DESTROYING THE MYTHS OF AUTISM

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DESTROYING THEMYTHS OF AUTISM

• Presented by
• Wendy Fournier
• and
• Jo Pike

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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.

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Myth 1Refrigerator Mother Theory
X

• Bettelheim believed autistic children did not
  feel loved by their mothers and retreated into a
  world of their own.

Bruno Bettelheim
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• Myth 2
• No 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.

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Myth 3 Your child needs a good spanking!
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Myth 4 Youre 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.

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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 1990s the number of requiredchildhood
  vaccinations dramaticallyincreased. So did the
  rate of autism.
• Please do your own research.

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• Myth 6
• Individuals with Autism are Savants.
• It is not common for individuals with autism to
  be like Dustin Hoffmans character in Rain
  Man.
•  

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Myth 7 Autism is a Neurological Disorder

• Allergies

• Asthma

• Sleep disturbances

• Food Sensitivities

• Inflammatory bowel disease

• Epilepsy

• Digestive Disorders

• Feeding Disorders

• Persistent Viral Infections

• And more

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• Myth 8
• The increase in the rate of autism is due to
  better diagnosing.
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• 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?

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• Myth 9
• Autism is a rare disorder.
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• 1 in 166 children are now being diagnosed with
  autism.
• Every 16 minutes another child is diagnosed with
  autism.

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1992
Baseline year
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1994
0-30
101-300
31-100
gt1000
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1996
0-30
101-300
501-999
gt1000
301-500
31-100
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1998
0-30
101-300
501-999
gt1000
301-500
31-100
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2000
0-30
101-300
501-999
gt1000
301-500
31-100
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2002
0-30
101-300
501-999
gt1000
301-500
31-100
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2003 incomplete
Over 2000
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• Myth 10
• There is no cure for Autism.
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• Dietary intervention
• Nutritional supplementation
• Heavy metal chelation
• Anti-viral treatments
• Applied Behavior Analysis
• Auditory Integration Therapy

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To learn more about autism and related
disorders,visit http//www.NationalAutism.org.