Its no secret that like a few others I was once someone who believed that my daughter had been injured by vaccines and that that injury had resulted in autism. Its also no secret that I no longer believe that to be true.
There are many reasons why not. Some are logical reasons, some are medical reasons, some are intuitive. The logical reasons are the overwhelming evidence against a vaccine/autism causative connection and the underwhelming evidence to support that theory. The medical reasons are private and will remain so. Suffice it to say there are better labs than Doctors Data and Great Plains around.
What about the intuitive reasons? Well hell, I can be just as big on observation as anyone and thats what I base my intuitive opinion on. I hear about how autistic people cannot progress without a huge mix of treatments designed to reduce mercury and then I look at my six year old daughter who still doesn’t talk regularly but does talk much more than she used to and who can use a mouse and keyboard to use Windows XP to start Firefox, access her personal Bookmarks and browse to the BBC website to play educational games, or browse to Shockwave to play slightly less educational games ( you know – fun), or who is 99% toilet trained (we’re still working on night times and school), or who sings the most beautiful renditions of her favourite songs (she still has a woeful taste in music – Westlife and Robbie Williams whereas her Dad is still trying to get her interested in The Pixies or The Clash), or who fetches and puts on her DVD’s and uses a remote control perfectly to get to her favourite ‘rewind’ moments.
Oh and she still stims (and enjoys it) and still adores anything water related to the point of obsession and still has the odd meltdown and still is troubled by excess noise and the texture and colour of certain foods but we work on those things if she finds them uncomfortable and (the stimming for example) let her do what she wants if she enjoys it.
But what about the vaccines? What do I observe that makes me so sure that her autism was actually there from the start now? That it didn’t occur later? Well, what I look at is her baby sister. Nine months old now and everytime she learns something new, we say to each other ‘you know, now that I think about it, Megan never did that!’ – things like the craving of eye contact, the reaching out for people, the word salad that is becoming closer and closer to ‘Mum’ and ‘Dad’ and ‘Nan’ every day, the non-obsessional interest in baths!! We look at these things and realise that we were wrong – Meg was always autistic. Tabby seems to be totally NT. I love them both just the way they are.
Left Brain Right Brain 
Thanks so much for sharing this, Kevin!
Inculcating a love of The Clash in your offspring is a noble goal. For that purpose, may I suggest a great track on Best of Bootie 2005 — Party Ben’s mash-up of “Rock the Casbah” with The Killers’ “Somebody Told Me.”
You know, when my son was a month old, my wife said, “I think he seems autistic to me,” and I said, “how interesting,” and (truthfully) blew her off. I mean, this was my beautiful boy who had such an odd way of looking at you that he didn’t seem like a baby. Who held his own neck up from the day he was born and would push your hand away if you tried to do it for him. Who rolled over at 3 weeks and sat up at 6. What could be wrong with him?
18 months later, Jared was big enough to be trouble, wild enough that babysitters called him Mowgli, and different enough that we got him to a doctor who diagnosed him with Autism. Funny story: you know that mystery illness that anti -vaccine-types say occurs at 18 months right after the MMR? Yeah, Jared missed his MMR at 18 months because he was in the hospital with a mystery illness and didn’t get it until he was 3 – at which point he’d been in an autism class for a year.
So whatever signs there were, my wife could see them at birth. He was ALWAYS different. And we’ve always liked him that way. At 6, he’s funnier, sweeter, cuter and more enjoyable to be around than just about any other kid on the planet. Sure he can be difficult – but what child isn’t?
Kevin,
Hindsight can be a wonderful thing can’t it? We have the examples of a now 11 month-old brother to help us see things that were different in Cameron, looking back. We have video of Cameron too, from birth until today, but had no frame of reference for understanding. Looking back I realized that I was in denial and just didn’t understand Cameron’s potential differences (and they are just that – differences). We love them both and wouldn’t trade them for anything. In fact we love them both so much, that we have raised the rate we charge others for the privelege of babysitting for our kids to $25/hr. USD. If you’re ever in the U.S. and want to babysit, I might be willing to give YOU a small discount though.
