LATimes: Autism boom: An epidemic of disease or of discovery?

[Guest guest]

Autism boom: An epidemic of disease or of discovery?By Alan Zarembo Los Angeles Times 11 December 2011Absolutely horrific and oversimplified explanation for the rise in autism. And this is only the first of a 4-part series. I seriously wanted to set my newspaper on fire. Basically the two main points were:1) There is no real epidemic of autism; we're all just looking for it more carefully. And parents are being "primed" to see autism in their children where it probably doesn't exist at all. It's just "normal developmental delays" (huh?) or our kids are just really interested in train schedules and ceiling fans. Nothing at all to be worried about. Parents are all dying to get that elusive autism diagnosis so we can get free services for our kids so they can fit in with their peers and not be the kid everyone points at and makes fun of. We all see autism everywhere because that is what our society is telling us to do. Otherwise our kids would have just been overlooked. (Yeah, the fact that my almost 12-year-old still can't carry on a basic conversation, use the bathroom independently and spends much of her time repeating scripted phrases from videos and dangling rubber bands in front of her eyes....she would have just been "overlooked" if I hadn't been clamoring to get that autism diagnosis and bilk the State of California out of thousands of dollars.)2) The only mention of vaccines contributing to autism (as was the case with my daughter, a fact supported by her doctor's immediate report to VAERS) was the fact after decades of tireless research, we have absolutely no flippin' idea whatsoever what causes autism but we do know FOR CERTAIN that it's not "refrigerator mothers" nor vaccines. Yep, vaccines triggering autism is now officially as ludicrous as refrigerator mothers! Unbelievable.Gee, I can't wait to read the next three installments....