Re: Debating Causes with People who have never dealt with Autism

[Guest guest]

Amen sister.

Debating Causes with People who have never dealt

with Autism

Before I get into that, let me be blunt-

I think there are a multitude of environmental issues that probably carry some

weight in a portion of children diagnosed with Autism, regardless of where they

fall on the Spectrum. Whether it's things like smoking while you're pregnant,

getting vaccines, having too much mercury in your blood, etc.

I also believe that a portion of children diagnosed with Autism come by it

genetically.

I also believe that in some cases, leaps and bounds can be made regarding

different diets.

Also- I do NOT wish for this to turn into a " This is what causes it " debate. I

won't participate in that sort of debate, and this has zero to do with the

REASONS why people are Autistic.

All of that said, here's what my issue is right now.

My husband's cousin got married to a guy last summer who is very into " healthy

living " in some ways. In other ways, to be blunt, he smokes like a chimney,

drinks like a fish, and does recreational drugs. However, neither of them see

those things as unhealthy living. She was the same until she got pregnant- I

have no idea if she stopped smoking when she found out she was pregnant, but I

know she stopped drinking and doing drugs.

They are both the sort of people who will lecture you on their beliefs in the

way that they aren't out right telling you that you're wrong, but they're

telling you that they are right. Whether it's about buying cheese at a grocery

store (they're against buying food at standard grocery stores, as it's 100%

processed- even fresh food- their words, not mind), or seeing specific types of

doctors, or even going to a hospital.

Now that she's pregnant, they're delving into research on Autism, to try and

limit the chances of the baby having it. They want a " normal " child (which irked

me as well, because we ALL want a neurotypical child, but that doesn't mean our

children aren't normal- it just means they're a little different, just as every

person in the world is).

I finally just blocked them from my feed on Facebook today, because frankly, I

can't keep seeing articles popping up into my feed about what causes Autism, and

how they're going to avoid it.

For instance, in the past week, they've posted Op Ed articles about Autism and

the link between the following topics:

Ultrasounds

Processed Foods

Vaccines

Mercury

Antibiotics

How the Amish don't have Autism at all (this goes back to vaccines)

What bothers me the most, is that they don't even look up credible articles.

They're reading opinion pieces, and calling them fact. In the few articles that

even state a source, it goes back to other Opinion pieces that don't credit a

source.

One article said that 90% of Amish people have never been vaccinated, which

proves that Vaccines cause 100% of the Autism cases found in the world today.

She sited wikipedia as her source.

They have been posting this stuff for weeks now, and today, I finally got peeved

off. I have ignored it, ignored it, ignored it. Today, I finally posted to one

of their articles, " So, just wondering, since my daughter was 5 before she was

ever vaccinated, what reason is there that she has Autism? "

He asked me if I was serious in asking, and I said I wanted his honest opinion

on the matter as to what I did wrong to make my daughter the way she is.

At that point, I posted an update on my own FB page explaining that reading and

agreeing with Op Ed pieces does not make you qualified to diagnose Autism, or

give causes as to why people have it.

I followed it up with remarks as to why it's more highly diagnosed now than it

was 20 years ago, and why it was more highly diagnosed 20 years ago than it was

100 years ago. I think all too often, people forget that when you are dealing

with any sort of neurological disorder, there have been leaps and bounds made in

recognizing, categorizing, and diagnosing them.

100 years ago, people did not have an Autism diagnosis. They were diagnosed as

mentally retarded, and ran a high chance of being institutionalized for life.

20 years ago, Asperger's wasn't recognized as a diagnosis, and was often

diagnosed as a variety of problems not on the Spectrum.

He did agree with both of those points, then went back to what I commented on

his piece saying that he felt that my question was loaded, given my status

update, and the tone of my questions.

I followed up with this:

Here's the thing, ********. I don't doubt that there are a lot of reasons as to

why kids today are diagnosed with Autism. But, it's a hot topic. Parents of

autistic children will hotly debate it with other parents of autistic children,

because we all have our own opinions, and we all deal with it on a daily basis.

I have no issues with you coming up with your own thoughts regarding autism, but

posting stuff like this constantly is sort of a slap in the face of parents who

have to deal with it daily, who have done their own research, who have doctors

behind them, teachers, and psychologists who have all dealt with it over the

years.

You're going to have people like me who don't feel we need to hear blanket

responses from people who are not dealing with it. If you are going to post

stuff like this, do more research as to what the overall thoughts are, not just

what some people think the causes are.

It's disrespectiful to the people who put the time in. I've spent over 2 years

reading up on it, discussing it with doctors, discussing it with my childrens

support staff, and figuring out what happened.

I have long since decided that in our case, it was a genetic issue that we had

no control over, as many others have. There are different forms of Autism, and

different levels. While some people find a common denominator as to what they

think caused their child's Autism, the bottom line is that there is not a single

test out there that can pin point a cause.

I respect that you want to do what you can to educate others on topics like

this, but it really does involve more than reading and agreeing with an article.

Any reputable article will have multiple sources, and will be more than a copy

of someone elses hard work on the topic. It will give their own sources, not

sources to other articles. It will quote actual published studies, and research

materials.

WHEW.

Anyway, the whole thing just bothers me. It's no different than people telling

us we just need to discipline our child better when they have a melt down.

I have no problem reading or hearing about ideas from people, but when those

people have been looking into it for about 3 weeks, and think they know all of

the things to avoid, then it becomes a hot mess.

[Guest guest]

Wow- this is your family? So sorry.Try to remember that they don't have children yet- Before I had children- I knew it all! How to parent- from a to Z!Life has a way of equalizing people!When my son was younger- friends invited me camping-When I held my 3 year old who had no sense of danger- My friends wife brought him a paper and crayon and screamed at me that all I had to do was keep him busy! My son was very delayed and later diagnosed as dysgraphia! I was livid! If it was so freaking easy as paper Nd crayons! Same couple later told me my son had autism because when we went researching it medically we "spoke" tht over him- they were fundamental Christians who really believed that when I allowed my son to be diagnosed- in that moment - the curse of autismLanded in my son lol!They've since had a daughter- diagnoses with sixty five roses.They like your cousin choose to only have "normal" children so this will be their only child.They have grown up a lot- and frankly- I was a know it all before I had a child.My advice ? Don't take it personal- keep your distance- pick which battles you want to put your energy into- and try to laugh it off-But hugs- cuz that crap is painful and frustrating as heck!My newest topic I ignore? My sons huge weight gain since risperdol!He's 12. I was "anti" meds - until last fall when his aggression became unbearable following my husbands heart attack. Everyone in my family is vocal about his gain and begging me to stop meds. My answer? So who is going to come and help me when he gets assaultive? Or give me respite?They shut up quick.Hugs-Sent from my iPhone

Before I get into that, let me be blunt-

I think there are a multitude of environmental issues that probably carry some weight in a portion of children diagnosed with Autism, regardless of where they fall on the Spectrum. Whether it's things like smoking while you're pregnant, getting vaccines, having too much mercury in your blood, etc.

I also believe that a portion of children diagnosed with Autism come by it genetically.

I also believe that in some cases, leaps and bounds can be made regarding different diets.

Also- I do NOT wish for this to turn into a "This is what causes it" debate. I won't participate in that sort of debate, and this has zero to do with the REASONS why people are Autistic.

All of that said, here's what my issue is right now.

My husband's cousin got married to a guy last summer who is very into "healthy living" in some ways. In other ways, to be blunt, he smokes like a chimney, drinks like a fish, and does recreational drugs. However, neither of them see those things as unhealthy living. She was the same until she got pregnant- I have no idea if she stopped smoking when she found out she was pregnant, but I know she stopped drinking and doing drugs.

They are both the sort of people who will lecture you on their beliefs in the way that they aren't out right telling you that you're wrong, but they're telling you that they are right. Whether it's about buying cheese at a grocery store (they're against buying food at standard grocery stores, as it's 100% processed- even fresh food- their words, not mind), or seeing specific types of doctors, or even going to a hospital.

Now that she's pregnant, they're delving into research on Autism, to try and limit the chances of the baby having it. They want a "normal" child (which irked me as well, because we ALL want a neurotypical child, but that doesn't mean our children aren't normal- it just means they're a little different, just as every person in the world is).

I finally just blocked them from my feed on Facebook today, because frankly, I can't keep seeing articles popping up into my feed about what causes Autism, and how they're going to avoid it.

For instance, in the past week, they've posted Op Ed articles about Autism and the link between the following topics:

Ultrasounds

Processed Foods

Vaccines

Mercury

Antibiotics

How the Amish don't have Autism at all (this goes back to vaccines)

What bothers me the most, is that they don't even look up credible articles. They're reading opinion pieces, and calling them fact. In the few articles that even state a source, it goes back to other Opinion pieces that don't credit a source.

One article said that 90% of Amish people have never been vaccinated, which proves that Vaccines cause 100% of the Autism cases found in the world today.

She sited wikipedia as her source.

They have been posting this stuff for weeks now, and today, I finally got peeved off. I have ignored it, ignored it, ignored it. Today, I finally posted to one of their articles, "So, just wondering, since my daughter was 5 before she was ever vaccinated, what reason is there that she has Autism?"

He asked me if I was serious in asking, and I said I wanted his honest opinion on the matter as to what I did wrong to make my daughter the way she is.

At that point, I posted an update on my own FB page explaining that reading and agreeing with Op Ed pieces does not make you qualified to diagnose Autism, or give causes as to why people have it.

I followed it up with remarks as to why it's more highly diagnosed now than it was 20 years ago, and why it was more highly diagnosed 20 years ago than it was 100 years ago. I think all too often, people forget that when you are dealing with any sort of neurological disorder, there have been leaps and bounds made in recognizing, categorizing, and diagnosing them.

100 years ago, people did not have an Autism diagnosis. They were diagnosed as mentally retarded, and ran a high chance of being institutionalized for life.

20 years ago, Asperger's wasn't recognized as a diagnosis, and was often diagnosed as a variety of problems not on the Spectrum.

He did agree with both of those points, then went back to what I commented on his piece saying that he felt that my question was loaded, given my status update, and the tone of my questions.

I followed up with this:

Here's the thing, ********. I don't doubt that there are a lot of reasons as to why kids today are diagnosed with Autism. But, it's a hot topic. Parents of autistic children will hotly debate it with other parents of autistic children, because we all have our own opinions, and we all deal with it on a daily basis.

I have no issues with you coming up with your own thoughts regarding autism, but posting stuff like this constantly is sort of a slap in the face of parents who have to deal with it daily, who have done their own research, who have doctors behind them, teachers, and psychologists who have all dealt with it over the years.

You're going to have people like me who don't feel we need to hear blanket responses from people who are not dealing with it. If you are going to post stuff like this, do more research as to what the overall thoughts are, not just what some people think the causes are.

It's disrespectiful to the people who put the time in. I've spent over 2 years reading up on it, discussing it with doctors, discussing it with my childrens support staff, and figuring out what happened.

I have long since decided that in our case, it was a genetic issue that we had no control over, as many others have. There are different forms of Autism, and different levels. While some people find a common denominator as to what they think caused their child's Autism, the bottom line is that there is not a single test out there that can pin point a cause.

I respect that you want to do what you can to educate others on topics like this, but it really does involve more than reading and agreeing with an article. Any reputable article will have multiple sources, and will be more than a copy of someone elses hard work on the topic. It will give their own sources, not sources to other articles. It will quote actual published studies, and research materials.

WHEW.

Anyway, the whole thing just bothers me. It's no different than people telling us we just need to discipline our child better when they have a melt down.

I have no problem reading or hearing about ideas from people, but when those people have been looking into it for about 3 weeks, and think they know all of the things to avoid, then it becomes a hot mess.

[Guest guest]

Wow, how insensitive of your family! At least you were able to say something.

IMO you should post an article about how smoking or recreational drugs during

conception causes autism lol. Im sure its out there!!! Lol

--- Original Message ---

Sent: May 23, 2012 5/23/12

To: autism-aspergers

Subject: Debating Causes with People who have never dealt

with Autism

 

Before I get into that, let me be blunt-

I think there are a multitude of environmental issues that probably carry some

weight in a portion of children diagnosed with Autism, regardless of where they

fall on the Spectrum. Whether it's things like smoking while you're pregnant,

getting vaccines, having too much mercury in your blood, etc.

I also believe that a portion of children diagnosed with Autism come by it

genetically.

I also believe that in some cases, leaps and bounds can be made regarding

different diets.

Also- I do NOT wish for this to turn into a " This is what causes it " debate. I

won't participate in that sort of debate, and this has zero to do with the

REASONS why people are Autistic.

All of that said, here's what my issue is right now.

My husband's cousin got married to a guy last summer who is very into " healthy

living " in some ways. In other ways, to be blunt, he smokes like a chimney,

drinks like a fish, and does recreational drugs. However, neither of them see

those things as unhealthy living. She was the same until she got pregnant- I

have no idea if she stopped smoking when she found out she was pregnant, but I

know she stopped drinking and doing drugs.

They are both the sort of people who will lecture you on their beliefs in the

way that they aren't out right telling you that you're wrong, but they're

telling you that they are right. Whether it's about buying cheese at a grocery

store (they're against buying food at standard grocery stores, as it's 100%

processed- even fresh food- their words, not mind), or seeing specific types of

doctors, or even going to a hospital.

Now that she's pregnant, they're delving into research on Autism, to try and

limit the chances of the baby having it. They want a " normal " child (which irked

me as well, because we ALL want a neurotypical child, but that doesn't mean our

children aren't normal- it just means they're a little different, just as every

person in the world is).

I finally just blocked them from my feed on Facebook today, because frankly, I

can't keep seeing articles popping up into my feed about what causes Autism, and

how they're going to avoid it.

For instance, in the past week, they've posted Op Ed articles about Autism and

the link between the following topics:

Ultrasounds

Processed Foods

Vaccines

Mercury

Antibiotics

How the Amish don't have Autism at all (this goes back to vaccines)

What bothers me the most, is that they don't even look up credible articles.

They're reading opinion pieces, and calling them fact. In the few articles that

even state a source, it goes back to other Opinion pieces that don't credit a

source.

One article said that 90% of Amish people have never been vaccinated, which

proves that Vaccines cause 100% of the Autism cases found in the world today.

She sited wikipedia as her source.

They have been posting this stuff for weeks now, and today, I finally got peeved

off. I have ignored it, ignored it, ignored it. Today, I finally posted to one

of their articles, " So, just wondering, since my daughter was 5 before she was

ever vaccinated, what reason is there that she has Autism? "

He asked me if I was serious in asking, and I said I wanted his honest opinion

on the matter as to what I did wrong to make my daughter the way she is.

At that point, I posted an update on my own FB page explaining that reading and

agreeing with Op Ed pieces does not make you qualified to diagnose Autism, or

give causes as to why people have it.

I followed it up with remarks as to why it's more highly diagnosed now than it

was 20 years ago, and why it was more highly diagnosed 20 years ago than it was

100 years ago. I think all too often, people forget that when you are dealing

with any sort of neurological disorder, there have been leaps and bounds made in

recognizing, categorizing, and diagnosing them.

100 years ago, people did not have an Autism diagnosis. They were diagnosed as

mentally retarded, and ran a high chance of being institutionalized for life.

20 years ago, Asperger's wasn't recognized as a diagnosis, and was often

diagnosed as a variety of problems not on the Spectrum.

He did agree with both of those points, then went back to what I commented on

his piece saying that he felt that my question was loaded, given my status

update, and the tone of my questions.

I followed up with this:

Here's the thing, ********. I don't doubt that there are a lot of reasons as to

why kids today are diagnosed with Autism. But, it's a hot topic. Parents of

autistic children will hotly debate it with other parents of autistic children,

because we all have our own opinions, and we all deal with it on a daily basis.

I have no issues with you coming up with your own thoughts regarding autism, but

posting stuff like this constantly is sort of a slap in the face of parents who

have to deal with it daily, who have done their own research, who have doctors

behind them, teachers, and psychologists who have all dealt with it over the

years.

You're going to have people like me who don't feel wo hear blanket responses

from people who are not dealing with it. If you are going to post stuff like

this, do more research as to what the overall thoughts are, not just what some

people think the causes are.

It's disrespectiful to the people who put the time in. I've spent over 2 years

reading up on it, discussing it with doctors, discussing it with my childrens

support staff, and figuring out what happened.

I have long since decided that in our case, it was a genetic issue that we had

no control over, as many others have. There are different forms of Autism, and

different levels. While some people find a common denominator as to what they

think caused their child's Autism, the bottom line is that there is not a single

test out there that can pin point a cause.

I respect that you want to do what you can to educate others on topics like

this, but it really does involve more than reading and agreeing with an article.

Any reputable article will have multiple sources, and will be more than a copy

of someone elses hard work on the topic. It will give their own sources, not

sources to other articles. It will quote actual published studies, and research

materials.

WHEW.

Anyway, the whole thing just bothers me. It's no different than people telling

us we just need to discipline our child better when they have a melt down.

I have no problem reading or hearing about ideas from people, but when those

people have been looking into it for about 3 weeks, and think they know all of

the things to avoid, then it becomes a hot mess.

[Guest guest]

Someone else mentioned pick your battles, I agree. I also

know it is frustrating because I feel it is people like them (the know it alls)

who I feel will never get it. It hurts because you may feel judged and

unsupported. I would pray their child doesn’t lack anything in its future

because they don’t let life just happen. I also pray this “prefect†child they

are seeking doesn’t get too much pressure in its life to be perfect. God forbid

but what would happen if they do have a child with some disability?

We too often get unsolicited commentary on WHY our daughter

has autism. We are also told how to fix it and ALL we have to do…… What are

some of the most absurd things you have heard? I know a lot of people don’t

care for sarcasm but we have become sarcastic in many areas in replies to some

of our comments other make to us.

It’s been implied God punished us, we didn’t get married

until our daughter was 1.5. (I do not believe God is a vengeful God)

We were in the military

I lived in Chicago

My husband tasted beer in high school

I broke my leg in the third grade

All I wanted when I was pregnant was horseradish on

watermelon when I was pregnant

I drank too much milk

All I have to do to make it go away:

Wooden spoon with her name written on it and a neat bow at

the neck of the spoon

Believe?

Learn how to parent

The list goes on and on but I am sure you see how ridiculous

it is, after all the damn horseradish should have a warning label. (Sarcasm) If guns kill people then pencils cause misspelled words To: autism-aspergers Sent: Wednesday, May 23, 2012 10:16 PM Subject: Debating Causes with People who have never dealt with Autism

Before I get into that, let me be blunt-

I think there are a multitude of environmental issues that probably carry some weight in a portion of children diagnosed with Autism, regardless of where they fall on the Spectrum. Whether it's things like smoking while you're pregnant, getting vaccines, having too much mercury in your blood, etc.

I also believe that a portion of children diagnosed with Autism come by it genetically.

I also believe that in some cases, leaps and bounds can be made regarding different diets.

Also- I do NOT wish for this to turn into a "This is what causes it" debate. I won't participate in that sort of debate, and this has zero to do with the REASONS why people are Autistic.

All of that said, here's what my issue is right now.

My husband's cousin got married to a guy last summer who is very into "healthy living" in some ways. In other ways, to be blunt, he smokes like a chimney, drinks like a fish, and does recreational drugs. However, neither of them see those things as unhealthy living. She was the same until she got pregnant- I have no idea if she stopped smoking when she found out she was pregnant, but I know she stopped drinking and doing drugs.

They are both the sort of people who will lecture you on their beliefs in the way that they aren't out right telling you that you're wrong, but they're telling you that they are right. Whether it's about buying cheese at a grocery store (they're against buying food at standard grocery stores, as it's 100% processed- even fresh food- their words, not mind), or seeing specific types of doctors, or even going to a hospital.

Now that she's pregnant, they're delving into research on Autism, to try and limit the chances of the baby having it. They want a "normal" child (which irked me as well, because we ALL want a neurotypical child, but that doesn't mean our children aren't normal- it just means they're a little different, just as every person in the world is).

I finally just blocked them from my feed on Facebook today, because frankly, I can't keep seeing articles popping up into my feed about what causes Autism, and how they're going to avoid it.

For instance, in the past week, they've posted Op Ed articles about Autism and the link between the following topics:

Ultrasounds

Processed Foods

Vaccines

Mercury

Antibiotics

How the Amish don't have Autism at all (this goes back to vaccines)

What bothers me the most, is that they don't even look up credible articles. They're reading opinion pieces, and calling them fact. In the few articles that even state a source, it goes back to other Opinion pieces that don't credit a source.

One article said that 90% of Amish people have never been vaccinated, which proves that Vaccines cause 100% of the Autism cases found in the world today.

She sited wikipedia as her source.

They have been posting this stuff for weeks now, and today, I finally got peeved off. I have ignored it, ignored it, ignored it. Today, I finally posted to one of their articles, "So, just wondering, since my daughter was 5 before she was ever vaccinated, what reason is there that she has Autism?"

He asked me if I was serious in asking, and I said I wanted his honest opinion on the matter as to what I did wrong to make my daughter the way she is.

At that point, I posted an update on my own FB page explaining that reading and agreeing with Op Ed pieces does not make you qualified to diagnose Autism, or give causes as to why people have it.

I followed it up with remarks as to why it's more highly diagnosed now than it was 20 years ago, and why it was more highly diagnosed 20 years ago than it was 100 years ago. I think all too often, people forget that when you are dealing with any sort of neurological disorder, there have been leaps and bounds made in recognizing, categorizing, and diagnosing them.

