Diagnosis: Autism

Latest Weapons Are Early Detection And Treatment

(CBS)  When psychologist Sally Ozonoff, vice chairman of research at the M.I.N.D. Institute, started the study three years ago, she was hoping to drastically lower the age of diagnosis.

She says she is aiming for a diagnosis age of 12 months. Ozonoff is tracking 200 babies from birth, like Gabe, a normal 12-month-old, being tested for his reactions to a new toy.

"He's very interested in it. And he communicates that to her with that great look, big eyebrows raising, smile. And then he asks for it without language—he’s 'Ah, I want that,'" Ozonoff observes.

This behavior, Ozonoff says, is typical of a healthy one-year-old.

But when a boy named Jacob is shown the same toy, he stares at it in silence, never reaching for it, never looking up at the examiner.

"There's no communication at all with the woman," Stahl remarks.

"That’s right. It's as if she isn't there. Like she’s an object-handing machine," Ozonoff says.

Jacob was later diagnosed with autism.

Ozonoff also uses high tech methods, like eye tracking. A normal baby looks right in mom’s eyes when she talks to him. But children who are autistic avoid eye contact, looking more at the mouth.

Like most autism researchers, Ozonoff believes children are born with the disorder. She went into her study convinced she would spot the symptoms as early as six months.

But so far, researchers have not been able to see the symptoms at such an early age.

Diagnosing one year olds has proved just as perplexing. Repetitive behavior, like the way Jacob plays with a lid for example, looks like a clear symptom.

"All he's doing is the picking up and watching it wobble, over and over again," Ozonoff observes.

But Ozonoff has found that not all one year olds who do this end up with autism. Her "most reliable" test so far is surprisingly simple.

"Starting about six months maybe even a bit earlier, if you say a child's name, they quickly turn and look at you. And you’ll see this with Gabe," Ozonoff explains. "Say his name, his head whips around…makes eye contact and smiles."

When the same experiment was done with Jacob, the result was different.

"The experimenter's gonna walk behind him. Call his name three times at normal volume," Ozonoff explains.

Jacob didn't respond to his name.

But even with this test, only half the children who fail it end up having autism. Haydn was six months old when he was first evaluated and, to Valerie's relief, he tested on par with children his age.

On one of her visits last year, Ozonoff gave Valerie a copy of her book on Asperger’s syndrome, a high-functioning form of autism.

"So I was reading this book. And through the whole book I just cried because I felt like I was reading this book about Michael," Valerie remembers.

Michael is her nine-year-old. Through years of speech and occupational therapy, no one had ever suggested that his problems, including his struggle to make and keep friends, could be Asperger's, until Valerie began asking questions.

"So now you're basically told you have two sons with autism," Stahl remarks.

Valerie admits she was reeling. "I was. You feel like you should, you should have pulled your genes out of the gene pool a little sooner you know, at that point," she says.

And there was still the question of Haydn: his 12-month visit a half-year later was distressing. He wasn’t smiling anymore and he seemed to be regressing into his own world. And then, he stopped responding to his name.

"I knew my son wasn’t hearing me. Everyone around me was saying, 'Oh, he’s just stubborn. He doesn’t want to listen to you.' But I knew that wasn’t it," Valerie recalls. She says she knew it wasn't a hearing issue.

Despite Haydn's symptoms, Ozonoff felt it was still too early to tell.

"I would hate to cause the pain…and anguish of having another child diagnosed on the spectrum and then be completely wrong," she explains.

[alimark98]

I, too, was angered when Lesley Stahl referred to a child without autism, as "healthy", inferring that my son with autism was not. My son is perfectly healthy; he just happens to have a dx of autism. Because of the early intervention we have received, he is doing great. Ms. Stahl and the writers ought to watch how they refer to these children and maybe lessen the 'shock drama'. Autism is a spectrum and there are many manifestations of the dx. The public needs to be aware of that.

Alison
Los Angeles, CA

[fluorisnuffd]

Water treatment involves some chemicals, but it need not ever admit a pinch of spite which places everyone's families and children at intollerable risk. In WWII, fluorine chemistry was experimented with at Los Alamos, in the same human experiements performed there that fed or injected plutonium. It was later exposed during the Clinton Administration. Fluoridation's history is tied to the German manufacturer of zyclon-B used during the holocaust to exterminate millions of Jews. We don't have to put up with it or drink it. And we will not stand by while it injures our neighbors and countrymen. Commercial marketers are and will be held to the conducts and standards of this society clearly delineated in all the laws--the victims are not informed, and they cannot consent to be injured through the commission of any crime.

