Left Brain Right Brain

There is a charity called “Children with Autism Deserve Education“. C.A.D.E or CADE for short. I ran across them a few years ago and saw some expenses in their tax forms that I felt were, let’s say, interesting. So they stuck in my mind and I decided recently to check into them again.

The name suggests a strong focus on education. I know many who will take issue with the use of “with” autism. That aside, helping autistic kids get access to education is a good thing. The vast majority of the money I donate to charity goes to exactly that cause–providing education opportunity for autistic kids.

The tax records indicate that C.A.D.E. spends a lot of money on non educational projects. On alternative medicine, for example. It looks like they’ve spent money on vaccines-cause-autism research. And if I were donating money just based on the name of the org, I’d not be happy with that.

To be clear, C.A.D.E. is public about their support for non educational projects. That “medical interventions” and research into causes are part of their agenda.

Before we dive into the details of where money is spent, let’s take a look at how they present themselves to the public. If one goes to the C.A.D.E. website and checks the “about” page, the first thing one sees is this:

About C.A.D.E.
Helping Children With Autism Reach Their Full Potential Through Financial Support For Evidence-Based Education And Therapy.

More and more children in the United States are diagnosed with autism. In fact, 1 in every 59 children was identified with autism spectrum disorder in 2014—up from 1 in 150 in the year 2000.

While opportunities for high-quality therapy and educational resources are increasing to account for this growing prevalence, intensive treatments are often well beyond a family’s financial means and many public schools don’t have the resources to provide them.

According to a 2014 study, the total lifetime cost of supporting an individual with autism is an astonishing $1.4 million in the United States. If an intellectual disability is also present, the total rises even more to $2.4 million. Education alone can cost a family an extra $8,600 per year.

We Believe That Children With Autism Deserve To Obtain The Most Effective Means Of Education.
C.A.D.E. Exists To Help Them Access It.

Through grants, C.A.D.E. helps fund evidence-based education, therapy and medical interventions for children with autism that don’t have the financial resources. Since 2014, C.A.D.E. has provided more than $500,000 in financial support to families in Minnesota—helping kids reach their full potential to live healthy, happy, productive lives.

From my perspective, this sounded reasonable right up the the phrase “medical interventions”. Education is a worthy goal. Therapy can include speech and language therapy, for example.

“Medical interventions” tells me that they are probably supporting alternative medicine. Many in the autism community promote alt-med and this is a common way that they phrase it when trying to seem more legitimate. But a casual reader might not realize that this phrase opens the door to donations being spent on “treatments” that are generally considered unproven or ineffective.

But keep reading the about page and towards the bottom of the page you find:

Our founders, board and volunteers have personal family experience with autism, and are deeply committed to ensuring that children are able to access the education and medical treatments they need to live healthy lives—as well as supporting organizations exploring the causes of and interventions for this epidemic.

So, yes, they are making it public that the money donated will not all go towards education. But consider further the phrase “supporting organizations exploring the causes of and interventions for this epidemic” sounds like the usual code in the autism parent community for “supporting research which tries to support the idea (failed idea) that vaccines cause autism”.

Two questions come to my mind when I read this. First, are they actually spending money on vaccines/autism research. Second, would they lose donors if this were made more clear in their public statements? Would, say, “Children with Autism Deserve Education and to be subjected to Alternative Medicine” get the same level of donations?

I am particularly suspicious of C.A.D.E. because I know that one of the board members is Jennifer Larson. Ms. Larson is prominent in the “autism is a vaccine epidemic” and the alternative medicine communities. She owns at least two businesses that provide alternative medical services (the Holland Center and Minnesota Hyperbaric). She donated $40k to former congressional representative and committee chairman Darryl Issa. At that time he was hosting hearings on vaccines and autism. She also founded the tiny Minnesota based “Canary Party“.An early version of the Canary Party’s website states:

American children are over vaccinated and over medicated, over fed, undernourished and have record levels of chronic illness and developmental delay.

Emphasis added.

We can get more information from the public tax records. The most recent tax year for which I can get records (tax forms for charities are public record) is 2017. Here’s their tax form for 2017. More specifically, here’s the schedule O for 2017. Schedule O is where charities list “grants and similar amounts paid”. It’s where you can find a lot about where they are spending their money, aside from operating expenses and salaries and the like.

Let’s take a look at the schedule O entries sorted largest grant to smallest:

First we have “family assistance for medical and therapy paid directly to the provider”. Said provider is the Holland Biomedical Clinic. And they note that the Holland Biomedical Clinic is owned by a board member. Which appears to be Jennifer Larson. The Holland Center provides both ABA (which can be considered educational) and alternative medical (biomedical) treatment. This entry specifically says “Holland Biomedical Clinic”. So my guess is that this wasn’t for ABA. To my knowledge, the Holland Center is a for profit business, not another charity.