100 years ago, people did not have an Autism diagnosis. They were diagnosed as mentally retarded, and ran a high chance of being institutionalized for life.

20 years ago, Asperger's wasn't recognized as a diagnosis, and was often diagnosed as a variety of problems not on the Spectrum.

He did agree with both of those points, then went back to what I commented on his piece saying that he felt that my question was loaded, given my status update, and the tone of my questions.

I followed up with this:

Here's the thing, ********. I don't doubt that there are a lot of reasons as to why kids today are diagnosed with Autism. But, it's a hot topic. Parents of autistic children will hotly debate it with other parents of autistic children, because we all have our own opinions, and we all deal with it on a daily basis.

I have no issues with you coming up with your own thoughts regarding autism, but posting stuff like this constantly is sort of a slap in the face of parents who have to deal with it daily, who have done their own research, who have doctors behind them, teachers, and psychologists who have all dealt with it over the years.

You're going to have people like me who don't feel we need to hear blanket responses from people who are not dealing with it. If you are going to post stuff like this, do more research as to what the overall thoughts are, not just what some people think the causes are.

It's disrespectiful to the people who put the time in. I've spent over 2 years reading up on it, discussing it with doctors, discussing it with my childrens support staff, and figuring out what happened.

I have long since decided that in our case, it was a genetic issue that we had no control over, as many others have. There are different forms of Autism, and different levels. While some people find a common denominator as to what they think caused their child's Autism, the bottom line is that there is not a single test out there that can pin point a cause.

I respect that you want to do what you can to educate others on topics like this, but it really does involve more than reading and agreeing with an article. Any reputable article will have multiple sources, and will be more than a copy of someone elses hard work on the topic. It will give their own sources, not sources to other articles. It will quote actual published studies, and research materials.

WHEW.

Anyway, the whole thing just bothers me. It's no different than people telling us we just need to discipline our child better when they have a melt down.

I have no problem reading or hearing about ideas from people, but when those people have been looking into it for about 3 weeks, and think they know all of the things to avoid, then it becomes a hot mess.

[Guest guest]

Even worse is when family members who haven't read anything at all about autism tell you all the things you are doing/have done wrong with your ASD child. To: autism-aspergers Sent: Wednesday, May 23, 2012 11:16 PM Subject: Debating Causes with

People who have never dealt with Autism

Before I get into that, let me be blunt-

I think there are a multitude of environmental issues that probably carry some weight in a portion of children diagnosed with Autism, regardless of where they fall on the Spectrum. Whether it's things like smoking while you're pregnant, getting vaccines, having too much mercury in your blood, etc.

I also believe that a portion of children diagnosed with Autism come by it genetically.

I also believe that in some cases, leaps and bounds can be made regarding different diets.

Also- I do NOT wish for this to turn into a "This is what causes it" debate. I won't participate in that sort of debate, and this has zero to do with the REASONS why people are Autistic.

All of that said, here's what my issue is right now.

My husband's cousin got married to a guy last summer who is very into "healthy living" in some ways. In other ways, to be blunt, he smokes like a chimney, drinks like a fish, and does recreational drugs. However, neither of them see those things as unhealthy living. She was the same until she got pregnant- I have no idea if she stopped smoking when she found out she was pregnant, but I know she stopped drinking and doing drugs.

They are both the sort of people who will lecture you on their beliefs in the way that they aren't out right telling you that you're wrong, but they're telling you that they are right. Whether it's about buying cheese at a grocery store (they're against buying food at standard grocery stores, as it's 100% processed- even fresh food- their words, not mind), or seeing specific types of doctors, or even going to a hospital.

Now that she's pregnant, they're delving into research on Autism, to try and limit the chances of the baby having it. They want a "normal" child (which irked me as well, because we ALL want a neurotypical child, but that doesn't mean our children aren't normal- it just means they're a little different, just as every person in the world is).

I finally just blocked them from my feed on Facebook today, because frankly, I can't keep seeing articles popping up into my feed about what causes Autism, and how they're going to avoid it.

For instance, in the past week, they've posted Op Ed articles about Autism and the link between the following topics:

Ultrasounds

Processed Foods

Vaccines

Mercury

Antibiotics

How the Amish don't have Autism at all (this goes back to vaccines)

What bothers me the most, is that they don't even look up credible articles. They're reading opinion pieces, and calling them fact. In the few articles that even state a source, it goes back to other Opinion pieces that don't credit a source.

One article said that 90% of Amish people have never been vaccinated, which proves that Vaccines cause 100% of the Autism cases found in the world today.

She sited wikipedia as her source.

They have been posting this stuff for weeks now, and today, I finally got peeved off. I have ignored it, ignored it, ignored it. Today, I finally posted to one of their articles, "So, just wondering, since my daughter was 5 before she was ever vaccinated, what reason is there that she has Autism?"

He asked me if I was serious in asking, and I said I wanted his honest opinion on the matter as to what I did wrong to make my daughter the way she is.

At that point, I posted an update on my own FB page explaining that reading and agreeing with Op Ed pieces does not make you qualified to diagnose Autism, or give causes as to why people have it.

I followed it up with remarks as to why it's more highly diagnosed now than it was 20 years ago, and why it was more highly diagnosed 20 years ago than it was 100 years ago. I think all too often, people forget that when you are dealing with any sort of neurological disorder, there have been leaps and bounds made in recognizing, categorizing, and diagnosing them.

100 years ago, people did not have an Autism diagnosis. They were diagnosed as mentally retarded, and ran a high chance of being institutionalized for life.

20 years ago, Asperger's wasn't recognized as a diagnosis, and was often diagnosed as a variety of problems not on the Spectrum.

He did agree with both of those points, then went back to what I commented on his piece saying that he felt that my question was loaded, given my status update, and the tone of my questions.

I followed up with this:

Here's the thing, ********. I don't doubt that there are a lot of reasons as to why kids today are diagnosed with Autism. But, it's a hot topic. Parents of autistic children will hotly debate it with other parents of autistic children, because we all have our own opinions, and we all deal with it on a daily basis.

I have no issues with you coming up with your own thoughts regarding autism, but posting stuff like this constantly is sort of a slap in the face of parents who have to deal with it daily, who have done their own research, who have doctors behind them, teachers, and psychologists who have all dealt with it over the years.

You're going to have people like me who don't feel we need to hear blanket responses from people who are not dealing with it. If you are going to post stuff like this, do more research as to what the overall thoughts are, not just what some people think the causes are.

It's disrespectiful to the people who put the time in. I've spent over 2 years reading up on it, discussing it with doctors, discussing it with my childrens support staff, and figuring out what happened.

I have long since decided that in our case, it was a genetic issue that we had no control over, as many others have. There are different forms of Autism, and different levels. While some people find a common denominator as to what they think caused their child's Autism, the bottom line is that there is not a single test out there that can pin point a cause.

I respect that you want to do what you can to educate others on topics like this, but it really does involve more than reading and agreeing with an article. Any reputable article will have multiple sources, and will be more than a copy of someone elses hard work on the topic. It will give their own sources, not sources to other articles. It will quote actual published studies, and research materials.

WHEW.

Anyway, the whole thing just bothers me. It's no different than people telling us we just need to discipline our child better when they have a melt down.

I have no problem reading or hearing about ideas from people, but when those people have been looking into it for about 3 weeks, and think they know all of the things to avoid, then it becomes a hot mess.

[Guest guest]

ha ha....horse radish. Maybe there should be a warning label on Slurpee's, pizza and regular M & M's too!! LOL To: "autism-aspergers " <autism-aspergers > Sent: Thursday, May 24, 2012 8:44 AM Subject: Re:

Debating Causes with People who have never dealt with Autism

Someone else mentioned pick your battles, I agree. I also

know it is frustrating because I feel it is people like them (the know it alls)

who I feel will never get it. It hurts because you may feel judged and

unsupported. I would pray their child doesn’t lack anything in its future

because they don’t let life just happen. I also pray this “prefect†child they

are seeking doesn’t get too much pressure in its life to be perfect. God forbid

but what would happen if they do have a child with some disability?

We too often get unsolicited commentary on WHY our daughter

has autism. We are also told how to fix it and ALL we have to do…… What are

some of the most absurd things you have heard? I know a lot of people don’t

care for sarcasm but we have become sarcastic in many areas in replies to some

of our comments other make to us.

It’s been implied God punished us, we didn’t get married

until our daughter was 1.5. (I do not believe God is a vengeful God)

We were in the military

I lived in Chicago

My husband tasted beer in high school

I broke my leg in the third grade

All I wanted when I was pregnant was horseradish on

watermelon when I was pregnant

I drank too much milk

All I have to do to make it go away:

Wooden spoon with her name written on it and a neat bow at

the neck of the spoon

Believe?

Learn how to parent

The list goes on and on but I am sure you see how ridiculous

it is, after all the damn horseradish should have a warning label. (Sarcasm) If guns kill people then pencils cause misspelled words To: autism-aspergers Sent: Wednesday, May 23, 2012 10:16 PM Subject: Debating Causes with People who have never dealt with Autism

Before I get into that, let me be blunt-

I think there are a multitude of environmental issues that probably carry some weight in a portion of children diagnosed with Autism, regardless of where they fall on the Spectrum. Whether it's things like smoking while you're pregnant, getting vaccines, having too much mercury in your blood, etc.

I also believe that a portion of children diagnosed with Autism come by it genetically.

I also believe that in some cases, leaps and bounds can be made regarding different diets.

Also- I do NOT wish for this to turn into a "This is what causes it" debate. I won't participate in that sort of debate, and this has zero to do with the REASONS why people are Autistic.

All of that said, here's what my issue is right now.

My husband's cousin got married to a guy last summer who is very into "healthy living" in some ways. In other ways, to be blunt, he smokes like a chimney, drinks like a fish, and does recreational drugs. However, neither of them see those things as unhealthy living. She was the same until she got pregnant- I have no idea if she stopped smoking when she found out she was pregnant, but I know she stopped drinking and doing drugs.

They are both the sort of people who will lecture you on their beliefs in the way that they aren't out right telling you that you're wrong, but they're telling you that they are right. Whether it's about buying cheese at a grocery store (they're against buying food at standard grocery stores, as it's 100% processed- even fresh food- their words, not mind), or seeing specific types of doctors, or even going to a hospital.

Now that she's pregnant, they're delving into research on Autism, to try and limit the chances of the baby having it. They want a "normal" child (which irked me as well, because we ALL want a neurotypical child, but that doesn't mean our children aren't normal- it just means they're a little different, just as every person in the world is).

I finally just blocked them from my feed on Facebook today, because frankly, I can't keep seeing articles popping up into my feed about what causes Autism, and how they're going to avoid it.

For instance, in the past week, they've posted Op Ed articles about Autism and the link between the following topics:

Ultrasounds

Processed Foods

Vaccines

Mercury

Antibiotics

How the Amish don't have Autism at all (this goes back to vaccines)

What bothers me the most, is that they don't even look up credible articles. They're reading opinion pieces, and calling them fact. In the few articles that even state a source, it goes back to other Opinion pieces that don't credit a source.

One article said that 90% of Amish people have never been vaccinated, which proves that Vaccines cause 100% of the Autism cases found in the world today.

She sited wikipedia as her source.

They have been posting this stuff for weeks now, and today, I finally got peeved off. I have ignored it, ignored it, ignored it. Today, I finally posted to one of their articles, "So, just wondering, since my daughter was 5 before she was ever vaccinated, what reason is there that she has Autism?"

He asked me if I was serious in asking, and I said I wanted his honest opinion on the matter as to what I did wrong to make my daughter the way she is.

At that point, I posted an update on my own FB page explaining that reading and agreeing with Op Ed pieces does not make you qualified to diagnose Autism, or give causes as to why people have it.

I followed it up with remarks as to why it's more highly diagnosed now than it was 20 years ago, and why it was more highly diagnosed 20 years ago than it was 100 years ago. I think all too often, people forget that when you are dealing with any sort of neurological disorder, there have been leaps and bounds made in recognizing, categorizing, and diagnosing them.

100 years ago, people did not have an Autism diagnosis. They were diagnosed as mentally retarded, and ran a high chance of being institutionalized for life.

20 years ago, Asperger's wasn't recognized as a diagnosis, and was often diagnosed as a variety of problems not on the Spectrum.

He did agree with both of those points, then went back to what I commented on his piece saying that he felt that my question was loaded, given my status update, and the tone of my questions.

I followed up with this:

Here's the thing, ********. I don't doubt that there are a lot of reasons as to why kids today are diagnosed with Autism. But, it's a hot topic. Parents of autistic children will hotly debate it with other parents of autistic children, because we all have our own opinions, and we all deal with it on a daily basis.

I have no issues with you coming up with your own thoughts regarding autism, but posting stuff like this constantly is sort of a slap in the face of parents who have to deal with it daily, who have done their own research, who have doctors behind them, teachers, and psychologists who have all dealt with it over the years.

You're going to have people like me who don't feel we need to hear blanket responses from people who are not dealing with it. If you are going to post stuff like this, do more research as to what the overall thoughts are, not just what some people think the causes are.

It's disrespectiful to the people who put the time in. I've spent over 2 years reading up on it, discussing it with doctors, discussing it with my childrens support staff, and figuring out what happened.

I have long since decided that in our case, it was a genetic issue that we had no control over, as many others have. There are different forms of Autism, and different levels. While some people find a common denominator as to what they think caused their child's Autism, the bottom line is that there is not a single test out there that can pin point a cause.

I respect that you want to do what you can to educate others on topics like this, but it really does involve more than reading and agreeing with an article. Any reputable article will have multiple sources, and will be more than a copy of someone elses hard work on the topic. It will give their own sources, not sources to other articles. It will quote actual published studies, and research materials.

WHEW.

Anyway, the whole thing just bothers me. It's no different than people telling us we just need to discipline our child better when they have a melt down.

I have no problem reading or hearing about ideas from people, but when those people have been looking into it for about 3 weeks, and think they know all of the things to avoid, then it becomes a hot mess.

[Guest guest]

Hello Jane, I know it is difficult to take care of children with disabilities and I do sympathize with you, but cannot take your assault against “fundamentalist Christians†just go. One reason of course is because I am one myself. And you might think this odd but I have heard a lot of opinions like you have noted also from “church†people. What I came to understand over time, and I think you need to understand now is that we are ALL just human beings, and are not perfect, and we do say a lot of dumb things. Like you attacking all fundamentalist Christians as you did and putting them in the same package.

How I have always taken care of dumb things being said by Christians and non, is to see if their words match up to the Bible. From what I do believe as a Christian; is that this world is a cursed place. It was cursed by God because Adam and Eve sinned against Him. So that was when imperfection and disease and all the evil you see entered into the world. Through them because of their sin. So there is sickness and dying here, wars, famines, pestilence, and all sorts of things to contend with. Would list a few things but think it is easy to see it in the news every day.

What we Christians believe is that we have been given a Savior, Jesus Christ, who died on a cross to save us and deliver us, and to heal all our diseases as we call out to Him. We believe that if a person chooses to believe in who He says He is in the Bible, and we can put our faith in Him, and begin to seek Him with all of our hearts, minds, and strength, that we will find Him, He will reveal Himself to us, and it all starts out as a grain of faith within us, then the hunger and the seeking Him after that.

I was driven to seeking Jesus by my son’s illness and I say illness with him because it all began when he was two years old as epileptic seizures. Nobody is going to call an epileptic seizure a good thing. No it is a part of the curse on all of mankind. The retardation, hyperactivity, violence, aggression, and all sorts of other things as well as autism, came later.

Just want you to realize there are many many Christians here in this group that follow our faith daily and are guided and strengthened by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in a very real way. Like me right now, my son Marty is in the hospital with what turned out to be acute pancreatitis that was very bad involving his pancreas and liver. He’s been there for 12 days now and is getting better having fought off pneumonia and a few things. Now we are deciding if he has strength to get his gall bladder out which caused the whole thing from his bile duct getting plugged with sludge they said, or having him go home until he is stronger.

I rely on the Holy Spirit to guide me in these decisions, have had two churches praying for us, and many others. It has been an up and down roller coaster ride of my emotions because I have a heavy burden to care for my son I believe that was given to me by God. It has been God who has given me the strength to do what He wanted me to do.

And I don’t think we are done yet, the Lord has saved my son’s life once again so we can go on being a witness to His great love and compassion. What He has told us to do, be witnesses of the reality of His Love.

Don’t want to get in a big religious discussion but do believe I deserve the respect to be heard here, and elsewhere.

Thank you very much,

Carolyn; in very hard raining Oregon at the moment, a storm is on us from Alaska, where did summer gooooo!!

From: Jane

Sent: Thursday, May 24, 2012 3:10 AM

To: autism-aspergers

Subject: Re: Debating Causes with People who have never dealt with Autism

Wow- this is your family? So sorry.

Try to remember that they don't have children yet-

Before I had children- I knew it all! How to parent- from a to Z!

Life has a way of equalizing people!

When my son was younger- friends invited me camping-

When I held my 3 year old who had no sense of danger-

My friends wife brought him a paper and crayon and screamed at me that all I had to do was keep him busy! My son was very delayed and later diagnosed as dysgraphia! I was livid! If it was so freaking easy as paper Nd crayons! Same couple later told me my son had autism because when we went researching it medically we "spoke" tht over him- they were fundamental Christians who really believed that when I allowed my son to be diagnosed- in that moment - the curse of autism

Landed in my son lol!

They've since had a daughter- diagnoses with sixty five roses.

They like your cousin choose to only have "normal" children so this will be their only child.

They have grown up a lot- and frankly- I was a know it all before I had a child.

My advice ? Don't take it personal- keep your distance- pick which battles you want to put your energy into- and try to laugh it off-

But hugs- cuz that crap is painful and frustrating as heck!

My newest topic I ignore? My sons huge weight gain since risperdol!

He's 12. I was "anti" meds - until last fall when his aggression became unbearable following my husbands heart attack. Everyone in my family is vocal about his gain and begging me to stop meds. My answer? So who is going to come and help me when he gets assaultive? Or give me respite?

They shut up quick.

Hugs-Sent from my iPhone

Before I get into that, let me be blunt-I think there are a multitude of environmental issues that probably carry some weight in a portion of children diagnosed with Autism, regardless of where they fall on the Spectrum. Whether it's things like smoking while you're pregnant, getting vaccines, having too much mercury in your blood, etc.I also believe that a portion of children diagnosed with Autism come by it genetically.I also believe that in some cases, leaps and bounds can be made regarding different diets.Also- I do NOT wish for this to turn into a "This is what causes it" debate. I won't participate in that sort of debate, and this has zero to do with the REASONS why people are Autistic.All of that said, here's what my issue is right now.My husband's cousin got married to a guy last summer who is very into "healthy living" in some ways. In other ways, to be blunt, he smokes like a chimney, drinks like a fish, and does recreational drugs. However, neither of them see those things as unhealthy living. She was the same until she got pregnant- I have no idea if she stopped smoking when she found out she was pregnant, but I know she stopped drinking and doing drugs.They are both the sort of people who will lecture you on their beliefs in the way that they aren't out right telling you that you're wrong, but they're telling you that they are right. Whether it's about buying cheese at a grocery store (they're against buying food at standard grocery stores, as it's 100% processed- even fresh food- their words, not mind), or seeing specific types of doctors, or even going to a hospital.Now that she's pregnant, they're delving into research on Autism, to try and limit the chances of the baby having it. They want a "normal" child (which irked me as well, because we ALL want a neurotypical child, but that doesn't mean our children aren't normal- it just means they're a little different, just as every person in the world is).I finally just blocked them from my feed on Facebook today, because frankly, I can't keep seeing articles popping up into my feed about what causes Autism, and how they're going to avoid it.For instance, in the past week, they've posted Op Ed articles about Autism and the link between the following topics:UltrasoundsProcessed FoodsVaccinesMercuryAntibioticsHow the Amish don't have Autism at all (this goes back to vaccines)What bothers me the most, is that they don't even look up credible articles. They're reading opinion pieces, and calling them fact. In the few articles that even state a source, it goes back to other Opinion pieces that don't credit a source.One article said that 90% of Amish people have never been vaccinated, which proves that Vaccines cause 100% of the Autism cases found in the world today.She sited wikipedia as her source.They have been posting this stuff for weeks now, and today, I finally got peeved off. I have ignored it, ignored it, ignored it. Today, I finally posted to one of their articles, "So, just wondering, since my daughter was 5 before she was ever vaccinated, what reason is there that she has Autism?"He asked me if I was serious in asking, and I said I wanted his honest opinion on the matter as to what I did wrong to make my daughter the way she is.At that point, I posted an update on my own FB page explaining that reading and agreeing with Op Ed pieces does not make you qualified to diagnose Autism, or give causes as to why people have it.I followed it up with remarks as to why it's more highly diagnosed now than it was 20 years ago, and why it was more highly diagnosed 20 years ago than it was 100 years ago. I think all too often, people forget that when you are dealing with any sort of neurological disorder, there have been leaps and bounds made in recognizing, categorizing, and diagnosing them.100 years ago, people did not have an Autism diagnosis. They were diagnosed as mentally retarded, and ran a high chance of being institutionalized for life.20 years ago, Asperger's wasn't recognized as a diagnosis, and was often diagnosed as a variety of problems not on the Spectrum.He did agree with both of those points, then went back to what I commented on his piece saying that he felt that my question was loaded, given my status update, and the tone of my questions.I followed up with this:Here's the thing, ********. I don't doubt that there are a lot of reasons as to why kids today are diagnosed with Autism. But, it's a hot topic. Parents of autistic children will hotly debate it with other parents of autistic children, because we all have our own opinions, and we all deal with it on a daily basis.I have no issues with you coming up with your own thoughts regarding autism, but posting stuff like this constantly is sort of a slap in the face of parents who have to deal with it daily, who have done their own research, who have doctors behind them, teachers, and psychologists who have all dealt with it over the years.You're going to have people like me who don't feel we need to hear blanket responses from people who are not dealing with it. If you are going to post stuff like this, do more research as to what the overall thoughts are, not just what some people think the causes are.It's disrespectiful to the people who put the time in. I've spent over 2 years reading up on it, discussing it with doctors, discussing it with my childrens support staff, and figuring out what happened.I have long since decided that in our case, it was a genetic issue that we had no control over, as many others have. There are different forms of Autism, and different levels. While some people find a common denominator as to what they think caused their child's Autism, the bottom line is that there is not a single test out there that can pin point a cause.I respect that you want to do what you can to educate others on topics like this, but it really does involve more than reading and agreeing with an article. Any reputable article will have multiple sources, and will be more than a copy of someone elses hard work on the topic. It will give their own sources, not sources to other articles. It will quote actual published studies, and research materials.WHEW.Anyway, the whole thing just bothers me. It's no different than people telling us we just need to discipline our child better when they have a melt down.I have no problem reading or hearing about ideas from people, but when those people have been looking into it for about 3 weeks, and think they know all of the things to avoid, then it becomes a hot mess.