Our oldest daughter was different, but I was a ‘let her color outside the lines’ mom, so the ADD/Aspie label was a shock. Daughter II was a born engineer-wanted Lego’s more than people, so I guess the PDD-NOS diagnosis wasn’t as shocking. Daughter III is a social butterfly! Now I can see what normal social development looks like. They are all wonderful in their own way. The oldest is the philosopher/artist, II is handling algebra at age 9, and III studies anatomy with me. We have found schools that let them excel where they can and get hep where they need it-ALL kids deserve that.
Kathleen – good stuff, seeding now
I never thought vaccines had anything to do with my son’s autism. All 3 of my children had them and only 1 has autism. He’s a 2nd child and was different from his big sister all along. The 1st thing I noticed was that he didn’t look at me while nursing. He was very clingy though, I had to carry him in a sling non-stop for his 1st 6 months. I’d felt he might be autistic for ages but I’d read that autistic children all resist being held; not a great source that paediatrics book was. When he still wasn’t talking, or responding much at 2, I looked up autism again on-line and 20 minutes later knew for sure that’s what it was.
He’s now 51/2 and is doing so well; he sound much like your daughter except his BIG thing is Thomas trains! He is also a whiz on the computer.
[thread hijack] Free Music! Thanks Kathleen. Awesome CD that. [/thread hijack]
Free mash-ups :o) thank you Kathleen.
Very heartening to read all of your posts everybody. I very rarely talk about Megan these days for well documented reasons but every now and then when the negativity becomes overwhelming it doesn’t hurt to remind myself of how well she’s doing and how much we value her.
Emily – I’ve been reading your blog for awhile now. Could you contact me on kevleitch@gmail.com as I’d like to add you to Autism Hub if you’re willing.
[thread hijack] Damned straight it’s awesome. It’s even turned me into a Gwen Stefani fan (at least when she’s mixed with ZZ Top or the Beastie Boys). [/thread hijack]
The analysis is not so easy for those of us whose children received Hep-B, complete with thimerosal, within hours of birth. But as I have said before — and feel the need to keep saying as long as some try to ascribe others’ opinions to me — autism is a complex issue and I don’t think there is a single answer to causation for every autistic individual.
I bought the “Hep-B at birth” explanation too. It gave me a way to explain the obvious issues that were there very early on. Nothing that would jump out and scream AUTISM but there were some definite signs.
It’s hard to recognize those signs in your first child when you don’t have anything to compare. A few friends and relatives noticed some problems but were polite enough not to say anything until later.
I think most parents, if they are completely honest with themselves, will admit their kids were different. Maybe that’s why the Hep-B at birth is such a useful crutch. It was for me. I finally went to the hospital and retrieved the records recently and guess what. No Hep-B at birth. How did I ever talk myself into a false memory?
Child 2?
No Hep-B, No thimerosal free shots, no flu shot, no vaccines at all, Not a single one.
No one to blame, No right, No wrong, No crutches …..No denial….No regrets…..Not mercury, just a touch of autism.
It’s only as complex as you make it.
So whatever signs there were, my wife could see them at birth. He was ALWAYS different. And we’ve always liked him that way. At 6, he’s funnier, sweeter, cuter and more enjoyable to be around than just about any other kid on the planet.
My daughter was different from the start. Eccentric. I noticed oddities in her behavior right from the very beginning, though I didn’t know precisely what those oddities meant.
She’s now six and doing well. She’s talking somewhat, starting to read, she’s funny, sweet, very affectionate, and she’s enjoying school (she goes to a specialty autism school, it’s fantastic!).
However, as much as your son is a delight to you, I can pretty much guarantee that he’s not the most enjoyable kid on the planet. My daughter is! *grin*
Only one of my kids got the HepB after she was born.
