If this case got solved..............

[Jayelles]

I've had 3 in my 10 years of teaching that I know of as well as one of my cousins. Since there is such a broad spectrum, the number could have been higher, with higher functioning autistic children in the earlier part of my career that I didn't recognize as autistic, but I might have known something was a little off. If I could go back and analyze them now with what I know, the number could have been higher. I would say one out of a class of 25 each year is a little high. It might be your area. What area are you referring to? a part of Maryland? I wonder if maybe it's a geographical thing. Thanks for the links to the info on autism. My experiences have been in Calif, Mich, and NY.
I believe it has a lot to do with vaccinations, but I've also read about the mercury in fish that women eat and I'm wondering if it affects more parts of the country than others, with fish being from all different parts of different oceans, lakes, etc.

I believe it's more complex and that there are some sociological factors too. I believe that:-

1. The autism spectrum has broadened considerably
2. There has been a growing need to fit children into categories/labelling them
3. A softer approach to discipline

I have taught numerous pupils with Aspergers syndrome. Years ago, these boys would just have been thought of as "a bit shy" or "slightly odd".

More recently, I had three of them whom I taught concurrently but in different classes. One of these boys was completely normal in every way - all of the teaching staff were completely baffled as to why he would be diagnosed as having Aspergers!

One of the boys would definitely be described by many as being no more than a spoiled brat. He used to have tantrums if he didn't get his own way and would literally lash out/scream/lie down and kick his heels. He was delightful otherwise - didn't like noise and liked routine. Now that he is 17/18 years old, he is a perfectly normal young man and although he still displays anger if he doesn't get his own way, this is more likely to manifest itself in him stomping off in a huff rather than lying down and kicking his heels.

The third boy is more clearly Aspergers. He has obsessions (absolutely harmless obsessions), doesn't like noise or a break from his routine, but he didn't have tantrums. Instead he would become very anxious and might withdraw - perhaps seek out some quiet, lonely place where he could be on his own. He also exhibited some of the Rainman talent for memorising lists of useless information!

So out of three who were diagnosed as having Aspergers, it seems very likely that onely one of these was genuinely Aspergers.

Interestingly, all three boys have professional, overbearing parents - which brings me to the sociological issue. I had a parents meeting last night and found it interesting that the parents of one boy who isn't very academic - just acknowledged that he is probably going to get a manual trade and that academia just isn't for him. The boy's father is a tradesman so their expectations fit their own background and experiences. Yet another set of parents - father is a professor - have a son who is not academic, yet they have a real problem acknowledging that they could produce a child who isn't academic like his Dad and he has every label under the sun - dyslexic, dyspraxic... I'm surprised they haven't gone down the Aspergers route. He's just a nice quiet boy who would rather be making something than reading a book IMO!

 

[Nuisanceposter]

Jay, my son sounds very much like the middle child you described, and he was given the Asperger's label.

He began school in Pre K, and did all right, but the then when he began all-day Kindergarten he began having trouble making through the day - usually he would claim to feel sick and want to come home. Then when he went to first grade, he had tantrums - acted very much like a completely spoiled child, growling, rocking in his chair (as he has done since he was able to as an infant), and if addressed and required to stop, he would go into yelling fits where he would throw things and knock items over.

I believe the school fed into his problem - which I saw as a breakdown in ability to make it through the school day as other children. He cannot handle anything outside of his established routine, and he becomes overstimulated from sights and sounds around him, which kicks him into these outbursts. As soon as he began acting upset, they would come and take him away, and he quickly realized the answer to his "fight or flight" situation was to fight to get to the flight. There were many days where the principal actually told me not to even send him into school.

They told me he was emotionally disturbed, and needed to be on medication, despite the fact that he did not behave the same outside of class as he did in it. He simply can't attend normal classes as other children do, and "open air" set up of the school did not help him at all (the walls do not go the ceiling, and the classrooms have no doors. Frequently one classroom backs up to others and you can hear what's going on in the other room at all times. Just put a kid with ADHD in that situation and watch him fail!) It finally got to ther point where the principal of the school told me my son was no longer wlecome in her school as she could not figure out how to teach him. He was on Home Teacher for the last three months of last year and earned the highest marks.

Now he's in another school in the special education classroom and is doing very well, with a class or six other children and three teachers...which is exactly what I told the old school he needed. I knew as soon as this stuff started happening last year that he couldn't handle the classroom. I also took him off of the medication (Adderall, which seriously upset his stomach) and he is doing fine without it.

Note: I'm also really interested in the Darlie Routier case.

 

[Floh]

If JonBenet's murder is ever solved,I would most certainly go back to the prior posts in this forum,just to see how close we were,or how far.