[Guest guest]

....and pancakes and milk and salsa (not all together...yak!).

-- Debating Causes with People who have never dealt with Autism

Before I get into that, let me be blunt-I think there are a multitude of environmental issues that probably carry some weight in a portion of children diagnosed with Autism, regardless of where they fall on the Spectrum. Whether it's things like smoking while you're pregnant, getting vaccines, having too much mercury in your blood, etc.I also believe that a portion of children diagnosed with Autism come by it genetically.I also believe that in some cases, leaps and bounds can be made regarding different diets.Also- I do NOT wish for this to turn into a "This is what causes it" debate. I won't participate in that sort of debate, and this has zero to do with the REASONS why people are Autistic.All of that said, here's what my issue is right now.My husband's cousin got married to a guy last summer who is very into "healthy living" in some ways. In other ways, to be blunt, he smokes like a chimney, drinks like a fish, and does recreational drugs. However, neither of them see those things as unhealthy living. She was the same until she got pregnant- I have no idea if she stopped smoking when she found out she was pregnant, but I know she stopped drinking and doing drugs.They are both the sort of people who will lecture you on their beliefs in the way that they aren't out right telling you that you're wrong, but they're telling you that they are right. Whether it's about buying cheese at a grocery store (they're against buying food at standard grocery stores, as it's 100% processed- even fresh food- their words, not mind), or seeing specific types of doctors, or even going to a hospital.Now that she's pregnant, they're delving into research on Autism, to try and limit the chances of the baby having it. They want a "normal" child (which irked me as well, because we ALL want a neurotypical child, but that doesn't mean our children aren't normal- it just means they're a little different, just as every person in the world is).I finally just blocked them from my feed on Facebook today, because frankly, I can't keep seeing articles popping up into my feed about what causes Autism, and how they're going to avoid it.For instance, in the past week, they've posted Op Ed articles about Autism and the link between the following topics:UltrasoundsProcessed FoodsVaccinesMercuryAntibioticsHow the Amish don't have Autism at all (this goes back to vaccines)What bothers me the most, is that they don't even look up credible articles. They're reading opinion pieces, and calling them fact. In the few articles that even state a source, it goes back to other Opinion pieces that don't credit a source.One article said that 90% of Amish people have never been vaccinated, which proves that Vaccines cause 100% of the Autism cases found in the world today.She sited wikipedia as her source.They have been posting this stuff for weeks now, and today, I finally got peeved off. I have ignored it, ignored it, ignored it. Today, I finally posted to one of their articles, "So, just wondering, since my daughter was 5 before she was ever vaccinated, what reason is there that she has Autism?"He asked me if I was serious in asking, and I said I wanted his honest opinion on the matter as to what I did wrong to make my daughter the way she is.At that point, I posted an update on my own FB page explaining that reading and agreeing with Op Ed pieces does not make you qualified to diagnose Autism, or give causes as to why people have it.I followed it up with remarks as to why it's more highly diagnosed now than it was 20 years ago, and why it was more highly diagnosed 20 years ago than it was 100 years ago. I think all too often, people forget that when you are dealing with any sort of neurological disorder, there have been leaps and bounds made in recognizing, categorizing, and diagnosing them.100 years ago, people did not have an Autism diagnosis. They were diagnosed as mentally retarded, and ran a high chance of being institutionalized for life.20 years ago, Asperger's wasn't recognized as a diagnosis, and was often diagnosed as a variety of problems not on the Spectrum.He did agree with both of those points, then went back to what I commented on his piece saying that he felt that my question was loaded, given my status update, and the tone of my questions.I followed up with this:Here's the thing, ********. I don't doubt that there are a lot of reasons as to why kids today are diagnosed with Autism. But, it's a hot topic. Parents of autistic children will hotly debate it with other parents of autistic children, because we all have our own opinions, and we all deal with it on a daily basis.I have no issues with you coming up with your own thoughts regarding autism, but posting stuff like this constantly is sort of a slap in the face of parents who have to deal with it daily, who have done their own research, who have doctors behind them, teachers, and psychologists who have all dealt with it over the years.You're going to have people like me who don't feel we need to hear blanket responses from people who are not dealing with it. If you are going to post stuff like this, do more research as to what the overall thoughts are, not just what some people think the causes are.It's disrespectiful to the people who put the time in. I've spent over 2 years reading up on it, discussing it with doctors, discussing it with my childrens support staff, and figuring out what happened.I have long since decided that in our case, it was a genetic issue that we had no control over, as many others have. There are different forms of Autism, and different levels. While some people find a common denominator as to what they think caused their child's Autism, the bottom line is that there is not a single test out there that can pin point a cause.I respect that you want to do what you can to educate others on topics like this, but it really does involve more than reading and agreeing with an article. Any reputable article will have multiple sources, and will be more than a copy of someone elses hard work on the topic. It will give their own sources, not sources to other articles. It will quote actual published studies, and research materials.WHEW.Anyway, the whole thing just bothers me. It's no different than people telling us we just need to discipline our child better when they have a melt down.I have no problem reading or hearing about ideas from people, but when those people have been looking into it for about 3 weeks, and think they know all of the things to avoid, then it becomes a hot mess.

[Guest guest]

Did I miss an email? When did she "assault" Fundamentalist Christians? She made one comment "they were fundamental Christians who really believed that when I allowed my son to be diagnosed- in that moment - the curse of autism landed in my son" In NO way is she bashing fundamentalist Christians. She is stating that they were Christians and that believed this. It's like she said they had black hair and they believed...

I personally am a strong Christian and I don't have a problem sharing it with other people but I won't force my believes on other people. We are not supposed to discuss this type stuff on this board and I for one am getting a little tired of it. Not because I don't believe what you are saying but because it causes tension on the board. It also detracts from what the original topic was.

I have no idea why God gave me an Autistic child. I know He has His reasons...they are not for me to know. I'd like to hope that some good will come of it. I know that my experiences have helped others and others have helped me. THAT is what this board is for. Helping other and ourselves. Most of the time I don't get into the squabbles on this board. If people say things on this board that I don't like, well that is fine. I can choose to delete their posts. Everyone is entitled to their opinion. "Judge not that ye be judge" is what I live by. I feel that people will answer to God when it comes time. It's not for me to judge or try to correct. I also live by 'water off a duck's back' theory.

-- Re: Debating Causes with People who have never dealt with Autism

Wow- this is your family? So sorry.

Try to remember that they don't have children yet-

Before I had children- I knew it all! How to parent- from a to Z!

Life has a way of equalizing people!

When my son was younger- friends invited me camping-

When I held my 3 year old who had no sense of danger-

My friends wife brought him a paper and crayon and screamed at me that all I had to do was keep him busy! My son was very delayed and later diagnosed as dysgraphia! I was livid! If it was so freaking easy as paper Nd crayons! Same couple later told me my son had autism because when we went researching it medically we "spoke" tht over him- they were fundamental Christians who really believed that when I allowed my son to be diagnosed- in that moment - the curse of autism

Landed in my son lol!

They've since had a daughter- diagnoses with sixty five roses.

They like your cousin choose to only have "normal" children so this will be their only child.

They have grown up a lot- and frankly- I was a know it all before I had a child.

My advice ? Don't take it personal- keep your distance- pick which battles you want to put your energy into- and try to laugh it off-

But hugs- cuz that crap is painful and frustrating as heck!

My newest topic I ignore? My sons huge weight gain since risperdol!

He's 12. I was "anti" meds - until last fall when his aggression became unbearable following my husbands heart attack. Everyone in my family is vocal about his gain and begging me to stop meds. My answer? So who is going to come and help me when he gets assaultive? Or give me respite?

They shut up quick.

Hugs-Sent from my iPhone

Before I get into that, let me be blunt-I think there are a multitude of environmental issues that probably carry some weight in a portion of children diagnosed with Autism, regardless of where they fall on the Spectrum. Whether it's things like smoking while you're pregnant, getting vaccines, having too much mercury in your blood, etc.I also believe that a portion of children diagnosed with Autism come by it genetically.I also believe that in some cases, leaps and bounds can be made regarding different diets.Also- I do NOT wish for this to turn into a "This is what causes it" debate. I won't participate in that sort of debate, and this has zero to do with the REASONS why people are Autistic.All of that said, here's what my issue is right now.My husband's cousin got married to a guy last summer who is very into "healthy living" in some ways. In other ways, to be blunt, he smokes like a chimney, drinks like a fish, and does recreational drugs. However, neither of them see those things as unhealthy living. She was the same until she got pregnant- I have no idea if she stopped smoking when she found out she was pregnant, but I know she stopped drinking and doing drugs.They are both the sort of people who will lecture you on their beliefs in the way that they aren't out right telling you that you're wrong, but they're telling you that they are right. Whether it's about buying cheese at a grocery store (they're against buying food at standard grocery stores, as it's 100% processed- even fresh food- their words, not mind), or seeing specific types of doctors, or even going to a hospital.Now that she's pregnant, they're delving into research on Autism, to try and limit the chances of the baby having it. They want a "normal" child (which irked me as well, because we ALL want a neurotypical child, but that doesn't mean our children aren't normal- it just means they're a little different, just as every person in the world is).I finally just blocked them from my feed on Facebook today, because frankly, I can't keep seeing articles popping up into my feed about what causes Autism, and how they're going to avoid it.For instance, in the past week, they've posted Op Ed articles about Autism and the link between the following topics:UltrasoundsProcessed FoodsVaccinesMercuryAntibioticsHow the Amish don't have Autism at all (this goes back to vaccines)What bothers me the most, is that they don't even look up credible articles. They're reading opinion pieces, and calling them fact. In the few articles that even state a source, it goes back to other Opinion pieces that don't credit a source.One article said that 90% of Amish people have never been vaccinated, which proves that Vaccines cause 100% of the Autism cases found in the world today.She sited wikipedia as her source.They have been posting this stuff for weeks now, and today, I finally got peeved off. I have ignored it, ignored it, ignored it. Today, I finally posted to one of their articles, "So, just wondering, since my daughter was 5 before she was ever vaccinated, what reason is there that she has Autism?"He asked me if I was serious in asking, and I said I wanted his honest opinion on the matter as to what I did wrong to make my daughter the way she is.At that point, I posted an update on my own FB page explaining that reading and agreeing with Op Ed pieces does not make you qualified to diagnose Autism, or give causes as to why people have it.I followed it up with remarks as to why it's more highly diagnosed now than it was 20 years ago, and why it was more highly diagnosed 20 years ago than it was 100 years ago. I think all too often, people forget that when you are dealing with any sort of neurological disorder, there have been leaps and bounds made in recognizing, categorizing, and diagnosing them.100 years ago, people did not have an Autism diagnosis. They were diagnosed as mentally retarded, and ran a high chance of being institutionalized for life.20 years ago, Asperger's wasn't recognized as a diagnosis, and was often diagnosed as a variety of problems not on the Spectrum.He did agree with both of those points, then went back to what I commented on his piece saying that he felt that my question was loaded, given my status update, and the tone of my questions.I followed up with this:Here's the thing, ********. I don't doubt that there are a lot of reasons as to why kids today are diagnosed with Autism. But, it's a hot topic. Parents of autistic children will hotly debate it with other parents of autistic children, because we all have our own opinions, and we all deal with it on a daily basis.I have no issues with you coming up with your own thoughts regarding autism, but posting stuff like this constantly is sort of a slap in the face of parents who have to deal with it daily, who have done their own research, who have doctors behind them, teachers, and psychologists who have all dealt with it over the years.You're going to have people like me who don't feel we need to hear blanket responses from people who are not dealing with it. If you are going to post stuff like this, do more research as to what the overall thoughts are, not just what some people think the causes are.It's disrespectiful to the people who put the time in. I've spent over 2 years reading up on it, discussing it with doctors, discussing it with my childrens support staff, and figuring out what happened.I have long since decided that in our case, it was a genetic issue that we had no control over, as many others have. There are different forms of Autism, and different levels. While some people find a common denominator as to what they think caused their child's Autism, the bottom line is that there is not a single test out there that can pin point a cause.I respect that you want to do what you can to educate others on topics like this, but it really does involve more than reading and agreeing with an article. Any reputable article will have multiple sources, and will be more than a copy of someone elses hard work on the topic. It will give their own sources, not sources to other articles. It will quote actual published studies, and research materials.WHEW.Anyway, the whole thing just bothers me. It's no different than people telling us we just need to discipline our child better when they have a melt down.I have no problem reading or hearing about ideas from people, but when those people have been looking into it for about 3 weeks, and think they know all of the things to avoid, then it becomes a hot mess.

[Guest guest]

I totally understand and this sounds horrible but some deep dark part of me hopes that people like this can be proven wrong. That being said, I wouldn't wish autism on anyone. It would just be 'justice' if they had to deal with what we have to deal with in spite of their precautions.

I know there are people on this board with unimmunized children that still have autism. It is funny that these two layperson's KNOW the cause of autism with leading experts that have devoted their whole lives to it and yet they don't know.

Oh and Wikipedia has only 100% factual information on it and can totally be trusted! Lol...really?

My daughter was 14 y/o before she was diagnosed with autism. I think knowledgeable providers who know what to look for is why it is so much more common.

I love Facebook but it is things like this that drive be crazy.

It will be interesting to se how good of parents they are after they become parents. I was the most knowledgeable parent on the planet until I had kids of my one. Lol!

I'm sorry you are having to deal with it.

 

Only two defining forces have ever offered to die for you;

Jesus Christ and the American Soldier.

One died for your soul; the other for your freedom.

-- Debating Causes with People who have never dealt with Autism

Before I get into that, let me be blunt-I think there are a multitude of environmental issues that probably carry some weight in a portion of children diagnosed with Autism, regardless of where they fall on the Spectrum. Whether it's things like smoking while you're pregnant, getting vaccines, having too much mercury in your blood, etc.I also believe that a portion of children diagnosed with Autism come by it genetically.I also believe that in some cases, leaps and bounds can be made regarding different diets.Also- I do NOT wish for this to turn into a "This is what causes it" debate. I won't participate in that sort of debate, and this has zero to do with the REASONS why people are Autistic.All of that said, here's what my issue is right now.My husband's cousin got married to a guy last summer who is very into "healthy living" in some ways. In other ways, to be blunt, he smokes like a chimney, drinks like a fish, and does recreational drugs. However, neither of them see those things as unhealthy living. She was the same until she got pregnant- I have no idea if she stopped smoking when she found out she was pregnant, but I know she stopped drinking and doing drugs.They are both the sort of people who will lecture you on their beliefs in the way that they aren't out right telling you that you're wrong, but they're telling you that they are right. Whether it's about buying cheese at a grocery store (they're against buying food at standard grocery stores, as it's 100% processed- even fresh food- their words, not mind), or seeing specific types of doctors, or even going to a hospital.Now that she's pregnant, they're delving into research on Autism, to try and limit the chances of the baby having it. They want a "normal" child (which irked me as well, because we ALL want a neurotypical child, but that doesn't mean our children aren't normal- it just means they're a little different, just as every person in the world is).I finally just blocked them from my feed on Facebook today, because frankly, I can't keep seeing articles popping up into my feed about what causes Autism, and how they're going to avoid it.For instance, in the past week, they've posted Op Ed articles about Autism and the link between the following topics:UltrasoundsProcessed FoodsVaccinesMercuryAntibioticsHow the Amish don't have Autism at all (this goes back to vaccines)What bothers me the most, is that they don't even look up credible articles. They're reading opinion pieces, and calling them fact. In the few articles that even state a source, it goes back to other Opinion pieces that don't credit a source.One article said that 90% of Amish people have never been vaccinated, which proves that Vaccines cause 100% of the Autism cases found in the world today.She sited wikipedia as her source.They have been posting this stuff for weeks now, and today, I finally got peeved off. I have ignored it, ignored it, ignored it. Today, I finally posted to one of their articles, "So, just wondering, since my daughter was 5 before she was ever vaccinated, what reason is there that she has Autism?"He asked me if I was serious in asking, and I said I wanted his honest opinion on the matter as to what I did wrong to make my daughter the way she is.At that point, I posted an update on my own FB page explaining that reading and agreeing with Op Ed pieces does not make you qualified to diagnose Autism, or give causes as to why people have it.I followed it up with remarks as to why it's more highly diagnosed now than it was 20 years ago, and why it was more highly diagnosed 20 years ago than it was 100 years ago. I think all too often, people forget that when you are dealing with any sort of neurological disorder, there have been leaps and bounds made in recognizing, categorizing, and diagnosing them.100 years ago, people did not have an Autism diagnosis. They were diagnosed as mentally retarded, and ran a high chance of being institutionalized for life.20 years ago, Asperger's wasn't recognized as a diagnosis, and was often diagnosed as a variety of problems not on the Spectrum.He did agree with both of those points, then went back to what I commented on his piece saying that he felt that my question was loaded, given my status update, and the tone of my questions.I followed up with this:Here's the thing, ********. I don't doubt that there are a lot of reasons as to why kids today are diagnosed with Autism. But, it's a hot topic. Parents of autistic children will hotly debate it with other parents of autistic children, because we all have our own opinions, and we all deal with it on a daily basis.I have no issues with you coming up with your own thoughts regarding autism, but posting stuff like this constantly is sort of a slap in the face of parents who have to deal with it daily, who have done their own research, who have doctors behind them, teachers, and psychologists who have all dealt with it over the years.You're going to have people like me who don't feel we need to hear blanket responses from people who are not dealing with it. If you are going to post stuff like this, do more research as to what the overall thoughts are, not just what some people think the causes are.It's disrespectiful to the people who put the time in. I've spent over 2 years reading up on it, discussing it with doctors, discussing it with my childrens support staff, and figuring out what happened.I have long since decided that in our case, it was a genetic issue that we had no control over, as many others have. There are different forms of Autism, and different levels. While some people find a common denominator as to what they think caused their child's Autism, the bottom line is that there is not a single test out there that can pin point a cause.I respect that you want to do what you can to educate others on topics like this, but it really does involve more than reading and agreeing with an article. Any reputable article will have multiple sources, and will be more than a copy of someone elses hard work on the topic. It will give their own sources, not sources to other articles. It will quote actual published studies, and research materials.WHEW.Anyway, the whole thing just bothers me. It's no different than people telling us we just need to discipline our child better when they have a melt down.I have no problem reading or hearing about ideas from people, but when those people have been looking into it for about 3 weeks, and think they know all of the things to avoid, then it becomes a hot mess.

[Guest guest]

Oh, yeah, we've had the meds talks. We've been " made aware " by the well meaning

people that we're killing our son (son was medicated to be in school, daughter

never needed to be), stunting his growth, causing him to act out, making him a

drug addict, and more.

I would just smile, nod, and thank them for their advice, then ask if they had a

practice in the area, so I could start sending my kids to them, instead of their

current doctor. When they'd of course say they weren't doctors, I'd say,

" Really? Huh. You must have went to medical school, then, to become so

knowledgeable on the topic, right? "

One lady said, in ALL seriousness, " Well no, but I do have wikipedia, and as

long as you know what to look up, it has ALL the answers. "

I about died laughing when I left.

>

> > Before I get into that, let me be blunt-

> >

> > I think there are a multitude of environmental issues that probably carry

some weight in a portion of children diagnosed with Autism, regardless of where

they fall on the Spectrum. Whether it's things like smoking while you're

pregnant, getting vaccines, having too much mercury in your blood, etc.

> >

> > I also believe that a portion of children diagnosed with Autism come by it

genetically.

> >

> > I also believe that in some cases, leaps and bounds can be made regarding

different diets.

> >

> > Also- I do NOT wish for this to turn into a " This is what causes it " debate.

I won't participate in that sort of debate, and this has zero to do with the

REASONS why people are Autistic.