[fluorisnuffd]

The "treatment" is Prevention, and our full public Intervention, holding elected representatives to account for their sophist meddling in the public's lives over a harebrained notion to prevent cavities through the passive ingestion of tap water--and with no mention of the only effective, conscientious standard and practice of brushing, without consuming the well catalogued toxin fluoride and those compounds in any reference on Toxicology.

[raechyl-2009]

As an Aspergerite, what disturbs me about the report on Autism is that the studies seem to be conducted by "Others" - those without personal knowledge of how these children process information. I've read all the previous comments and watched the show and I know why these things are happening. I know why the lid requires attention, why the child doesn't respond to his name, why there are tantrums (although I have never had a tantrum or screamed or even cried out loud - although I often imagine myself charging headfirst into walls), why children wake up angry, why some music helps (not all), why a foreign language (esp. French) is calming, why we avoid staring a people but can stare endlessly at an object, and on and on. But I don't know the scientific reason why we rock...only that it helps in decision-making. Even when Jane Goodall studied chimpanzees, she learned some by observing, better understood when she lived with them, but never fully understood because she was not one of them. I suggest you watch Rainman: If you identify with the women, you are a nurturer; identify with Tom Cruise and you are an Outsider; identify with Dustin Hoffman, you are one of us. We think differently; our brains use differnt connections. Conventional teaching is not always effective. If you want to communicate with your kids, find an AS person to interpret their thoughts. You can find us - we were the geeks and misfits in high school. And this may not be significant, but I crave sugar and hate chocolate.

[fluorisnuffd]

The "treatment" is the ascertaining of wrongful injury from reckless, willfull and remorseless negligence. We have an epidemic in a country with the highest attained standards for medicine and science...as well as criminal forensics detective procedures...the law is clear whatever the motive to perform or conceal terrorism by any gradual or seductive scheme to entrap its victims. Title 18, USCA, make it work for the victims and your country--fluoridation must be arrested and processed.
www.freewebs.com/writingindependence/main.htm

[bmyers12]

I am a parent of a 7 year old son who is recovering from autism. It has taken 20 years for Applied Behavioral Analysis to be completely accepted for the treatment of autism. Is it going to take another 20 years for biomedical treatments to be accepted? How long is it going take for autism to be recognized as a biological problem rather then a behavioral one? Will the numbers for autism have to be 1 in 10 before the media will talk in detail about environmental possibilities?

Psychologists tend to treat autism based on old theories. Please interview the parents of recovered children, and their journey on how they got there. I encourage you to learn more about what is known about the biological problems in autism from Defeat Autism Now, and give hope to the 1 in 150 families affected today.

[hammerzoo]

To those of you that don't have specialized schools in your area try an online school. I know social interaction is a must with autistic kids, but in order to get them the education they need without the hassles of busing, overcrowded classrooms, and administrators after the all mighty buck online is the way to go. Tell the district they are going to pay for it. They have to: All children have the right to an appropriate education for their needs. Hold up your IEP and say "do it". Or homeschool, either will allow your child to work at their pace and you can gear most work towards their interests. Odysseyware On The Web is the one I go through.

[s-petite]

My son, i'm My opinion got his Autism from the "Vacuum" that was attached to his head at birth when my contractions stopped. I never thought it could have been a result of Vaccines.

What I do know is that im totaly stumped as what to do to help make my son's life easier in the "Schooling" department.

After years of trying/fighting to do the "Right Thing" for/by him, i'm left mentally and emotionately drained and feeling as lost as I did on day I first started searching.

[holly0717]

I am a mother of a 6 yr old boy with autism, thank god he does very well but i think he is because of the earliy intervention he received. He did not babble or anything like "a normal baby would", but his Dr. Deanna Yen knew something was not right and referred me over to the Tennessee Earliy Intervention system which helped him get the theropy he needed. I personally do not think it is the vacnations if that was the case why don't more girls have autism, I think something happens in the pregnancy which causes the problem.

[fluorisnuffd]

That's cerebrum for cognitive impairment, cerebellum for motor-neural impairment that mercury has been linked to. (an editing button might help) I get so disgusted it rattles me. How can we live in a country like the U.S. and have this kind of thing going on, with the major news media lying to the public about it? Then this woman Valerie with her beautiful little boy, not a thing wrong with him, perfectly healthy, seems normal by appearances apart from behavioral subtleties--and Ozonoff's brainwashed her that she has defective genes or shouldn't have conceived. I think we know who shouldn't multiply.

