destroying the myths of autism
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DESTROYING THE MYTHS OF AUTISM. Presented by Wendy Fournier and Jo Pike. What exactly is autism?. Autism is a bio-neurological developmental disability that generally appears before the age of 3. Autism is diagnosed four times more often in boys than girls. - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
DESTROYING THEMYTHS OF AUTISM
Presented byWendy Fournier
andJo Pike
What exactly is autism?
• Autism is a bio-neurological developmental disability that generally appears before the age of 3.
• Autism is diagnosed four times more often in boys than girls.
• Autism impacts the normal development of the brain in the areas of social interaction, communication skills, and cognitive function.
• Individuals with autism often suffer from numerous physical ailments.
• Autism does not affect life expectancy.
Myth #1Refrigerator Mother
Theory
Bruno Bettelheim
• Bettelheim believed autistic children did not
feel loved by their mothers and retreated into a world
of their own. X
Myth #2No Emotion
•Children with autism and related disorders most definitely do have emotional feelings.
•Children with autism and related disorders are able to love and feel loved.
Myth #3 Your child needs a good spanking!
Too
Loud
Too
Crowde
d
TooBright
Myth #4 You’re born with autism.
•On average, autism is diagnosed at 44 months.
•Many children with autism met all of their developmental milestones before the age of 2 and suddenly regressed into autism.
Myth #5 Vaccines do not cause
autism. •A recent study shows that children receiving vaccines containing the preservative “Thimerosal” are many times more likely to develop autism than those who receive thimerosal-free vaccines.
•Thimerosal is 49.6% Mercury by weight. Mercury is the 2nd most toxic substance on Earth and aknown neuro-toxin.
•In the 1990’s the number of requiredchildhood vaccinations dramaticallyincreased. So did the rate of autism.
•Please do your own research.
Myth #6 Individuals with Autism are
Savants.
•It is not common for individuals with autism to be like Dustin Hoffman’s character in “Rain Man”.
Myth #7 Autism is a Neurological Disorder
•Feeding Disorders
•Allergies
•Asthma • Sleep disturbances
•Inflammatory bowel disease•Food Sensitivities
•Epilepsy
•Digestive Disorders
•Persistent Viral Infections
• And more…
Myth #8 The increase in the rate of autism is
due to better diagnosing. •10 years ago, the rate of autism was 1 in 10,000 births. •Today it is 1 in 166. •This is a 5,000% increase in 10 years. If this astonishing increase is due to better diagnosing, where are the thousands and thousands of adults with autism who should have received a diagnosis 10, 20 or 30 years ago?
This leads us to…
Myth #9 Autism is a rare disorder.
•1 in 166 children are now being diagnosed with autism.
•Every 16 minutes another child is diagnosed with autism.
1992
Baseline year
1994
0-30%
31-100%
101-300%
>1000%
0-30%
31-100%
101-300%
>1000%301-500%
501-999%
1996
0-30%
31-100%
101-300%
>1000%301-500%
501-999%
1998
0-30%
31-100%
101-300%
>1000%301-500%
501-999%
2000
0-30%
31-100%
101-300%
>1000%301-500%
501-999%
2002
Over 2000%
2003 incomplete
Myth #10 There is no cure for Autism.
•Dietary intervention•Nutritional supplementation•Heavy metal chelation•Anti-viral treatments•Applied Behavior Analysis•Auditory Integration Therapy
To learn more about autism and related disorders,visit http://www.NationalAutism.org.