Saturday, May 07, 2005

Autism Test for Babies

MSNBC.COM -- A study in Canada suggests that autism may be diagnosed as early as 12 months old in infants who don't smile much, aren't very active or don't make a lot of eye contact. The study looked at 150 infants. They identified 19 which they predicted would be diagnosed with autism between the ages of 2 and 3 (the typical age when autism is diagnosed) and then tested them when they were between the ages of 2 and 3 and all 19 were dianosed with autism.

I read an interesting article a few months ago that suggested autism wasn't a "have" or "not have" but a scale. I then self-diagnosed myself as being just the smallest bit autistic.

Our child, however, is incredibly active, smiles all the time and makes eye contact whenever possible. When she's being held, sometimes she will smack you on both sides of your head or face. If you close your eyes, she stops hitting. As soon as you open your eyes, you see those hands poised and bap! She's got you again.

2 comments:

Spyfor said...

California is the only place in the Union that has systematically recorded information on autism for some time.

There is also a really good study about autism and the link from ethyl-mercury in vaccines

David Kirby has a book, "Evidence of Harm: Mercury in Vaccines and the Autism Epidemic: a Medical Controversy."

Congresspersons Dave Weldon, a Florida Republican, and Carolyn Maloney, a New York Democrat, have recently re-introduced the Mercury-Free Vaccines Act, which seeks to ban mercury from all vaccines by the year 2009.

Over the last 10 years, parents of children with autism and other serious mental conditions, discovered an uncanny correlation between vaccines and the onset of developmental and behavioral problems.

In the mid-1980s the US government allowed the level of mercury in childhood vaccines to double.

Moreover the number of childhood vaccines has increased. Also about 10 years ago, the rate of children with autism skyrocketed--today 1 out of 166 children develops autism. British children who are exposed to similar levels of mercury as the US showed a very similar rate of autism as American children. Other European governments such as Denmark banned mercury in vaccines years ago and rates of autism among Danish children dropped to only 1 in 1,300. Mercury in vaccines is used as a preservative under the name Thimerosal [thigh-MARE-i-sohl], and is rigorously defended by doctors and members of the medical establishment. New York Times writer, David Kirby has written a new book called "Evidence of Harm: Mercury in Vaccines and the Autism Epidemic: a Medical Controversy."

David Kirby will be speaking on May 3rd from 6:00 - 8:30 pm at the Vineyard Newport Church 102 E. Baker, Costa Mesa. For more information visit www.tacanow.org.

Also on May 4th in Pasadena from 7-9 pm – at the South Pasadena Public Library, Community Rom, 1115 El Centro, South Pasadena, 91030. For More Information visit www.holisticmoms.org

While too late for this posting, there is lots of information about this topic, and many places to go to hear people speak.

Websites where you can learn more about Vaccines and Autism:
www.evidenceofharm.com
www.safeminds.org
www.nationalautismassociation.org
www.autismtoday.com
www.nomercury.org

James said...

We did a little research on that (and by "we" I mean her mom because she read a lot more books than me) and decided the levels were acceptable. We were more concerned about the use of diethylmerculites (and the unique characteristic imprinted when it comes in contact with human DNA) in vaccines to later track people through the use of standard metal detectors.