In what is becoming a very uneasy chain of events, yet another disabled child, WIlliam H Lash IV, has died at the hands of a parent:
A former Bush administration official, after arguing violently with his wife Thursday night, shot and killed his 12-year-old son inside their McLean home, then turned a shotgun on himself and committed suicide, Fairfax County police said.
This follows the murder of Ryan Davies (aged 12) at the hands of his mum, Alison Davies in April this year, the murder of Katie McCarron in May, the attempted (thankfully unsuccessful) murder of Lexus Fuller, the murder of Christopher Degroot in May this year and countless others over time.
Every time the mind attempts to adjust to the shocking reality of another murder it seems like another one emerges.
Friends and neighbors described Lash as devoted to his only child, William H. Lash IV, who was autistic.
Sounds familiar, right? Exactly the same sentiments expressed as those expressed by friends of all the above victim’s parents. Devoted. Selfless.
He loved his son so much. He really loved his son . . . and he did everything for him
This is such a difficult thing to comprehend. Can it _truly_ be that there are levels of love where murdering the target of that love is acceptable? And that that love can be used as an excuse or a vindication? Why do we always hear more about the killer than the victim? To be brutally frank, William H Lash III is a murdering scumbag. I don’t care about his CV. Why can’t we hear about his child?
Yet again, we come around to ‘that video‘. That video where a mum talks about killing her disabled child whilst that child is in the room with her, taking it all in. As Mike McCarron, Katie’s grandad says:
I found the film offensive, an exercise in narcissism. It paints the picture that at least one of these children would be better off dead. I deeply resent that
Incredible as it may seem, Autism Diva found a comment in reaction to the petition I set up stating:
Wow, I actually think this is disrespectful to the makers of the movie.
What can one _say_ in response to such arrant ego? We’re talking about a film that attempts to put a face on acceptable murder of children. An attitude about which the film’s Producer says:
If most mothers of autistic children…..look hard enough within themselves they will find that they have played out a similar scenario in their minds.
And here’s someone who thinks the petition is disrespectful. I guess what that mother was talking about in front of her autistic child wasn’t disrespectful at all. Amazing.
People have tried to make ‘the best’ out of these situations and try and highlight the lack of services or the struggles parents face. These things are both true. It is a struggle parenting a disabled child. Its damned hard. There is an appalling lack of service in a wide range of areas. However, we cannot and should not (in my opinion) use the murders of children to highlight these points. This detracts from the horrifying reality of what was done to these children and also serves as a backhanded excuse to their murdering parents – they never would’ve done it if there were more services. That can never ever be used as an explanation for a murderous act. That’s the ‘take home’ message from ‘Autism Every Day’ and I reject it utterly.
Please remember William. A twelve year old boy first and foremost. I have a fourteen year old son and much as he hates it, I’ll be giving him a big hug. He’ll be going fishing soon. In a week he breaks up for summer and he’ll be off with his mates, playing footy, bike riding, fishing. William won’t. We have to find a way of utterly rejecting the idea of murdering disabled children as in any way acceptable, understandable or an act of compassion. It’s not.
Left Brain Right Brain 
Kev
your petetion’s getting noticed by autism acdemics (real ones not quacks)
However i’m not sure how possitvly its being recieved.
This murder shows that we do need to combat the aautism comunity as much as possible, stop them spreading misrepreasentation-for-profit whenever we can… (now I sound like a communist ah well viva la revolution!)
Perhaps I’m wrong (and you don’t seem shy about letting me know when you think I am), but could someone please tell me where it has been reported that the Lash murder/suicide had ANYTHING to do with the son’s autism, or that Mr. Lash was even aware of the video or controversy surrounding it??? The only articles I have seen mention that the son was autistic, and that the father was devoted to the son. This particular incident may have more to do with domestic difficulties between the parents than with the son’s autism, or it may be rooted in emotional problems the press has not seen fit to report. Any speculation we have about the “reason” behind this incident (not that there is anything “reasonable” about killing an innocent child) is just that: speculation.
Hmm. Let me see…Here is a quote from the NY Times:
“A preliminary investigation indicated it was a murder-suicide,the Police said. Both Mr. Lash and his son had been shot in the upper body with a shotgun found nearby, they said.
Neighbours say the boy was autistic.”
Wade, I haven’t yet read any other accounts, except for what is here in Kev’s blog. When I read that article on July 16th, it seemed to reminiscent of what’s been happening, and we have to pay attention to it, the way Kev is doign here.
