|
La Voz Nueva
Autism numbers easy to count… Addressing children’s issues Part I of V
Ernest Gurule
A generation ago, it was a health issue that, while often unable to be explained, was considered a fringe illness. But so much has changed. Today, autism is not simply pervasive but growing at numbers that continue to baffle researchers while breaking the hearts of parents whose children are diagnosed with it.
In Colorado and across the country, the Center for Disease Control estimates that one in 150 children have some form of autism. Autism is a severe developmental disorder that affects the way a child sees and interacts with the world. In severe cases, an autistic child simply cannot interact with others. And there is no cure for autism.
One popular theory about the explosion of autism is linked to vaccinations, especially the MMR vaccine which inoculates young children against measles, mumps and rubella. A growing number of parents believe that the MMR vaccine, which is given at around thirty months, may be central in isolating the cause of autism. It is the preservatives in the vaccine – in some cases, mercury-based preservatives – that many people blame for autism.
“I don’t tell my parents not to vaccinate,” said Dr. Karen Colvin, Executive Director of Pueblo’s Soaring Eagles Center for Autism. “If you don’t vaccinate,” she said, “you’re still taking a chance.” The chance, said Colvin, is leaving a child open to a number of other illnesses, many as bad or worse than autism.
Still, Colvin, who has a child with autism, has seen the steady rise of this condition in the population. “It could be environmental,” she said. “Our planet is different, the food is different, there are chemical additives that weren’t there before,” she said. And while she can’t put a finger on the cause, neither can the well-respected CDC, which continues to study the problem but has so far been unable to isolate the genesis of autism.
While autism is spoken about in general terms, there is no single form of autism. “Some autistic children will go to college,” said Colvin. “Others will need long term care,” she said. But most autistic children will fall between these extremes.
Autism is part of a larger group of disorders called Pervasive Developmental Disorders. One such branch of the PDD tree is Asperger Syndrome. Those with Asperger often have limited ability with social interaction. A number of well-known people throughout history are suspected of having AS. Among the traits they’ve displayed that have caused this suspicion are intense preoccupation with a narrow subject, one-sided communications and often-extreme clumsiness.
Some of history’s best known names have been suspected of having traits linked to Asperger Syndrome, including the artist Vincent Van Gogh, pop culture icon Andy Warhol, Lewis Carroll, author of “Alice in Wonderland,” the author of the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson and, perhaps, modern history’s evil genius, Adolph Hitler.
Dr. Colvin says American colleges and universities are populated with people with varying degrees of autism and “many of them will do very well,” she said. “Many of them will just blend in.”
While there is a growing dialogue about autism in the United States, it is an illness that knows no boundaries. It has left its mark across the world. And, no country or ethnic group is immune. Research has so far produced no cures. But some researchers think there may be promise in neurotransmitters, brain chemicals that communicate information throughout your brain and body. Two things they do are provide calm and balance to the brain of autistic children and adults, things in short supply to its victims as well as to their caregivers.
|