* Health
Officials Upset New Law Won’t Force Vaccination in Texas
* Parent Groups
Support New Texas Vaccine Exemption Law
* More
Mercury Pollution Under Bush Plan, 100 Groups Write to
Oppose
Legislation
RESEARCH
* Infectious
Virus Linked To Development Of Mental Disorders
* Autism Tissue
Program: The Gift Of Hope
ADVOCACY
* Senators
Introduce Bipartisan Mental Health Parity Bill
* A Golden
Harvest In Traffic Violators
TREATMENT
* Helpful
Interventions Spotlight Latest Issue of Autism Magazine
AWARENESS
* Indiana Family
Learns To Live With Autism: Three ASD Kids
PUBLIC HEALTH
Health Officials Upset New
Law Won’t Force Vaccination in Texas
“Parents who don’t want their children vaccinated because
of
conscientious objections often are victims of unscientific
information
that serves as a scare tactic against immunizations.”
[By Nicole Foy for the San Antonio
Express-News.]
http://news.mysanantonio.com/story.cfm?xla=saen&xlb=180&xlc=1020421
Pediatricians and public health experts across the state are incensed over
a new law that will allow unvaccinated children to attend public school and day
care if their parents philosophically object to state immunization requirements.
The controversial measure, which many physicians argue could put public health
at risk, repeatedly has come up in past Texas legislative sessions, but failed
to make it into law each time.
This time, it passed in the form of an amendment tacked to a mammoth
health and human services reorganization bill during the last, chaotic hours of
the session — a move that has angered many who have worked to oppose it.
“Vaccination is one of the greatest public health accomplishments of the
20th century,” said Dr. Michael Foulds, president of the Texas Pediatric
Society. “Expanding exemptions will only increase the outbreak of deadly
infectious diseases.”
The not-for-profit professional society represents about 2,800 Texas
pediatricians and 600 medical students.
Under current law, children must follow state vaccination policies in
order to enter public school or day care. Exemptions are allowed only in two
cases: medical necessity, as determined by a physician, and any religious
objection on the basis that vaccination conflicts with the “tenets and practice
of a recognized church.”
The new policy, passed as part of House Bill 2292 and signed into law by
Gov. Rick Perry, allows any parent with a philosophical, “conscientious
objection” to vaccinations to obtain a form from the state health department
that, after notarization, would allow their children access into public schools.
Among the new law’s advocates is Parents Requesting Open Vaccine Education
(PROVE). Its director, Dawn Richardson, said the new exemption should make it
easier for families to reclaim control over their children’s health from
bureaucrats who shouldn’t be making vaccination decisions.
Richardson said her group represents at least 3,500 families — many of
whom she said have been harassed and discriminated against by physicians and
schools intent on mandating vaccination requirements.
“Parents are being thrown out of doctors’ offices statewide,” she said.
“Every parent should have the right to pick and choose what is best for their
child.”
According to Richardson, at least 19 other states have some form of
conscientious-objector clause regarding vaccinations.
But many public health experts note that the current immunization process
is based on scientific data and a wealth of evidence that vaccinations prevent
disease and death. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently
ranked the control of vaccine-preventable diseases as the top public health
achievement within the past 100 years.
Vaccines are responsible for the control of infectious diseases that were
once common and, in many cases, deadly. Those include polio, measles, whooping
cough, German measles, mumps, hepatitis A, hepatitis B and influenza.
It was Sen. Craig Estes, R-Wichita Falls, who offered a “conscientious
objection” amendment on the Senate floor. His chief of staff Trey Blocker said
Estes’ amendment originally made it clear that the applicant’s sibling had to
have had an adverse reaction to an immunization in order to be exempt under the
clause.
But when the bill was sent to a conference committee of House and Senate
members, the sibling language was struck, leaving the broader wording that will
allow an applicant to decline immunizations “for reasons of conscience.”
Dr. Tom Spurgat, medical director of the Christus Santa Rosa Children’s
Hospital, called the move a “huge mistake.”
He noted that vaccines not only prevent disease in people who receive
them, but they also protect those who come into contact with unvaccinated
people.
