Another Study:
"Towards Success in Tertiary Study" was a cooperative project between the University of Melbourne and the Australian Catholic University, which has resulted in the development of a series of study guides for tertiary students with diverse needs.
The guides present study skills and resources for students with a range of disabilities, who are currently studying, or intending to study in higher education. The materials were developed through funding from the Victorian Co-operative projects for Students with a Disability.
Each of the eight booklets: Focusses on study strategies that deal with the impact of the condition on learning; Is based on students' experience in tertiary institutions to bring together resources and strategies relevant for each disability; Caters for students with less well known and invisible disabilities, for example, ongoing medical conditions such as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome; and psychiatric conditions.
The booklets have been developed from interviews and focus groups with students, academic skills advisers and support organisations (virtual and actual), as well as existing literature.
"Towards Success in Tertiary Study" focuses on a range of study issues for students with diverse needs.

kate.blagojevic@nas.org.uk for more information

Here's the link for the one on Asperger's:
http://www.services.unimelb.edu.au/ellp/downloads/pdf/Asp_03.pdf

Music Therapy: I remember my Tori loving to "sing" with me and loving music she could dance to. Here's the article: Family is sold on benefits of music therapy for autistic childAlisa Beckwith, special to datelineBindu Bennuri describes her son Prateek as a bright boy with a fondness for computers.These days Prateek, 9, often appears comfortable in new situations and new places but Bennuri remembers a time not so long ago that Prateek shied away from others in social environments.She also remembers how she discovered music therapy as a way to help her son overcome some of the socialization obstacles associated with his autism.As a physician, Bennuri was familiar with some of the studies that showed the benefits of music therapy in children with autism, an illness that often restricts the socialization and communication skills of its victims.Armed with the information from the research studies, two years ago she found a music therapist to work with her son. After seeing improvements in Prateek’s day to day socialization, she was sold on the advantages of the treatment.Last year when the Bennuri's moved to Alabama, they quickly began to seek another music therapist for Prateek. They soon found Shawna Smith, a certified music therapist.Twice a week, Prateek meets with Smith for 30 minutes. During this time they work on everything from learning his right from his left while dancing to singing multiplication tables.Bennuri says she has seen a marked difference in her son since he began his music therapy sessions. He knows all of the presidents and his multiplication tables but what makes Bennuri most happy is Prateek’s newfound willingness to often communicate with others.“He has become more social. One of the things about autism is that that socialization is impaired a lot in these kids. But the music therapy has changed him socially. His interaction with other adults has changed and improved tremendously,” she said.Smith often allows Prateek to decide the direction the session will go. Although she always comes with a lesson plan she knows how well he will learn depends a great deal on what his disposition is for the day.“With autism it’s more difficult to get them to communicate. It depends on what his mood is as to how the session will go,” she said.Smith begins most of her therapy sessions with Prateek by singing the hello song which not only supports one on one interaction but also encourages Prateek to look people in the eye when he is communicating with them.In her book Music Therapy for the Autistic Child, Juliette Alvin describes how music can be the connector between and autistic child and the outside world.“Many studies have been made all over the world on the way autistic children can listen to music with pleasure or interest and the kind of music which is successful,” she writes.“The listening process is a basic part in the building up of a musical relationship between the mysterious world of the child and the reality surrounding him. The surrounding play an important part in the sense of musical freedom we wish to give him, freedom to make noises, to shout, to move, to feel safe and not threatened,” she said.Alvin points out that while the kinds of freedom she describes may at first seem to make no positive demands on the autistic child, music does offer the direction and structure they often lack.The Bennuri’s reinforce the techniques used by Smith in the music therapy sessions by repeating them throughout the evening when the family shares time together.Bennuri said she and her husband would not hesitate to suggest music therapy to others. She said while it may not be the typical medicine that people are accustomed to, music therapy does work.“It may not be as cut and dry like when I give antibiotics for an ear infection and it clears it up but music does help. Music therapy definitely has helped us as parents of a disabled child,” she said.

