Monthly Archive for February, 2008

Therapy vs school: Why should families have to choose?

Published
by
JohnL
on 10 February 2008
in Autism, Families, News and Treatment
. 0 Comments

Adam Shane has Autism and his mother wants him to be able to receive intensive behavioral therapy as well as other schooling. However, according to a story by Craig MacBride in the Mississauga (ON, CA) News, Adam has not been able to receive therapy in the school setting, so she is taking legal recourse.

ebruary 7, 2008 09:47 PM - A Mississauga woman fighting to have her eight-year-old autistic son attend school, accompanied by his therapist, is taking her case to the Ontario Court of Appeal on Monday morning.

Lynn Shane, who last year pulled her son, Adam, out of Grade 2 at Ashgrove Public School in Clarkson because he was falling behind due to the rigours of balancing classes and 21 hours of weekly at-home therapy, has joined forces with five other Ontario families in hopes of launching a class-action lawsuit against Queen’s Park and seven school boards. The Peel District School Board and Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board are among those named.

In essence, the parents want to be able to send their autistic children to school while also getting them the therapy they need. Because outside therapists aren’t allowed in schools, though, Shane, and parents in the same situation, must choose between school or therapy.

Read Mr. MacBride’s report about the Lynns’ actions. Flash of the electrons to Schafer Autism Report for the lead.

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Minshew joins Fombonne rejecting mercury connection

Published
by
JohnL
on 1 February 2008
in Autism, Families, News, Policy, Research and The press
. 1 Comment

Nancy J. Minshew, director of the University of Pittsburgh’s Center for Excellence in Autism Research, told Mark Roth of the Pittsburgh (PA, US) Post-Gazette that she considers the debate about a connection between mercury and autism to be closed: Vaccinations do not cause Autism. Dr. Minshew told Mr. Roth, “The weight of the evidence is so great that I don’t think there is any room for dispute. I think the issue is done.”

As Mr. Roth noted, Dr. Minshew’s statements occur just at the time when the topic has gained substantially greater visibility, especially because of the flap over an episode of the Eli Stone television show. Mr. Roth reported that, after previewing the show, Dr. Minshew had many comments. Among them were these:

One reason that the vaccine theory won’t go away, she said, is the painful coincidence that most symptoms of autism show up in the second year of life, at 18 months on average, and that corresponds with the time many vaccinations are given.

When that happens, she said, “you want to blame something. Something horrible has happened to your child, and it did seem to start around that time, so for some people who aren’t logical and who are affected, it’s understandable that they would blame vaccinations.

“But when it gets to the point that people are seeing conspiracies at the Centers for Disease Control and they’re accusing all these scientists and experts of conspiracy … that’s wrong.”

Read earlier EBD Blog posts about Eric Frombonne’s statements about thimerosal (or mercuritol, as it’s called in the TV show) here and here and an earlier post covering the concern about the Eli Stone TV show. Also, see Liz Ditz’ post on the Eli Stone flap for more links.

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