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Life is a journey; enjoy the trip! I wake up happy everyday and try to share that with a smile to everyone I see.

Sunday, July 20, 2008

Autism... God's Misunderstood Children

"Autism: The Musical" opens with the jarring data that autism in America has spiked from 1-in-10,000 kids in 1980 to 1-in-150 today. But instead of dwelling on the cause of autism, the film focuses mostly on five wonderful kids - two boys with very high functioning autism who are brilliant, charming, and yes, "comical"; a teenage girl who sings beautifully; a little boy who rarely speaks, but who can express himself vividly through his cello; and one adopted Russian boy who is completely nonverbal (until he gets a computer) and who will break your heart when you see him.

Breathtaking. Touching. Powerful. Elaine Hall (Coach E) runs the Miracle Project, an initiative that leads theater cast through writing, rehearsing and performing a musical. This musical, though, is comprised of autistic children. The children rehearse and interact with each other as they prepare for their big show within a duration of six months. Watching Coach E unlock some of those doors and windows into the childrens' closely guarded inner lives is as absorbing as hearing their parents' fears and frustrations is heartbreaking. Most revealing, though, we follow the children home. Their parents are candid and we get to know the challenges of getting an autistic diagnosis for their children, the complexity of the living situation and the distance that seems to grow between parents. The documentary unflinchingly shows just how stressful the disorder can be on families. The weight on couples is obvious: One marriage suffers through infidelity, another ends in painful divorce.

The interviews with the children are often the most riveting of the film. Henry is the son of Kristen and Steven Stills (of Crosby, Stills and Nash) and has Asperger's. He has an encyclopedic knowledge of all things dinosaur. Lexi only repeats what is said to her, she sings beautifully, but has to type on a computer to communicate with her mother. Wyatt is obsessed with the idea of bullies and is on the cusp of understanding how his mind works differently from that of other children. He is a high functioning child; he has perhaps the most self-aware discussion about autism: "You're in your own world. You're not talking to anybody. There's no point to it. You're not going to make friends." He explains how he can see Henry going into his own world when reciting facts and talking about dinosaurs. He even knows when and why he goes into his own world. "Sometimes I don't have anybody else to talk to”.

The children in "Autism: The Musical" deserve a standing ovation, right along with their parents. This film is anything but maudlin; it’s an eyes-wide-open account of tenacity and triumph for parents and children alike. Considering the dramatic rise in the number of children born with autism, I believe it's a film that everyone should see and appreciate.

Ms. Hall's determination, patience and faith are extraordinary. As she guides the kids through rehearsals, she's not really sure that they'll be able to perform the show-but she stays the course, dealing with the childrens' discipline problems and parents who express their anxieties by making demands. In the end, however, the show does go on-and Adam plays the cello beautifully. The real message here is that children with autism are human beings, just like everyone else on God's green earth - with their own hopes and fears, intellects and personalities. They deserve more than our compassion, our love and our dollars; they deserve our respect.

“In the United States, children with disabilities from birth to age 21 are entitled by law to receive a free, appropriate education. States offer free special education, speech therapy, occupational therapy and physical therapy to infants, toddlers and preschoolers who qualify. Here is a list of state early intervention offices
(http://www.nichcy.org/states.htm). Click on your state at the bottom of the page. You may contact your local office to refer your child for a free evaluation. In many communities, the Early Intervention Office can be reached by contacting the local school district, health department or developmental disability center. Parents can refer a school-aged child for special education testing and services by contacting the child's school”.


Autism Web. “A Parents' Guide to Autism and Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD)”

Where to Find Your State's Early Intervention Program. ©
AutismWeb™ 2000-2008.

http://www.autismweb.com/education.htm.

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

The Medicated Child...

Forget Supernanny. If you have an out-of-control kid, your offspring could be suffering from the latest craze in childhood psychiatric disorders: Child bipolar. In the US, more than 1 million kids are being treated for child bipolar and the number is rising, despite the fact hardly anyone knows how to correctly diagnose it and that the prescribed medications of unruly mood stabilizers and anti-psychotics have not been tested on children.

The definition of bipolar is already on shaky ground ... and no wonder. Doctors can say a child is bipolar if she or he suffers rapid mood swings, tantrums and explosive irritability. Yet the stories presented in the film are terrifying and mesmerizing in turn, in particular the heartbreaking tales of the children. Little Jacob was considered a normal boy until he turned three and his teachers started complaining that he had no "impulse control" (Hello… He is three). At four, he was diagnosed as ADHD and placed on several drugs. By the time he was 10, little Jacob was daily ingesting eight different pills and potions and his diagnosis was "upgraded" to bipolar. He is now 16, suffers with an unfortunate neck-roll tick - one of the many side effects of such drugs - and is looking down the barrel of a lifetime on daily medicines.

In one scene a doctor gives advice to his 12-year-old bipolar patient who had been suffering "mood swings" due to the fact her dad had just been posted to Iraq. "There is no scientific answer here about what to do for you," he tells her. "So I think we should try to go up a little on the medicines. Does that sound like a plan?" This is a tragedy of sick kids, desperate parents and doctors on a bender of over-diagnosis and over-medicating.