More research:
Source: Drake Institute of Behavioral Medicine & medical associates Clinic Reports Dramatic Results in Treating Children With Autism, Monday January 16, 5:03 am ET LOS ANGELES, Jan. 16 /PRNewswire/ -- She was a mother without hope. Diagnosed with autism, her six-year-old son, EJ, bit other children, threw tantrums and chairs. "He had no future," says Beatrice Tan, whose family stopped going to church -- too risky to put EJ in the nursery. Now, after several months of specialized neurofeedback therapy at Drake Institute of Behavioral Medicine and medical associates (http://www.drakeinstitute.com) in Los Angeles, EJ no longer bites: he hugs. He has friends, and "we have hope," says Beatrice, now back in church with EJ and husband, Ronnie. "We see autistic children coming out of their social comas, it's huge," says Dr. David F. Velkoff, Drake's medical director. "We're excited whenever we can help jump start a child's life." A physician with a master's degree in psychology, Dr. Velkoff reports dramatic results for most of the 100 autistic children like EJ who Drake Institute has been treating over the last year at its four California clinics, with medical technology Drake first used to treat attention deficit disorder (ADD), then modified for autism. Over the last 25 years, Drake has treated more than 5,000 children for attention deficit disorder (ADD/ADHD), he says, then last year began focusing on children also diagnosed with high-functioning autism or Asperger Syndrome. In treating their ADD, Drake staff found their autism symptoms dramatically improved as well. "Like a lot of accidental advances in medicine, we stumbled onto it, but it's working," he says of Drake's medical mystery. "We think it helps these children rewire brain synapses, so life starts to make sense." To make sense of their surprising progress, Drake cranked up an initial clinical study of 18 patients, all children with autism disorders and poor social skills. After 20-40 neurofeedback sessions, parents reported children were not only responding to peers, but interacting with new awareness to the feelings of others, says Dr. Velkoff. "EJ used to ask, 'Mommy, why don't I have friends?'" says Beatrice Tan in a videotaped interview on Drake's website, http://www.drakeinstitute.com. "I'd say, 'You have to be nicer, talk to them, don't take their toys, share!' It's no longer a problem." "Unfortunately, we can't help every child with autism, but we've seen big improvements in three out of four children we treat," says Dr. Velkoff. "Parents tell us they keep getting better even after treatment ends. We hear, 'it's a different child' all the time. Their lives begin to blossom." It all makes sense, says Dr. Velkoff. According to Drake's study, autistic children were suddenly more "teachable" after neurofeedback treatments, requiring less time to learn how to handle situations that once confused them. "They are happier children now; they have fewer meltdowns," says Dr. Velkoff, praising anyone engaged in the fight against autism, especially patients and their "courageous parents.""It's been a frightening road for a lot of these families, but they're not alone in this fight," he says. "We've been so encouraged by the progress we've seen at Drake. Fate has dealt these children a difficult hand. We just want to help improve the odds."Available Topic Expert(s): For information on the listed expert(s), click appropriate link. Dr. David F. Velkoff, MD http://www.profnet.com/ud_public.jsp?userid=10012945

Another Source: Jan/Feb 06 Mothering Magazine - special issue on autism. It costs $5.99 and 2 bucks for s&h http://www.mothering.com/shop/current-issue.html

Just back from my doggie's vet appt. He has arthritis so bad he can barely stand or walk. I started him on 2 new meds and hopefully they will do the trick. He also had a "senior dog panel" done. Results tomorrow. I saw my derm doc this week. More slicing and dicing. My cancers seem to jump up everywhere. Work continues to be "interesting". 2 of my staff have quit and 1 is on medical leave...due to the lies, intense work load, and the micro-mgt from non-clinical staff. One person choose to take a pay cut, and wear a stab vest and goggles, to work across the street where the worst hostage situation in the United States took place. He said it was better over there! As I am powerless over what seems to be happening, have decided to just suck it up and do what I can...and not do what I can't. My mantra..."detach, detach, detach" Meanwhile, I just finished reading the 11th book from the Left Behind series. Loving it!

This is just beautiful!!!