As it turns out, she is the one with the least problems. The only one who never had to see a speech and language pathologist. Two years in a row she was on the team that won a reading contest! (and two years in a row the city library’s picture of the winning team obscured her face! … My theory is that the HepB was what prevented that… 😉
Child #2 was the clingy baby. I literally had to “wear” him whenever he was awake (slings are great!). I could not put him down! He was also a great lap toddler, and very huggy even when he was 7 years old. Well, his terrible twos also lasted from the time he was 18 months to 7 years old! (this included drawing on walls, and putting clay on woodwork… ALONG with eating his brother’s paints and clay!)… PLUS he refused to become potty trained until he was almost in kindergarten!
Now at age 15 his most common utterance is “Whatever”. He did give me a hug recently… that was because I didn’t turn off the modem so he could continue playing online for a few more minutes (hours?).
Child #1 is the child who was weaned the earliest because he wanted to walk around and drink (actually the other two were harder to wean, the youngest was the worst!). His terrible twos lasted all of two weeks. He was potty trained fairly easily… and he never drew on anything but paper. He had never been vaccinated for pertussis, HiB nor HepB.
Child #1 and Child #2 just took placement tests in order to take summer classes at a nearby community college (which high school students here can do because this school district does not have high school summer classes). So how did they do?
Well, they both scored pretty evenly on the math tests, and placed into the same cource (Elementary Algebra), but there was a vast difference in the English score.
One got a “61” and the other got an “11”.
As it turns out the younger Child #2 got the higher score. This difficult child’s first high school grade report notes that he is on the Honor Roll (9th grade). Child #1 who is in 11th grade will need an IEP to take community college classes (it is a Computer Aided Design class).
I’ve said for some time now that even during my pregnancy Alex was autistic, it was an odd pregnancy and an odd birth and definately an odd baby! (‘Exactly like you as a child, dear’- hmmm!!!) A mercury parent suggested fillings (none) or tuna fish (vegetarian, so nope!) Ascribe to mercury at all costs!!
Now Small boy has always reacted in an unusual way to medication, more so when he was smaller, I had to be really careful what i gave him. I understand this isnt exactly uncommon in autistics. I can understand a line of thought that says hefty whacks of vaccine are probably not too good for already autistic people sensitive to medication. Maybe a different schedule is needed? But a causal link? Like you Kev, my view has changed the more I learn, the more neurotypical babies I see and the more i find out.
it was an odd pregnancy and an odd birth and definately an odd baby
Yes, I had that, too. Zoe and I had a sort of… connection. I don’t have a way of describing it other than to say we had a sort of bond of communication that I’ve never had with any other pregnancy.
She was also breech. She stubbornly refused to turn around, despite my spending lots of time on my knees with my bottom in the air (supposed to encourage them to flip). She wasn’t a big baby, so it wasn’t that she couldn’t turn around, the stubborn thing. She was born bottom first!
And then she was this strange little baby and even stranger toddler…
And now she’s a strange little school kid. 🙂
I wouldn’t want to try to make her into someone else. She is who she is, and I love her exactly as she is. Of course it’s a struggle sometimes, and she definitely needs a great deal of intervention (speech, occupational, etc. etc.), but she’s going to grow up and be a great little engineer (and I’m far from the only person who sees that in her!). Engineers don’t need social skills…. ;-P
“My theory is that the HepB was what prevented that… 😉 ”
Medical Hypotheses is waiting for your submission. You do have a couple of thousand bucks laying around to assist the “review process”, right?
Kev, thanks for sharing this post. I amazes me that people who want an enemy will label the changing of one’s stance on an issue, hypocritical. Yet, if one learns something that is significant, then why can’t they change their stance? It makes no sense except that the finger pointers are trying to build themselves up by taking others down.
It’s like the old cartoon gag where some line of workers are asked by the boss to step forward if they volunteer to do the undesireable duty. So everyone except the one guy not thinking quickly steps backward leaving the slow thinker guy to get the job.
True story:
In 1979/80 my boyfriend & I hitchhiked & trained from PEI on the east coast to Vancouver Island on the west coast to see Canada and escape PEI’s cold winter in favour of BC’s warmer, wetter one. In the early months of 1980 I wrote a letter to my best friend (which she found & returned to me years later and I have filed here somewhere) in which I told her of my intentions to return to PEI, marry this guy eventually, have some kids, at least one of which would be autistic.