> >

> > All of that said, here's what my issue is right now.

> >

> > My husband's cousin got married to a guy last summer who is very into

" healthy living " in some ways. In other ways, to be blunt, he smokes like a

chimney, drinks like a fish, and does recreational drugs. However, neither of

them see those things as unhealthy living. She was the same until she got

pregnant- I have no idea if she stopped smoking when she found out she was

pregnant, but I know she stopped drinking and doing drugs.

> >

> > They are both the sort of people who will lecture you on their beliefs in

the way that they aren't out right telling you that you're wrong, but they're

telling you that they are right. Whether it's about buying cheese at a grocery

store (they're against buying food at standard grocery stores, as it's 100%

processed- even fresh food- their words, not mind), or seeing specific types of

doctors, or even going to a hospital.

> >

> > Now that she's pregnant, they're delving into research on Autism, to try and

limit the chances of the baby having it. They want a " normal " child (which irked

me as well, because we ALL want a neurotypical child, but that doesn't mean our

children aren't normal- it just means they're a little different, just as every

person in the world is).

> >

> > I finally just blocked them from my feed on Facebook today, because frankly,

I can't keep seeing articles popping up into my feed about what causes Autism,

and how they're going to avoid it.

> >

> > For instance, in the past week, they've posted Op Ed articles about Autism

and the link between the following topics:

> >

> > Ultrasounds

> > Processed Foods

> > Vaccines

> > Mercury

> > Antibiotics

> > How the Amish don't have Autism at all (this goes back to vaccines)

> >

> > What bothers me the most, is that they don't even look up credible articles.

They're reading opinion pieces, and calling them fact. In the few articles that

even state a source, it goes back to other Opinion pieces that don't credit a

source.

> >

> > One article said that 90% of Amish people have never been vaccinated, which

proves that Vaccines cause 100% of the Autism cases found in the world today.

> >

> > She sited wikipedia as her source.

> >

> > They have been posting this stuff for weeks now, and today, I finally got

peeved off. I have ignored it, ignored it, ignored it. Today, I finally posted

to one of their articles, " So, just wondering, since my daughter was 5 before

she was ever vaccinated, what reason is there that she has Autism? "

> >

> > He asked me if I was serious in asking, and I said I wanted his honest

opinion on the matter as to what I did wrong to make my daughter the way she is.

> >

> > At that point, I posted an update on my own FB page explaining that reading

and agreeing with Op Ed pieces does not make you qualified to diagnose Autism,

or give causes as to why people have it.

> >

> > I followed it up with remarks as to why it's more highly diagnosed now than

it was 20 years ago, and why it was more highly diagnosed 20 years ago than it

was 100 years ago. I think all too often, people forget that when you are

dealing with any sort of neurological disorder, there have been leaps and bounds

made in recognizing, categorizing, and diagnosing them.

> >

> > 100 years ago, people did not have an Autism diagnosis. They were diagnosed

as mentally retarded, and ran a high chance of being institutionalized for life.

> >

> > 20 years ago, Asperger's wasn't recognized as a diagnosis, and was often

diagnosed as a variety of problems not on the Spectrum.

> >

> > He did agree with both of those points, then went back to what I commented

on his piece saying that he felt that my question was loaded, given my status

update, and the tone of my questions.

> >

> > I followed up with this:

> >

> > Here's the thing, ********. I don't doubt that there are a lot of reasons as

to why kids today are diagnosed with Autism. But, it's a hot topic. Parents of

autistic children will hotly debate it with other parents of autistic children,

because we all have our own opinions, and we all deal with it on a daily basis.

> >

> > I have no issues with you coming up with your own thoughts regarding autism,

but posting stuff like this constantly is sort of a slap in the face of parents

who have to deal with it daily, who have done their own research, who have

doctors behind them, teachers, and psychologists who have all dealt with it over

the years.

> >

> > You're going to have people like me who don't feel we need to hear blanket

responses from people who are not dealing with it. If you are going to post

stuff like this, do more research as to what the overall thoughts are, not just

what some people think the causes are.

> >

> > It's disrespectiful to the people who put the time in. I've spent over 2

years reading up on it, discussing it with doctors, discussing it with my

childrens support staff, and figuring out what happened.

> >

> > I have long since decided that in our case, it was a genetic issue that we

had no control over, as many others have. There are different forms of Autism,

and different levels. While some people find a common denominator as to what

they think caused their child's Autism, the bottom line is that there is not a

single test out there that can pin point a cause.

> >

> > I respect that you want to do what you can to educate others on topics like

this, but it really does involve more than reading and agreeing with an article.

Any reputable article will have multiple sources, and will be more than a copy

of someone elses hard work on the topic. It will give their own sources, not

sources to other articles. It will quote actual published studies, and research

materials.

> >

> > WHEW.

> >

> > Anyway, the whole thing just bothers me. It's no different than people

telling us we just need to discipline our child better when they have a melt

down.

> >

> > I have no problem reading or hearing about ideas from people, but when those

people have been looking into it for about 3 weeks, and think they know all of

the things to avoid, then it becomes a hot mess.

> >

> >

>

[Guest guest]

Funny thing about pregnancy and what we ate-I have 4 kids-Kid #1- I lived on steamers, hotdogs and nachos. Couldn't take the vitamin-Kid#3- didn't take the vitamin- didn't eat well-Kid#4- not only didn't take the vitamin- disnt know I was pregnant for 5 months - we were "done" having kids- lived on diet coke and garbage five months-Those kids? NT.My sweet Caleb? Tried hard to have a baby- prenatal vitamins regularly 2 years before conception and folic- and heating super healthy- no diet coke- no chemicals- no aspirins or anything-Go figure-So maybe the prenatalVitamin caused the autism LOLSent from my iPhone

Oh, yeah, we've had the meds talks. We've been "made aware" by the well meaning people that we're killing our son (son was medicated to be in school, daughter never needed to be), stunting his growth, causing him to act out, making him a drug addict, and more.

I would just smile, nod, and thank them for their advice, then ask if they had a practice in the area, so I could start sending my kids to them, instead of their current doctor. When they'd of course say they weren't doctors, I'd say, "Really? Huh. You must have went to medical school, then, to become so knowledgeable on the topic, right?"

One lady said, in ALL seriousness, "Well no, but I do have wikipedia, and as long as you know what to look up, it has ALL the answers."

I about died laughing when I left.

>

> > Before I get into that, let me be blunt-

> >

> > I think there are a multitude of environmental issues that probably carry some weight in a portion of children diagnosed with Autism, regardless of where they fall on the Spectrum. Whether it's things like smoking while you're pregnant, getting vaccines, having too much mercury in your blood, etc.

> >

> > I also believe that a portion of children diagnosed with Autism come by it genetically.

> >

> > I also believe that in some cases, leaps and bounds can be made regarding different diets.

> >

> > Also- I do NOT wish for this to turn into a "This is what causes it" debate. I won't participate in that sort of debate, and this has zero to do with the REASONS why people are Autistic.

> >

> > All of that said, here's what my issue is right now.

> >

> > My husband's cousin got married to a guy last summer who is very into "healthy living" in some ways. In other ways, to be blunt, he smokes like a chimney, drinks like a fish, and does recreational drugs. However, neither of them see those things as unhealthy living. She was the same until she got pregnant- I have no idea if she stopped smoking when she found out she was pregnant, but I know she stopped drinking and doing drugs.

> >

> > They are both the sort of people who will lecture you on their beliefs in the way that they aren't out right telling you that you're wrong, but they're telling you that they are right. Whether it's about buying cheese at a grocery store (they're against buying food at standard grocery stores, as it's 100% processed- even fresh food- their words, not mind), or seeing specific types of doctors, or even going to a hospital.

> >

> > Now that she's pregnant, they're delving into research on Autism, to try and limit the chances of the baby having it. They want a "normal" child (which irked me as well, because we ALL want a neurotypical child, but that doesn't mean our children aren't normal- it just means they're a little different, just as every person in the world is).

> >

> > I finally just blocked them from my feed on Facebook today, because frankly, I can't keep seeing articles popping up into my feed about what causes Autism, and how they're going to avoid it.

> >

> > For instance, in the past week, they've posted Op Ed articles about Autism and the link between the following topics:

> >

> > Ultrasounds

> > Processed Foods

> > Vaccines

> > Mercury

> > Antibiotics

> > How the Amish don't have Autism at all (this goes back to vaccines)

> >

> > What bothers me the most, is that they don't even look up credible articles. They're reading opinion pieces, and calling them fact. In the few articles that even state a source, it goes back to other Opinion pieces that don't credit a source.

> >

> > One article said that 90% of Amish people have never been vaccinated, which proves that Vaccines cause 100% of the Autism cases found in the world today.

> >

> > She sited wikipedia as her source.

> >

> > They have been posting this stuff for weeks now, and today, I finally got peeved off. I have ignored it, ignored it, ignored it. Today, I finally posted to one of their articles, "So, just wondering, since my daughter was 5 before she was ever vaccinated, what reason is there that she has Autism?"

> >

> > He asked me if I was serious in asking, and I said I wanted his honest opinion on the matter as to what I did wrong to make my daughter the way she is.

> >

> > At that point, I posted an update on my own FB page explaining that reading and agreeing with Op Ed pieces does not make you qualified to diagnose Autism, or give causes as to why people have it.

> >

> > I followed it up with remarks as to why it's more highly diagnosed now than it was 20 years ago, and why it was more highly diagnosed 20 years ago than it was 100 years ago. I think all too often, people forget that when you are dealing with any sort of neurological disorder, there have been leaps and bounds made in recognizing, categorizing, and diagnosing them.

> >

> > 100 years ago, people did not have an Autism diagnosis. They were diagnosed as mentally retarded, and ran a high chance of being institutionalized for life.

> >

> > 20 years ago, Asperger's wasn't recognized as a diagnosis, and was often diagnosed as a variety of problems not on the Spectrum.

> >

> > He did agree with both of those points, then went back to what I commented on his piece saying that he felt that my question was loaded, given my status update, and the tone of my questions.

> >

> > I followed up with this:

> >

> > Here's the thing, ********. I don't doubt that there are a lot of reasons as to why kids today are diagnosed with Autism. But, it's a hot topic. Parents of autistic children will hotly debate it with other parents of autistic children, because we all have our own opinions, and we all deal with it on a daily basis.

> >

> > I have no issues with you coming up with your own thoughts regarding autism, but posting stuff like this constantly is sort of a slap in the face of parents who have to deal with it daily, who have done their own research, who have doctors behind them, teachers, and psychologists who have all dealt with it over the years.

> >

> > You're going to have people like me who don't feel we need to hear blanket responses from people who are not dealing with it. If you are going to post stuff like this, do more research as to what the overall thoughts are, not just what some people think the causes are.

> >

> > It's disrespectiful to the people who put the time in. I've spent over 2 years reading up on it, discussing it with doctors, discussing it with my childrens support staff, and figuring out what happened.

> >

> > I have long since decided that in our case, it was a genetic issue that we had no control over, as many others have. There are different forms of Autism, and different levels. While some people find a common denominator as to what they think caused their child's Autism, the bottom line is that there is not a single test out there that can pin point a cause.

> >

> > I respect that you want to do what you can to educate others on topics like this, but it really does involve more than reading and agreeing with an article. Any reputable article will have multiple sources, and will be more than a copy of someone elses hard work on the topic. It will give their own sources, not sources to other articles. It will quote actual published studies, and research materials.

> >

> > WHEW.

> >

> > Anyway, the whole thing just bothers me. It's no different than people telling us we just need to discipline our child better when they have a melt down.

> >

> > I have no problem reading or hearing about ideas from people, but when those people have been looking into it for about 3 weeks, and think they know all of the things to avoid, then it becomes a hot mess.

> >

> >

>

[Guest guest]

Actually no joke! A friend who I actually trust (although didn't check references) who actually told me prenatals can cause autism?!? I should probably check it out and find out why she believes this. All 3 of her kids are on the spectrum.Sent from my iPhone

Funny thing about pregnancy and what we ate-I have 4 kids-Kid #1- I lived on steamers, hotdogs and nachos. Couldn't take the vitamin-Kid#3- didn't take the vitamin- didn't eat well-Kid#4- not only didn't take the vitamin- disnt know I was pregnant for 5 months - we were "done" having kids- lived on diet coke and garbage five months-Those kids? NT.My sweet Caleb? Tried hard to have a baby- prenatal vitamins regularly 2 years before conception and folic- and heating super healthy- no diet coke- no chemicals- no aspirins or anything-Go figure-So maybe the prenatalVitamin caused the autism LOLSent from my iPhone

Oh, yeah, we've had the meds talks. We've been "made aware" by the well meaning people that we're killing our son (son was medicated to be in school, daughter never needed to be), stunting his growth, causing him to act out, making him a drug addict, and more.

I would just smile, nod, and thank them for their advice, then ask if they had a practice in the area, so I could start sending my kids to them, instead of their current doctor. When they'd of course say they weren't doctors, I'd say, "Really? Huh. You must have went to medical school, then, to become so knowledgeable on the topic, right?"

One lady said, in ALL seriousness, "Well no, but I do have wikipedia, and as long as you know what to look up, it has ALL the answers."

I about died laughing when I left.

>

> > Before I get into that, let me be blunt-

> >

> > I think there are a multitude of environmental issues that probably carry some weight in a portion of children diagnosed with Autism, regardless of where they fall on the Spectrum. Whether it's things like smoking while you're pregnant, getting vaccines, having too much mercury in your blood, etc.

> >

> > I also believe that a portion of children diagnosed with Autism come by it genetically.

> >

> > I also believe that in some cases, leaps and bounds can be made regarding different diets.

> >

> > Also- I do NOT wish for this to turn into a "This is what causes it" debate. I won't participate in that sort of debate, and this has zero to do with the REASONS why people are Autistic.

> >

> > All of that said, here's what my issue is right now.

> >

> > My husband's cousin got married to a guy last summer who is very into "healthy living" in some ways. In other ways, to be blunt, he smokes like a chimney, drinks like a fish, and does recreational drugs. However, neither of them see those things as unhealthy living. She was the same until she got pregnant- I have no idea if she stopped smoking when she found out she was pregnant, but I know she stopped drinking and doing drugs.

> >

> > They are both the sort of people who will lecture you on their beliefs in the way that they aren't out right telling you that you're wrong, but they're telling you that they are right. Whether it's about buying cheese at a grocery store (they're against buying food at standard grocery stores, as it's 100% processed- even fresh food- their words, not mind), or seeing specific types of doctors, or even going to a hospital.

> >

> > Now that she's pregnant, they're delving into research on Autism, to try and limit the chances of the baby having it. They want a "normal" child (which irked me as well, because we ALL want a neurotypical child, but that doesn't mean our children aren't normal- it just means they're a little different, just as every person in the world is).

> >

> > I finally just blocked them from my feed on Facebook today, because frankly, I can't keep seeing articles popping up into my feed about what causes Autism, and how they're going to avoid it.

> >

> > For instance, in the past week, they've posted Op Ed articles about Autism and the link between the following topics:

> >

> > Ultrasounds

> > Processed Foods

> > Vaccines

> > Mercury

> > Antibiotics

> > How the Amish don't have Autism at all (this goes back to vaccines)

> >

> > What bothers me the most, is that they don't even look up credible articles. They're reading opinion pieces, and calling them fact. In the few articles that even state a source, it goes back to other Opinion pieces that don't credit a source.

> >

> > One article said that 90% of Amish people have never been vaccinated, which proves that Vaccines cause 100% of the Autism cases found in the world today.

> >

> > She sited wikipedia as her source.

> >

> > They have been posting this stuff for weeks now, and today, I finally got peeved off. I have ignored it, ignored it, ignored it. Today, I finally posted to one of their articles, "So, just wondering, since my daughter was 5 before she was ever vaccinated, what reason is there that she has Autism?"

> >

> > He asked me if I was serious in asking, and I said I wanted his honest opinion on the matter as to what I did wrong to make my daughter the way she is.

> >

> > At that point, I posted an update on my own FB page explaining that reading and agreeing with Op Ed pieces does not make you qualified to diagnose Autism, or give causes as to why people have it.

> >

> > I followed it up with remarks as to why it's more highly diagnosed now than it was 20 years ago, and why it was more highly diagnosed 20 years ago than it was 100 years ago. I think all too often, people forget that when you are dealing with any sort of neurological disorder, there have been leaps and bounds made in recognizing, categorizing, and diagnosing them.

> >

> > 100 years ago, people did not have an Autism diagnosis. They were diagnosed as mentally retarded, and ran a high chance of being institutionalized for life.

> >

> > 20 years ago, Asperger's wasn't recognized as a diagnosis, and was often diagnosed as a variety of problems not on the Spectrum.

> >

> > He did agree with both of those points, then went back to what I commented on his piece saying that he felt that my question was loaded, given my status update, and the tone of my questions.

> >

> > I followed up with this:

> >

> > Here's the thing, ********. I don't doubt that there are a lot of reasons as to why kids today are diagnosed with Autism. But, it's a hot topic. Parents of autistic children will hotly debate it with other parents of autistic children, because we all have our own opinions, and we all deal with it on a daily basis.

> >

> > I have no issues with you coming up with your own thoughts regarding autism, but posting stuff like this constantly is sort of a slap in the face of parents who have to deal with it daily, who have done their own research, who have doctors behind them, teachers, and psychologists who have all dealt with it over the years.

> >

> > You're going to have people like me who don't feel we need to hear blanket responses from people who are not dealing with it. If you are going to post stuff like this, do more research as to what the overall thoughts are, not just what some people think the causes are.

> >

> > It's disrespectiful to the people who put the time in. I've spent over 2 years reading up on it, discussing it with doctors, discussing it with my childrens support staff, and figuring out what happened.

> >

> > I have long since decided that in our case, it was a genetic issue that we had no control over, as many others have. There are different forms of Autism, and different levels. While some people find a common denominator as to what they think caused their child's Autism, the bottom line is that there is not a single test out there that can pin point a cause.

> >

> > I respect that you want to do what you can to educate others on topics like this, but it really does involve more than reading and agreeing with an article. Any reputable article will have multiple sources, and will be more than a copy of someone elses hard work on the topic. It will give their own sources, not sources to other articles. It will quote actual published studies, and research materials.

> >

> > WHEW.

> >

> > Anyway, the whole thing just bothers me. It's no different than people telling us we just need to discipline our child better when they have a melt down.

> >

> > I have no problem reading or hearing about ideas from people, but when those people have been looking into it for about 3 weeks, and think they know all of the things to avoid, then it becomes a hot mess.

> >

> >

>

=

[Guest guest]

That's funny b/c the only child I took my vitimins with is the one with AS. LOL.... To: "autism-aspergers " <autism-aspergers > Sent: Thursday, May 24, 2012 10:31 PM Subject: Re: Re: Debating Causes with People who have never

dealt with Autism

Actually no joke! A friend who I actually trust (although didn't check references) who actually told me prenatals can cause autism?!? I should probably check it out and find out why she believes this. All 3 of her kids are on the spectrum.Sent from my iPhone

Funny thing about pregnancy and what we ate-I have 4 kids-Kid #1- I lived on steamers, hotdogs and nachos. Couldn't take the vitamin-Kid#3- didn't take the vitamin- didn't eat well-Kid#4- not only didn't take the vitamin- disnt know I was pregnant for 5 months - we were "done" having kids- lived on diet coke and garbage five months-Those kids? NT.My sweet Caleb? Tried hard to have a baby- prenatal vitamins regularly 2 years before conception and folic- and heating super healthy- no diet coke- no chemicals- no aspirins or anything-Go figure-So maybe the prenatalVitamin caused the autism LOLSent from my iPhone

Oh, yeah, we've had the meds talks. We've been "made aware" by the well meaning people that we're killing our son (son was medicated to be in school, daughter never needed to be), stunting his growth, causing him to act out, making him a drug addict, and more.

I would just smile, nod, and thank them for their advice, then ask if they had a practice in the area, so I could start sending my kids to them, instead of their current doctor. When they'd of course say they weren't doctors, I'd say, "Really? Huh. You must have went to medical school, then, to become so knowledgeable on the topic, right?"

One lady said, in ALL seriousness, "Well no, but I do have wikipedia, and as long as you know what to look up, it has ALL the answers."

I about died laughing when I left.

>

> > Before I get into that, let me be blunt-

> >

> > I think there are a multitude of environmental issues that probably carry some weight in a portion of children diagnosed with Autism, regardless of where they fall on the Spectrum. Whether it's things like smoking while you're pregnant, getting vaccines, having too much mercury in your blood, etc.

> >

> > I also believe that a portion of children diagnosed with Autism come by it genetically.

> >

> > I also believe that in some cases, leaps and bounds can be made regarding different diets.

> >

> > Also- I do NOT wish for this to turn into a "This is what causes it" debate. I won't participate in that sort of debate, and this has zero to do with the REASONS why people are Autistic.

> >

> > All of that said, here's what my issue is right now.

> >

> > My husband's cousin got married to a guy last summer who is very into "healthy living" in some ways. In other ways, to be blunt, he smokes like a chimney, drinks like a fish, and does recreational drugs. However, neither of them see those things as unhealthy living. She was the same until she got pregnant- I have no idea if she stopped smoking when she found out she was pregnant, but I know she stopped drinking and doing drugs.