Autism: A window on the world. Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 01/8/06, BY CHRIS COLLINS.
LITTLE SILVER Our daughter, Nikki, is the second of three children. Born in 1995, Nikki is a strikingly beautiful little girl with a very charismatic personality. We call her the "air that we breathe" as a family.Nikki is our 10-year-old daughter. We learned about seven years ago she is autistic.When Nikki was born, I immediately noticed something very different about her. Although difficult to explain, mostly it was her lack of eye contact and evasiveness toward me — her father — and anyone else other than her mother. My wife, Eileen, to this day will swear that she thought it was simply motherly bonding with a little girl who felt most secure in her mother's arms.The strange behavior became more apparent as Nikki grew older; however, she hit all the normal milestones of a 2-year-old child.Just after Nikki turned 2, and driven by emotional frustration, I took another day off work and accompanied my wife to yet another doctor's appointment with another so-called specialist. This was after several doctor's visits, none of which gave us a conclusive answer as to Nikki's problems, and some that led us to dead ends.This time we set out to once and for all find out why my daughter had so many strange and intriguing characteristics — why she displayed such unsociable behavior and how she was so incredibly bright on so many levels despite what seemed to be some kind of disorder.In the doctor's office that day, I made an attempt to take control of the meeting, and as the doctor was examining Nikki, I looked him in the eye, and in a very authoritative (read: angry dad-like) voice, I said, "Doctor, it is about time someone tells us exactly what is wrong with my daughter as I am tired of so-called "specialists' and "experts' dancing around what is clearly some kind of disorder."The doctor looked me back in the eye as if I were crazy, as if I should have known very well what he was about to say.With far more authority than my question had, the doctor said, "Mr. Collins, your daughter is autistic."Those words went through my wife and me like a sharp knife to the midsection. I had no response and felt completely numb. My wife looked as numb as I did.I was unable to have any clear thoughts at that time. I did know that what the doctor had just said was, in fact, a life sentence. I knew that his words had just changed my life and the life of my family forever. What do we do? I can recall leaving the doctor's office that day; my wife and I said very little. We carried on as if it were a normal routine doctor's visit. In the car, the first words that I said to my Eileen were, "Where do you want to go for lunch?"The subsequent days and weeks were filled with a lot of self-pity, confusion and fear of what the future had in store for Nikki and our family. What did this all mean? This is not what I had planned for our lives.Shortly after that day, my wife and I made a decision in very casual fashion: We were going to pursue the same path of happiness that we planned on our wedding day. We were going to treat Nikki exactly as planned. We were going to continue to enjoy all the things in life that we promised ourselves that we would enjoy, and Nikki would be part of every minute of it.What we did not know at the time was just how unbelievably special Nikki was and the profoundly positive effect that she was going to have on our lives and the lives of anyone who has had the pleasure of getting to know Nikki, getting to understand the special characteristics of autism. Lessons During the last seven-plus years, we have learned more about love, appreciation and the things that really matter in life than we could have ever imagined. Nikki is an amazing human being who teaches very strong lessons each and every day.One very significant characteristic of autism is that she only sees the world in a literal sense. There is no sarcasm, exaggeration, substitution or lies. Everything is what it is, and what a wonderful influence and lesson that has been for our family.One recent day, while on vacation, my wife and I were casually talking about the possibility of every finding a cure for autism. My 12-year-old son, Christopher, quickly interrupted and with tremendous conviction and emotion said, "I hope not. I want Nikki to stay exactly the way she is."We as a family have no illusions and do not labor in the belief of a miracle cure. My wife and I know it is a very difficult road ahead. Every day brings new challenges in the world of autism.Nikki will most likely live with us for the rest of our lives. She will never have close friends or ever be interested in the fun things that are so important to little girls.We know that the stares and the embarrassment over her peculiar behavior in public places will be there forever. We know that every public venture or event could have the potential for unknown adventure.We also know that having Nikki has been a gift that far exceeds anything that we could have ever hoped for in life. Perspective Although a major characteristic of autism is the need for sameness, a day does not go by that Nikki does not do or say something new that makes us stop and think about how special her perspective on her surroundings is.She's a little girl who loves Christmas but couldn't care less about gifts. It's the lights, the decorations and the warmth that she feels in the house that make her so happy. One year it took until June for her to open the last of her Christmas presents.As a family, we have chosen to appreciate that gift and live our lives, thankful every day for an autistic child to be part of our lives. We have made the conscious decision that we would not let autism slow us down, but rather allow it to make the ride of life more rewarding.