[paddock1234]

I was disappointed with this segment. Our 4 year old son displays several autistic type behaviors, but we may never know whether he is truly autistic or not due to a congenital brain disorder that he has..Agenesis of the Corpus Callosum (diagnosed via MRI)- that his autistic behaviors could be attributed to.
1) "Normal" - please define "normal" when referring to children, autistic or not. Better wording would be "typically developing child"
2) "Healthy" - my son is very healthy. He has a brain abnormality. Don't assume that children with neurological issues are "sick", or not healthy.
3) Most importantly- the approach of getting down to the child's level and interacting and playing with them as much as possible is often the best type of therapy -however, it doesn't always work, even for children who are NOT severely affected. Your segment seemed to imply otherwise. Wow - what a miracle. Now everyone out there may think..."Why don't Johnny's parents just get down on the floor and play and interact with him more...then he'd be fine". If it only it were that simple. By the way, this (floor time) approach that seemed to be credited to the dr. in your segment actually belongs to Dr. Stanley Greenspan and has been around for many years.

Please,,,,Ms. Stahl,,,,tell us something we don't know and haven't tried.

Cyndi
Jackon, MI

[fluorisnuffd]

[but there's also no evidence of safety either.
Posted by KjMcMahon59 at 12:04 PM : Feb 20, 2007], let me tell you, you don't get vaccinations and you'll see other epidemics rise. You throw around this tagline "safety" in regard to the minute amounts in the few inoculations children will receive; when its motor-neurotoxicity has only been confirmed in dietary loading from industrial pollution. The cerebellum controls the motor neural coordination, located underneath and the posterior of the cerebellum where our cognitive impairments would register. What safety screening has ever been applied to the lunacy of fluoridation while poison control center warning information is provided on every tube of fluoide toothpaste..."pea sized amounts" dangerous for beginning brushers to swallow. What safety then in letting people drink it up all the time, whatever age--as in the ingestion of the well catalogued toxin?

[fluorisnuffd]

That's Bengstrom, of the Dept. of Genetics, Lund Universtiy.

[fluorisnuffd]

Slow kids, or challenged, developmentally delayed, cognitively delayed and behaviorally abnomal children have always been screened very easily from human intuition and expectations of normalcy, by parents, grandmothers, the schools and pediatricians, psychologists and neurologists--whatever name goes in vogue has never mattered to observation of symptoms, and the health professionals and National Academies know an epidemic when they see one. Goodman's a quack, Stahl hasn't applied any journalistic standards. Etiology is rapidly put aside in her first few minutes so she can go on safari with the behaviorists who "won't touch" the biological origins of autism--give us a break. Genetics is played up against all natural law understood about human genetics and population variance in time, Bergstrom , Lund University Sweden, HCoon, UofU.

[kjmcmahon59]

If it's true that the increase in the incidence of autism is, as these allegedly expert doctors state, "...because of something that happened in 1994, when the definition of autism was greatly widened", then where in the world are the 1 in 150 adults with autism??? The ratio of male:female is 4:1, so 1 in 150 means that more than 1% of the male population has autism. The fact is, the increased incidence is only true for the current generation of children. There is no "evidence of harm" from the use of mercury in vaccines; but there's also no evidence of safety either.

[edsp11]

My child - diagnosed as "severely autistic" at 2; there was no doubt. Since her 3 month vaccines life was: foul diarrhea 10 times/day, bloody weeping rash on her tush, screaming fits lasted hours many times a day, unable to sleep longer than an hour at a time/night terrors - required full body pressure and head banging for 2 hours or more just to get to sleep, no eye contact/joint attention, refusal to eat adequate nutrition, swollen belly/emaciated body, milk addicted - yes, jones-ing for it and banging her head if refused, no response to her name, petit mal seizures, 20 sounds/no real words, could not tolerate being held/ touched unexpectedly, didn't play with toys/people and left if a child came near, drooled massively, and would literally walk on the newborn baby.

Thanks to gluten-, casein-, soy-, artificial-, preservative-, chemical-free diet and water, digestive enzymes, probiotics, and nutritional supplementation she emerged from the shell of autism. Thanks to intensive (30+ hours/week) Applied Behavioral Analysis using Positive Behavioral Support and Verbal Behavior and a private school that welcomes her therapists (public schools told me educating her the same as her age-peers would be providing a "Cadillac whereas (they) are only required to provide a Kia."), she is virtually indistinguishable from her "typical" peers in health, play, academics, sleeping and eating.