What disturbs me most before I assume the cause of the murder, which sounds too familiar with recent ones, is the fact that reporters are associating the murder with the fact that “the boy was autistic.” It is in fact appalling that two statements are so linked as it was in the New York Times, almost, in my view, as if excusing the act because of autism.
You can call it semantics, but it reeks of sadness and injustice.
In a discussion on Aspies for Freedom, one person commented that the mention of the son’s autism might have had to do with the perceived level of the son’s helplessness to defend himself. If so, the journalist might have intended to suggest that the murder was especially heinous.
http://www.aspiesforfreedom.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=4310
However, as I see it, journalists need to be much more careful when making such statements, no matter how they are intended, given the possibility that they might be read as excusing murder and might contribute to murderous social attitudes generally.
In this case the motive is not clear at all – that’s true.
Regardless, I think it is imperative for Autism Speaks to retract the Autism Every Day video. Not doing so would be irresponsible.
One thing people need to realize is that if the same video had been made about, say, deaf kids, it would not have been received kindly by anyone. Autism is devastatingly portrayed in that video compared to other disabilities, and this is not helpful to anyone.
Hmmm, let’s see if I’ve got this right. The press reports that:
A. Child is murdered; and
B. Child was autistic.
It’s more than a stretch of logic to assume that:
C. Child was murdered because he was autistic.
I have read the sketchy press accounts, and I have seen nothing suggesting an attitude that it is perfectly reasonable to murder disabled children (or any children for that matter).
If the police found a note saying the father did it because he was frustrated by the lack of services and he was inspired to do this after seeing the AS video, the press certainly would jump on it because they tend to be equal-opportunity vultures.
Facts may yet emerge to make a connection. If such facts are brought to light, then we can all express our opinions intelligently. But for now the plain truth is, WE DON’T KNOW what was going on in the father’s life; we don’t know his motives. If the press is trying to create the impression that there was a link between the child’s autism, the press is being foolish to do so based on little or no facts. And any of us who draw a connection are likewise being foolish.
Just to be clear, I think it is imperative for Autism Speaks to retract the Autism Every Day video, regardless of any connection to this case or lack thereof.
Obviously, we don’t have all the facts in yet, and as the murderer in this case at least had the decency to kill himself after the act, we may never know the true motives. As I recall, however, just after the McCarron case, there were many people who were cautioning others against presuming that autism was a motive, but, of course, it wasn’t long before we found out that it was. While it is true that people kill children for any number of sick, twisted reasons, recent experience does give us cause to suspect that autism had something to do with this child’s murder.
I completely agree with Joseph. Autism Speaks should immediately retract the Autism Every Day video – regardless/notwithstanding anything else.
But the fact this this particular father was a former Bush administration official makes me wonder if his conscience wasn’t to blame.
I mean he must have known about the vast conspiracy to poison children with thimerosal and the subsequent cover-up, right?
Maybe the compensation he received to maintain his silence just wasn’t enough for him or he blamed his former employer for causing his own child to be autistic after reading about the ‘scene-of-the-crime’ rally.
[/sarcasm]
Kev,
You accuse Autism Speaks of focusing on only the negative side of autism. You seem to focus a lot on bad parents that harm or kill their autistic children. In this case, we don’t even know if was because of autism.
It seems like there are only 2 types of parents of autistic kids as far as your concerned? One type excepts autism and the other type of parents kill or harm their autistic children?
It’s worth mentioning that some conspiracy-minded sites are suggesting that the crime might actually have been a hit staged to look like a murder-suicide, based on the fact that Lash used to be the head of the Iraq Reconstruction Task Force which was responsible for awarding contracts for the rebuilding of Iraq, a process in which billions of dollars went completely missing. More plausible, but still wildly speculative, is that nasty information about Lash was about to come out.
Not speculative at all is the fact that his family (presumably his wife) has requested that memorial donations be made to CAN. Ugh. (Let’s be constructive about this and make a list of autism-related organizations that are worthy of memorial donations.)
The Autism Acceptance Project is a very worthy organization:
http://www.taaproject.com
I just want to add that apparently the guy shouldn’t be called a Bush Administration Aide or whatever, he was a FORMER commerce dept. official and currently a professor.
It’s so interesting that no on blames the fact that he was working at a university for the mental illness or motive that caused Mr. Lash III to kill his child and himself. Who knows what part that university played in the vast international conspiracy to protect thimerosal manufacturers from litigation?
