DESTROYING THE MYTHS OF AUTISM

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.