The statistics of the number of children that are being medicated for psychiatric disorders are alarming. Increasingly, this is the conventional solution of choice for children with behavioral problems. The program barely mentioned alternative approaches which was what was so disturbing to me. Why do you think Americans medicate more than other countries? Is it the marketing by drug companies, or the way our health care system is set up? Why is there not a third party reporting agency for adverse drug effects, similar to vaccine reporting? Everyone I know who has had a bad reaction has just changed medicine. Neither the pediatrician nor the parents reported it anywhere.

I was shocked and horrified and how these kids, who were normal, bright children who were merely rambunctious were given medication that has destroyed their lives. From neurological disorders, to dead personalities, I weep for them and how today there is an entire generation of parents with no clue about how to parent, and kids who have been medicated in order to make up for that lack. I was left wondering how much a parent could do in advance of such problems arising. In essence, I'm sure there are situations where early intervention would have zero effect, but I'm wondering if (like autism) there would be situations where a child who has a pre-disposition towards a condition (like ADHD) might be able to be prevented from developing (entirely or partially) a condition if a parent does certain things ... like developing good conflict management and coping mechanisms in kids, etc.


Yes I believe there are children who are prematurely medicated and in some cases it is nothing more than a lack of discipline or the child is not being challenged or the child is held to standards appropriate for adults or there is little quality time being spent between parents and child. In this fast paced world we need to make a special effort to slow down and enjoy our children and allow them the freedom to be children. More so, I agree that too many medications (especially several mixed together) is a really bad idea for children, unless it is absolutely necessary to do so, and there is an official diagnosis for their disorders. Quick “fixes” are never wise. Some medications have chemicals that actually inhibit the growing brain from producing the necessary chemicals needed to make it stable. The brain is made ‘lazy’ because these chemicals are introduced by pill into the bloodstream for long periods of time, or worse, for a short period, only to be changed to a new medication which it has to again adjust to, all the while, creating a new disability in that it is getting ‘lazy’, in not needing to produce these same chemicals on its own. Then when someone looks to be removed from meds years later, the brain has basically atrophied in the areas of certain chemical production, and you find your now adult child truly does require medications, where it was supposed to just have helped them when they were little. Be careful. Be wise in selection.

"Who Killed The Electric Car?"

This documentary chronicles the life and mysterious death of the General Motors (GM) EV1, examining its cultural and economic ripple effects and how they reverberated through the halls of government and big business. It was among the fastest, most efficient production of cars ever built. It ran on electricity, produced no emissions and catapulted American technology to the forefront of the automotive industry. The lucky few who drove it never wanted to give it up. So why did GM crush its fleet of EV1 electric vehicles in the Arizona desert? Was it murder? Or was it natural selection simply weeding out a weakling unable to compete in our consumer world? Or was the electric car just ahead of its time?

The year is 1990. California is in a pollution crisis as smog threatens public health. Desperate for a solution, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) targets the source of its problem: Auto exhaust. Inspired by an announcement from GM about an electric vehicle prototype, the Zero Emissions Mandate (ZEV) is born. It required 2% of new vehicles sold in California to be emission-free by 1998, 10% by 2003 and it was the most radical smog-fighting mandate since the catalytic converter.

With a jump on the competition, thanks to its speed-record-breaking electric concept car, GM launched its EV1 electric vehicle in 1996. It was a revolutionary modern car, requiring no gas, no oil changes, no mufflers and rare brake maintenance (a billion-dollar industry unto itself). A typical maintenance checkup for the EV1 consisted of replenishing the windshield washer fluid and a tire rotation. But the fanfare surrounding the EV1's launch disappeared and the cars followed. Was it lack of consumer demand as carmakers claimed, or were other persuasive forces at work? Fast forward to 6 years later... The fleet is gone. EV charging stations dot the California landscape like tombstones, collecting dust and spider webs. How could this happen? Did anyone bother to examine the evidence? Yes, in fact, someone did, and it was murder. "I've never seen a company be so cannibalistic about its own product before," says actor Peter Horton ("thirtysomething"), the last Southern California driver to have his EV1 taken away in 2004. “Who Killed The Electric Car” is not just about the EV1, it's about how this allegory for failure reflected in today's oil prices and air quality can also be a shining symbol of society's potential to better itself and the world around it.

I liked this documentary because it investigated many different sides of the “Who’s to blame for the demise of the electric car?” question. They didn’t place the blame solely on the car industry, or the oil industry, or unwieldy government regulations; there were many different factors that played a role. They interviewed not only the environmentalists and die-hard electric car lovers (including celebrities like Mel Gibson and Tom Hanks), but also car manufacturers, and people who tried to explain why the cars are no longer sold and why they never became popular in a big way. They also talked to a mechanic who used to work on electric cars. He lamented the fact that he now has to work on regular cars, which means his hands are dirty all the time. With electric cars, upkeep was a breeze. No oil or filters, no exhaust. Owners would bring their cars in every 5,000 miles for a tune-up, and he would basically rotate the tires and add window washer fluid.

Sounds good to me. I’d buy one.