This was the largest grant given out this year by C.A.D.E.: $15,282.

Next we have a grant for $10,000 to Ken Stoller, M.D. as “Family assistance for medical and therapy paid directly to provider”. Ken Stoller is well known in the alt-med and anti-vaccine communities. It seems odd to me that the amount is an even $10,000. Odd as in, did the the bills for a family actually come out to an even $10k? Even more odd that a doctor in San Francisco is getting a grant I thought were for local families in Minnesota. The famous name alt-med autism doctors do get patients traveling to see them. We don’t know what medical services were purportedly provided for this grant, but it seems unlikely that he could provide something not available in Minnesota. So, the question in my mind was whether this was a specific grant for specific families, or was this some sort of general support for Dr. Stoller?

The next “family assistance for medical and therapy paid directly to the provider” is to the Lovaas Institute for $5,390. This would be on target for the C.A.D.E mission, as the Lovass Institute is a provider of ABA services.

Another “Family assistance for medical and therapy paid directly to provider” is to “Grantee Name: Minnesota Hyperbaric. Grantee relationship: none.” Amount was $4,000. Minnesota Hyperbaric is, I believe, a business owned by Jennifer Larson (board member of C.A.D.E.) and housed within the same Holland Center noted above. Which if true would make the “grantee relationship: none” statement a bit problematic.

There is a $3,000 entry for “family assistance for medical and therapy paid directly to the provider” where the provider is listed as “Laidas”. I can not find who “Laidas” may be. I wonder if this is somehow a misspelling for Lovaas?

Next is Autism Recovery Foundation. Two entries for $2,000 total. The Autism Recovery Foundation is primarily focused on ABA. Yes, there are those who oppose ABA, but this is, in my opinion, spending funds on education. Note that Jennifer Larson is on the board. These appear to be described elsewhere in the tax form as “DIRECT SUPPORT TO ORGANIZATIONS THAT HELP FUND EDUCATION AND AWARENESS OF TREATMENT OPTIONS FOR AUTISM.”

Another “family assistance for medical and therapy paid directly to the provider” grant was paid to James Neubrander, M.D. for $1,410. Dr. Neubrander is an alt-med practitioner in New Jersey.

By the way, take a moment and check out his website. Watch the images that flash by and read the messages. It’s not pleasant at all.

The New Bridge Clinic received a grant for “family assistance for medical and therapy paid directly to the provider” in the amount of $1,190. I believe that is this clinic, which is another provider of alternative medical treatments. This is not educational.

Lastly we have “family assistance” paying rent for a family in need. Paid directly to Chohan Properties. For $1,180. While not educational, I wouldn’t have a problem with this.

A quick summary of the grants which appear to me to be for alternative medicine providers:
Holland Biomedical: $15,282
Dr. Ken Stoller (California): $10,000
Minnesota Hyperbaric: $4,000
Dr. Neubrander (New Jersey): $1,410
New Bridge Clinic: $1,180.

The total for Schedule O is $43,452
The amount paid for alternative medical providers appears to me to be $31,882. Or about 72% of the total grants.

72%

I would be very unhappy were I donor and found that out. It’s not illegal. It is, in my opinion, misleading. I’d think an org named “Children with Education Deserve Education” would be spending my donations on, well, education.

All the above is just for tax year 2017, the most recent where the information is publicly available. What about the other years? I went through the tax forms I could find going back to 2010. Here’s a summary table:

Who are they giving money to? Here are the top 10 projects, by money committed, from what I can see:

1) $56,000: The Autism Treatment Foundation of Minnesota, which appears to be this organization. Jennifer Larson is currently on the board. This org supports ABA for autism, and would be considered on target for “education”. From what I could find this appears to be something like a lobbying organization.

2) $22,000: Generature Rescue. Widely considered an anti vaccine organization. I’m unaware of any education projects they’ve been involved in. They are mostly involved in promoting the failed idea that vaccines cause autism and also promoting alternative medicine for autism. However, it struck me that in 2010 Generation Rescue made a big ($100k) donation to Andrew Wakefield’s “Strategic Autism Initiative” (Mr.Wakefield was the top in Time Magazine’s list of research frauds). In my opinion the SAI was set up to provide support for Mr. Wakefield after his ouster from Thoughtful House. This raises the question in my mind–did C.A.D.E. send money to Generation Rescue as a way of providing funds to Mr. Wakefield? Jennifer Larson is a known supporter of Mr. Wakefield.

3) $19,678: University of Northern Iowa. researchers DeSoto and Hitlan at the University were prominent in the “vaccines cause autism” scene for a few years. The work was poor in my opinion. Prof. DeSoto lists $80k in grants from C.A.D.E. for “Study of Autism among Somali Immigrants in MPLS, MN Area.” Her vitae does not list any publications. There was great interest from the anti-vaccine community in the Minnesota Somali community. Besides apparently accomplishing nothing, this expense by C.A.D.E. appears to have nothing to do with education.