Maybe Mr. Lash III knew the TRUTH about the reason thimerosal was in vaccines etc, and maybe it was a real staged murder by the Illuminati or CIA or KGB to keep Mr. Lash III from revealing what he knew… his conscience having been pricked by the “scene of the crime rally.” Maybe he was about to reveal all…
Seems quite plausible doesn’t it Mr. Rankin?
About as plausible as the Doctor’s Data labs that you and your friends use to “prove” mercury poisoning in your kids….
Anyway, it was a heavy duty mercury parent who posted the comment to my blog that implied it must have been the horrid stress of parenting that lovely boy that pushed the father over the edge to murder.
No one else said that the autism had anything to do with the murder until that mercury chelationist curationist parent (livsparents) interjected it… though autism as contributor to murder may have been hinted at in the news accounts as Estee has mentioned.
The boy wasn’t in trouble at school apparently, he sounds like he was doing great.
My imagination actually leans toward Mrs. Lash telling Mr. Lash that she had a boyfriend and was leaving and taking her son.
It seems that that is the kind of thing that usually makes a man go berzerk and kill the child and the son. Especially since we see it followed a huge argument with Mrs. Lash.
It’s disgusting that Mrs. Lash wants donations to go to Cure Autism Now, because he son was cured of auitsm rapidly when he was murdered. Don’t “Cure Autism Now” parents, don’t do it.
Again, when I think of how often I grieved over the delicate nature of my autstic child’s health and was in stark terror that xe might die as a child… I can’t imagine suddenly deciding it was time to kill that child and actually starting to carry it out.
I wish Mr. Lash hadn’t had a shotgun in his house, maybe his son would still be alive… but that’s another argument.
Actually, this is the only gun death from the recent child murder stories, so obviously people hell bent on killing their kids can make do without having access to a gun (not that I think guns are wonderful, by the way).
Wade,
The Washington Post was decent enough to not speculate that the boy’s autism was the reason he was murdered. That decency has not, however, exercised by the mercurial parents and quacks who have used this – and other – murders of autistic children to highlight the “stress” of raising an autistic child and the need for more services (and, one might assume, large lawsuit awards?).
Let me make this point:
Murder is not an acceptable stress-reliever.
When people use a child’s disability to excuse – even in part – a heinous crime, they are wrong. There is no excuse for killing a child. Period.
Now, it may eventually turn out that Mr. Lash killed his son and himself for reasons completely unrelated to the child’s autism. That doesn’t change the response of those people who want to use autism as an extenuating cicumstance for murder.
Prometheus
Now feel free to correct me if I’m wrong here but the title of this piece refers to _disabled_ people. Lexus Fuller, who’s mum attempted to kill her was not autistic. This post is not about autism except in so far as it is one of the main themes all the news reports I’ve read.
As far as I’m aware I attempted to make no exclusive connection between autism and murder. However, I fully support Stephen Drake’s statement that:
_”Researcher Dick Sobsey has documented an increase in the murders of children by their parents in Canada in relation to well-publicized and sympathetic coverage of the murders of children with disabilities. Articles about the alleged murder of a person with a disability should not contain more about the disability than about the victim as a person. More space should be devoted to grieving family members than sympathetic friends of the accused killer.”_
_”It seems like there are only 2 types of parents of autistic kids as far as your concerned? One type excepts autism and the other type of parents kill or harm their autistic children?”_
I assume you mean ‘accepts’?
You’re free to put any interpretation on what I say that suits your mood. However, just for the record, no I don’t believe that and I challenge you to find any statement I’ve made that might support that.
Just quickly here. Umm, I have this really weird interest in radical gender feminism and that led via via to issues of what happens in divorce courts yada yada. Sorry if I’m repeating what anyone else has said thus far (haven’t read the comments yet – looks around sheepishly:), but this scenario is all too familiar in the divorce court scene – not much to do with autism I’m afraid. Same old song and dance – the lady wants a divorce, the man doesn’t see it coming – the lady indulges in a little pre-divorce blackmail – up the settlement and I might let you see your son once a month on Sundays – paints a nice scenario of life in the future, with her firmly in control. He loses it because in his mind he’s lost everything and he’s not about to leave his son to the machinations of ‘that woman’ (she’s now Godzilla) and voila – two corpses. Not saying that’s what happened here but it sure happens a lot. Some women are just plain vindictive and some guys are control freaks – very bad combination.