> >

> > They are both the sort of people who will lecture you on their beliefs in the way that they aren't out right telling you that you're wrong, but they're telling you that they are right. Whether it's about buying cheese at a grocery store (they're against buying food at standard grocery stores, as it's 100% processed- even fresh food- their words, not mind), or seeing specific types of doctors, or even going to a hospital.

> >

> > Now that she's pregnant, they're delving into research on Autism, to try and limit the chances of the baby having it. They want a "normal" child (which irked me as well, because we ALL want a neurotypical child, but that doesn't mean our children aren't normal- it just means they're a little different, just as every person in the world is).

> >

> > I finally just blocked them from my feed on Facebook today, because frankly, I can't keep seeing articles popping up into my feed about what causes Autism, and how they're going to avoid it.

> >

> > For instance, in the past week, they've posted Op Ed articles about Autism and the link between the following topics:

> >

> > Ultrasounds

> > Processed Foods

> > Vaccines

> > Mercury

> > Antibiotics

> > How the Amish don't have Autism at all (this goes back to vaccines)

> >

> > What bothers me the most, is that they don't even look up credible articles. They're reading opinion pieces, and calling them fact. In the few articles that even state a source, it goes back to other Opinion pieces that don't credit a source.

> >

> > One article said that 90% of Amish people have never been vaccinated, which proves that Vaccines cause 100% of the Autism cases found in the world today.

> >

> > She sited wikipedia as her source.

> >

> > They have been posting this stuff for weeks now, and today, I finally got peeved off. I have ignored it, ignored it, ignored it. Today, I finally posted to one of their articles, "So, just wondering, since my daughter was 5 before she was ever vaccinated, what reason is there that she has Autism?"

> >

> > He asked me if I was serious in asking, and I said I wanted his honest opinion on the matter as to what I did wrong to make my daughter the way she is.

> >

> > At that point, I posted an update on my own FB page explaining that reading and agreeing with Op Ed pieces does not make you qualified to diagnose Autism, or give causes as to why people have it.

> >

> > I followed it up with remarks as to why it's more highly diagnosed now than it was 20 years ago, and why it was more highly diagnosed 20 years ago than it was 100 years ago. I think all too often, people forget that when you are dealing with any sort of neurological disorder, there have been leaps and bounds made in recognizing, categorizing, and diagnosing them.

> >

> > 100 years ago, people did not have an Autism diagnosis. They were diagnosed as mentally retarded, and ran a high chance of being institutionalized for life.

> >

> > 20 years ago, Asperger's wasn't recognized as a diagnosis, and was often diagnosed as a variety of problems not on the Spectrum.

> >

> > He did agree with both of those points, then went back to what I commented on his piece saying that he felt that my question was loaded, given my status update, and the tone of my questions.

> >

> > I followed up with this:

> >

> > Here's the thing, ********. I don't doubt that there are a lot of reasons as to why kids today are diagnosed with Autism. But, it's a hot topic. Parents of autistic children will hotly debate it with other parents of autistic children, because we all have our own opinions, and we all deal with it on a daily basis.

> >

> > I have no issues with you coming up with your own thoughts regarding autism, but posting stuff like this constantly is sort of a slap in the face of parents who have to deal with it daily, who have done their own research, who have doctors behind them, teachers, and psychologists who have all dealt with it over the years.

> >

> > You're going to have people like me who don't feel we need to hear blanket responses from people who are not dealing with it. If you are going to post stuff like this, do more research as to what the overall thoughts are, not just what some people think the causes are.

> >

> > It's disrespectiful to the people who put the time in. I've spent over 2 years reading up on it, discussing it with doctors, discussing it with my childrens support staff, and figuring out what happened.

> >

> > I have long since decided that in our case, it was a genetic issue that we had no control over, as many others have. There are different forms of Autism, and different levels. While some people find a common denominator as to what they think caused their child's Autism, the bottom line is that there is not a single test out there that can pin point a cause.

> >

> > I respect that you want to do what you can to educate others on topics like this, but it really does involve more than reading and agreeing with an article. Any reputable article will have multiple sources, and will be more than a copy of someone elses hard work on the topic. It will give their own sources, not sources to other articles. It will quote actual published studies, and research materials.

> >

> > WHEW.

> >

> > Anyway, the whole thing just bothers me. It's no different than people telling us we just need to discipline our child better when they have a melt down.

> >

> > I have no problem reading or hearing about ideas from people, but when those people have been looking into it for about 3 weeks, and think they know all of the things to avoid, then it becomes a hot mess.

> >

> >

>

=

[Guest guest]

Funny thing, I took those vitamins every day throughout my first pregnancy with my NT son. With my second, I had to stop taking the vitamins early on because they were making me puke every day. Stopped taking them and didn't have one more sick day - but I did have a son with aspergers! Don't know if there's a connection or not, but I've never read anything regarding that!

Estevan, SK

Canada

-- Re: Re: Debating Causes with People who have never dealt with Autism

Actually no joke! A friend who I actually trust (although didn't check references) who actually told me prenatals can cause autism?!?

I should probably check it out and find out why she believes this. All 3 of her kids are on the spectrum.Sent from my iPhone

Funny thing about pregnancy and what we ate-

I have 4 kids-

Kid #1- I lived on steamers, hotdogs and nachos. Couldn't take the vitamin-

Kid#3- didn't take the vitamin- didn't eat well-

Kid#4- not only didn't take the vitamin- disnt know I was pregnant for 5 months - we were "done" having kids- lived on diet coke and garbage five months-

Those kids? NT.

My sweet Caleb? Tried hard to have a baby- prenatal vitamins regularly 2 years before conception and folic- and heating super healthy- no diet coke- no chemicals- no aspirins or anything-

Go figure-

So maybe the prenatal

Vitamin caused the autism LOL

Sent from my iPhone

Oh, yeah, we've had the meds talks. We've been "made aware" by the well meaning people that we're killing our son (son was medicated to be in school, daughter never needed to be), stunting his growth, causing him to act out, making him a drug addict, and more. I would just smile, nod, and thank them for their advice, then ask if they had a practice in the area, so I could start sending my kids to them, instead of their current doctor. When they'd of course say they weren't doctors, I'd say, "Really? Huh. You must have went to medical school, then, to become so knowledgeable on the topic, right?"One lady said, in ALL seriousness, "Well no, but I do have wikipedia, and as long as you know what to look up, it has ALL the answers."I about died laughing when I left. > > > Before I get into that, let me be blunt-> > > > I think there are a multitude of environmental issues that probably carry some weight in a portion of children diagnosed with Autism, regardless of where they fall on the Spectrum. Whether it's things like smoking while you're pregnant, getting vaccines, having too much mercury in your blood, etc.> > > > I also believe that a portion of children diagnosed with Autism come by it genetically.> > > > I also believe that in some cases, leaps and bounds can be made regarding different diets.> > > > Also- I do NOT wish for this to turn into a "This is what causes it" debate. I won't participate in that sort of debate, and this has zero to do with the REASONS why people are Autistic.> > > > All of that said, here's what my issue is right now.> > > > My husband's cousin got married to a guy last summer who is very into "healthy living" in some ways. In other ways, to be blunt, he smokes like a chimney, drinks like a fish, and does recreational drugs. However, neither of them see those things as unhealthy living. She was the same until she got pregnant- I have no idea if she stopped smoking when she found out she was pregnant, but I know she stopped drinking and doing drugs.> > > > They are both the sort of people who will lecture you on their beliefs in the way that they aren't out right telling you that you're wrong, but they're telling you that they are right. Whether it's about buying cheese at a grocery store (they're against buying food at standard grocery stores, as it's 100% processed- even fresh food- their words, not mind), or seeing specific types of doctors, or even going to a hospital.> > > > Now that she's pregnant, they're delving into research on Autism, to try and limit the chances of the baby having it. They want a "normal" child (which irked me as well, because we ALL want a neurotypical child, but that doesn't mean our children aren't normal- it just means they're a little different, just as every person in the world is).> > > > I finally just blocked them from my feed on Facebook today, because frankly, I can't keep seeing articles popping up into my feed about what causes Autism, and how they're going to avoid it.> > > > For instance, in the past week, they've posted Op Ed articles about Autism and the link between the following topics:> > > > Ultrasounds> > Processed Foods> > Vaccines> > Mercury> > Antibiotics> > How the Amish don't have Autism at all (this goes back to vaccines)> > > > What bothers me the most, is that they don't even look up credible articles. They're reading opinion pieces, and calling them fact. In the few articles that even state a source, it goes back to other Opinion pieces that don't credit a source.> > > > One article said that 90% of Amish people have never been vaccinated, which proves that Vaccines cause 100% of the Autism cases found in the world today.> > > > She sited wikipedia as her source.> > > > They have been posting this stuff for weeks now, and today, I finally got peeved off. I have ignored it, ignored it, ignored it. Today, I finally posted to one of their articles, "So, just wondering, since my daughter was 5 before she was ever vaccinated, what reason is there that she has Autism?"> > > > He asked me if I was serious in asking, and I said I wanted his honest opinion on the matter as to what I did wrong to make my daughter the way she is.> > > > At that point, I posted an update on my own FB page explaining that reading and agreeing with Op Ed pieces does not make you qualified to diagnose Autism, or give causes as to why people have it.> > > > I followed it up with remarks as to why it's more highly diagnosed now than it was 20 years ago, and why it was more highly diagnosed 20 years ago than it was 100 years ago. I think all too often, people forget that when you are dealing with any sort of neurological disorder, there have been leaps and bounds made in recognizing, categorizing, and diagnosing them.> > > > 100 years ago, people did not have an Autism diagnosis. They were diagnosed as mentally retarded, and ran a high chance of being institutionalized for life.> > > > 20 years ago, Asperger's wasn't recognized as a diagnosis, and was often diagnosed as a variety of problems not on the Spectrum.> > > > He did agree with both of those points, then went back to what I commented on his piece saying that he felt that my question was loaded, given my status update, and the tone of my questions.> > > > I followed up with this:> > > > Here's the thing, ********. I don't doubt that there are a lot of reasons as to why kids today are diagnosed with Autism. But, it's a hot topic. Parents of autistic children will hotly debate it with other parents of autistic children, because we all have our own opinions, and we all deal with it on a daily basis.> > > > I have no issues with you coming up with your own thoughts regarding autism, but posting stuff like this constantly is sort of a slap in the face of parents who have to deal with it daily, who have done their own research, who have doctors behind them, teachers, and psychologists who have all dealt with it over the years.> > > > You're going to have people like me who don't feel we need to hear blanket responses from people who are not dealing with it. If you are going to post stuff like this, do more research as to what the overall thoughts are, not just what some people think the causes are.> > > > It's disrespectiful to the people who put the time in. I've spent over 2 years reading up on it, discussing it with doctors, discussing it with my childrens support staff, and figuring out what happened.> > > > I have long since decided that in our case, it was a genetic issue that we had no control over, as many others have. There are different forms of Autism, and different levels. While some people find a common denominator as to what they think caused their child's Autism, the bottom line is that there is not a single test out there that can pin point a cause.> > > > I respect that you want to do what you can to educate others on topics like this, but it really does involve more than reading and agreeing with an article. Any reputable article will have multiple sources, and will be more than a copy of someone elses hard work on the topic. It will give their own sources, not sources to other articles. It will quote actual published studies, and research materials.> > > > WHEW.> > > > Anyway, the whole thing just bothers me. It's no different than people telling us we just need to discipline our child better when they have a melt down.> > > > I have no problem reading or hearing about ideas from people, but when those people have been looking into it for about 3 weeks, and think they know all of the things to avoid, then it becomes a hot mess.> > > >>=

FREE Emoticons for your email - by IncrediMail

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[Guest guest]

I took them too and my Daughter is NT but her twin bro has asd. Who knows huh? Sent from my iPhone

Funny thing, I took those vitamins every day throughout my first pregnancy with my NT son. With my second, I had to stop taking the vitamins early on because they were making me puke every day. Stopped taking them and didn't have one more sick day - but I did have a son with aspergers! Don't know if there's a connection or not, but I've never read anything regarding that!

Estevan, SK

Canada

-- Re: Re: Debating Causes with People who have never dealt with Autism

Actually no joke! A friend who I actually trust (although didn't check references) who actually told me prenatals can cause autism?!?

I should probably check it out and find out why she believes this. All 3 of her kids are on the spectrum.Sent from my iPhone

Funny thing about pregnancy and what we ate-

I have 4 kids-

Kid #1- I lived on steamers, hotdogs and nachos. Couldn't take the vitamin-

Kid#3- didn't take the vitamin- didn't eat well-

Kid#4- not only didn't take the vitamin- disnt know I was pregnant for 5 months - we were "done" having kids- lived on diet coke and garbage five months-

Those kids? NT.

My sweet Caleb? Tried hard to have a baby- prenatal vitamins regularly 2 years before conception and folic- and heating super healthy- no diet coke- no chemicals- no aspirins or anything-

Go figure-

So maybe the prenatal

Vitamin caused the autism LOL

Sent from my iPhone

Oh, yeah, we've had the meds talks. We've been "made aware" by the well meaning people that we're killing our son (son was medicated to be in school, daughter never needed to be), stunting his growth, causing him to act out, making him a drug addict, and more. I would just smile, nod, and thank them for their advice, then ask if they had a practice in the area, so I could start sending my kids to them, instead of their current doctor. When they'd of course say they weren't doctors, I'd say, "Really? Huh. You must have went to medical school, then, to become so knowledgeable on the topic, right?"One lady said, in ALL seriousness, "Well no, but I do have wikipedia, and as long as you know what to look up, it has ALL the answers."I about died laughing when I left. > > > Before I get into that, let me be blunt-> > > > I think there are a multitude of environmental issues that probably carry some weight in a portion of children diagnosed with Autism, regardless of where they fall on the Spectrum. Whether it's things like smoking while you're pregnant, getting vaccines, having too much mercury in your blood, etc.> > > > I also believe that a portion of children diagnosed with Autism come by it genetically.> > > > I also believe that in some cases, leaps and bounds can be made regarding different diets.> > > > Also- I do NOT wish for this to turn into a "This is what causes it" debate. I won't participate in that sort of debate, and this has zero to do with the REASONS why people are Autistic.> > > > All of that said, here's what my issue is right now.> > > > My husband's cousin got married to a guy last summer who is very into "healthy living" in some ways. In other ways, to be blunt, he smokes like a chimney, drinks like a fish, and does recreational drugs. However, neither of them see those things as unhealthy living. She was the same until she got pregnant- I have no idea if she stopped smoking when she found out she was pregnant, but I know she stopped drinking and doing drugs.> > > > They are both the sort of people who will lecture you on their beliefs in the way that they aren't out right telling you that you're wrong, but they're telling you that they are right. Whether it's about buying cheese at a grocery store (they're against buying food at standard grocery stores, as it's 100% processed- even fresh food- their words, not mind), or seeing specific types of doctors, or even going to a hospital.> > > > Now that she's pregnant, they're delving into research on Autism, to try and limit the chances of the baby having it. They want a "normal" child (which irked me as well, because we ALL want a neurotypical child, but that doesn't mean our children aren't normal- it just means they're a little different, just as every person in the world is).> > > > I finally just blocked them from my feed on Facebook today, because frankly, I can't keep seeing articles popping up into my feed about what causes Autism, and how they're going to avoid it.> > > > For instance, in the past week, they've posted Op Ed articles about Autism and the link between the following topics:> > > > Ultrasounds> > Processed Foods> > Vaccines> > Mercury> > Antibiotics> > How the Amish don't have Autism at all (this goes back to vaccines)> > > > What bothers me the most, is that they don't even look up credible articles. They're reading opinion pieces, and calling them fact. In the few articles that even state a source, it goes back to other Opinion pieces that don't credit a source.> > > > One article said that 90% of Amish people have never been vaccinated, which proves that Vaccines cause 100% of the Autism cases found in the world today.> > > > She sited wikipedia as her source.> > > > They have been posting this stuff for weeks now, and today, I finally got peeved off. I have ignored it, ignored it, ignored it. Today, I finally posted to one of their articles, "So, just wondering, since my daughter was 5 before she was ever vaccinated, what reason is there that she has Autism?"> > > > He asked me if I was serious in asking, and I said I wanted his honest opinion on the matter as to what I did wrong to make my daughter the way she is.> > > > At that point, I posted an update on my own FB page explaining that reading and agreeing with Op Ed pieces does not make you qualified to diagnose Autism, or give causes as to why people have it.> > > > I followed it up with remarks as to why it's more highly diagnosed now than it was 20 years ago, and why it was more highly diagnosed 20 years ago than it was 100 years ago. I think all too often, people forget that when you are dealing with any sort of neurological disorder, there have been leaps and bounds made in recognizing, categorizing, and diagnosing them.> > > > 100 years ago, people did not have an Autism diagnosis. They were diagnosed as mentally retarded, and ran a high chance of being institutionalized for life.> > > > 20 years ago, Asperger's wasn't recognized as a diagnosis, and was often diagnosed as a variety of problems not on the Spectrum.> > > > He did agree with both of those points, then went back to what I commented on his piece saying that he felt that my question was loaded, given my status update, and the tone of my questions.> > > > I followed up with this:> > > > Here's the thing, ********. I don't doubt that there are a lot of reasons as to why kids today are diagnosed with Autism. But, it's a hot topic. Parents of autistic children will hotly debate it with other parents of autistic children, because we all have our own opinions, and we all deal with it on a daily basis.> > > > I have no issues with you coming up with your own thoughts regarding autism, but posting stuff like this constantly is sort of a slap in the face of parents who have to deal with it daily, who have done their own research, who have doctors behind them, teachers, and psychologists who have all dealt with it over the years.> > > > You're going to have people like me who don't feel we need to hear blanket responses from people who are not dealing with it. If you are going to post stuff like this, do more research as to what the overall thoughts are, not just what some people think the causes are.> > > > It's disrespectiful to the people who put the time in. I've spent over 2 years reading up on it, discussing it with doctors, discussing it with my childrens support staff, and figuring out what happened.> > > > I have long since decided that in our case, it was a genetic issue that we had no control over, as many others have. There are different forms of Autism, and different levels. While some people find a common denominator as to what they think caused their child's Autism, the bottom line is that there is not a single test out there that can pin point a cause.> > > > I respect that you want to do what you can to educate others on topics like this, but it really does involve more than reading and agreeing with an article. Any reputable article will have multiple sources, and will be more than a copy of someone elses hard work on the topic. It will give their own sources, not sources to other articles. It will quote actual published studies, and research materials.> > > > WHEW.> > > > Anyway, the whole thing just bothers me. It's no different than people telling us we just need to discipline our child better when they have a melt down.> > > > I have no problem reading or hearing about ideas from people, but when those people have been looking into it for about 3 weeks, and think they know all of the things to avoid, then it becomes a hot mess.> > > >>=

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[Guest guest]

With my first pregnancy, I tried the vitamins, and got so sick off of them, that

the doctor told me to take 2 children's vitamins- they gave mostly the me

benefits while being chewable, and less nauseating. I never even attempted

prenatals after that pregnancy, I just stocked p on chewables

> >

> > > Before I get into that, let me be blunt-

> > >

> > > I think there are a multitude of environmental issues that probably

> carry some weight in a portion of children diagnosed with Autism, regardless

> of where they fall on the Spectrum. Whether it's things like smoking while

> you're pregnant, getting vaccines, having too much mercury in your blood,

> etc.

> > >

> > > I also believe that a portion of children diagnosed with Autism come by

> it genetically.

> > >

> > > I also believe that in some cases, leaps and bounds can be made

> regarding different diets.

> > >

> > > Also- I do NOT wish for this to turn into a " This is what causes it "

> debate. I won't participate in that sort of debate, and this has zero to do

> with the REASONS why people are Autistic.

> > >

> > > All of that said, here's what my issue is right now.

> > >

> > > My husband's cousin got married to a guy last summer who is very into

> healthy living " in some ways. In other ways, to be blunt, he smokes like a

> chimney, drinks like a fish, and does recreational drugs. However, neither

> of them see those things as unhealthy living. She was the same until she got

> pregnant- I have no idea if she stopped smoking when she found out she was

> pregnant, but I know she stopped drinking and doing drugs.

> > >

> > > They are both the sort of people who will lecture you on their beliefs

> in the way that they aren't out right telling you that you're wrong, but

> they're telling you that they are right. Whether it's about buying cheese at

> a grocery store (they're against buying food at standard grocery stores, as

> it's 100% processed- even fresh food- their words, not mind), or seeing

> specific types of doctors, or even going to a hospital.

> > >

> > > Now that she's pregnant, they're delving into research on Autism, to try

> and limit the chances of the baby having it. They want a " normal " child

> (which irked me as well, because we ALL want a neurotypical child, but that

> doesn't mean our children aren't normal- it just means they're a little

> different, just as every person in the world is).

> > >

> > > I finally just blocked them from my feed on Facebook today, because

> frankly, I can't keep seeing articles popping up into my feed about what

> causes Autism, and how they're going to avoid it.

> > >

> > > For instance, in the past week, they've posted Op Ed articles about

> Autism and the link between the following topics:

> > >

> > > Ultrasounds

> > > Processed Foods

> > > Vaccines

> > > Mercury

> > > Antibiotics

> > > How the Amish don't have Autism at all (this goes back to vaccines)

> > >

> > > What bothers me the most, is that they don't even look up credible

> articles. They're reading opinion pieces, and calling them fact. In the few

> articles that even state a source, it goes back to other Opinion pieces that

> don't credit a source.