I haven't posted in awhile. TOO busy!!! Last Sunday, was especially nice. We all met at my mother's home and feasted on our Southern "Traditional New Years" foods. My nephews attended, and I could not believe how buffed up they were. They do some serious workouts at school! Both had been hunting with their father, and the youngest had shot a deer, and then hiked out, carrying the deer on his shoulders. Said they had to walk about 4 miles. Awesome! Anyhow, after our New Years feast, we again played poker. Grandma won most of the hands, wiped out some of us, and kept giving money to the losers so that we could all stay in the game.

Another Testimony: My 17 year old daughter is on risperdal and zoloft as well for exactly sameanxiety problems as you described.It is magical for her too, now she is functioning very normally. I toorefused medications for a year but found the sensory/feeling and auditoryjust too much that i could not handle naturally and i couldn't handle the anxiety attacks nor the adolescent depression of sadness and apathy & hoplessness, and had to go with the medication route. It's been wonderful for her and the rest of my family, she is now functioning at school and athome more like a normal child with greatly consistency improvement with nextto no sensory/auditory and anxiety/depression problems, it is amazing, but i would had never believed it. The risperdal and zoloft are the key medications these days, that one only works better with the other combination as been described to me by the psych. and i believe it afterseeing my daughter on this drug therapy combination.The key factor in all this was the adolescent psych. started on low doseswent to high doses once we saw the short term/working memory come back theytapered her down to now a very low dose of both the meds. The more she wastapered the drastic improvement anxiety and sensory/auditory problems/depression went away and now stable on the lowest dose they willkeep her on that for how long i don't know but her depression has lifted andshe is back functioning. It now appears the less she is on the better sheis functioning, but had to go to the highest point first then taper to seethis happen. She now has been referred to an OT for her home assessment andschool assessment and get her back out into socially functioning again withextra ciriculum activities and social intergrate her back with new friends,she lost her old friends during this two year terrible anxiety, sensory, depression disorders and hopefully she might be able to regain her old friendships back. She is ready now to take on the world, so it seems...very strong, physically, mentally, happy and we got our daughter back and more some as it appears.

Autism problems explained in new research: Research Australia. New research from Melbourne's Howard Florey Institute helps to explain why children with autism spectrum disorders (autism) have problem-solving difficulties. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging technology (fMRI) the Florey scientists have shown that children with autism have less activation in the deep parts of the brain responsible for executive function (attention, reasoning and problem solving). Research leader Dr Ross Cunnington said autism was known to have a biological cause, but this neuroimaging research clearly showed the dysfunction in the brain that accounted for why children with autism have problems with their executive function. "Discovering why children with autism have impaired executive function may help develop better therapies to improve their ability to pay attention and solve problems," Dr Cunnington said. Specifically, we found that activity in the caudate nucleus, a criticalpart of circuits that link the prefrontal cortex of the brain, is reduced in boys with autism." "These findings have important implications, since prefrontal brain circuits play a critical role in maintaining and focusing attention, planning and setting goals, and keeping goals in memory during problem-solving and decision-making." "Our neuroimaging findings showing dysfunction in these prefrontal brain circuits now explain why children with autism have problems with learning and problem-solving," he said. Dr Cunnington along with PhD student, Tim Silk, have also been studying children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and have found similarities in the impairment of specific executive function in children with ADHD and autism. The autism study was conducted with boys aged 11 to 18 years who had autism or Asperger's disorder, as well teenage boys without