Same old song and dance – the lady wants a divorce, the man doesn’t see it coming – the lady indulges in a little pre-divorce blackmail – up the settlement and I might let you see your son once a month on Sundays – paints a nice scenario of life in the future, with her firmly in control. He loses it because in his mind he’s lost everything and he’s not about to leave his son to the machinations of ‘that woman’ (she’s now Godzilla) and voila – two corpses. Not saying that’s what happened here but it sure happens a lot.
Like the guy who blew up his appartment building in New York so that the wife wouldn’t take it? Yeah, some people go ‘nuts’ (forgive the expression) in various scenarios. In the Lash case, it’s not clear what might have happened if the child wasn’t autistic. Maybe that’s a completely independent factor.
Anyway, while it’s clear that certain factors make murder more likely, as others have said, these factors should not be made into extenuating circumstances. Would someone be willing to make poverty, for example, an extenuating circumstance for murder?
Just so there’s no misunderstanding, my point is only that there is no clear indication that disability played any role in the father’s decision to kill his son. That is my only point. Indeed, this may be a historic occason in that I agree with Prometheus on something:
Murder is not an acceptable stress-reliever.
When people use a child’s disability to excuse – even in part – a heinous crime, they are wrong. There is no excuse for killing a child. Period.
It is a tragedy when any child is killed. Unfortunately it happens too often. Our media brings the story right into our living room even when it happens halfway around the world.
Has anyone seen any statistics about parental murders of children and if it is happening in a higher rate for autistic children?
I don’t know at this point whether were hearing about more incidents because the meida is more aware of autism and they connect it to the story, or if it is happening more often to autistic children than to non-autistic children.
I don’t know, but I want to find out.
Just so you know Johnny boy’s blaming Nero-diversity for the murder. also he seems to want to kill his son. just warning you If your gonna read it then don’t eat first
Hi Nathzn, yeah I just saw that. More crap from Mr. Poison. I recommend that we all just ignore it. In fact, I think it would be best if we just ignore him completely from now on and stop giving him any attention. The only thing that keeps him going is conflict, which is what he thrives on. In other words, he’s just a verbal terrorist. Let him fade away like the sad little man he is.
N: “Just so you know Johnny boy’s blaming Nero-diversity for the murder. also he seems to want to kill his son.”
I was right.
How the fuck can that ignorant bastard claim to love his son? He hates the kid!
On the Autism Speaks Video:
It serves a purpose in introducing people who know nothing about autism that it is challenging to be a parent of an autistic child. It raises awareness. I’m sure it helped AS speaks raise millions of bucks. If those dollars help kids, great.
But, the film was engineered to be too one-sided, and the “murder my daughter” comment while her daughter is in the room is unbelievable and somehow tacitly signals that thinking that way is O.K. They should retract that scene and apologize.
The film had elelments of truth in it, but gave a picture far darker than most of our realities. I wish they had done it differently, and, given my POV, I can’t believe they did not show any recovered kids or dads.
Parents killing their autistic kids:
There is no greater crime before God than taking the life a child. No explanation will ever justify such madness, and I can only presume that any parent who would do something like that has gone completely insane.
***
The one part of this whole murdered children thing that I challenge this group to consider: perhaps we’re hearing about this MORE because there are MORE children impacted. Of course, if MORE children are impacted, and that MORE is A LOT MORE, than genetics alone can’t explain the increase. If genetics alone can’t explain the increase, then an external cause may be to blame. If an external cause is to blame, THEN YOU CAN ACTUALLY TREAT THAT CAUSE. And that reality is something the folks on this particular blog do not like to face.
See, I do actually agree with some of the stuff you guys write.
Brad
Anonimouse:
You wrote:
“Something that happens to the child in utero – environmental or not – is not likely to be something you change through vitamins or chelations. It probably is what it is.”
Sounds like:
“Everything that can be invented has been invented.”
Charles H. Duell, Commissioner, U.S. patent office, 1899
Anonimouse, my duty as a parent is to give my children the best chance to lead a happy, independent life. If one of my children were born with PKU, then I would restrict protein in their diet so they could lead a happy life. This notion that something just “is what it is” may explain why you and I are taking very different approaches to how we treat our autistic children.
Perhaps unlike you, I don’t know, I have personally met dozens of recovered formerly autistic children. I have sat with their parents, I have listened to every detail of how their children were recovered. They were proactive, organized, and advised by great teams of doctors. They stuck to their guns. And now, their kids are normal by whatever standard you may have.