> > >

> > > One article said that 90% of Amish people have never been vaccinated,

> which proves that Vaccines cause 100% of the Autism cases found in the world

> today.

> > >

> > > She sited wikipedia as her source.

> > >

> > > They have been posting this stuff for weeks now, and today, I finally

> got peeved off. I have ignored it, ignored it, ignored it. Today, I finally

> posted to one of their articles, " So, just wondering, since my daughter was

> 5 before she was ever vaccinated, what reason is there that she has Autism? "

> > >

> > > He asked me if I was serious in asking, and I said I wanted his honest

> opinion on the matter as to what I did wrong to make my daughter the way she

> is.

> > >

> > > At that point, I posted an update on my own FB page explaining that

> reading and agreeing with Op Ed pieces does not make you qualified to

> diagnose Autism, or give causes as to why people have it.

> > >

> > > I followed it up with remarks as to why it's more highly diagnosed now

> than it was 20 years ago, and why it was more highly diagnosed 20 years ago

> than it was 100 years ago. I think all too often, people forget that when

> you are dealing with any sort of neurological disorder, there have been

> leaps and bounds made in recognizing, categorizing, and diagnosing them.

> > >

> > > 100 years ago, people did not have an Autism diagnosis. They were

> diagnosed as mentally retarded, and ran a high chance of being

> institutionalized for life.

> > >

> > > 20 years ago, Asperger's wasn't recognized as a diagnosis, and was often

> diagnosed as a variety of problems not on the Spectrum.

> > >

> > > He did agree with both of those points, then went back to what I

> commented on his piece saying that he felt that my question was loaded,

> given my status update, and the tone of my questions.

> > >

> > > I followed up with this:

> > >

> > > Here's the thing, ********. I don't doubt that there are a lot of

> reasons as to why kids today are diagnosed with Autism. But, it's a hot

> topic. Parents of autistic children will hotly debate it with other parents

> of autistic children, because we all have our own opinions, and we all deal

> with it on a daily basis.

> > >

> > > I have no issues with you coming up with your own thoughts regarding

> autism, but posting stuff like this constantly is sort of a slap in the face

> of parents who have to deal with it daily, who have done their own research,

> who have doctors behind them, teachers, and psychologists who have all dealt

> with it over the years.

> > >

> > > You're going to have people like me who don't feel we need to hear

> blanket responses from people who are not dealing with it. If you are going

> to post stuff like this, do more research as to what the overall thoughts

> are, not just what some people think the causes are.

> > >

> > > It's disrespectiful to the people who put the time in. I've spent over 2

> years reading up on it, discussing it with doctors, discussing it with my

> childrens support staff, and figuring out what happened.

> > >

> > > I have long since decided that in our case, it was a genetic issue that

> we had no control over, as many others have. There are different forms of

> Autism, and different levels. While some people find a common denominator as

> to what they think caused their child's Autism, the bottom line is that

> there is not a single test out there that can pin point a cause.

> > >

> > > I respect that you want to do what you can to educate others on topics

> like this, but it really does involve more than reading and agreeing with an

> article. Any reputable article will have multiple sources, and will be more

> than a copy of someone elses hard work on the topic. It will give their own

> sources, not sources to other articles. It will quote actual published

> studies, and research materials.

> > >

> > > WHEW.

> > >

> > > Anyway, the whole thing just bothers me. It's no different than people

> telling us we just need to discipline our child better when they have a melt

> down.

> > >

> > > I have no problem reading or hearing about ideas from people, but when

> those people have been looking into it for about 3 weeks, and think they

> know all of the things to avoid, then it becomes a hot mess.

> > >

> > >

> >

>

>

> =

>

[Guest guest]

I think the controversy with vitamins arises not from the vitamin content, but from the fact that many multi-vitamins have heavy metals and other contaminants that obviously aren't healthy for our bodies and the growing brain of the baby inside us. To: autism-aspergers From: wmgodfrey@...Date: Thu, 24 May 2012 22:23:19 -0600Subject: Re: Re: Debating Causes with People who have never dealt with Autism

Funny thing, I took those vitamins every day throughout my first pregnancy with my NT son. With my second, I had to stop taking the vitamins early on because they were making me puke every day. Stopped taking them and didn't have one more sick day - but I did have a son with aspergers! Don't know if there's a connection or not, but I've never read anything regarding that!

Estevan, SK

Canada

-- Re: Re: Debating Causes with People who have never dealt with Autism

Actually no joke! A friend who I actually trust (although didn't check references) who actually told me prenatals can cause autism?!?

I should probably check it out and find out why she believes this. All 3 of her kids are on the spectrum.Sent from my iPhone

Funny thing about pregnancy and what we ate-

I have 4 kids-

Kid #1- I lived on steamers, hotdogs and nachos. Couldn't take the vitamin-

Kid#3- didn't take the vitamin- didn't eat well-

Kid#4- not only didn't take the vitamin- disnt know I was pregnant for 5 months - we were "done" having kids- lived on diet coke and garbage five months-

Those kids? NT.

My sweet Caleb? Tried hard to have a baby- prenatal vitamins regularly 2 years before conception and folic- and heating super healthy- no diet coke- no chemicals- no aspirins or anything-

Go figure-

So maybe the prenatal

Vitamin caused the autism LOL

Sent from my iPhone

Oh, yeah, we've had the meds talks. We've been "made aware" by the well meaning people that we're killing our son (son was medicated to be in school, daughter never needed to be), stunting his growth, causing him to act out, making him a drug addict, and more. I would just smile, nod, and thank them for their advice, then ask if they had a practice in the area, so I could start sending my kids to them, instead of their current doctor. When they'd of course say they weren't doctors, I'd say, "Really? Huh. You must have went to medical school, then, to become so knowledgeable on the topic, right?"One lady said, in ALL seriousness, "Well no, but I do have wikipedia, and as long as you know what to look up, it has ALL the answers."I about died laughing when I left. > > > Before I get into that, let me be blunt-> > > > I think there are a multitude of environmental issues that probably carry some weight in a portion of children diagnosed with Autism, regardless of where they fall on the Spectrum. Whether it's things like smoking while you're pregnant, getting vaccines, having too much mercury in your blood, etc.> > > > I also believe that a portion of children diagnosed with Autism come by it genetically.> > > > I also believe that in some cases, leaps and bounds can be made regarding different diets.> > > > Also- I do NOT wish for this to turn into a "This is what causes it" debate. I won't participate in that sort of debate, and this has zero to do with the REASONS why people are Autistic.> > > > All of that said, here's what my issue is right now.> > > > My husband's cousin got married to a guy last summer who is very into "healthy living" in some ways. In other ways, to be blunt, he smokes like a chimney, drinks like a fish, and does recreational drugs. However, neither of them see those things as unhealthy living. She was the same until she got pregnant- I have no idea if she stopped smoking when she found out she was pregnant, but I know she stopped drinking and doing drugs.> > > > They are both the sort of people who will lecture you on their beliefs in the way that they aren't out right telling you that you're wrong, but they're telling you that they are right. Whether it's about buying cheese at a grocery store (they're against buying food at standard grocery stores, as it's 100% processed- even fresh food- their words, not mind), or seeing specific types of doctors, or even going to a hospital.> > > > Now that she's pregnant, they're delving into research on Autism, to try and limit the chances of the baby having it. They want a "normal" child (which irked me as well, because we ALL want a neurotypical child, but that doesn't mean our children aren't normal- it just means they're a little different, just as every person in the world is).> > > > I finally just blocked them from my feed on Facebook today, because frankly, I can't keep seeing articles popping up into my feed about what causes Autism, and how they're going to avoid it.> > > > For instance, in the past week, they've posted Op Ed articles about Autism and the link between the following topics:> > > > Ultrasounds> > Processed Foods> > Vaccines> > Mercury> > Antibiotics> > How the Amish don't have Autism at all (this goes back to vaccines)> > > > What bothers me the most, is that they don't even look up credible articles. They're reading opinion pieces, and calling them fact. In the few articles that even state a source, it goes back to other Opinion pieces that don't credit a source.> > > > One article said that 90% of Amish people have never been vaccinated, which proves that Vaccines cause 100% of the Autism cases found in the world today.> > > > She sited wikipedia as her source.> > > > They have been posting this stuff for weeks now, and today, I finally got peeved off. I have ignored it, ignored it, ignored it. Today, I finally posted to one of their articles, "So, just wondering, since my daughter was 5 before she was ever vaccinated, what reason is there that she has Autism?"> > > > He asked me if I was serious in asking, and I said I wanted his honest opinion on the matter as to what I did wrong to make my daughter the way she is.> > > > At that point, I posted an update on my own FB page explaining that reading and agreeing with Op Ed pieces does not make you qualified to diagnose Autism, or give causes as to why people have it.> > > > I followed it up with remarks as to why it's more highly diagnosed now than it was 20 years ago, and why it was more highly diagnosed 20 years ago than it was 100 years ago. I think all too often, people forget that when you are dealing with any sort of neurological disorder, there have been leaps and bounds made in recognizing, categorizing, and diagnosing them.> > > > 100 years ago, people did not have an Autism diagnosis. They were diagnosed as mentally retarded, and ran a high chance of being institutionalized for life.> > > > 20 years ago, Asperger's wasn't recognized as a diagnosis, and was often diagnosed as a variety of problems not on the Spectrum.> > > > He did agree with both of those points, then went back to what I commented on his piece saying that he felt that my question was loaded, given my status update, and the tone of my questions.> > > > I followed up with this:> > > > Here's the thing, ********. I don't doubt that there are a lot of reasons as to why kids today are diagnosed with Autism. But, it's a hot topic. Parents of autistic children will hotly debate it with other parents of autistic children, because we all have our own opinions, and we all deal with it on a daily basis.> > > > I have no issues with you coming up with your own thoughts regarding autism, but posting stuff like this constantly is sort of a slap in the face of parents who have to deal with it daily, who have done their own research, who have doctors behind them, teachers, and psychologists who have all dealt with it over the years.> > > > You're going to have people like me who don't feel we need to hear blanket responses from people who are not dealing with it. If you are going to post stuff like this, do more research as to what the overall thoughts are, not just what some people think the causes are.> > > > It's disrespectiful to the people who put the time in. I've spent over 2 years reading up on it, discussing it with doctors, discussing it with my childrens support staff, and figuring out what happened.> > > > I have long since decided that in our case, it was a genetic issue that we had no control over, as many others have. There are different forms of Autism, and different levels. While some people find a common denominator as to what they think caused their child's Autism, the bottom line is that there is not a single test out there that can pin point a cause.> > > > I respect that you want to do what you can to educate others on topics like this, but it really does involve more than reading and agreeing with an article. Any reputable article will have multiple sources, and will be more than a copy of someone elses hard work on the topic. It will give their own sources, not sources to other articles. It will quote actual published studies, and research materials.> > > > WHEW.> > > > Anyway, the whole thing just bothers me. It's no different than people telling us we just need to discipline our child better when they have a melt down.> > > > I have no problem reading or hearing about ideas from people, but when those people have been looking into it for about 3 weeks, and think they know all of the things to avoid, then it becomes a hot mess.> > > >>=

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[Guest guest]

No worry heather-I figure she's going through something painful and needed to attack soI ignored the rant- hope it was catharsis for her- I did merely mean it to describe their point of reference- I did after all still call them friends- and friends very loved they are- and we met.....in church-Had I been talking about Not eating pork- I may have referenced an Islamic friend or seventh day Adventist- or vegan- depending on where their values for not eating pork came from-Not bashing anybody- just trying to encourage the original poster-Honestly- she's got something against me- it's not her first attack out of no where- why I keep wanting to exit the group- I have enough to fight for in daily life-If she paid even a little attention to my posts- shed see my kids names- Hannah- sammuel- Caleb- and if she humbled herself in prayer and listened- she'd know which God I love- but I've long past learned that there are many who come in His name that he knows not-Move on and don't get sucked into the fight she seeks- she's either really really hurting - or a wolf-Because there is only one accuser- and it's NOT God-In love-JaneSent from my iPhone

Did I miss an email? When did she "assault" Fundamentalist Christians? She made one comment "they were fundamental Christians who really believed that when I allowed my son to be diagnosed- in that moment - the curse of autism landed in my son" In NO way is she bashing fundamentalist Christians. She is stating that they were Christians and that believed this. It's like she said they had black hair and they believed...

I personally am a strong Christian and I don't have a problem sharing it with other people but I won't force my believes on other people. We are not supposed to discuss this type stuff on this board and I for one am getting a little tired of it. Not because I don't believe what you are saying but because it causes tension on the board. It also detracts from what the original topic was.

I have no idea why God gave me an Autistic child. I know He has His reasons...they are not for me to know. I'd like to hope that some good will come of it. I know that my experiences have helped others and others have helped me. THAT is what this board is for. Helping other and ourselves. Most of the time I don't get into the squabbles on this board. If people say things on this board that I don't like, well that is fine. I can choose to delete their posts. Everyone is entitled to their opinion. "Judge not that ye be judge" is what I live by. I feel that people will answer to God when it comes time. It's not for me to judge or try to correct. I also live by 'water off a duck's back' theory.

-- Re: Debating Causes with People who have never dealt with Autism

Wow- this is your family? So sorry.

Try to remember that they don't have children yet-

Before I had children- I knew it all! How to parent- from a to Z!

Life has a way of equalizing people!

When my son was younger- friends invited me camping-

When I held my 3 year old who had no sense of danger-

My friends wife brought him a paper and crayon and screamed at me that all I had to do was keep him busy! My son was very delayed and later diagnosed as dysgraphia! I was livid! If it was so freaking easy as paper Nd crayons! Same couple later told me my son had autism because when we went researching it medically we "spoke" tht over him- they were fundamental Christians who really believed that when I allowed my son to be diagnosed- in that moment - the curse of autism

Landed in my son lol!

They've since had a daughter- diagnoses with sixty five roses.

They like your cousin choose to only have "normal" children so this will be their only child.

They have grown up a lot- and frankly- I was a know it all before I had a child.

My advice ? Don't take it personal- keep your distance- pick which battles you want to put your energy into- and try to laugh it off-

But hugs- cuz that crap is painful and frustrating as heck!

My newest topic I ignore? My sons huge weight gain since risperdol!

He's 12. I was "anti" meds - until last fall when his aggression became unbearable following my husbands heart attack. Everyone in my family is vocal about his gain and begging me to stop meds. My answer? So who is going to come and help me when he gets assaultive? Or give me respite?

They shut up quick.

Hugs-Sent from my iPhone

Before I get into that, let me be blunt-I think there are a multitude of environmental issues that probably carry some weight in a portion of children diagnosed with Autism, regardless of where they fall on the Spectrum. Whether it's things like smoking while you're pregnant, getting vaccines, having too much mercury in your blood, etc.I also believe that a portion of children diagnosed with Autism come by it genetically.I also believe that in some cases, leaps and bounds can be made regarding different diets.Also- I do NOT wish for this to turn into a "This is what causes it" debate. I won't participate in that sort of debate, and this has zero to do with the REASONS why people are Autistic.All of that said, here's what my issue is right now.My husband's cousin got married to a guy last summer who is very into "healthy living" in some ways. In other ways, to be blunt, he smokes like a chimney, drinks like a fish, and does recreational drugs. However, neither of them see those things as unhealthy living. She was the same until she got pregnant- I have no idea if she stopped smoking when she found out she was pregnant, but I know she stopped drinking and doing drugs.They are both the sort of people who will lecture you on their beliefs in the way that they aren't out right telling you that you're wrong, but they're telling you that they are right. Whether it's about buying cheese at a grocery store (they're against buying food at standard grocery stores, as it's 100% processed- even fresh food- their words, not mind), or seeing specific types of doctors, or even going to a hospital.Now that she's pregnant, they're delving into research on Autism, to try and limit the chances of the baby having it. They want a "normal" child (which irked me as well, because we ALL want a neurotypical child, but that doesn't mean our children aren't normal- it just means they're a little different, just as every person in the world is).I finally just blocked them from my feed on Facebook today, because frankly, I can't keep seeing articles popping up into my feed about what causes Autism, and how they're going to avoid it.For instance, in the past week, they've posted Op Ed articles about Autism and the link between the following topics:UltrasoundsProcessed FoodsVaccinesMercuryAntibioticsHow the Amish don't have Autism at all (this goes back to vaccines)What bothers me the most, is that they don't even look up credible articles. They're reading opinion pieces, and calling them fact. In the few articles that even state a source, it goes back to other Opinion pieces that don't credit a source.One article said that 90% of Amish people have never been vaccinated, which proves that Vaccines cause 100% of the Autism cases found in the world today.She sited wikipedia as her source.They have been posting this stuff for weeks now, and today, I finally got peeved off. I have ignored it, ignored it, ignored it. Today, I finally posted to one of their articles, "So, just wondering, since my daughter was 5 before she was ever vaccinated, what reason is there that she has Autism?"He asked me if I was serious in asking, and I said I wanted his honest opinion on the matter as to what I did wrong to make my daughter the way she is.At that point, I posted an update on my own FB page explaining that reading and agreeing with Op Ed pieces does not make you qualified to diagnose Autism, or give causes as to why people have it.I followed it up with remarks as to why it's more highly diagnosed now than it was 20 years ago, and why it was more highly diagnosed 20 years ago than it was 100 years ago. I think all too often, people forget that when you are dealing with any sort of neurological disorder, there have been leaps and bounds made in recognizing, categorizing, and diagnosing them.100 years ago, people did not have an Autism diagnosis. They were diagnosed as mentally retarded, and ran a high chance of being institutionalized for life.20 years ago, Asperger's wasn't recognized as a diagnosis, and was often diagnosed as a variety of problems not on the Spectrum.He did agree with both of those points, then went

[Guest guest]

Carolyn,

I feel this is the second time (at least that I recall) that

you have taken an opportunist jab at Jane. She merely stated a comment about a

person who made a comment. She did not insult anyone. Again I feel your being

an opportunist and stuffing your opinion down people’s throat.

What gives? I respect that you believe what you believe,

even if I disagree with your methodology. You seem to expect everyone one to do

the same BUT when it comes to you respecting others I feel you fail. Remember Carolyn,

Jesus said “Love thy neighbor as thyselfâ€.

I feel you have been very judgmental remember only God can

judge!

I wish you would sum up how you feel in a few sentences.

Instead you want to preach how you interpret the bible as fact. Let me remind

you the bible can be interpreted in many ways and as a “Christian†you should practice

the ninth commandment.

I personally don’t mind long emails even if they include religion,

sometimes it take time to explain something. But in this case the religion

stuff is soooooooooo off base and plays no role in the original email. If you

want to spread the word go to a forum that seeks that. Keep this one on track.

Please don’t try to debate me on the religion issues. Just

respect all of us and our own beliefs, lifestyles and feelings. Do you think you can handle that?

I formed my opinion not just from this thread but other

threads you wrote in as well. If guns kill people then pencils cause misspelled words To: autism-aspergers Sent: Thursday, May 24, 2012 11:53 AM Subject: Re: Debating Causes with People who have never dealt

with Autism

Hello Jane, I know it is difficult to take care of children with disabilities and I do sympathize with you, but cannot take your assault against “fundamentalist Christians†just go. One reason of course is because I am one myself. And you might think this odd but I have heard a lot of opinions like you have noted also from “church†people. What I came to understand over time, and I think you need to understand now is that we are ALL just human beings, and are not perfect, and we do say a lot of dumb things. Like you attacking all fundamentalist Christians as you did and putting them in the same package.

How I have always taken care of dumb things being said by Christians and non, is to see if their words match up to the Bible. From what I do believe as a Christian; is that this world is a cursed place. It was cursed by God because Adam and Eve sinned against Him. So that was when imperfection and disease and all the evil you see entered into the world. Through them because of their sin. So there is sickness and dying here, wars, famines, pestilence, and all sorts of things to contend with. Would list a few things but think it is easy to see it in the news every day.

What we Christians believe is that we have been given a Savior, Jesus Christ, who died on a cross to save us and deliver us, and to heal all our diseases as we call out to Him. We believe that if a person chooses to believe in who He says He is in the Bible, and we can put our faith in Him, and begin to seek Him with all of our hearts, minds, and strength, that we will find Him, He will reveal Himself to us, and it all starts out as a grain of faith within us, then the hunger and the seeking Him after that.

I was driven to seeking Jesus by my son’s illness and I say illness with him because it all began when he was two years old as epileptic seizures. Nobody is going to call an epileptic seizure a good thing. No it is a part of the curse on all of mankind. The retardation, hyperactivity, violence, aggression, and all sorts of other things as well as autism, came later.

Just want you to realize there are many many Christians here in this group that follow our faith daily and are guided and strengthened by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in a very real way. Like me right now, my son Marty is in the hospital with what turned out to be acute pancreatitis that was very bad involving his pancreas and liver. He’s been there for 12 days now and is getting better having fought off pneumonia and a few things. Now we are deciding if he has strength to get his gall bladder out which caused the whole thing from his bile duct getting plugged with sludge they said, or having him go home until he is stronger.

I rely on the Holy Spirit to guide me in these decisions, have had two churches praying for us, and many others. It has been an up and down roller coaster ride of my emotions because I have a heavy burden to care for my son I believe that was given to me by God. It has been God who has given me the strength to do what He wanted me to do.

And I don’t think we are done yet, the Lord has saved my son’s life once again so we can go on being a witness to His great love and compassion. What He has told us to do, be witnesses of the reality of His Love.

