Autism news is seldom this good. Australian Nine Network cameraman Glenn Edwards dived into a swollen creek and saved an autistic boy, missing for 16 hours, from a swollen Creek. The story at CabooltureNews quotes Mr. Edwards extensively and is very uplifting. Well done Mr. Edwards. Very well done!
Continue readingAuthor: Autism Reality NB
Facing Autism in New Brunswick: Lisa Jo Rudy Does A Bettelheim, Demeans ABA Parents While Pushing Her New Autism Book
Lisa Jo Rudy and I seldom, if ever, agreed on autism issues while she was the host of the About Autism web page. Lisa Jo has a high functioning autistic son and leans towards a Neurodiversity perspective on most autistm issues while my son is severely autistic and I have
Continue readingFacing Autism in New Brunswick: Volkmar Says Many Intellectually Disabled May Be Excluded from DSM-5 Autism Spectrum Disorder Diagnosis
When I first pointed out that the DSM-5 New Autism Disorder would exclude intellectually disabled I was ignored by most, insulted and mocked by others. Some were annoyed. When Catherine Lord confessed that the intellectually disabled were the real target for exclusion very few mentioned the exclusion of the intellectually
Continue readingFacing Autism in New Brunswick: Intellectual Disability and the DSM-5 Autism Do-Over: Catherine Lord Then (2003) and Now (2013)
Catherine Lord, and her highly influential views about autism and intellectual disability seem to have changed a bit since the 2003 article published below and the DSM-5 Autism Do-Over which will be published in 2013. For those who quibble over the reference to 2013 as being “now” they should know
Continue readingFacing Autism in New Brunswick: Conor Turns 16 And Enjoys Some Birthday Cake Therapy
Conor turned 16 today. No autism issues. Just lots of fun. No swimming with dolphins therapy or riding horse back across Mongolia. Conor has enjoyed some Birthday Cake Therapy though and has requested Pizza Therapy for supper. The one rule we follow on Conor’s birthday is to spoil him rotten.
Continue readingFacing Autism in New Brunswick: What Does Autism Awareness Mean As The Great DSM-5 Autism Do-Over Approaches?
What exactly is Autism Awareness and what does it accomplish? Can anyone, Autism Speaks, or any other autism organization, say with a straight face that they are promoting autism awareness when the official criteria for determining what autism is, or is not, changes every 15-20 years? Can anyone say what
Continue readingFacing Autism in New Brunswick: DSM-5 Autism: Globe & Mail Ignores Invisible Intellectually Disabled Autistics, Dr. Yeargin-Allsopp’s Vast Majority
Canada’s Globe & Mail is late to the discussion, once again, of major autism issues. This time, Parents of autistic kids fear diagnostic changes will mean reduced services, the Globe is parroting the concerns of the major US corporate media over the possible impact of the DSM-5’s New Autism Spectrum Disorder on
Continue readingFacing Autism in New Brunswick: Autism leader helps UNB remain at forefront of autism intervention training
The University of New Brunswick has engaged a renowned expert to examine best practices in autism treatment. Dr. David Celiberti is president of the Association for Science and Autism Treatment. His report, commissioned by UNB’s College of Extended Learning (CEL), examines program quality indicators already in place in other jurisdictions.
Continue readingFacing Autism in New Brunswick: APA Ignores Concern Over DSM Autism Exclusion of Intellectually Disabled
On July 17 2011 I made a submission to the Neurodevelopmental Disorders DSM Work Group of the American Psychiatric Association. My submission dealt at length with the exclusionary language added to Mandatory Criterion A of the DSM-5 Autism Spectrum Disorder, language which targets for exclusion from autism diagnosis of persons with intellectual
Continue readingFacing Autism in New Brunswick: Totally Unnecessary Danger? Another Autistic Child Left Alone on School Bus
Surely, of all the dangers that confront many autistic children the simplest danger to eradicate, the one that doesn’t have to exist, is the danger of an autistic child being left alone on a school bus, van or other vehicle while parked in scorching heat or while it departs for
Continue readingFacing Autism in New Brunswick: Autism Vaccine War: Is Scientific Inquiry Being Suppressed?