If you think these stories are false, the result of the luck of the draw (some get better naturally), or parents being overly sunny in how they describe their still-autistic child, I think you are wrong. Perhaps these stories have to be false or your position crumbles?
I welcome the science. I hope Dr. Adams chelation trial is a success and hope the details convince parents on the fence that biomedical works. I hope our survey of unvaccinated children shows people the most likely root cause of autism.
I wish you were one of the hundreds of emails I get from parents who are CERTAIN biomedical intervention are improving the symptoms of their children, I really do wish that.
If you think that an external insult on a child just “is what it is” than you will probably find great comfort from the majority of the folks on this blog. But I’m not sure the same will be true for your child.
Brad
Bard:
You might think what you wrote makes sense to the average reader, so I guess I will have to be the one to tell you that your words appear to be the rantings of a madman.
Brad
clone3g:
I can always count on you for a petty insult. Seems there must be something particularly threatening to you about my POV. Perhaps you are smart enough to realize there’s a good chance I might actually be right?
While I have you, what do you do for your child? Ritalin? I’m very curious how parents of children who consider autism a natural state deal with some of the challenges we all face.
And, if you think the CDC is really clean on this issue, then I guess you reserve your extreme skepticism for other parents while trusting a government bureaucracy that has a ton to lose on this issue? And, you think there is no basis to believe that going from 10 shots to 27 shots by the age of 2 has the chance to screw kids up because vaccines are 100% safe?
Please, clone3g, the only one delusional is YOU for thinking that a child who is totally normal and then regresses into a different developmental state is some genetic quirk. Happened the day after 6 vaccines? Coincidence, right?
It makes me sad, the parents in this forum. You really do not believe the stories of recovered children. You will be the last ones to help your kids biomedically. But, heck, you can all spend your days posting here and trying to make yourselves feel better, while THOUSANDS of parents watch their chidlren’s symptoms reverse.
Brad
The one part of this whole murdered children thing that I challenge this group to consider: perhaps we’re hearing about this MORE because there are MORE children impacted. Of course, if MORE children are impacted, and that MORE is A LOT MORE, than genetics alone can’t explain the increase. If genetics alone can’t explain the increase, then an external cause may be to blame. If an external cause is to blame, THEN YOU CAN ACTUALLY TREAT THAT CAUSE. And that reality is something the folks on this particular blog do not like to face.
That has to be the most convoluted argument yet that there has been an epidemic of autism. LOL!
Please, clone3g, the only one delusional is YOU for thinking that a child who is totally normal and then regresses into a different developmental state is some genetic quirk. Happened the day after 6 vaccines? Coincidence, right?
Is it the day after six vaccines? I thought it was a week or a month or a year or whatever timeframe worked for the purposes of getting paid – excuse me, getting treatment.
I don’t know if murder of cognitively disabled children overall has increased. It’s possible that it hasn’t and that the labels of the murdered kids have simply shifted. This is similar to what I’ve pointed out to Wade regarding the total number of institutionalized individuals in California. It has proportionally decreased compared to 1992, even though the number of institutionalized autistic individuals has increased somewhat (not a lot).
But if in fact there has been an increase in murders of autistic children, who would not have been murdered with a different label or without a label, I would once again attribute that to the current social construction of autism as a devastation beyond that of most disabilities.
Brad wrote:
“Everything that can be invented has been invented.â€
Charles H. Duell, Commissioner, U.S. patent office, 1899
This is a myth – Duell said no such thing, and neither did any patent commissioner (see http://www.ideafinder.com/guest/archives/wow-duell.htm).
A wise man said “It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so.”
According to Brad:
If you don’t do something to your child you aren’t doing anything for your child.
If you ain’t chelatin’ you must be pushing Ritalin
If you don’t think it’s the mercury you think it’s purely genetic.
The more you have to lose the less you can be trusted.
“THOUSANDS of parents watch their chidlren’s symptoms reverse” and Brad has met a few of them.
Brad’s child will be cured in a few moths as soon as he passes the fabled 2 year mark.
All autism is actually mercury poisoning but sometimes it’s just the number of vaccines when the hypothesis doesn’t hold up to the test of time.
Placing ads in newspapers is a great way to express one’s POV.
Anonimouse, my duty as a parent is to give my children the best chance to lead a happy, independent life.