Don’t want to get in a big religious discussion but do believe I deserve the respect to be heard here, and elsewhere.

Thank you very much,

Carolyn; in very hard raining Oregon at the moment, a storm is on us from Alaska, where did summer gooooo!!

From: Jane

Sent: Thursday, May 24, 2012 3:10 AM

To: autism-aspergers

Subject: Re: Debating Causes with People who have never dealt with Autism

Wow- this is your family? So sorry.

Try to remember that they don't have children yet-

Before I had children- I knew it all! How to parent- from a to Z!

Life has a way of equalizing people!

When my son was younger- friends invited me camping-

When I held my 3 year old who had no sense of danger-

My friends wife brought him a paper and crayon and screamed at me that all I had to do was keep him busy! My son was very delayed and later diagnosed as dysgraphia! I was livid! If it was so freaking easy as paper Nd crayons! Same couple later told me my son had autism because when we went researching it medically we "spoke" tht over him- they were fundamental Christians who really believed that when I allowed my son to be diagnosed- in that moment - the curse of autism

Landed in my son lol!

They've since had a daughter- diagnoses with sixty five roses.

They like your cousin choose to only have "normal" children so this will be their only child.

They have grown up a lot- and frankly- I was a know it all before I had a child.

My advice ? Don't take it personal- keep your distance- pick which battles you want to put your energy into- and try to laugh it off-

But hugs- cuz that crap is painful and frustrating as heck!

My newest topic I ignore? My sons huge weight gain since risperdol!

He's 12. I was "anti" meds - until last fall when his aggression became unbearable following my husbands heart attack. Everyone in my family is vocal about his gain and begging me to stop meds. My answer? So who is going to come and help me when he gets assaultive? Or give me respite?

They shut up quick.

Hugs-Sent from my iPhone

Before I get into that, let me be blunt-I think there are a multitude of environmental issues that probably carry some weight in a portion of children diagnosed with Autism, regardless of where they fall on the Spectrum. Whether it's things like smoking while you're pregnant, getting vaccines, having too much mercury in your blood, etc.I also believe that a portion of children diagnosed with Autism come by it genetically.I also believe that in some cases, leaps and bounds can be made regarding different diets.Also- I do NOT wish for this to turn into a "This is what causes it" debate. I won't participate in that sort of debate, and this has zero to do with the REASONS why people are Autistic.All of that said, here's what my issue is right now.My husband's cousin got married to a guy last summer who is very into "healthy living" in some ways. In other ways, to be blunt, he smokes like a chimney, drinks like a fish, and does recreational drugs. However, neither of them see those things as unhealthy living. She was the same until she got pregnant- I have no idea if she stopped smoking when she found out she was pregnant, but I know she stopped drinking and doing drugs.They are both the sort of people who will lecture you on their beliefs in the way that they aren't out right telling you that you're wrong, but they're telling you that they are right. Whether it's about buying cheese at a grocery store (they're against buying food at standard grocery stores, as it's 100% processed- even fresh food- their words, not mind), or seeing specific types of doctors, or even going to a hospital.Now that she's pregnant, they're delving into research on Autism, to try and limit the chances of the baby having it. They want a "normal" child (which irked me as well, because we ALL want a neurotypical child, but that doesn't mean our children aren't normal- it just means they're a little different, just as every person in the world is).I finally just blocked them from my feed on Facebook today, because frankly, I can't keep seeing articles popping up into my feed about what causes Autism, and how they're going to avoid it.For instance, in the past week, they've posted Op Ed articles about Autism and the link between the following topics:UltrasoundsProcessed FoodsVaccinesMercuryAntibioticsHow the Amish don't have Autism at all (this goes back to vaccines)What bothers me the most, is that they don't even look up credible articles. They're reading opinion pieces, and calling them fact. In the few articles that even state a source, it goes back to other Opinion pieces that don't credit a source.One article said that 90% of Amish people have never been vaccinated, which proves that Vaccines cause 100% of the Autism cases found in the world today.She sited wikipedia as her source.They have been posting this stuff for weeks now, and today, I finally got peeved off. I have ignored it, ignored it, ignored it. Today, I finally posted to one of their articles, "So, just wondering, since my daughter was 5 before she was ever vaccinated, what reason is there that she has Autism?"He asked me if I was serious in asking, and I said I wanted his honest opinion on the matter as to what I did wrong to make my daughter the way she is.At that point, I posted an update on my own FB page explaining that reading and agreeing with Op Ed pieces does not make you qualified to diagnose Autism, or give causes as to why people have it.I followed it up with remarks as to why it's more highly diagnosed now than it was 20 years ago, and why it was more highly diagnosed 20 years ago than it was 100 years ago. I think all too often, people forget that when you are dealing with any sort of neurological disorder, there have been leaps and bounds made in recognizing, categorizing, and diagnosing them.100 years ago, people did not have an Autism diagnosis. They were diagnosed as mentally retarded, and ran a high chance of being institutionalized for life.20 years ago, Asperger's wasn't recognized as a diagnosis, and was often diagnosed as a variety of problems not on the Spectrum.He did agree with both of those points, then went back to what I commented on his piece saying that he felt that my question was loaded, given my status update, and the tone of my questions.I followed up with this:Here's the thing, ********. I don't doubt that there are a lot of reasons as to why kids today are diagnosed with Autism. But, it's a hot topic. Parents of autistic children will hotly debate it with other parents of autistic children, because we all have our own opinions, and we all deal with it on a daily basis.I have no issues with you coming up with your own thoughts regarding autism, but posting stuff like this constantly is sort of a slap in the face of parents who have to deal with it daily, who have done their own research, who have doctors behind them, teachers, and psychologists who have all dealt with it over the years.You're going to have people like me who don't feel we need to hear blanket responses from people who are not dealing with it. If you are going to post stuff like this, do more research as to what the overall thoughts are, not just what some people think the causes are.It's disrespectiful to the people who put the time in. I've spent over 2 years reading up on it, discussing it with doctors, discussing it with my childrens support staff, and figuring out what happened.I have long since decided that in our case, it was a genetic issue that we had no control over, as many others have. There are different forms of Autism, and different levels. While some people find a common denominator as to what they think caused their child's Autism, the bottom line is that there is not a single test out there that can pin point a cause.I respect that you want to do what you can to educate others on topics like this, but it really does involve more than reading and agreeing with an article. Any reputable article will have multiple sources, and will be more than a copy of someone elses hard work on the topic. It will give their own sources, not sources to other articles. It will quote actual published studies, and research materials.WHEW.Anyway, the whole thing just bothers me. It's no different than people telling us we just need to discipline our child better when they have a melt down.I have no problem reading or hearing about ideas from people, but when those people have been looking into it for about 3 weeks, and think they know all of the things to avoid, then it becomes a hot mess.

[Guest guest]

GAH!Please remove me from this group. To: autism-aspergers Sent: Thursday, May 24, 2012 12:53 PM Subject: Re: Debating Causes with People who have never dealt with Autism

Hello Jane, I know it is difficult to take care of children with disabilities and I do sympathize with you, but cannot take your assault against “fundamentalist Christians†just go. One reason of course is because I am one myself. And you might think this odd but I have heard a lot of opinions like you have noted also from “church†people. What I came to understand over time, and I think you need to understand now is that we are ALL just human beings, and are not perfect, and we do say a lot of dumb things. Like you attacking all fundamentalist Christians as you did and putting them in the same package.

How I have always taken care of dumb things being said by Christians and non, is to see if their words match up to the Bible. From what I do believe as a Christian; is that this world is a cursed place. It was cursed by God because Adam and Eve sinned against Him. So that was when imperfection and disease and all the evil you see entered into the world. Through them because of their sin. So there is sickness and dying here, wars, famines, pestilence, and all sorts of things to contend with. Would list a few things but think it is easy to see it in the news every day.

What we Christians believe is that we have been given a Savior, Jesus Christ, who died on a cross to save us and deliver us, and to heal all our diseases as we call out to Him. We believe that if a person chooses to believe in who He says He is in the Bible, and we can put our faith in Him, and begin to seek Him with all of our hearts, minds, and strength, that we will find Him, He will reveal Himself to us, and it all starts out as a grain of faith within us, then the hunger and the seeking Him after that.

I was driven to seeking Jesus by my son’s illness and I say illness with him because it all began when he was two years old as epileptic seizures. Nobody is going to call an epileptic seizure a good thing. No it is a part of the curse on all of mankind. The retardation, hyperactivity, violence, aggression, and all sorts of other things as well as autism, came later.

Just want you to realize there are many many Christians here in this group that follow our faith daily and are guided and strengthened by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in a very real way. Like me right now, my son Marty is in the hospital with what turned out to be acute pancreatitis that was very bad involving his pancreas and liver. He’s been there for 12 days now and is getting better having fought off pneumonia and a few things. Now we are deciding if he has strength to get his gall bladder out which caused the whole thing from his bile duct getting plugged with sludge they said, or having him go home until he is stronger.

I rely on the Holy Spirit to guide me in these decisions, have had two churches praying for us, and many others. It has been an up and down roller coaster ride of my emotions because I have a heavy burden to care for my son I believe that was given to me by God. It has been God who has given me the strength to do what He wanted me to do.

And I don’t think we are done yet, the Lord has saved my son’s life once again so we can go on being a witness to His great love and compassion. What He has told us to do, be witnesses of the reality of His Love.

Don’t want to get in a big religious discussion but do believe I deserve the respect to be heard here, and elsewhere.

Thank you very much,

Carolyn; in very hard raining Oregon at the moment, a storm is on us from Alaska, where did summer gooooo!!

From: Jane

Sent: Thursday, May 24, 2012 3:10 AM

To: autism-aspergers

Subject: Re: Debating Causes with People who have never dealt with Autism

Wow- this is your family? So sorry.

Try to remember that they don't have children yet-

Before I had children- I knew it all! How to parent- from a to Z!

Life has a way of equalizing people!

When my son was younger- friends invited me camping-

When I held my 3 year old who had no sense of danger-

My friends wife brought him a paper and crayon and screamed at me that all I had to do was keep him busy! My son was very delayed and later diagnosed as dysgraphia! I was livid! If it was so freaking easy as paper Nd crayons! Same couple later told me my son had autism because when we went researching it medically we "spoke" tht over him- they were fundamental Christians who really believed that when I allowed my son to be diagnosed- in that moment - the curse of autism

Landed in my son lol!

They've since had a daughter- diagnoses with sixty five roses.

They like your cousin choose to only have "normal" children so this will be their only child.

They have grown up a lot- and frankly- I was a know it all before I had a child.

My advice ? Don't take it personal- keep your distance- pick which battles you want to put your energy into- and try to laugh it off-

But hugs- cuz that crap is painful and frustrating as heck!

My newest topic I ignore? My sons huge weight gain since risperdol!

He's 12. I was "anti" meds - until last fall when his aggression became unbearable following my husbands heart attack. Everyone in my family is vocal about his gain and begging me to stop meds. My answer? So who is going to come and help me when he gets assaultive? Or give me respite?

They shut up quick.

Hugs-Sent from my iPhone

Before I get into that, let me be blunt-I think there are a multitude of environmental issues that probably carry some weight in a portion of children diagnosed with Autism, regardless of where they fall on the Spectrum. Whether it's things like smoking while you're pregnant, getting vaccines, having too much mercury in your blood, etc.I also believe that a portion of children diagnosed with Autism come by it genetically.I also believe that in some cases, leaps and bounds can be made regarding different diets.Also- I do NOT wish for this to turn into a "This is what causes it" debate. I won't participate in that sort of debate, and this has zero to do with the REASONS why people are Autistic.All of that said, here's what my issue is right now.My husband's cousin got married to a guy last summer who is very into "healthy living" in some ways. In other ways, to be blunt, he smokes like a chimney, drinks like a fish, and does recreational drugs. However, neither of them see those things as unhealthy living. She was the same until she got pregnant- I have no idea if she stopped smoking when she found out she was pregnant, but I know she stopped drinking and doing drugs.They are both the sort of people who will lecture you on their beliefs in the way that they aren't out right telling you that you're wrong, but they're telling you that they are right. Whether it's about buying cheese at a grocery store (they're against buying food at standard grocery stores, as it's 100% processed- even fresh food- their words, not mind), or seeing specific types of doctors, or even going to a hospital.Now that she's pregnant, they're delving into research on Autism, to try and limit the chances of the baby having it. They want a "normal" child (which irked me as well, because we ALL want a neurotypical child, but that doesn't mean our children aren't normal- it just means they're a little different, just as every person in the world is).I finally just blocked them from my feed on Facebook today, because frankly, I can't keep seeing articles popping up into my feed about what causes Autism, and how they're going to avoid it.For instance, in the past week, they've posted Op Ed articles about Autism and the link between the following topics:UltrasoundsProcessed FoodsVaccinesMercuryAntibioticsHow the Amish don't have Autism at all (this goes back to vaccines)What bothers me the most, is that they don't even look up credible articles. They're reading opinion pieces, and calling them fact. In the few articles that even state a source, it goes back to other Opinion pieces that don't credit a source.One article said that 90% of Amish people have never been vaccinated, which proves that Vaccines cause 100% of the Autism cases found in the world today.She sited wikipedia as her source.They have been posting this stuff for weeks now, and today, I finally got peeved off. I have ignored it, ignored it, ignored it. Today, I finally posted to one of their articles, "So, just wondering, since my daughter was 5 before she was ever vaccinated, what reason is there that she has Autism?"He asked me if I was serious in asking, and I said I wanted his honest opinion on the matter as to what I did wrong to make my daughter the way she is.At that point, I posted an update on my own FB page explaining that reading and agreeing with Op Ed pieces does not make you qualified to diagnose Autism, or give causes as to why people have it.I followed it up with remarks as to why it's more highly diagnosed now than it was 20 years ago, and why it was more highly diagnosed 20 years ago than it was 100 years ago. I think all too often, people forget that when you are dealing with any sort of neurological disorder, there have been leaps and bounds made in recognizing, categorizing, and diagnosing them.100 years ago, people did not have an Autism diagnosis. They were diagnosed as mentally retarded, and ran a high chance of being institutionalized for life.20 years ago, Asperger's wasn't recognized as a diagnosis, and was often diagnosed as a variety of problems not on the Spectrum.He did agree with both of those points, then went back to what I commented on his piece saying that he felt that my question was loaded, given my status update, and the tone of my questions.I followed up with this:Here's the thing, ********. I don't doubt that there are a lot of reasons as to why kids today are diagnosed with Autism. But, it's a hot topic. Parents of autistic children will hotly debate it with other parents of autistic children, because we all have our own opinions, and we all deal with it on a daily basis.I have no issues with you coming up with your own thoughts regarding autism, but posting stuff like this constantly is sort of a slap in the face of parents who have to deal with it daily, who have done their own research, who have doctors behind them, teachers, and psychologists who have all dealt with it over the years.You're going to have people like me who don't feel we need to hear blanket responses from people who are not dealing with it. If you are going to post stuff like this, do more research as to what the overall thoughts are, not just what some people think the causes are.It's disrespectiful to the people who put the time in. I've spent over 2 years reading up on it, discussing it with doctors, discussing it with my childrens support staff, and figuring out what happened.I have long since decided that in our case, it was a genetic issue that we had no control over, as many others have. There are different forms of Autism, and different levels. While some people find a common denominator as to what they think caused their child's Autism, the bottom line is that there is not a single test out there that can pin point a cause.I respect that you want to do what you can to educate others on topics like this, but it really does involve more than reading and agreeing with an article. Any reputable article will have multiple sources, and will be more than a copy of someone elses hard work on the topic. It will give their own sources, not sources to other articles. It will quote actual published studies, and research materials.WHEW.Anyway, the whole thing just bothers me. It's no different than people telling us we just need to discipline our child better when they have a melt down.I have no problem reading or hearing about ideas from people, but when those people have been looking into it for about 3 weeks, and think they know all of the things to avoid, then it becomes a hot mess.

[Guest guest]

I didn’t say she was bashing, only a bit sarcastic comment towards “Fundamentalist Christians.†I don’t think I misinterpreted her intent.

And funny you say you are as “strong Christian.†Have you missed the part where Jesus told us to go out into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature? That is not cramming anything down anybody’s throat. Once they hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ they can do,and will do, what they want with it.

Our job as Christians is only to tell them.

I was hoping Jane got the point, was not talking to you.

Carolyn

From: Muehleisen Family

Sent: Thursday, May 24, 2012 1:07 PM

To: autism-aspergers

Subject: Re: Debating Causes with People who have never dealt with Autism

Did I miss an email? When did she "assault" Fundamentalist Christians? She made one comment "they were fundamental Christians who really believed that when I allowed my son to be diagnosed- in that moment - the curse of autism landed in my son" In NO way is she bashing fundamentalist Christians. She is stating that they were Christians and that believed this. It's like she said they had black hair and they believed...

I personally am a strong Christian and I don't have a problem sharing it with other people but I won't force my believes on other people. We are not supposed to discuss this type stuff on this board and I for one am getting a little tired of it. Not because I don't believe what you are saying but because it causes tension on the board. It also detracts from what the original topic was.

I have no idea why God gave me an Autistic child. I know He has His reasons...they are not for me to know. I'd like to hope that some good will come of it. I know that my experiences have helped others and others have helped me. THAT is what this board is for. Helping other and ourselves. Most of the time I don't get into the squabbles on this board. If people say things on this board that I don't like, well that is fine. I can choose to delete their posts. Everyone is entitled to their opinion. "Judge not that ye be judge" is what I live by. I feel that people will answer to God when it comes time. It's not for me to judge or try to correct. I also live by 'water off a duck's back' theory.

-- Re: Debating Causes with People who have never dealt with Autism

Wow- this is your family? So sorry.

Try to remember that they don't have children yet-

Before I had children- I knew it all! How to parent- from a to Z!

Life has a way of equalizing people!

When my son was younger- friends invited me camping-

When I held my 3 year old who had no sense of danger-

My friends wife brought him a paper and crayon and screamed at me that all I had to do was keep him busy! My son was very delayed and later diagnosed as dysgraphia! I was livid! If it was so freaking easy as paper Nd crayons! Same couple later told me my son had autism because when we went researching it medically we "spoke" tht over him- they were fundamental Christians who really believed that when I allowed my son to be diagnosed- in that moment - the curse of autism

Landed in my son lol!

They've since had a daughter- diagnoses with sixty five roses.

They like your cousin choose to only have "normal" children so this will be their only child.

They have grown up a lot- and frankly- I was a know it all before I had a child.

My advice ? Don't take it personal- keep your distance- pick which battles you want to put your energy into- and try to laugh it off-

But hugs- cuz that crap is painful and frustrating as heck!

My newest topic I ignore? My sons huge weight gain since risperdol!

He's 12. I was "anti" meds - until last fall when his aggression became unbearable following my husbands heart attack. Everyone in my family is vocal about his gain and begging me to stop meds. My answer? So who is going to come and help me when he gets assaultive? Or give me respite?

They shut up quick.