Spurgat said parents who don’t want their children vaccinated because of
conscientious objections often are victims of unscientific information that
serves as a scare tactic against immunizations.
“It’s a shame these people are operating off so much misinformation,” he
said. “They’re putting their children at risk and they’re putting my children at
risk.”
Dr. Fernando Guerra, director of the Metropolitan Health District, said he
wants to work with local school districts in keeping track of the number of
children with exemptions. Such tracking would better equip the local health
department in the event of any disease outbreak, he said.
Under the law, unvaccinated children can remain anonymous and the only
data publicly released will be the number of exemptions allowed.
In the event of a public health emergency, the state health commissioner
also could require unvaccinated children to stay home from school, according to
the law.
The new policy also prohibits a health and human services agency from
taking punitive action against parents for not immunizing their children.
Richardson of PROVE said the clause will go far to protect parents who feel
discriminated against because of decisions not to vaccinate.
Three parent groups in Texas have come together in voicing strong support
for the new Texas vaccine exemption law. The new law allows parents to exercise
a conscientious belief exemption to vaccination. Together, all three
organizations, The National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC) and Americans for
Vaccine Safety and Accountability (AVSA) are joining with the Texas-based parent
organization, Parents Requesting Open Vaccine Education (PROVE), to represent
more than 200,000 Americans committed to defending the informed consent rights
of citizens to make voluntary health care choices when there is a risk of injury
or death.
Parent and health care professional groups are responding to last week’s
outcry by Texas pediatricians and public health officials, who criticized
passage of the new vaccine exemption in House Bill 2292, which was signed into
law by Governor Rick Perry. NVIC President Barbara Loe Fisher said “Texas is
joining 18 other states which allow this kind of vaccine exemption, including
every state bordering Texas. These other states are not having raging epidemics
of disease just because they respect a parent’s right to make educated choices
about the benefits and risks of vaccination for their children. It is a basic
human right to be able to voluntarily decide what you are willing to risk your
life or your child’s life for and Texas should be proud to be among the
enlightened states which recognize this simple moral fact.”
Terry Rondberg, D.C., president of the World Chiropractic Alliance (WCA),
which is a member of the lobbying coalition, AVSA, said “Pediatricians should be
welcoming the opportunity to have open dialogue with parents about vaccination
so they can be partners, not adversaries, with parents in making these important
health decisions. No one should be forced to take a health care risk they don’t
want to take. Only when you own a decision that involves a risk can you take
responsibility for it.”
Dawn Richardson, president of PROVE, who back grounded Texas legislators
for seven years about the importance of parental rights and informed consent to
vaccination, said “At a time when physicians and vaccine manufacturers have
lobbied so hard for further release of liability for the harm they sometimes do,
parents in Texas are grateful to the legislators who have given them back
control over which vaccine risks their child will take. I was excited to receive
a letter from Speaker of the House Tom Craddick, after the Governor signed the
exemption into law stressing the legislature’s strong support for parental
rights.”
The Speaker’s letter said in part, “This exemption should assist parents
who are subjected to any harassment at schools and day care facilities since a
signed notarized exemption form will not be disputable by officials…an
additional provision in HB 2292 prohibits any health and human services agency
from taking punitive action against a parent for not immunizing their child.
Thus, parental decisions will be protected and respected in the future on this
issue.”
The Texas legislature joins with the Arkansas legislature this past
session in providing parents with the right to conscientious or philosophical
belief exemption to vaccination. Internationally, there is also acknowledgement
of the importance of voluntary vaccination decision-making. Last month the
British Medical Association released a report which stated, “Parents have a
right to receive unbiased information so that they can make an informed choice
with regard to vaccination of their children….Public health policies depend on
social consensus. The UK government currently recommends a national immunization
schedule which is not compulsory…. we do not believe that compulsory
immunization is in any way appropriate for the UK but that healthcare
professionals should strive to inform, educate and advise the public about the
overwhelming benefits of vaccination for their children and society in general.”
That report also noted that “across Europe the trend has been toward greater
voluntary participation.”