the condition. Autism affects one in 100 Australians and is lifelong condition that affects the way a person communicates and relates to other people. People affected by autism typically display major impairments in social interaction, communication and behaviour (restricted interests and repetitive behaviours). The majority of people with autism also have an intellectual disability. Those with Asperger's disorder are typically of average or above average intelligence and may have relatively good communication skills but specific learning difficulties. The Florey scientists collaborated with scientists from Monash University, the Brain Research Institute and Texas Tech University in the USA. The results of this research are soon to be published in American Journal of Psychiatry

More Research Articles:
Toxic Waste -- You Need to Know About Mercury Poisoning Toxic Waste In a recent issue, I talked about the havoc that mercury can wreak upon your health. Exposure to this toxic heavy metal even in low levels -- through such common avenues as mercury-amalgam dental fillings, thimerosal(Merthiolate) -laced vaccines, mercury in fish, occupational, environmental and atmospheric pollution -- can cause weakness, fatigue, headache, tremor, skin rashes and memory and concentration difficulties. Even worse is chronic poisoning, which has been linked with autism, learning disabilities, Alzheimer's disease, multiple sclerosis and chronic fatigue syndrome. With all that risk, the natural question is how to rid yourself of mercury. To learn how to diagnose and counter the toxic effects of mercury poisoning, I turned once more to Tom McGuire, DDS, a leading authority in the field and author of the upcoming book, Your Complete Guide to Mercury Detoxification: How to Safely Remove Mercury from Your Teeth and Body (Medicis). How to Evaluate Mercury Exposure Many tests promise to measure exposure to mercury, notes Dr. McGuire, but none are perfect. While measurements of mercury accumulation in the hair, urine, blood and feces all have a certain value, in various ways all are also intrinsically flawed. Most significantly, none are able to pinpoint exactly where mercury is stored in the body, how much is stored, what harm it is doing and exactly how it got there in the first place. That said, in Dr. McGuire's opinion, the fecal metals test is the most useful. He explains that 90% of the mercury that the body removes is naturally released into the intestine and exits with the feces. The fecal metals test is useful in several ways... It will tell you if you are releasing mercury (which obviously means that you have mercury in your body in the first place) and how much is being removed. Once you know that mercury is a problem, fecal metals tests can be used as a reference point to help monitor a detoxification program. Because this test is an objective and scientific measurement, it is useful if you are skeptical about being mercury-toxic or have been told by a pro-mercury-amalgam dentist that these fillings are harmless. If you think you should be tested, go to www.doctorsdata.com. Again, it is important that the dentist or health-care professional know how to interpret this test. What You Can Do When mercury poisoning is the diagnosis, Dr. McGuire recommends a multi-pronged approach to detoxification... Limit sources of mercury exposure. While it is impossible to completely control environmental exposure to mercury in air and water pollution and pesticides, you have control over the fillings in your mouth, the immunizations you receive and the fish you eat. Safely replace silver-mercury-amalgam fillings (learn about the best way to go about this in Daily Health News, September 6, 2005 ) and be sure any future fillings are mercury free. Tell your doctor that you want only vaccines that are free of the mercury-based preservative thimerosal... and eat low-mercury fish such as shrimp, salmon, pollack, trout and catfish. (Likewise, avoid highly contaminated large predator fish such as swordfish, shark, tuna, tilefish and king mackerel.) This is a good strategy in general whether or not you test positive. It also is especially important for women who are planning to have children, have conceived or are nursing, as well as for children and adolescents whose nervous systems are stillforming and are thus more vulnerable to the harmful effects of mercury. Boost your levels of glutathione (GSH). This antioxidant is the most important natural mercury remover in the body. Present in every cell but especially abundant in the liver, this powerful amino acid binds