We returned to PEI in May of 1980, built a cabin, married in ’84, our first child was born in ’85 and Alex, our autistic child was born in Dec. ’87.
Wade said:
The analysis is not so easy for those of us whose children received Hep-B, complete with thimerosal, within hours of birth. But as I have said before—and feel the need to keep saying as long as some try to ascribe others’ opinions to me—autism is a complex issue and I don’t think there is a single answer to causation for every autistic individual.
In the UK we have always recorded higher rates for autism than the US. We have also had lower doses of thimerosal in our vaccines and Hep-B is not a mandatory vaccine. There may not be a single answer. But that does not mean we can pick any answer we like. There has to be some scienctific validity to any hypothesis.
10 writeln ‘There may not be a single answer. But that does not mean we can pick any answer we like. There has to be some scienctific validity to any hypothesis.’
20 goto 10
Every once in a while there’s an absolute gem of a comment. Mike Stanton just made one. Bravo.
HN, more comments about older children are really needed. I shudder to think about the fervor, that I admit I was caught up in at one time, generated by the likes of Cutler et al who hammer home the “chelate your ass off before the window of opportunity closes” plan. Kids grow up. Kids develop. Childhood is just a small part of life. I don’t want to miss out on the enjoyment of it.
BC,
Nothing like a Cuttler Hammer to get you amped . Glad to hear you threw the breaker before you blew a fuse.
I agree, Cubby: Mike’s comment certainly woke-up my weary and muddled mind.
“There may not be a single answer. But that does not mean we can pick any answer we like. There has to be some scientific validity to any hypothesis.”
Thanks for that, Mike … “that does not mean we can pick any answer we like.”
who says I didn’t blow a fuse?
I prefer the caveman reset.
U R all missing the main point. autism manifests as result of concatanation of insults, their build up and synergistic cajoling the autistic to point of triggering major onset. There is underlying genetic predisposition. if the insults don’t come the threshold WON’T be reached. It’s like standing on edge of precipice of Victoria Falls. If no -one pushes you, you don’t die.
The heavy metals Hg in vaccines and tuna which many mothers to be ate, are NEUROTOXIC That’s FACT not B?S and no-one has any right to use any neurotoxic metal in ANY preparation ESPECIALLY medical that will be introduced into human body. The gut anomalies of Autistics set them up fro susceptibility.
The FACT that 100’s of parents from ALL over the world express the same statement of vaccine onset temporal proximity CANNOT be perfuctorily dismissed as you naysayers are inclined to do. The only common thread expressed by these worldwide parental anecdotes is the onset close to vaccine administration in their kids.
vaccines are’nt SAFE, never have been, are’nt effective as claimed We always find out YEARS later that something was missed in the trials and research or it was skewed to reach desired conclusion. Eli L:illey’s own internal memoranda clearly state neurotoxicity and grave effects of Hg exposure. Boyd Haley, Professor of Chemistry at Univ of Kentucky, USA has done extensive rersearch on Hg and it’s neurotoxicity. Not only Hg is neurotoxic, but look at the industrial pollution and its “runoff” ? Why are so many kids to-day neurologically impacted, on all these psychotropic behaviour mod drugs, like ritalin, adderal, risperridal etc…. Look at the behavioural issues faced everyday in classrooms around world.
The only reason is odious practices and poisoning of our kids. Autistic kids are just more sensitive and less able to defend against the onslaught. there’s no doubt that Hg in vaccines provides the internecine catalyst for onset. without it, my daughter wouldn’t have succumbed. her frontal cortex isn’t damaged, and therefore though she’s non verbal, she is fully included with her peers in school and attains A’s and B’s in all her academic disciplines.