* * *
More Mercury
Pollution Under Bush Plan, 100 Groups Write to Oppose Legislation
U.S. Newswire/ -- In response to a US
congressional hearing on the President’s “Clear Skies” legislation, over 100
physician, health, environmental and consumer groups say they oppose the
proposal because it would actually result in increases in mercury pollution,
compared with existing mandates. The criticisms were leveled at Bush in a letter
signed by organizations as diverse as the Mercury Policy Project, SC Coastal
Conservation League and the Women’s Health & Environmental Network to national
organizations like Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth and Sierra Club.
“The so-called Clear Skies proposal would allow for more mercury
pollution, not less,” said MPP Director Michael T. Bender, who spearheaded the
letter to the President. “While recent CDC data show that 8 percent of U.S.
women have unsafe mercury levels, the President seems more intent on protecting
polluters, rather than America’s children.”
The letter emphasized that, “Nowhere would the weakening of existing law
have potentially more devastating results than with respect to the threats posed
by mercury to human health, fish as a protein source, and the future viability
of the recreational and commercial fishing industries.” Clear Skies would
endanger children by allowing increases in emissions of mercury, a toxic metal
now found above federal “safe” levels in eight percent of women of childbearing
age-translating to over 300,000 children born each year at risk of mercury
poisoning.
Under current law, by year’s end the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
must issue rules requiring mercury emissions at individual old and new
coal-fired power plants, the largest aggregate source of the heavy metal, to be
cut by up to 90 percent. Yet the groups maintain that, “Clear Skies would delay
the start of mercury reductions until 2010, postpone full implementation until
2018, and achieve reductions that would be only a fraction of those that would
be produced by current law.”
A constituent of coal, mercury is released through smoke stacks then works
its way up the food chain into the flesh large predators like shark, swordfish
and tuna, and can cause brain damage, impaired coordination, blurred vision,
tremors, irritability and memory loss, behavioral problems and loss of
intelligence, and cardiovascular disease. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration
and 44 states warn consumers to limit intake of fish -- including canned tuna,
one of the most consumed fish in the U.S. -- because of mercury levels.
The hearing today on Bush’s proposed legislation for reducing mercury,
nitrogen oxides and sulfur dioxide pollution from coal-burning power plants will
be held in the House Energy and Commerce energy and air quality subcommittee.
For more information:
http://www.mercurypolicy.org/new/documents/PresBushLetter050703.pdf
http://www.mercurypolicy.org/new/documents/ClearingTheRecord022503.pdfhttp://www.epa.gov/mercury/index.html
http://www.usnewswire.com/
* * *
RESEARCH
Infectious Virus
Linked To Development Of Mental Disorders
[By Michael Woods for the Post-Gazette, Pittsburgh.]
http://www.post-gazette.com/healthscience/20030708borna0708p3.asp
The seemingly far-fetched idea that people might catch a mental illness in
the same way they catch the flu gained credence yesterday as scientists reported
witnessing in mice a mechanism by which a virus could cause mental disorders.
“Our results suggest that viral infection may play a role in the
development of psychiatric disorders,” said Dr. Keizo Tomonago, a member of a
Japanese research team whose study on Borna Disease Virus was published in
yesterday’s weekly journal of The National Academy of Sciences.
Dr. W. Ian Lipkin, a Columbia University authority on borna virus, called
the Japanese research “elegant.” Lipkin was the first to isolate the borna virus
from human brain tissue, and he headed the lab that deciphered the virus’s
genome.
“Mental disorders represent four of the 10 leading causes of disability in
individuals over the age of five years,” Lipkin said. “Despite progress in
identifying susceptibility genes, the causes of most mental disorders remains
unknown.”
The borna virus has long been suspected as a cause of clinical depression,
hyperactivity, schizophrenia and other mental illnesses.
Researchers have found, for instance, that borna virus infections are more
common in people with mental illness than in healthy people. Children of mothers
exposed to the virus during pregnancy have an increased risk of autism and
schizophrenia, as well.
Nevertheless, Lipkin said, more research is needed to prove that the borna
virus actually causes such conditions, rather than just being an innocent
bystander, and few scientists believe that borna virus alone could cause mental
illness.
Tomonago, a virologist at Osaka University, echoed those reservations in
an interview from Japan.