aggressively with mercury, preventing damage to healthy cells. When mercury poisoning becomes an ongoing problem, the body's glutathione supplies eventually become depleted, leaving you more vulnerable to the toxic effects of mercury. Additional supplements to consider: Antioxidants, including vitamins C and E and selenium, not only prevent free radical damage, they also help repair damaged GSH and support the body's efforts to replenish its levels. Other supplements that may boost GSH are N-acetyl cysteine (NAC), L-cysteine and SAM-e. Talk to your physician about proper dosing for you. GSH is also found in health-food stores. Support your brain power. Brain and nervous system support is especially important because mercury is a neurotoxin, explains Dr. McGuire. He recommends that your physician consider the supplement alpha-lipoic acid (ALA). ALA is both water and fat-soluble and has the ability to pass through the blood-brain barrier to bind with and remove mercury in the central nervous system and prevent damage to healthy cells. ALA also assists the liver in flushing mercury and other toxins from the body. Although it's always best to determine specific doses with your doctor, a typical recommended dose of ALA may range from 10 mg to 100 mg or more daily. (Read more about this versatile antioxidant in Daily Health News, August 18, 2005.) Pay attention to intestinal health. It's not enough just to get rid of mercury, cautions Dr. McGuire. You also must prevent the intestine from inadvertently reintroducing it into the body as it is being expelled. Fiber is important in preventing mercury from being reabsorbed. Glucomannan is one of the best fibers at binding to mercury and escorting it out of your body. Watch your diet. After all, your body is engaged in a battle to banish a dangerous toxin, and the last thing your system needs to expend energy on is coping with an unhealthy diet loaded with sugar, saturated fat, sodium and chemical-laced processed foods. Give your immune system a boost and support your body's natural efforts to remove mercury by eating plenty of antioxidant-packed, fiber-rich fresh fruits and vegetables, grains, legumes and lean protein sources. Dr. McGuire notes that foods such as cheese, yogurt, chicken, turkey, duck, wheat germ, whey, oats and granola are natural sources of the more bioavailable amino acid cysteine, which is essential to the body's ability to manufacture GSH. What About Chelation? No discussion of mercury detoxification would be complete without a mention of pharmaceutical chelation, a still controversial alternative that some despise and others swear by. These chelators are chemical solutions used to find, attach to and remove minerals such as mercury from the body. The most commonly used are DMSA and DMPS. Pharmaceutical chelation can be administered in oral, intramuscular or intravenous fashion. Dr. McGuire notes that chelation is not for everyone, and adds that there is no consensus on which pharmaceutical chelator is most effective. (For a discussion of the pros and cons of chelation, see Daily Health News, May 30, 2005.) The Long Haul When it comes to mercury poisoning, you're in it for the long haul. There are no quick and easy solutions... but there are solutions. The first step is to control exposure, which most commonly entails having toxic amalgam fillings safely removed and replaced. The second is to aggressively support your body's efforts to expel the stored mercury. With time and effort on your part to strengthen your body's defenses, you can send this powerful toxin packing. You can learn more about the challenges of mercury issues at Dr. McGuire's Web sites: www.dentalwellness4u.com and www.mercuryfreenow.com.

A Response: Check at the Missouri State Health Department. There should be a water quality lab there. All you would need to do is to take them a sample and for a small fee, they would give you a detailed report of what chemicals are in it. The service is mainly for people with wells, but anyone can use the service. I used to work at the Oklahoma State Health Department, and that is the way that agency worked. Crabs and Shrimp have a notorious reputation for being full of mercury and other heavy metals, plus cholesterol, so I feel it would be a good idea to just avoid those foods.I don't know if anyone else has noticed this, but a common ingredientin OTC medications in tablet or pill form is titanium. This is especially the case in Ibuprofen tablets. As I recall, titanium is one of the heaviest metals known, which is probably why it is able to make steel stronger.