4) $15,282: Holland Biomedical Clinic. This is reportedly owned by Jennifer Larson. The clinic offers alternative medical approaches. An initial visit can run $995, and alternative medicine is rarely covered by insurance.

5) Autism Recovery Foundation. Same address as the Autism Treatment Foundation of Minnesota. ABA based. Would be on target for donations to “educational” orgs, in my option.

6) $12,102. Unnamed medical therapy. Unclear what this was spent on, although it’s a good guess it was alternative medicine.

7) $10,000. Autism Resource Network. Looks like it was a store (autismshop.com). Which had a leaning towards the failed “vaccines-cause-autism” idea.

8) $10,000: Dr. Ken Stoller. Discussed above. Dr. Stoller is well known in the anti-vaccine community. And is in California, not MN.

9) $9,380: The Holland Center. Discussed above. Business reportedly owned by Jennifer Larson. Largely ABA focused, but also houses the Holland Biomedical Clinic and Minnesota Hyperbaric. One of the entries was for iPads. Why they were distributed through Ms. Larson’s business rather than directly is unclear.

10) $7,661: iPad purchase. iPads are often used as alternative communication devices and otherwise educational devices by people with disabilities.

There are a lot of expenses above which, again, I wouldn’t be expecting on donating to a charity calling itself “Children with Autism Deserve Education”.

One last comment. Above you will find this quote from C.A.D.E.: “Since 2014, C.A.D.E. has provided more than $500,000 in financial support to families in Minnesota—helping kids reach their full potential to live healthy, happy, productive lives.” I find that hard to believe. I count about $112k spent on program expenses from 2014-2017. So unless they spent a lot more money in the past 2 years, $500,000 seems like much more money than they’ve spent. Perhaps I’m missing something in the tax documents. I’ll provide them below.

C.A.D.E. fundraises with a run (the Autism5k) and also golf events.

One last topic is interesting here. Here’s a copy of an older form they used to apply for their grants. The CADE Medical & Therapy Grant Application. They specify some interesting requirements:

“These grants are for CADE approved physicians & CADE approved therapy programs.”

“I understand that my child is required to follow the GF/CF diet or SCD diet for the 90-day grant period if the medical grant is awarded and the diet is recommended”.

“I understand that an approved Doctor will be assigned to my child and that I have no choice in this matter and cannot change the assigned doctor. This doctor will be a specially trained for autism. ”

“If you are chosen for the CADE Medical or Therapy grant, you agree to the following:” which includes: “Implement ASD diet such as GF/CF or SCD for the medical grant ” and “Document the child’s progress through a daily journal and pre and post photographs or a Flip video camera that will be provided if needed.”

First off, keep in mind that Jennifer Larson also helps run an organization called “HealthChoice.org”. Given that, I find the lack of choice in the above quote very ironic. You must follow a diet for 90 days. One must follow the doctor’s recommendation, even if one disagrees. The doctor is ” assigned to my child and that I have no choice in this matter and cannot change the assigned doctor”

Yeah, that’s health choice.

Second, they ask for a lot of information. Including one has to keep a log and take pictures/videos. I would be very worried if I were to see such an application that the org was thinking of some sort of study based on the kids going through the grant program. That would be highly unethical.

Under “Disclaimer” the application states:

If you are chosen for the CADE Medical or Therapy grant, you agree to the following:
• Implement ASD diet such as GF/CF or SCD for the medical grant
• Dropping out of the program once selected will make you liable for the following:
1. All postage costs
2. The fee(s) of 2(two) Medical visits (estimated at $750.00)
• Document the child’s progress through a daily journal and pre and post photographs or a Flip video camera that will be provided if needed. 

All dollars for therapy grants go directly to the provider.

So, where the application previously stated that a diet is required if “recommended”, here the parent is accepting that it they will implement a diet. And, let’s say you think the medical professional isn’t working out for your kid, and/or the diet isn’t helping (or is even bad) for your kid. You get to pay back $750. Remember, parents are selected based on need. So $750 (which by the language reads as though it could be assessed even if you didn’t actually go to one or both of the visits) is possibly enough to force a parent to keep his/her kid in the program.

And, as we saw above, sometimes the grants are paid to clinics run by one of C.A.D.E.’s leadership.

As I titled the article, I believe strongly in doing more to provide better educational opportunities for autistics. But after going through all the above research, I wouldn’t send any of my money to C.A.D.E.. Sadly, this makes me wary of most charities. Especially small charities where it’s unlikely that there is much oversight.

Below are the tax forms for years 2010 to 2017 if you wish to check for yourself. If you find any mistakes in what I reported above, please let me know.

CADE_2017
CADE_2016
CADE_2015
CADE_2014
CADE_2013
CADE_2012
CADE_2011
CADE_2010

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By Matt Carey