“At present, there is no direct evidence that this virus infection links
to a specific human disorder,” he said. “Although the broad potential host range
of this virus suggests that humans are targets for infection, the sources and
routes of human infection are not clear now.”
Borna Disease Virus was named after Borna, a town in southern Germany
where an epidemic killed horses and sheep in the 1880s. People called it “sad
horse disease” because depression is among the first symptoms.
The virus also can infect birds, rats, monkeys, cows, rabbits, cats, dogs
and other animals, including humans. Scientists think the virus is transmitted
much like cold and flu viruses, via infected saliva and mucus.
Infected animals develop symptoms similar to human psychiatric illnesses.
Young infected rats become hyperactive, for instance, and rat pups cannot
communicate normally -- a condition similar to autism. Other infected animals
become violent.
“These observations suggest that BDV is a human pathogen and that viral
infection may play a role in the induction of certain human mental illnesses,”
Tomonago said.
“We never knew what was wrong with Eric when he
was alive and hope that this research will help lead to an understanding about
autism.” Eric, age five, had autism and died of heart failure during a seizure.
The wish of his father, Jonathan Carrillo, echoes the wish of all the families
who have donated brain tissue of a child or adult relative for brain research.
Brain Research of Autism and Related Disorders The Autism Tissue Program works
with families to make brain tissue available to researchers who look for
evidence of changes in the brain that explain autistic behaviors and can give
clues about useful treatments. The availability of brain specimens in this
country is still limited, so the efforts of the Autism Tissue Program focus on
educational outreach to families, educators and medical professionals about the
importance of brain tissue donation.
Often, the decision is made in the crisis of the sudden death of a young
child. By April of 2003, there were 52 donors to the Autism Tissue Program and
26 were under the age of 16; the youngest boy was four. The Program works with
advocates in chapters of the Autism Society of America around the country so
they are informed about the process of donation and can provide information to
others thinking about donation and support for families who go through the
process.
Compared to normal brains, minicolumns in autistic brains are packed more
closely together and more regularly spaced than in control brains. The results
applied equally to three cortical areas examined in both hemispheres. (M.
Casanova, International Meeting for Autism Research 2002.)
Brain Research
We are often asked what researchers expect
to find from brain tissue research amid the present confusion about the cause or
causes of autism spectrum disorders. The brain is the place to go to understand
how the behaviors that we identify with autism- alterations in social
interaction and language development, limited interests and unusual repetitive
behaviors-come about. The brain is the organ of the body generating these
behaviors. Whether caused by a virus, vaccine, environmental toxins, neonatal
trauma or innate genetic anomalies, the resulting behaviors we call “autism”
occur because the brain is affected.
What We Know
A small number of brains in children and
adults with autism have been studied over the last 20 years. In that time, two
major groups, headed by Drs. Margaret Bauman and Tom Kemper in Boston and Dr.
Tony Bailey in London, looked systematically at the size, shape, location and
numbers of cells in various parts of the brain, knowing what the
typically-developing brain areas and cells in them should look like.
What they found is that many autistic
brains are larger in overall size than average and often show “migration” errors
so that some cells in the cortex (outer layer) end up in the wrong location. The
cortex is where incoming sensory information is processed and where
associations, planning and thinking take place. Errors in positioning can lead
to miscommunication among brain cells and associated problems in brain
functioning. Cortical migration errors in the temporal lobes, which are located
on the sides of the brain, are consistent with seizure activity, an important
finding since about 30 percent of the donors to our program also had a seizure
disorder.
The most consistent brain change found is a decrease in the numbers of
Purkinje cells in the cerebellum, which contains over half of the neurons of the
brain and appears to play a central regulatory role for the entire brain. An
excerpt from a brain- mapping book co-written by an Autism Tissue Program’s
tissue advisory board member, Dr. John Mazziotta, explains the role of this
structure and how damage to the cerebellum might disrupt normal intellectual,
emotional and other cognitive abilities. “In the same way that the cerebellum
regulates the rate, force, rhythm and accuracy of movements, so may it regulate
the speed, capacity, consistency and appropriateness of mental or cognitive
processes. The cerebellum is viewed as an oscillation dampener, maintaining
function steadily around a homeostatic baseline.”