From Another Article:
Consumer Health The Age of Autism: 'A pretty big secret' By DAN OLMSTEDUPI Senior Editor CHICAGO, Dec. 7 (UPI) -- It's a far piece from the horse-and-buggies of Lancaster County, Pa., to the cars and freeways of Cook County, Ill. But thousands of children cared for by Homefirst Health Services in metropolitan Chicago have at least two things in common with thousands of Amish children in rural Lancaster: They have never been vaccinated. And they don't have autism. "We have a fairly large practice. We have about 30,000 or 35,000 children that we've taken care of over the years, and I don't think we have a single case of autism in children delivered by us who never received vaccines," said Dr. Mayer Eisenstein, Homefirst's medical director who founded the practice in 1973. Homefirst doctors have delivered more than 15,000 babies at home, and thousands of them have never been vaccinated. The few autistic children Homefirst sees were vaccinated before their families became patients, Eisenstein said. "I can think of two or three autistic children who we've delivered their mother's next baby, and we aren't really totally taking care of that child -- they have special care needs. But they bring the younger children to us. I don't have a single case that I can think of that wasn't vaccinated." The autism rate in Illinois public schools is 38 per 10,000, according to state Education Department data; the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention puts the national rate of autism spectrum disorders at 1 in 166 -- 60 per 10,000. "We do have enough of a sample," Eisenstein said. "The numbers are too large to not see it. We would absolutely know. We're all family doctors. If I have a child with autism come in, there's no communication. It's frightening. You can't touch them. It's not something that anyone would miss." No one knows what causes autism, but federal health authorities say it isn't childhood immunizations. Some parents and a small minority of doctors and scientists, however, assert vaccines are responsible. This column has been looking for autism in never-vaccinated U.S. children in an effort to shed light on the issue. We went to Chicago to meet with Eisenstein at the suggestion of a reader, and we also visited Homefirst's office in northwest suburban Rolling Meadows. Homefirst has four other offices in the Chicago area and a total of six doctors. Eisenstein stresses his observations are not scientific. "The trouble is this is just anecdotal in a sense, because what if every autistic child goes somewhere else and (their family) never calls us or they moved out of state?" In practice, that's unlikely to account for the pronounced absence of autism, says Eisenstein, who also has a bachelor's degree in statistics, a master's degree in public health and a law degree. Homefirst follows state immunization mandates, but Illinois allows religious exemptions if parents object based either on tenets of their faith or specific personal religious views. Homefirst does not exclude or discourage such families. Eisenstein, in fact, is author of the book "Don't Vaccinate Before You Educate!" and is critical of the CDC's vaccination policy in the 1990s, when several new immunizations were added to the schedule, including Hepatitis B as early as the day of birth. Several of the vaccines -- HepB included -- contained a mercury-based preservative that has since been phased out of most childhood vaccines in the United States. Medical practices with Homefirst's approach to immunizations are rare. "Because of that, we tend to attract families that have questions about that issue," said Dr. Paul Schattauer, who has been with Homefirst for 20 years and treats "at least" 100 children a week. Schattauer seconded Eisenstein's observations. "All I know is in my practice I don't see autism. There is no striking 1-in-166," he said. Earlier this year we reported the same phenomenon in the mostly unvaccinated Amish. CDC Director Dr. Julie Gerberding told us the Amish "have genetic connectivity that would make them different from populations that are in other sectors of the United States." Gerberding said, however, studies "could and should be done" in more representative unvaccinated groups -- if they could be found and their autism rate documented. Chicago is America's prototypical "City of Big Shoulders," to quote Carl Sandburg, and Homefirst's mostly middle-class families seem fairly representative. A substantial number are conservative Christians who home-school their children. They are mostly white, but the Homefirst practice also includes black and Hispanic families and non-home-schooling Jews, Catholics and Muslims. They tend to be better educated, follow healthier diets and breast-feed their children much longer than the norm -- half of Homefirst's mothers are still breast-feeding at two years. Also, because Homefirst relies less on prescription drugs including antibiotics as a first line of treatment, these children have less exposure to other medicines, not just vaccines. Schattauer, interviewed at the Rolling Meadows office, said his caseload is too limited to draw conclusions about a possible link between vaccines and autism. "With these numbers you'd have a hard time proving or disproving anything," he said. "You can only get a feeling about it. "In no way would I be an advocate to stand up and say we need to look at