If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
The Blog
Raising any child with a disability or illness can be difficult to say the least. But for many reasons, and for many people, parenting a child with autism can be especially overwhelming.
Families with kids aged 2 to 20-something were encouraged by the rabbis to walk around when they needed to, bring their snacks back to their seats, dance to the music or do none of the above if they didn't want to. What didn't I hear? The words "SSSHHHHH!" or "Sit down!"
She was meant to be a companion for our cat Dizzy. She looked identical. The same kohl-rimmed eyes. The same silky, silver fur. The same sweet face. She was Dizzy's Doppelganger. But inside? A heart of darkness.
Are you a parent to a child with special needs? Have you been trying to help your child do something he or she can't do, or corrected them over and over again to end up with little or no progress?
Jewish law in fact, commands that no matter how poor you are, you are commanded to give.
Emma is my daughter, who happens to have autism. The autism piece is complicated. The beautiful little girl/daughter piece is not.
Will the unfavorable press result in a more favorable DSM 5 outcome? We must hope so, because so few other corrective options are available. DSM 5 remains steadfast and rigid in its support of really bad proposals with extremely dangerous unintended public health consequences.
In 1994, autism was not recognized or diagnosed "early." The attitude was "wait and see" because the diagnosis of "autism" invariably meant life-long severe disability, not the "spectrum" we recognize today.
No matter the age or ability level, no person on the autism spectrum is safe from danger. Anyone with a loved one on the spectrum will understand how problematic the area of safety is for the autism community.
Working on Autism Speaks, it was amazing to learn how many prominent people have been affected by this condition first-hand.
Though the struggle of others hardly makes me feel any better, it certainly serves to put my own hardships into perspective.
In the Feb. 1 New York Times there is a telling op-ed by Benjamin Nugent, a successful writer and a "recovered" Asperger's patient. Mr. Nugent abruptly and spontaneously outgrew his disease right after college and has lived happily ever after.
As the mother of a child with autism, I know first-hand the importance that routine and consistency play in helping my son learn to navigate the world. Take away routine and consistency and what do you have? Life in the military.
The DSM 5 assertion of rate neutrality is, just on the face of it, completely impossible. A simple comparison of how DSM IV and DSM 5 criteria are written makes apparent that DSM 5 has to be much more restrictive.
I asked some of the people who've influenced my thinking about autism to collaborate on a virtual roundtable. This conversation, which took place before the Times story on the DSM, is open-ended and free-ranging. The participants, in alphabetical order:
The possible DSM 5 return to a narrower definition has created an uproar and caused a sharp division of opinion among advocates.