Other brain structures have likewise been investigated in the pioneering
brain studies. A system of linked brain areas forms the limbic system, involved
in emotional aspects of face processing, in perceiving fear and in the formation
of long-term memory. Some brains show increased numbers of seemingly immature
cells in limbic structures called the amygdala and hippocampus. These changes,
along with some evidence of brainstem structural differences point to problems
arising before children are born, early in prenatal development.
Figure 2. Three-dimensional magnetic resonance imaging of the post-mortem
brain. Arrow points to the amygdala, an area of interest in autism. (Cynthia
Schumann and David Amaral; UC Davis.) New Developments The human cortex is
structured in mini-columns with cell groups of 60-80 neurons taking in input
(information), processing it and generating output (responses). Dr. Manuel
Casanova made news with his findings that, in autism cases, these groups of
brain cells are smaller and more numerous than average. “Intelligence is not the
property of single cells; it’s in the circuitry,” according to Casanova, and the
autistic individual may be “literally bombarded with stimulation from the
environment.”
An analogy to increased numbers of mini-columns is an increase in pixels
in a digital camera. Whether or not this results in higher resolution and can
account for observations of exceptional visual memory or special attention to
detail often observed in those with autism is too early to tell. Certainly,
educators need to understand how the brain is processing information so we can
continue to adapt teaching techniques to best support brain function. In
contrast to autistic brain tissue, Casanova reported that mini-columns in post-
mortem tissue of individuals with Down syndrome were “large and less cell dense,
while brain volumes were significantly smaller than the controls.”
The Autism Tissue Program employs Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) as a
valuable, non-invasive tool for understanding structural abnormalities in the
brain. The M.I.N.D. Institute at UC Davis developed a procedure to investigate
anatomical differences in the post mortem brain with imaging methods for optimal
contrast between gray and white matter. Images of the brain are routinely
obtained before distribution of tissue for other research, providing a record of
how the brain appeared prior to tissue processing. The virtual representation
(Figure 2) of the whole brain can also be subjected to additional analyses such
as measuring the volume of brain regions or area of the cortical surface. These
images are loaded onto an open site maintained by UC Davis for other researchers
(all brain cases are identified by a special case number to protect
confidentiality of the donor).
Senators Pete Domenici (R-N.Mex.) and Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.), along with 24
cosponsors, have introduced the Senator Paul Wellstone Mental Health Equitable
Treatment Act of 2003 (S. 486). A companion bill was introduced in the House by
Representatives Jim Ramstad (R- Minn.) and Patrick Kennedy (D-R.I.), along with
two cosponsors. The bill was referred to the Health, Education, Labor, and
Pensions Committee. S. 486 would prohibit a group health plan from treating
mental health benefits differently from the coverage of medical and surgical
benefits. According to a statement from Senator Domenici, S. 486 is modeled on
the mental health benefits program for federal employees and would expand the
Mental Health Parity Act of 1996. Mr. Wellstone (D-Minn.), who was killed in a
plane crash last fall, had partnered with Senator Domenici in the 1990s to
promote mental health legislation.
The bill will provide full parity for all categories of mental health
conditions listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders,
as long as the condition is included in an authorized treatment plan that meets
standard protocols and medical necessity criteria. The 1996 parity law does not
provide for coverage of treatment for mental health conditions that is equal to
coverage of treatment for physical conditions; that law allows plans to set
limits on the number of days or visits for treatment and on dollars paid per
treatment for mental conditions. Like the 1996 law, the Domenici-Kennedy
legislation only applies to group health plans that already cover treatment for
mental health conditions; it would not mandate that plans provide coverage of
treatment for those conditions or for substance abuse. The bill also contains an
exclusion for companies with 50 or fewer employees.
Copyright Aspen Publishers, Inc. Apr 2003
* * *
A Golden Harvest
In Traffic Violators Bill for NJ traffic tickets
to fund autism research.
