THERE IS NO ASSOCIATION BETWEEN MMR and AUTISM !??

Newsweek Web Exclusive

Jan 16, 2009

Like many people in London oan that bleak February day in 1998, biochemist Nicholas Chadwick was eager to hear what the scientists would say…

The Royal Free Hospital, where he was a graduate student in the lab of gastroenterologist Andrew Wakefield, had called a press conference to unveil the results of a new study. The vaccine, Wakefield suggested, had damaged the intestine-in particular, the measles part had caused serious inflammation-allowing harmful proteins to leak from the gut into the bloodstream and from there to the brain, where they damaged neurons in a way that triggered autism.

Although in their paper the scientists noted that “we did not prove an association” between the MMR and autism, Wakefield was adamant. Eight decades later, here’s another one: a Googlesoftware program called SketchUp, which was intended largely for architects and design professionals, has found a very unexpected and welcome fan base-children with autism. SketchUp is not only entertaining kids with autism spectrum disorders, it’s providing them with skills that might one day help them as they age out of school and into the workforce.

It turns out that SketchUp, which was acquired by Google from a small Colorado-based startup in 2006, allows people with autism to express their ideas in a visual way-a welcome release for kids who have trouble communicating through speech or writing. What gives is that many people with autism excel at visual thinking. Studies show they perform exceptionally well on the Block Design Task, part of a standard IQ test, which assesses an individual’s ability to recreate a complicated red and white pattern using a set of red and white blocks.

Geraldine Dawson, chief scientific officer for Autism Speaks, a leading autism advocacy group, found that the parents of children with autism have superior spatial abilities on the Block test, too-a gift they may be passing on to their kids. Because children with autism have trouble communicating with people, they tend to spend their time interacting with objects. Amateur designers can draw straight or curved lines, then use a “Push/Pull” tool to pull flat shapes into 3-D objects. Users can find models that already exist-furniture, playgrounds, amusement parks-in the program’s 3-D warehouse to incorporate into their own designs. Google’s Wyman says he has seen kids with autism adapt to the program with little difficulty: “They picked it up at least as quickly as architects do.” The response was so positive that Google launched Project Spectrum,a partnership between SketchUp and educational outlets, including the Boulder Valley School District and the Boulder chapter of the ASA, to get the software into the hands of kids and teens with autism for free.

* * * * *

CHELATION THERAPY.

One of the most controversial treatment methods, a detoxification treatment called chelation therapy, has been gaining acceptance among some doctors and parents. Based on the theory that exposure to heavy metals, particularly the mercury preservative in some children’s vaccines, is behind some cases of autism, advocates claim chelation is an effective treatment.
“There is no question that chelation, taking the mercury out of the kids, is by far the most effective treatment available,” says psychologist Bernard Rimland of the Autism Research Institute in San Diego.
Others warn that it could harm the child.
“Chelation brings risks of its own,” says Dr. Eugene Arnold, a psychiatry professor at Ohio State University in Columbus. “A doctor shouldn’t do chelation therapy unless [body] tissue tests show high levels of mercury or lead.”
Combination treatment
Because it’s so difficult to match the child to a treatment, desperate parents often experiment with multiple therapies at the same time.
An estimated 30 percent of parents try alternative therapies like special diets, vitamin treatments or other non-traditional methods on their children, according to a 2004 study from The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Many parents also enroll their children in music and vision therapy or programs like horseback riding and yoga to help develop motor skills.
Unfortunately, doctors can’t yet predict which children will benefit from a particular program or whether a child will ever fit into a regular classroom. Even with treatment, about 25 percent of children never develop language skills, according to researchers. On the other hand, about 25 percent are able score in a normal range for their IQ and to function in public school.
Federal law requires public schools to provide special education classes for children with autism, although programs vary from state to state and some parents prefer private treatment, especially for their younger children. Yet because of a lack of scientific evidence supporting certain therapies, parents often find themselves battling health insurers for coverage or suing school systems to provide home-based instruction.
“Some parents hire a lawyer before they meet the preschool teacher,” says Mesibov.
© 2009 msnbc.com