Autism

My parner and I experienced a fantastic cruise with our two children, one with autism recently. The organization is called, Autism on the Seas and you can get information on their 2010 cruises on their website. The other families in our group (straight) were very supportive and have become apart of our extended family. Our Group Director, Jamie (family) was AWESOME! He is a veteran cruiser so was able to tell us about things most first time cruisers like us would not know.

The World Health Organization or ( WHO ) and American Psychological Association or ( APA ) recognize autism as a developmental disability resulting from disorders of the central human nervous system. Though the most apparent signs of autism in children are visible at two or three years of age, parents should also be wary of symptoms of this disorder in their infants.

ProudParenting members - Happy 2 B moms - bring autism to our attention in a recent post.

The Orange County moms, to 2 1/2-year old Eric [pictured], write:

Today, 1 in 150 children are diagnosed with autism, making it more common than pediatric cancer, diabetes, and AIDS combined. It occurs in all racial, ethnic, and social groups and is four times more likely to strike boys than girls.

Prior to bringing our son home in 2007, I never once thought twice about getting a vaccine. For me, someone who worked in the healthcare field and managed multi-million dollar clinical research programs, I was aware of vaccines’ safety profile. Yet, I became acutely aware of their potential ill effects when I began listening to the longstanding “hysteria” that mercury-laden vaccines, particularly the measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccine, caused autism in children.

It’s only speculation now that environmental factors, including assisted reproduction technologies, have contributed to the high increase in the number of children diagnosed with Autism. Education and awareness of Austin have been key to the increasing diagnosis in children. The study, by Irva Hertz-Picciotto, PhD, MPH, chief of the division of environmental and occupational health at the University of California, Davis, clearly demonstrated that they increase in reported cases is very real.