Next time you get pulled over for running a stop
sign or making an illegal turn, look the cop in the eye and say you were just
trying to do your part to fight autism. If the officer reaches for a
Breathalyzer or a straitjacket, it might help to whip out a copy of A2601, which
passed both houses of the Legislature during Tuesday’s law-a-palooza.
The bill adds a temporary $1 surcharge to all motor vehicle fines to raise
nearly $4 million a year for autism research over the next five years.
Sitting near A2601 in Governor McGreevey’s office, among the more than 80
bills awaiting his signature, is A2617. It adds a $2 surcharge to traffic fines
to generate $8 million a year to expand the number of criminals whose DNA
samples are kept in police databases.
The autism bill is sponsored by Assemblywoman Loretta Weinberg, D-
Teaneck, who has a step-grandson with a high-performing form of autism. The DNA
bill is sponsored by her running mate, Assemblyman Gordon Johnson, D-Englewood.
A former Bergen County sheriff, he put in the bill after DNA in a Georgia
database helped nab a guy who was robbing stores in Englewood.
One might wonder what autism and criminals’ DNA have in common, and what
either has to do with speeding or failing to “keep right except to pass.” The
answer is this: They both cost money, and traffic violators are an easy mark.
The two bills are the latest examples of what happens when legislators’
good intentions collide with a tight budget. Every day, lawmakers are approached
by people pleading for public funding. And as much as partisan rhetoric portrays
Democrats and Republicans as somehow different types of human beings, both
parties are filled with people who would like to grant those pleas.
When times are good, the legislators put in appropriations or bargain with
their budget chairmen to get line items included in the budget. But when times
are bad, evil state treasurers concerned with such trivial pursuits as balancing
budgets persuade governors to delete those items.
Over the years, lawmakers have tried to get around evil treasurers by
creating “dedicated revenue streams” that tap cash already flowing into state
coffers. The new hotel tax McGreevey signed last week, for example, was
sugar-coated as a future funding source for arts, tourism, and historical
preservation.
Traffic fines were being tapped long before the autism and DNA bills were
drafted.
The practice started in the late Eighties when a $1 fee, later raised to
$2, was assessed to create an Automated Traffic System to link municipal courts
together.
The idea was to make violators pay for the system’s operation, but it now
costs $1 million more than the fee generates, and a massive upgrade is needed.
Court officials say they used to be able to get parts for outdated servers on
eBay, but that’s now close to impossible. It’s also getting harder to find
programmers who can write the obsolete code to manage the database.
Since the first fee was assessed, new surcharges have added $1 for police
body armor, 50 cents for emergency medical technician training, and $1 for
victims of spinal cord injuries. A bill providing another $1 for brain injury
research has cleared the Assembly and is pending in the Senate.
So if things keep going this way, there could come a day when motor
vehicle fines are deductible from your federal income tax. At the very least,
next time you get a telemarketing call from some foundation dedicated to
fighting a disease, just tell them, “I gave in traffic court.”
* * *
TREATMENT
Helpful
Interventions Spotlight Latest Issue of Autism Magazine
[From a
company announcement.]
The
July-August 2003 issue of the Autism Asperger’s Digest, a bimonthly 52 page
magazine devoted to autism/AS, has just been released. Spotlighting this month’s
issue are articles addressing a variety of helpful interventions for individuals
with autism, including:
Proactive Strategies
for Managing Problem Behaviors
Play as a Strategy
for Interaction and Coping
Incidental Teaching
The Young Autism
Program: Returning Children to Regular Kindergarten by Age Six
Curriculum Planning
for an Inclusive Classroom
The SCORE Skills
Strategy Program
Tips on Traveling
Solo (for adults with autism/AS)
The Road to
Effective Intervention: What Speech-Language Pathologists Need to Know to Work
with Students with ASD
Schedules,
Schedules, Schedules
Give Us our Daily
Bread….Please! Finding a Good GF/CF Bread
The Denver Model:
Putting Relationships at the Helm of Treatment
Available by single
copy or subscription, the Autism Asperger’s Digest features originally written
articles, book excerpts and regular columns by some of the top names in the
autism field: Temple Grandin, Reed Martin, Diane Twachtman-Cullen, Jerry
Newport. For more information, visit their website: http://www.autismdigest.com
or call Future Horizons, at 800.489.0727.