7 and working hard learning how to learn from her environment, her future looks brighter each day.

[dcamlem]

THANK YOU LESLEY STAHL for asking the million dollar question:

ARE YOU SAYING YOU CAN CURE AUTISM?

As a parent of a child who has been "lumped" into this diagnosis, I am criticized on a constant basis by doctors, therapists, and even people on the street who saw a show and now think they are experts because my son is not in a "program" I am doing home therapy/schooling with him because he was not making any progress. No one was able to get my son to communicate. As an audiologist, I believed that my son, who has global apraxia and auditory processing disorder, would benefit from total communication (signing with speech), but every therapist disagreed. My son can communicate with over 200 signs, and orally say more that 30 words, and most importantly he is progressing every day.
Until there is a therapy that is shown in multiple studies to produce SIGNIFICANT improvement in MOST children with autism, therapy should be presented as what it is, a means of POSSIBLY improving communication and behavior It should not be recommended as a necessity for every child, no matter how severe, as a means of possibly overcoming autism.
Thank you again Lesley Stahl!!

[s-petite]

HELP!!!I am the mother of an Autistic 12 year old boy who I DESPERATELY need to get out of the Orange County Public School system here in Orlando Florida.I am so worn out mentally from fighting the schools that my son does NOT belong there and NEEDS to be in a "Special School" but of course they don't agree...meanwhile my son has been expelled numerous times, has been taken off a school bus by Uniformed Officers at the age of 9 , in Hand Cuffs. My son is NOT a "Bad Boy"...he does NOT have that connected wire in his brain to tell him right from wrong or just what "authority"
means. I have been trying for years with no luck to get him the Proper Schooling he needs to no avail. The schools Of Course dont want to lose a student (which equals $$$ to them) but i am scared beyond belief that my son will end up in Juvy due to them NOT accepting the fact he IS different...he's Autistic and he doesnt understand things the way you and I do!!!!
Someone, anyone, please help me to find a school
here in Orlando Florida, I have had no luck at all!It's so very hard, stressful and disheartning for a parent like myself to feel like there is no were to turn, no one to turn to, to help there child.I do so pray that someone reads this, can offer some help or even just words of incouagement that I so desperately could use.
A Desperate, Stressed, Worried, Loving Mother
SuzanneJ
[e-mail]

[fluorisnuffd]

[Valerie admits she was reeling. "I was. You feel like you should, you should have pulled your genes out of the gene pool a little sooner you know, at that point," she says.], did Ozonoff coach her client to parrot this remark? What is the basis of this non-expert's statement regarding her genes? The Associated Press contributed to the SLC Tribune story on page 1, 2-19-07, by Lisa Rosetta. In it autism gene researcher **** is taken out of context of contrary research from 2005: "..However, the studies with significant findings are almost equally divided between overtransmission of short and overtransmission of long alleles."--H. ****, "Autism and the serotonin transporter: the long and short of it", H.**** et al, Molecular Psychiatry (2005) 10, 1110%u20131116. doi:10.1038/sj.mp.4001724; published online 16 August 2005). These are distortions plying the media to coverup fluoridation's tolls of brainstem interruptive anoxic brain death in natural sleep paralysis.

[fluorisnuffd]

I can%u2019t watch 60 MINUTES anymore, and don%u2019t need its disinformation treatments handed like scripts to front-people to read. Then the newspapers not coincidentally have to manufacture an autism story to compete with the CDCs information (2/20/07, SLC Tribune, 1-A), using a researcher%u2019s comment on an inconclusive Neurexin gene identification at the UofU (****), coauthor to definitive familial studies that were conclusively negative on the linkage vis a vis heredity question; but failing to report the genealogically constrained results disagreeing with the story%u2019s strictly speculative slant. This campaign of distortion isn%u2019t going unnoticed, it is being documented. The media has no immunity from medical misrepresentation liability%u2014no %u2018fair comment%u2019 willfully endangering or posing a risk to the public. You better shake off your fleas, they%u2019re ruining your reputations and don%u2019t care. Stop letting them use you to posture fraudulent research or write your stories. In fact, why don%u2019t you can them and hire some people without conflict of interest? Change of management requested. You should air a retraction and an apology for your third rate attempt to disguise autism, it is propaganda of a malevolent and disallowable nature. Stop pretending you%u2019re telling us what we%u2019ll think, that went out with the internet.