What some of us argue is that you’re potentially doing the opposite by experimenting on your children. I would also emphasize the psychological benefits of acceptance.
If one of my children were born with PKU, then I would restrict protein in their diet so they could lead a happy life.
Obviously. Anyone would. PKU is scientifically well understood and known to be treatable.
Perhaps unlike you, I don’t know, I have personally met dozens of recovered formerly autistic children. I have sat with their parents, I have listened to every detail of how their children were recovered. They were proactive, organized, and advised by great teams of doctors. They stuck to their guns. And now, their kids are normal by whatever standard you may have.
Why these cases don’t appear in the literature as case reports boggles the mind. In any case, loss of label does happen in autism. That’s not the point. The point is that there’s no evidence from a single double-blind study to suggest that any autism treatment can result in recovery.
If you think these stories are false, the result of the luck of the draw (some get better naturally), or parents being overly sunny in how they describe their still-autistic child, I think you are wrong. Perhaps these stories have to be false or your position crumbles?
Occam’s Razor dictates that the most reasonable explanation is that these kids are in the 15% or so of kids who lose a label over time. Now, even if loss of label is possible with the help of a certain treatment for some kids, my position does not crumble any more than finding a way to reverse homosexuality would make homosexuality a disease.
I welcome the science. I hope Dr. Adams chelation trial is a success and hope the details convince parents on the fence that biomedical works.
I’m looking forward to that study as well.
I hope our survey of unvaccinated children shows people
the most likely root cause of autism.
I hope that’s not a waste of time. It will cost a lot of money. I hope you ask for the age of each child. And I hope you do report your findings whatever they are.
I wish you were one of the hundreds of emails I get from parents who are CERTAIN biomedical intervention are improving the symptoms of their children, I really do wish that.
I guess you’re not familiar with Secretin and how it was claimed to recover most kids with autism about half a decade back.
Please, clone3g, the only one delusional is YOU for thinking that a child who is totally normal and then regresses into a different developmental state is some genetic quirk.
I take it you haven’t heard of Rett Syndrome or Landau Kleffner?
Happened the day after 6 vaccines? Coincidence, right?
Such anecdotes are few and far between. In the cases of parents who believe the regression was around the time of vaccination, you will not find many who can say for sure it was the day after vaccination.
A couple of surveys in the U.K. at the end of the 1990s indicated that parents attributed regression far more often to a stressful event (e.g. birth of a sibling) than to vaccination.
Brad actually started of sounding reasonably but alas he could not sustain it and started sounding like all other biomeds do, though with less swearing than JBJr.
Brad, who ever said being normal wass a disirable objective?
Who would want to be “indistinguishable from their peers”? I spent years developing skills and college degrees to distinguish myself from my peers!
http://www.cafepress.com/starbirdcreates.48097911
andrea
I really wonder how many of the parents on this site feed their child Ritalin, and claim we are the ones doing things science has yet to prove.
Of course, it’s unlikely any of you will fess up. Unlike biomed parents, ND parents rarely use their real names, what are the chances of a confession?
Brad
Not me, JB. I have never used biomedical autism “treatments” such as Ritalin, Lupron or other drugs with my child. As far as I know, science has yet to prove that there are any drugs that treat autism.
Anne (real name)
No meds here either.
David (real name)
Meds here.
For life threatening epilepsy. NOT for autism/Rett.
I’m relieved to hear that some of you do not use meds. If you use brain drugs on your autistic child that it is my opinion that you are a profound hypocrite if you also call yourself an ND, look down at biomed parents, or think autism just needs to be accepted. If you are giving Ritalin, you are not “accepting” autism.
Jamie used to have seizures. After biomed, they stopped. No seizure drugs needed.
Brad
Strawman Brad. Look it up. Lambasting people for using a drug they’ve never actually used really is intellectually dishonest.
Unlike biomed parents, ND parents rarely use their real names…
Well Brad, since you can’t actually provide anything scientifically relevant or show how a real name in and of itself (which is just an arrangement of letters) adds to scientific validity in any way, we’ll have to chalk this up to simple ad hominem.
Lame.
Toad (not my real name) No meds.
Yes biomed cures epilepsy *eyeroll*
Not the kind that’s been sitting around for 20 years or so, it doesn’t. A lot of kids outgrow seizures naturally. Some of us grow into them and end up with clusters that stop our breathing.Fun as that is., I’ll stick with the stuff that has trials to back it up, and that had me seizure free for 2 1/2 months-the longest since I was 11. CPR gives me odd bruises.