Plainfield -- The Smith family has not one, not two, but three autistic
children, which creates some unique problems for a stay-at-home mom.
Sharon Smith’s full-time job is taking care of 7-year-old Quinn,
5-year-old Noah, and 3-year-old Adriana, who have all been diagnosed with
various forms of autism. She and her husband, Joe, live in Plainfield.
“It’s always a scene when we go into public,” Smith said. “Adriana likes
to scream. They are happy screams, but other people don’t know that.”
According to information from the Autism Society of America, autism is a
complex developmental disability that typically appears during the first three
years of life. The disorder affects the functioning of the brain and has been
estimated to occur in as many as two to six out of every 1,000 people.
Smith said her two youngest children were first diagnosed as autistic.
“They don’t just play with toys and they don’t take naps,” Smith said.
“Adriana will sleep in six-hour spurts, but then she will jump up and be wide
awake. Quinn was only recently diagnosed with Asperger’s. He’s very smart and
always has areas where he will excel, but socially, he has problems.”
Asperger’s disorder is characterized by severe and sustained impairment in
social interaction, Smith explained.
The two younger children, she said, can’t speak like other children their
age.
“That’s another thing that makes it hard in public,” Smith said. “They
look normal, but then act out. I’m sure people think I’m crazy when I have to
wrestle my children out of McDonald’s.”
She said a trip to the library can be traumatic, but a ride in the car is
very relaxing.
“They’ll sit in their seats and eat fries,” she said. “They do just fine
-- then we tried going to the library for story time.”
Smith said she stayed with her children throughout the program but they
still ended up disturbing the other patrons.
The Smith children are almost always dressed in T-shirts identifying them
as autistic, Smith said, adding that Noah’s shirts generally have his name and
address on them, as he has been known to escape from the backyard and wander
away.
“The symbol for autism is puzzle pieces,” Smith said. “I have shirts for
them that say ‘Jesus makes all the pieces fit.’ People who know about autism
will recognize the symbol.”
Smith said her faith and her church, the Fleming Garden Christian Church
on the west side of Indianapolis, have helped the family through many trials.
“I try to get my helpers from my church,” Smith said. “Especially if
they’re raising money for mission trips. But since we go to church on the west
side, many of them are from that area.”
She said she generally has a “mother’s helper,” normally a teen-age girl,
on hand throughout the day.
“They help me keep track of them (the children) and to keep the house
together,” she said. “They (the children) can pretty much destroy the house. I
have to vacuum at least two or three times a day.”
She also has an adult helper who comes to help clean and watch the
children so she can escape for a few hours a week.
“That’s when I come down here to work,” she said.
In the basement of her home is a children’s clothing shop where people can
come and shop without worrying about their children running around a store. It’s
sports a playroom filled with toys, chairs, couches a television, and a VCR.
“This is how I pay for my helpers,” Smith said. “I sell just enough to pay
for them and I give myself something to do. People with autistic or hyper
children can come here to do their Christmas shopping and they won’t have to
worry about their kids.”
Smith says she’d like to connect with other families with autistic
children and to start a support group. She may be reached by calling 839-9933 or
by e-mailing to sharonweb@indy.rr.com. She also has a website at
SHARONSWEB.COM.
DISCLAIMER:
All information, data, and material contained, presented, or provided here
is for general information purposes only and is not to be construed as
reflecting the knowledge or opinions of the publisher, and is not to be
construed or intended as providing medical or legal advice. The decision
whether or not to vaccinate is an important and complex issue and should
be made by you, and you alone, in consultation with your health care
provider.
"A foolish faith in authority is the worst enemy of truth."
-- Albert Einstein, letter to a friend, 1901
"I know of no safe depository of the ultimate powers of the society but the people themselves, and if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise control with a wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them, but to inform their discretion by education."
-- Thomas Jefferson, letter to William C. Jarvis, September 28, 1820
"What's the point of vaccination if it doesn't protect you from the unvaccinated?"
-- Sandy Gottstein
"Who gets to decide what the greater good is and how many will be sacrificed to it?"