All you naysayers are doing is continuing to empower those fat cats to continue raking huge profits from the vaccine gravy train, while the exponential increase in Autistic numbers soars towards its calamitous armageddon. You’d better take your heads out of the sand or as one officer used to say when I was in the army,..”Skud jou kop, sodat jou ore jou wakker kan klap” which translated from Afrikaans means….SHAKE YOUR HEAD SO THAT YOUR EARS SLAP YOU AWAKE !!!!
Leave it to some hateful, angry, Mercury True Believer to show up and be a shit head in a thread where people were talking about how much they love and enjoy their children.
It’s all about the hate.
Hello Julian,
(sigh) Okay, I will play, off we go:
You wrote “autism manifests as result of concatanation of insults, their build up and synergistic cajoling the autistic to point of triggering major onsetâ€
If you have research on this you should cite it at this time.
You wrote “and no-one has any right to use any neurotoxic metal in ANY preparation ESPECIALLY medical that will be introduced into human body.â€
Calcium is also a metal that can be neuro-toxic at certain doses. Yet, there are times when it is inexcusably tragic to not use it for medical purposes http://autismdiva.blogspot.com/2006/01/what-killed-abubakar.htm
Your statement doesn’t appear to be factual as stated.
You wrote “The FACT that 100’s of parents from ALL over the world express the same statement of vaccine onset temporal proximity CANNOT be perfuctorily dismissed as you naysayers are inclined to do.â€
That would be an argumentum ad numerum, it is a logical fallacy. I can just as easily (and factually) spin that around and say “The FACT that 100’s of parents from ALL over the world express the same statement of purely genetic onset CAN NOT be perfuctorily dismissed as you naysayers are inclined to doâ€.
You write “Why are so many kids to-day neurologically impactedâ€
Please cite your research….
You wrote “The only reason is odious practices and poisoning of our kids. Autistic kids are just more sensitive and less able to defend against the onslaught. there’s no doubt that Hg in vaccines provides the internecine catalyst for onset. without it, my daughter wouldn’t have succumbed.â€
How do you know?
You wrote “All you naysayers are doing is continuing to empower those fat cats to continue raking huge profits from the vaccine gravy trainâ€
(shrugs) An argumentum ad hominems isn’t going to convince me….
You wrote “while the exponential increase in Autistic numbers soars towards its calamitous armageddon.â€
Well that is very nearly poetry, but it is not a factual argument. Chakrabarti & Fombonne (2005) show that the autism rates didn’t actually change over the course of the 90s.
You write “You’d better take your heads out of the sandâ€
(blinks) By all means show us how we have done so…..
Jonathan, I congratulate you. 🙂
Sadly, our Afrikaaner person there probably has no clue about the things you offer as challenges/rebuttals to his – er – “argument”.
However, these things are worth doing because it may just help the more rational of the desperate parents to not fall into the trap that leads to cognitive distortions employed by the supporters of Generation Rescue (many of which the GR folks actually push onto people).
Wie verberg die raadsbesluit daar sonder kennis? So het ek dan gespreek sonder om te verstaan, dinge te wonderbaar vir my, wat ek nie begryp nie.
When my middle child was diagnosed PDD-NOS, my older brother revealed that he is face blind. He is married, has a terrific computer prodigy son and is a successful engineer. I realized while researching my daughter’s condition, that I met criteria for ASD. We are part of the ‘hidden horde’ of older autistics that GR claims doesn’t exit. My family was never ‘normal’-normal people are rather boring and dull. They talk about sports and fashion instead of cool stuff like prime numbers, neurogenesis and black holes.
Much Madness is Divinest Sense-
To a discerning Eye-
Much sense- the starkest madness-
‘Tis the Majority
In this, as All, prevail-
Assent- and you are sane-
Demur- you’re straightway dangerous-
And handled with a Chain
-Emily Dickinson
This environmental insults theory is very well, but again, I struggle to see where Boy’s ‘insults’ came from. I’m vegetarian (so no tuna) no fillings… etc etc… which leaves what? the air????
But then as I say he is an odd child born to odd parents, and that’s genetics rather than mercury. I wouldnt be the least surprised if i had another child and that child was also autistic. In fact I suspect i’d be a bit baffled by an NT child!!!