Hugs-Sent from my iPhone

Before I get into that, let me be blunt-I think there are a multitude of environmental issues that probably carry some weight in a portion of children diagnosed with Autism, regardless of where they fall on the Spectrum. Whether it's things like smoking while you're pregnant, getting vaccines, having too much mercury in your blood, etc.I also believe that a portion of children diagnosed with Autism come by it genetically.I also believe that in some cases, leaps and bounds can be made regarding different diets.Also- I do NOT wish for this to turn into a "This is what causes it" debate. I won't participate in that sort of debate, and this has zero to do with the REASONS why people are Autistic.All of that said, here's what my issue is right now.My husband's cousin got married to a guy last summer who is very into "healthy living" in some ways. In other ways, to be blunt, he smokes like a chimney, drinks like a fish, and does recreational drugs. However, neither of them see those things as unhealthy living. She was the same until she got pregnant- I have no idea if she stopped smoking when she found out she was pregnant, but I know she stopped drinking and doing drugs.They are both the sort of people who will lecture you on their beliefs in the way that they aren't out right telling you that you're wrong, but they're telling you that they are right. Whether it's about buying cheese at a grocery store (they're against buying food at standard grocery stores, as it's 100% processed- even fresh food- their words, not mind), or seeing specific types of doctors, or even going to a hospital.Now that she's pregnant, they're delving into research on Autism, to try and limit the chances of the baby having it. They want a "normal" child (which irked me as well, because we ALL want a neurotypical child, but that doesn't mean our children aren't normal- it just means they're a little different, just as every person in the world is).I finally just blocked them from my feed on Facebook today, because frankly, I can't keep seeing articles popping up into my feed about what causes Autism, and how they're going to avoid it.For instance, in the past week, they've posted Op Ed articles about Autism and the link between the following topics:UltrasoundsProcessed FoodsVaccinesMercuryAntibioticsHow the Amish don't have Autism at all (this goes back to vaccines)What bothers me the most, is that they don't even look up credible articles. They're reading opinion pieces, and calling them fact. In the few articles that even state a source, it goes back to other Opinion pieces that don't credit a source.One article said that 90% of Amish people have never been vaccinated, which proves that Vaccines cause 100% of the Autism cases found in the world today.She sited wikipedia as her source.They have been posting this stuff for weeks now, and today, I finally got peeved off. I have ignored it, ignored it, ignored it. Today, I finally posted to one of their articles, "So, just wondering, since my daughter was 5 before she was ever vaccinated, what reason is there that she has Autism?"He asked me if I was serious in asking, and I said I wanted his honest opinion on the matter as to what I did wrong to make my daughter the way she is.At that point, I posted an update on my own FB page explaining that reading and agreeing with Op Ed pieces does not make you qualified to diagnose Autism, or give causes as to why people have it.I followed it up with remarks as to why it's more highly diagnosed now than it was 20 years ago, and why it was more highly diagnosed 20 years ago than it was 100 years ago. I think all too often, people forget that when you are dealing with any sort of neurological disorder, there have been leaps and bounds made in recognizing, categorizing, and diagnosing them.100 years ago, people did not have an Autism diagnosis. They were diagnosed as mentally retarded, and ran a high chance of being institutionalized for life.20 years ago, Asperger's wasn't recognized as a diagnosis, and was often diagnosed as a variety of problems not on the Spectrum.He did agree with both of those points, then went back to what I commented on his piece saying that he felt that my question was loaded, given my status update, and the tone of my questions.I followed up with this:Here's the thing, ********. I don't doubt that there are a lot of reasons as to why kids today are diagnosed with Autism. But, it's a hot topic. Parents of autistic children will hotly debate it with other parents of autistic children, because we all have our own opinions, and we all deal with it on a daily basis.I have no issues with you coming up with your own thoughts regarding autism, but posting stuff like this constantly is sort of a slap in the face of parents who have to deal with it daily, who have done their own research, who have doctors behind them, teachers, and psychologists who have all dealt with it over the years.You're going to have people like me who don't feel we need to hear blanket responses from people who are not dealing with it. If you are going to post stuff like this, do more research as to what the overall thoughts are, not just what some people think the causes are.It's disrespectiful to the people who put the time in. I've spent over 2 years reading up on it, discussing it with doctors, discussing it with my childrens support staff, and figuring out what happened.I have long since decided that in our case, it was a genetic issue that we had no control over, as many others have. There are different forms of Autism, and different levels. While some people find a common denominator as to what they think caused their child's Autism, the bottom line is that there is not a single test out there that can pin point a cause.I respect that you want to do what you can to educate others on topics like this, but it really does involve more than reading and agreeing with an article. Any reputable article will have multiple sources, and will be more than a copy of someone elses hard work on the topic. It will give their own sources, not sources to other articles. It will quote actual published studies, and research materials.WHEW.Anyway, the whole thing just bothers me. It's no different than people telling us we just need to discipline our child better when they have a melt down.I have no problem reading or hearing about ideas from people, but when those people have been looking into it for about 3 weeks, and think they know all of the things to avoid, then it becomes a hot mess.

[Guest guest]

There was no attack or rant as you say. I simply commented on your attack of Fundamentalist Christians. I don’t know why you are denying it. Seems obvious because now you are attacking me saying horribly prejudice and mean things about me.

So you make my point perfectly.

Guess this could get pretty bad if we keep it up, so let us stop now. You know where I am coming from. I know where you are coming from.

No more needs to be said.

Carolyn

From: Jane

Sent: Friday, May 25, 2012 3:08 AM

To: autism-aspergers

Subject: Re: Debating Causes with People who have never dealt with Autism

No worry heather-

I figure she's going through something painful and needed to attack so

I ignored the rant- hope it was catharsis for her-

I did merely mean it to describe their point of reference- I did after all still call them friends- and friends very loved they are- and we met.....in church-

Had I been talking about Not eating pork- I may have referenced an Islamic friend or seventh day Adventist- or vegan- depending on where their values for not eating pork came from-

Not bashing anybody- just trying to encourage the original poster-

Honestly- she's got something against me- it's not her first attack out of no where- why I keep wanting to exit the group- I have enough to fight for in daily life-

If she paid even a little attention to my posts- shed see my kids names- Hannah- sammuel- Caleb- and if she humbled herself in prayer and listened- she'd know which God I love- but I've long past learned that there are many who come in His name that he knows not-

Move on and don't get sucked into the fight she seeks- she's either really really hurting - or a wolf-

Because there is only one accuser- and it's NOT God-

In love-

Jane

Sent from my iPhone

Did I miss an email? When did she "assault" Fundamentalist Christians? She made one comment "they were fundamental Christians who really believed that when I allowed my son to be diagnosed- in that moment - the curse of autism landed in my son" In NO way is she bashing fundamentalist Christians. She is stating that they were Christians and that believed this. It's like she said they had black hair and they believed...

I personally am a strong Christian and I don't have a problem sharing it with other people but I won't force my believes on other people. We are not supposed to discuss this type stuff on this board and I for one am getting a little tired of it. Not because I don't believe what you are saying but because it causes tension on the board. It also detracts from what the original topic was.

I have no idea why God gave me an Autistic child. I know He has His reasons...they are not for me to know. I'd like to hope that some good will come of it. I know that my experiences have helped others and others have helped me. THAT is what this board is for. Helping other and ourselves. Most of the time I don't get into the squabbles on this board. If people say things on this board that I don't like, well that is fine. I can choose to delete their posts. Everyone is entitled to their opinion. "Judge not that ye be judge" is what I live by. I feel that people will answer to God when it comes time. It's not for me to judge or try to correct. I also live by 'water off a duck's back' theory.

-- Re: Debating Causes with People who have never dealt with Autism

Wow- this is your family? So sorry.

Try to remember that they don't have children yet-

Before I had children- I knew it all! How to parent- from a to Z!

Life has a way of equalizing people!

When my son was younger- friends invited me camping-

When I held my 3 year old who had no sense of danger-

My friends wife brought him a paper and crayon and screamed at me that all I had to do was keep him busy! My son was very delayed and later diagnosed as dysgraphia! I was livid! If it was so freaking easy as paper Nd crayons! Same couple later told me my son had autism because when we went researching it medically we "spoke" tht over him- they were fundamental Christians who really believed that when I allowed my son to be diagnosed- in that moment - the curse of autism

Landed in my son lol!

They've since had a daughter- diagnoses with sixty five roses.

They like your cousin choose to only have "normal" children so this will be their only child.

They have grown up a lot- and frankly- I was a know it all before I had a child.

My advice ? Don't take it personal- keep your distance- pick which battles you want to put your energy into- and try to laugh it off-

But hugs- cuz that crap is painful and frustrating as heck!

My newest topic I ignore? My sons huge weight gain since risperdol!

He's 12. I was "anti" meds - until last fall when his aggression became unbearable following my husbands heart attack. Everyone in my family is vocal about his gain and begging me to stop meds. My answer? So who is going to come and help me when he gets assaultive? Or give me respite?

They shut up quick.

Hugs-Sent from my iPhone

Before I get into that, let me be blunt-I think there are a multitude of environmental issues that probably carry some weight in a portion of children diagnosed with Autism, regardless of where they fall on the Spectrum. Whether it's things like smoking while you're pregnant, getting vaccines, having too much mercury in your blood, etc.I also believe that a portion of children diagnosed with Autism come by it genetically.I also believe that in some cases, leaps and bounds can be made regarding different diets.Also- I do NOT wish for this to turn into a "This is what causes it" debate. I won't participate in that sort of debate, and this has zero to do with the REASONS why people are Autistic.All of that said, here's what my issue is right now.My husband's cousin got married to a guy last summer who is very into "healthy living" in some ways. In other ways, to be blunt, he smokes like a chimney, drinks like a fish, and does recreational drugs. However, neither of them see those things as unhealthy living. She was the same until she got pregnant- I have no idea if she stopped smoking when she found out she was pregnant, but I know she stopped drinking and doing drugs.They are both the sort of people who will lecture you on their beliefs in the way that they aren't out right telling you that you're wrong, but they're telling you that they are right. Whether it's about buying cheese at a grocery store (they're against buying food at standard grocery stores, as it's 100% processed- even fresh food- their words, not mind), or seeing specific types of doctors, or even going to a hospital.Now that she's pregnant, they're delving into research on Autism, to try and limit the chances of the baby having it. They want a "normal" child (which irked me as well, because we ALL want a neurotypical child, but that doesn't mean our children aren't normal- it just means they're a little different, just as every person in the world is).I finally just blocked them from my feed on Facebook today, because frankly, I can't keep seeing articles popping up into my feed about what causes Autism, and how they're going to avoid it.For instance, in the past week, they've posted Op Ed articles about Autism and the link between the following topics:UltrasoundsProcessed FoodsVaccinesMercuryAntibioticsHow the Amish don't have Autism at all (this goes back to vaccines)What bothers me the most, is that they don't even look up credible articles. They're reading opinion pieces, and calling them fact. In the few articles that even state a source, it goes back to other Opinion pieces that don't credit a source.One article said that 90% of Amish people have never been vaccinated, which proves that Vaccines cause 100% of the Autism cases found in the world today.She sited wikipedia as her source.They have been posting this stuff for weeks now, and today, I finally got peeved off. I have ignored it, ignored it, ignored it. Today, I finally posted to one of their articles, "So, just wondering, since my daughter was 5 before she was ever vaccinated, what reason is there that she has Autism?"He asked me if I was serious in asking, and I said I wanted his honest opinion on the matter as to what I did wrong to make my daughter the way she is.At that point, I posted an update on my own FB page explaining that reading and agreeing with Op Ed pieces does not make you qualified to diagnose Autism, or give causes as to why people have it.I followed it up with remarks as to why it's more highly diagnosed now than it was 20 years ago, and why it was more highly diagnosed 20 years ago than it was 100 years ago. I think all too often, people forget that when you are dealing with any sort of neurological disorder, there have been leaps and bounds made in recognizing, categorizing, and diagnosing them.100 years ago, people did not have an Autism diagnosis. They were diagnosed as mentally retarded, and ran a high chance of being institutionalized for life.20 years ago, Asperger's wasn't recognized as a diagnosis, and was often diagnosed as a variety of problems not on the Spectrum.He did agree with both of those points, then went

[Guest guest]

Is there a moderator for this group?Sent from my iPhone

There was no attack or rant as you say. I simply commented on your attack of Fundamentalist Christians. I don’t know why you are denying it. Seems obvious because now you are attacking me saying horribly prejudice and mean things about me.

So you make my point perfectly.

Guess this could get pretty bad if we keep it up, so let us stop now. You know where I am coming from. I know where you are coming from.

No more needs to be said.

Carolyn

From: Jane

Sent: Friday, May 25, 2012 3:08 AM

To: autism-aspergers

Subject: Re: Debating Causes with People who have never dealt with Autism

No worry heather-

I figure she's going through something painful and needed to attack so

I ignored the rant- hope it was catharsis for her-

I did merely mean it to describe their point of reference- I did after all still call them friends- and friends very loved they are- and we met.....in church-

Had I been talking about Not eating pork- I may have referenced an Islamic friend or seventh day Adventist- or vegan- depending on where their values for not eating pork came from-

Not bashing anybody- just trying to encourage the original poster-

Honestly- she's got something against me- it's not her first attack out of no where- why I keep wanting to exit the group- I have enough to fight for in daily life-

If she paid even a little attention to my posts- shed see my kids names- Hannah- sammuel- Caleb- and if she humbled herself in prayer and listened- she'd know which God I love- but I've long past learned that there are many who come in His name that he knows not-

Move on and don't get sucked into the fight she seeks- she's either really really hurting - or a wolf-

Because there is only one accuser- and it's NOT God-

In love-

Jane

Sent from my iPhone

Did I miss an email? When did she "assault" Fundamentalist Christians? She made one comment "they were fundamental Christians who really believed that when I allowed my son to be diagnosed- in that moment - the curse of autism landed in my son" In NO way is she bashing fundamentalist Christians. She is stating that they were Christians and that believed this. It's like she said they had black hair and they believed...

I personally am a strong Christian and I don't have a problem sharing it with other people but I won't force my believes on other people. We are not supposed to discuss this type stuff on this board and I for one am getting a little tired of it. Not because I don't believe what you are saying but because it causes tension on the board. It also detracts from what the original topic was.

I have no idea why God gave me an Autistic child. I know He has His reasons...they are not for me to know. I'd like to hope that some good will come of it. I know that my experiences have helped others and others have helped me. THAT is what this board is for. Helping other and ourselves. Most of the time I don't get into the squabbles on this board. If people say things on this board that I don't like, well that is fine. I can choose to delete their posts. Everyone is entitled to their opinion. "Judge not that ye be judge" is what I live by. I feel that people will answer to God when it comes time. It's not for me to judge or try to correct. I also live by 'water off a duck's back' theory.

-- Re: Debating Causes with People who have never dealt with Autism

Wow- this is your family? So sorry.

Try to remember that they don't have children yet-

Before I had children- I knew it all! How to parent- from a to Z!

Life has a way of equalizing people!

When my son was younger- friends invited me camping-

When I held my 3 year old who had no sense of danger-

My friends wife brought him a paper and crayon and screamed at me that all I had to do was keep him busy! My son was very delayed and later diagnosed as dysgraphia! I was livid! If it was so freaking easy as paper Nd crayons! Same couple later told me my son had autism because when we went researching it medically we "spoke" tht over him- they were fundamental Christians who really believed that when I allowed my son to be diagnosed- in that moment - the curse of autism

Landed in my son lol!

They've since had a daughter- diagnoses with sixty five ro

[Guest guest]

Oh Carolyn, Silly Rabbit Tricks are for Kids! If guns kill people then pencils cause misspelled words To: autism-aspergers Sent: Friday, May 25, 2012 1:49 PM Subject: Re:

Debating Causes with People who have never dealt with Autism

I didn’t say she was bashing, only a bit sarcastic comment towards “Fundamentalist Christians.†I don’t think I misinterpreted her intent.

And funny you say you are as “strong Christian.†Have you missed the part where Jesus told us to go out into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature? That is not cramming anything down anybody’s throat. Once they hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ they can do,and will do, what they want with it.

Our job as Christians is only to tell them.

I was hoping Jane got the point, was not talking to you.

Carolyn

From: Muehleisen Family

Sent: Thursday, May 24, 2012 1:07 PM

To: autism-aspergers

Subject: Re: Debating Causes with People who have never dealt with Autism

Did I miss an email? When did she "assault" Fundamentalist Christians? She made one comment "they were fundamental Christians who really believed that when I allowed my son to be diagnosed- in that moment - the curse of autism landed in my son" In NO way is she bashing fundamentalist Christians. She is stating that they were Christians and that believed this. It's like she said they had black hair and they believed...

I personally am a strong Christian and I don't have a problem sharing it with other people but I won't force my believes on other people. We are not supposed to discuss this type stuff on this board and I for one am getting a little tired of it. Not because I don't believe what you are saying but because it causes tension on the board. It also detracts from what the original topic was.

I have no idea why God gave me an Autistic child. I know He has His reasons...they are not for me to know. I'd like to hope that some good will come of it. I know that my experiences have helped others and others have helped me. THAT is what this board is for. Helping other and ourselves. Most of the time I don't get into the squabbles on this board. If people say things on this board that I don't like, well that is fine. I can choose to delete their posts. Everyone is entitled to their opinion. "Judge not that ye be judge" is what I live by. I feel that people will answer to God when it comes time. It's not for me to judge or try to correct. I also live by 'water off a duck's back' theory.

-- Re: Debating Causes with People who have never dealt with Autism

Wow- this is your family? So sorry.

Try to remember that they don't have children yet-

Before I had children- I knew it all! How to parent- from a to Z!

Life has a way of equalizing people!

When my son was younger- friends invited me camping-

When I held my 3 year old who had no sense of danger-

My friends wife brought him a paper and crayon and screamed at me that all I had to do was keep him busy! My son was very delayed and later diagnosed as dysgraphia! I was livid! If it was so freaking easy as paper Nd crayons! Same couple later told me my son had autism because when we went researching it medically we "spoke" tht over him- they were fundamental Christians who really believed that when I allowed my son to be diagnosed- in that moment - the curse of autism

Landed in my son lol!

They've since had a daughter- diagnoses with sixty five roses.

They like your cousin choose to only have "normal" children so this will be their only child.

They have grown up a lot- and frankly- I was a know it all before I had a child.

My advice ? Don't take it personal- keep your distance- pick which battles you want to put your energy into- and try to laugh it off-

But hugs- cuz that crap is painful and frustrating as heck!

My newest topic I ignore? My sons huge weight gain since risperdol!

He's 12. I was "anti" meds - until last fall when his aggression became unbearable following my husbands heart attack. Everyone in my family is vocal about his gain and begging me to stop meds. My answer? So who is going to come and help me when he gets assaultive? Or give me respite?

They shut up quick.

Hugs-Sent from my iPhone

Before I get into that, let me be blunt-I think there are a multitude of environmental issues that probably carry some weight in a portion of children diagnosed with Autism, regardless of where they fall on the Spectrum. Whether it's things like smoking while you're pregnant, getting vaccines, having too much mercury in your blood, etc.I also believe that a portion of children diagnosed with Autism come by it genetically.I also believe that in some cases, leaps and bounds can be made regarding different diets.Also- I do NOT wish for this to turn into a "This is what causes it" debate. I won't participate in that sort of debate, and this has zero to do with the REASONS why people are Autistic.All of that said, here's what my issue is right now.My husband's cousin got married to a guy last summer who is very into "healthy living" in some ways. In other ways, to be blunt, he smokes like a chimney, drinks like a fish, and does recreational drugs. However, neither of them see those things as unhealthy living. She was the same until she got pregnant- I have no idea if she stopped smoking when she found out she was pregnant, but I know she stopped drinking and doing drugs.They are both the sort of people who will lecture you on their beliefs in the way that they aren't out right telling you that you're wrong, but they're telling you that they are right. Whether it's about buying cheese at a grocery store (they're against buying food at standard grocery stores, as it's 100% processed- even fresh food- their words, not mind), or seeing specific types of doctors, or even going to a hospital.Now that she's pregnant, they're delving into research on Autism, to try and limit the chances of the baby having it. They want a "normal" child (which irked me as well, because we ALL want a neurotypical child, but that doesn't mean our children aren't normal- it just means they're a little different, just as every person in the world is).I finally just blocked them from my feed on Facebook today, because frankly, I can't keep seeing articles popping up into my feed about what causes Autism, and how they're going to avoid it.For instance, in the past week, they've posted Op Ed articles about Autism and the link between the following topics:UltrasoundsProcessed FoodsVaccinesMercuryAntibioticsHow the Amish don't have Autism at all (this goes back to vaccines)What bothers me the most, is that they don't even look up credible articles. They're reading opinion pieces, and calling them fact. In the few articles that even state a source, it goes back to other Opinion pieces that don't credit a source.One article said that 90% of Amish people have never been vaccinated, which proves that Vaccines cause 100% of the Autism cases found in the world today.She sited wikipedia as her source.They have been posting this stuff for weeks now, and today, I finally got peeved off. I have ignored it, ignored it, ignored it. Today, I finally posted to one of their articles, "So, just wondering, since my daughter was 5 before she was ever vaccinated, what reason is there that she has Autism?"He asked me if I was serious in asking, and I said I wanted his honest opinion on the matter as to what I did wrong to make my daughter the way she is.At that point, I posted an update on my own FB page explaining that reading and agreeing with Op Ed pieces does not make you qualified to diagnose Autism, or give causes as to why people have it.I followed it up with remarks as to why it's more highly diagnosed now than it was 20 years ago, and why it was more highly diagnosed 20 years ago than it was 100 years ago. I think all too often, people forget that when you are dealing with any sort of neurological disorder, there have been leaps and bounds made in recognizing, categorizing, and diagnosing them.100 years ago, people did not have an Autism diagnosis. They were diagnosed as mentally retarded, and ran a high chance of being institutionalized for life.20 years ago, Asperger's wasn't recognized as a diagnosis, and was often diagnosed as a variety of problems not on the Spectrum.He did agree with both of those points, then went back to what I commented on his piece saying that he felt that my question was loaded, given my status update, and the tone of my questions.I followed up with this:Here's the thing, ********. I don't doubt that there are a lot of reasons as to why kids today are diagnosed with Autism. But, it's a hot topic. Parents of autistic children will hotly debate it with other parents of autistic children, because we all have our own opinions, and we all deal with it on a daily basis.I have no issues with you coming up with your own thoughts regarding autism, but posting stuff like this constantly is sort of a slap in the face of parents who have to deal with it daily, who have done their own research, who have doctors behind them, teachers, and psychologists who have all dealt with it over the years.You're going to have people like me who don't feel we need to hear blanket responses from people who are not dealing with it. If you are going to post stuff like this, do more research as to what the overall thoughts are, not just what some people think the causes are.It's disrespectiful to the people who put the time in. I've spent over 2 years reading up on it, discussing it with doctors, discussing it with my childrens support staff, and figuring out what happened.I have long since decided that in our case, it was a genetic issue that we had no control over, as many others have. There are different forms of Autism, and different levels. While some people find a common denominator as to what they think caused their child's Autism, the bottom line is that there is not a single test out there that can pin point a cause.I respect that you want to do what you can to educate others on topics like this, but it really does involve more than reading and agreeing with an article. Any reputable article will have multiple sources, and will be more than a copy of someone elses hard work on the topic. It will give their own sources, not sources to other articles. It will quote actual published studies, and research materials.WHEW.Anyway, the whole thing just bothers me. It's no different than people telling us we just need to discipline our child better when they have a melt down.I have no problem reading or hearing about ideas from people, but when those people have been looking into it for about 3 weeks, and think they know all of the things to avoid, then it becomes a hot mess.