this as a terribly missed opportunity.

Personally I remember my son,Emerson, bolting from my hands to run for a small creek behind our house. Heloved it down there and I provided every opportunity to go. Problem was he gotso excited he would simply run and leave me in the dust.  I had to perpetually chase him down and tryto reign him in, but nothing seemed to work. I wanted so desperately to connect,but I had no idea how to go about it. 

Most any parent of an autistic child can tell a similar heartbreaking story of  how their child runs off, ignores their attempts of eye contact or any acknowledgment of their voice. So why not use this object of desire to connect, incite eye contact, develop speech and get a little joy all at once? Here's how. 

Let's take the incident of the little boy running for the spring loaded door. Imagine the therapist engaging with the boy's desire instead of repeatedly trying to redirect him. By turning him toward the door, bending down and getting her face up into his, she asks if he wants to "go?" Depending on the child's verbal ability this can be expanded on. If you are just inciting speech, this is a great opportunity to have their undivided attention to learn how to request for something.  Teaching a child a word like "go"involves action on their part and attempting to incite speech on something that is so desired and relevant to them will typically be much easier. The child will most likely be looking right through you towards the desired object, but guess what, now you're becoming naturally integrated into their world.  If they can't talk, perhaps you may get them to point or even partially speak. One other thing I did with Emerson was to verbally count down with my fingers in front of his face, "one, two three!"before bolting towards the creek.  It took some time, but after repeated exercises, his little fingers began to move as he was attempting to count.  Here's a trick, once you say "go!" run backwards and watch the joy on their face as they bolt free towards the desired object. At three years old it was perhaps the first time I saw a wide smile and lucid glimpse from my son's beautiful blue eyes.

For the therapist, this exercise can be repeatedly done as a game of sorts, each time bending down,counting down, getting the child to communicate in some way their desire to go toward the object. And each bolt for the door will be met with giggles and laughs instead of a firm grips and words to redirect them back.

Sometimes the best therapy involves the use of  things you never imagined like the spring loaded door. But at the end of the day, developing that happy connection can be arguably the most important therapy of all.Developing that connection cracks open those ever so small windows for communication and makes way for other more formal therapies.   

Contributed by Emerson B.Donnell III, Author of Dads And Autism, How To Stay In The Game. 

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