vaccines, because I don't have the science to say that," Schattauer said. "But I don't think the science is there to say that it's not." Schattauer said Homefirst's patients also have significantly less childhood asthma and juvenile diabetes compared to national rates. An office manager who has been with Homefirst for 17 years said she is aware of only one case of severe asthma in an unvaccinated child. "Sometimes you feel frustrated because you feel like you've got a pretty big secret," Schattauer said. He argues for more research on all those disorders, independent of political or business pressures. The asthma rate among Homefirst patients is so low it was noticed by the Blue Cross group with which Homefirst is affiliated, according to Eisenstein. "In the alternative-medicine network which Homefirst is part of, there are virtually no cases of childhood asthma, in contrast to the overall Blue Cross rate of childhood asthma which is approximately 10 percent," he said. "At first I thought it was because they (Homefirst's children) were breast-fed, but even among the breast-fed we've had asthma. We have virtually no asthma if you're breast-fed and not vaccinated." Because the diagnosis of asthma is based on emergency-room visits and hospital admissions, Eisenstein said, Homefirst's low rate is hard to dispute. "It's quantifiable -- the definition is not reliant on the doctor's perception of asthma." Several studies have found a risk of asthma from vaccination; others have not. Studies that include never-vaccinated children generally find little or no asthma in that group. Earlier this year Florida pediatrician Dr. Jeff Bradstreet said there is virtually no autism in home-schooling families who decline to vaccinate for religious reasons -- lending credence to Eisenstein's observations. "It's largely non-existent," said Bradstreet, who treats children with autism from around the country. "It's an extremely rare event." Bradstreet has a son whose autism he attributes to a vaccine reaction at 15 months. His daughter has been home-schooled, he describes himself as a "Christian family physician," and he knows many of the leaders in the home-school movement. "There was this whole subculture of folks who went into home-schooling so they would never have to vaccinate their kids," he said. "There's this whole cadre who were never vaccinated for religious reasons." In that subset, he said, "unless they were massively exposed to mercury through lots of amalgams (mercury dental fillings in the mother) and/or big-time fish eating, I've not had a single case." Federal health authorities and mainstream medical groups emphatically dismiss any link between autism and vaccines, including the mercury-based preservative thimerosal. Last year a panel of the Institute of Medicine, part of the National Academies, said there is no evidence of such a link, and funding should henceforth go to "promising" research. Thimerosal, which is 49.6 percent ethyl mercury by weight, was phased out of most U.S. childhood immunizations beginning in 1999, but the CDC recommends flu shots for pregnant women and last year began recommending them for children 6 to 23 months old. Most of those shots contain thimerosal. Thimerosal-preserved vaccines are currently being injected into millions of children in developing countries around the world. "My mandate ... is to make sure at the end of the day that 100,000,000 are immunized ... this year, next year and for many years to come ... and that will have to be with thimerosal-containing vaccines," said John Clements of the World Health Organization at a June 2000 meeting called by the CDC. That meeting was held to review data that thimerosal might be linked with autism and other neurological problems. But in 2004 the Institute of Medicine panel said evidence against a link is so strong that health authorities, "whether in the United States or other countries, should not include autism as a potential risk" when formulating immunization policies. But where is the simple, straightforward study of autism in never-vaccinated U.S. children? Based on our admittedly anecdotal and limited reporting among the Amish, the home-schooled and now Chicago's Homefirst, that may prove to be a significant omission.

More Information: My son is 8 yrs old and diagnosed with Asperger's,ADHD, Bi-Polar, and sensory dysfunction. I believewhat your child is experiencing is sensory overload.My son has the same issues. He currently takes zoloft,respridol, and adderall. I, like you wish he didn't need the medications. However, if my son didn't havethem he would be in a corner oblivious to hissurrondings. I have found these medications to be"magical". Don't be afraid to try it. You control it.If you don't like what you see, then you can stop it.But I can assure you that if they help you will wishyou had done it sooner. Last year my sons teacher believed that it was my "parenting" and not a disorder that made my son the way he was. I slowly took him offthe meds on a break and when he returned to school hewas on no meds. By 10 am the teacher called mepersonally and told me if I refused to give him hismeds, I would have to come and get him. Legally, hewasn't able to say that to me but boy did he relize athing or two!!! Not only that, my son also sees thedifference and now, if I forget or his pill has wornoff and he's feeling bad, he says "mom I think I need my pill".