Epilepsy associated with abnormal EEG doesn’t just go away, with some rare exceptions with the ketogenic diet used very YOUNG. I;ve got an abnormal EEG.
But thanks anyway.
Kassiane
No meds here either. By the way, what does it truly mean to prepare your child for a life of “independence”? I get this argument all the time from people who question the acceptance stance. They claim that by not doing all of the interventions, biomedical or otherwise, we’re somehow being negligent in our duty to prepare our children for an independent life. Look around you, who the hell lives an independent life in modern society? Our lives are so symbiotically intertwined with one another as to make the word “independent” seem like an attempt at sarcasm. Do you know anyone who does everything for himself? There are probably many peopple with high priced educations climbing the corporate ladder who are utterly incapable of preparing a meal or fixing a leaky faucet. There are others who are amazingly attuned at a social level but don’t have a clue how to balance a checkbook or prepare for retirement. We rely upon others to provide our food and our clothing, to repair our cars, to protect us from criminals, to tend to us when we are sick, prepare our tax returns, educate our children, etc., etc… Throughout time, we have relied upon one another, and it has allowed us to survive, to thrive, to expand and to grow as a species. Each of us has something valuable to offer the world, and in return, we are able to reap the benefits of what others have to give. Some people may need more help in the practical areas of living, while others are helpless when it comes to understanding more complex technical types of information. I don’t know what my son will eventually do with his life anymore than any parent of any child in the world. I know that I have no intention of hijacking my son so that I can take him down some path that I have already carefully laid out for him that will ultimately lead him to a destination that I have already chosen. If my son has health issues, I will address them. If he needs help learning to communicate effectively, I will provide that. I will give him what he needs to live his life, not what I think he needs to live some imaginary life I have concocted for him.
Incidentally, I’m not sure how things are over there in Europe (don’t tend to get much news about you all I’m afraid so please forgive my ignorance) but I think that young (and not so young) adults returning home to live with their parents is so common nowadays in the U.S. that the word “epidemic” might actually be justifiably used in this instance. There are many reasons for this phenomenon to be sure, but there does seem to be something to the idea that children are not being adequately prepared for the demands of adulthood- in other words, parents and schools are not giving children the skills they need to live “independent” lives. Children may be capable of performing well on their SATs, of graduating college with honors, of learning the ins and outs of the social scene, but when it comes down to the business of living, they seem to be woefully unprepared. It is a crying shame that so many these NT youngsters just don’t have what it takes to make it out on their own. Perhaps, this is just another example of the often insidious effects of mercury poisoning? Perhaps if these parents had chosen to chelate their children as preschoolers, this tragic phenomenon could have been avoided?
Joseph said
“A couple of surveys in the U.K. at the end of the 1990s indicated that parents attributed regression far more often to a stressful event (e.g. birth of a sibling) than to vaccination.”
I don’t recall these surveys – have you references?
Kev: “Strawman Brad. Look it up. Lambasting people for using a drug they’ve never actually used really is intellectually dishonest.”
But that’s how he got all his qualifications…. anything that he has that says he can argue rationally must have been gotten by intellectually dishonesty since he doesn’t know how to argue rationally…. pretty much a definition, that is.
Replace the Z with an a and it’s my real name
No meds, never will.
I agree with Gabesmom, one factor in the problem is that US (and Britsh) school have turned into ‘Exam Factories’ that teach how to pass the Exam rather than the subject.
One reason why aspies are sooo frustrated with school, I believe, is rather than teach something interesting, they teach three facts over and over in the form of a Exam question!
Brad thats not your real name so stop barating us about it.
I don’t recall these surveys – have you references?
“The most common triggers reported included family stress (n=23), such as the birth of a sibling (n=10), or moving (n=7), seizures (n=13), or infectious/immunologic triggers (n=14).” (source)
“The most common (13 children) was a household or social change such as the birth of a sibling, then vaccination (12 cases). Other triggers mentioned were: viral and bacterial infections (n = 7), seizures (n = 7), postsurgery (n = 2), and other causes (n = 3). The MMR vaccine was mentioned specifically in eight of the 12 cases where a vaccine was suspected. Although families would not have been directly asked about this possibility, this finding suggests that very few parents (less than 2% in this cohort) considered that MMR vaccine might have triggered their child’s autism. ” (source)
Davidovich (2000) is interesting as well.