Dr. Beatrice Golomb’s presentation This Is Your Brain On Politics pulls no punches in its critique of conflicts of interest, bias, censorship and intimidation involving pharmaceutical companies, health authorities and academic institutions and publications. Professor Golomb’s presentation includes commentary on pressure tactics, including intimidation, used by some pharmaceutical industry representatives
Continue readingFacing Autism in New Brunswick: ABA Benefits for Autism: Association for Science in Autism Treatment (ASAT) Educates LA Times Alan Zarembo
The attached letter was written by ASAT Board member Sabrina Freeman Ph. D., and Secretary Florence DiGennaro Reed, Ph. D., BCBA-D to the LA Times Alan Zarembo who did such a poor job (in my humble opinion) reporting on autism issues in a recent LA Times series. In the letter
Continue readingFacing Autism in New Brunswick: DSM-5 Autistic Spectrum Disorder Disaster By Kim Oakley Should Be Mandatory Reading For The DSM-5 Committees
I have great respect for Kim Oakley a California mother who has been honestly and courageously documenting her severely autistic son’s self-injurious behavior on Youtube, Classic Autism kgaccount’s channel, for several years. Within the past year she has also begun a blog, Autism, Epilepsy and Self-Injurious Behavior, on which she presents her
Continue readingFacing Autism in New Brunswick: Not Accounted For By General Developmental Delays: In DSM-5 Era Life for Autism’s Invisible Vast Majority Is About To Get Much Harder
DSM-5 Autism Spectrum Disorder Will Exclude Autism’s Vast Majority Of Intellectually Disabled While the New York Times, the CBC and other mainstream media giants debate the DSM5’s potential exclusion of high functioning autistic persons from autism diagnosis barely a whisper is heard about the express exclusion of autism’s vast majority of intellectually disabled.
Continue readingFacing Autism in New Brunswick: Millions for Woodstock Civic Center But No Time to Answer a Simple Adult Autism Care Question
Second from Left, NB Premier and Woodstock MLA David Alward PHOTO BY MICHAEL MACDONALD/NBCC WOODSTOCK On January 4 2012 I emailed New Brunswick Premier David Alward and relevant cabinet ministers the following inquiry which asked simply whether his government was considering helping autistic adults and is working on a modern, reality
Continue readingFacing Autism in New Brunswick: Catherine Lord Confesses: DSM-5 Autism Spectrum Disorder Intended To Exclude Intellectually Disabled
“Catherine Lord, the director of the Institute for Brain Development at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, and a member of the committee overseeing the [DSM-5 autism] revisions, said that the goal was to ensure that autism was not used as a “fallback diagnosis” for children whose primary trait might be, for instance, an
Continue readingFacing Autism in New Brunswick: NB Ombudsman’s Centre of Excellence is a Fantasy That Will Not Fill Residential Care and Treatment Needs of Severely Autistic Adults
The Bricks and Mortar Office of the Ombudsman 548 York Street, Fredericton,New Brunswick, at the Staying Connected consultations, in which I participated, Ombudsman Bernard Richard and NBACL President Clarence Box both dismissed Long Term Residential Care and Treatment Facilities for Autistic Youth and Adults as “Bricks and Mortar Solutions” The
Continue readingFacing Autism in New Brunswick: 2011 Autism Progress or Back to the Future?
Was there any progress in addressing autism disorder issues in 2011? In the humble opinion of this father of a severely autistic 16 year old there was very slight progress on the research front, very slight, and that progress was more than offset by the regression on other fronts particularly
Continue readingFacing Autism in New Brunswick: Autism, Obesity and Medication: Our Run, Jump, Fly Boy Says NO THANK YOU!
Run, Jump, Fly Boy 2007 Run, Jump, Fly Boy 2011 There are many news reports concerning possible connections between obesity and medications prescribed for children and adults with autism and other developmental disorder. Those reports help stiffen our resolve to avoid medications for our autistic son Conor, our Run, Jump,
Continue readingFacing Autism in New Brunswick: Joy of Conor 2011
Just a tiny bit of the joy that Conor brought to his Mom and Dad every day in 2011.
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