A few years back,I was following three cases at the same time .... I knew I had to stop for awhile,when I found myself running to the window,and checking my watch for the precise time,whenever I heard a strange noise outside,just in case it was something sinister happening,and the authorities just may need my all important information,(what did I hear), and time,(when exactly did I hear it?) to help solve the crime! Yep .... I knew then,that I had to step away for awhile!

Since i started reading these forums i do exactly the same thing: check the time when i hear anything out of the ordinary in case my evidence is ever needed -- i've even formulated what to say in German while there are many more areas i need to improve upon with that particular language! :slap:

i pnly have a passing interest in the Ramsay case. i originally came to see to it Michael Jackson got his and after that debacle i stayed.

i follow the Joseph Edward Duncan III case and now i'm hooked into the Entwistle case -- probably because, with the Entwistle case, he is a Briton and made it internationally of interest by doing the bunk to Britain after the murders. and now i find it quite fascinating.

both the Joseph Edward Duncan III and the Entwistle cases appal me also, with the tragedy they involve to the victims and their families.

 

[sissi]

Yes, I believe our area has an unusually high rate of autism... quote..
"The CDC report strongly supports the mounting evidence that the whole nation is experiencing an autism epidemic, first documented in a 1999 report by the California Department of Developmental Services (www.dds.ca.gov), which found that there was a 273 percent increase between 1987 and 1998 in the numbers of new children entering the California developmental services system with a professional diagnosis of autism. Since then, Maryland has reported a 513 percent increase in autism between 1993 and 1998 and several dozen other states have reported 300 percent of more increases in the numbers of autistic children served under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).

This seems to be a relatively new phenomenon here, Ellen and Jayelles, as these younger teachers teach grades kindergarten through three, perhaps they are ushering in the first cases in this epidemic.

I have two friends with autistic children that are placed in care homes, these two boys are profoundly autistic. I have one grandchild with aspergers, a profoundly autistic nephew on my side, and another on hubby's side of the family , add to these disabled children, an array of add, capd, speech difficulties, etc. within the family. I HAVE NEVER seen so many damaged children in my life!! These beautiful boys had something taken away and it's too sad.
edit capd =central auditory processing disorder

 

[Floh]

A documentary which may interest some:

The autism puzzle

Forty years ago autism was a highly obscure disorder which was thought to affect only four to five children in every 10,000, but now some British teachers are claiming to see it in one in every 86 children. What's happened? Is there an epidemic of autism, and what's causing it? Is there any connection to *MMR? Or is it that awareness has grown and the definition of autism changed over the 60 years since the term was first coined?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/documentaries/features/autism.shtml


(*MMR: measels, mumps, rubella vaccine.)

 

[Jayelles]

I am in no way denying the existence of autism or Aspergers - but I do question the prevalence of these conditions - as I question the prevalence of dyslexia. The experts present Aspergers to us as a "spectrum" and quite frankly - many of us could place ourselves on the Asperger's spectrum! How many of us dislike noise and like routine for example?

Labelling children can be useful but only if the labels are genuine.

 

[sissi]

There is something very wrong , the stats prove it out. Whether we toss a few aspergers into the numbers, or label a "child", we have to face that almost ONE IN FIVE children in this country is living with a severe disability, autism represents a portion. What are we doing wrong?




Prevalence of Four Developmental Disabilities Among Children Aged 8 Years --- Metropolitan Atlanta Developmental Disabilities Surveillance Program, 1996 and 2000

Please note: An erratum has been published for this article. To view the erratum, please click here.

Tanya Karapurkar Bhasin, MPH1
Sally Brocksen, MSW1
Rachel Nonkin Avchen, PhD1
Kim Van Naarden Braun, PhD2
1Division of Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities
National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities, CDC
2Centers for Public Health Research and Evaluation, Battelle Memorial Institute, Atlanta, Georgia

Corresponding author: Tanya Karapurkar Bhasin, MPH, Division of Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities, National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities, CDC, 1600 Clifton Rd., NE, MS E-86, Atlanta, GA 30333. Telephone: 404-498-3875; Fax: 404-498-3550; E-mail: tfk2@cdc.gov.

Abstract

Problem/Condition: In the United States, developmental disabilities affect approximately 17% of children aged <18 years, resulting in substantial financial and social costs.

Reporting Period: 1996 and 2000

 

[Toltec]

I pray that this case goes to trial because the Ramsey's belong in prison....one for murder (Patsy)....and one for obstruction of justice (John).

I do not know why law enforcement is delaying untying the knots on the cord. Other than JonBenet's tangled hair being on the cord....I believe Patsy's clothes fibers are entwined also.

Furthermore...DNA should be checked out on the cord because the person who strangled JonBenet with the cord could have deposited some. I doubt they wore a glove because of the way the cord was tied.

 

[Biz]

Floh-
I didn't know that about the Amish and autism. It makes sense to me. A neighbor's child has a mild case of autism and they believe is thought to be from his vacination.
Another friend I know has a 40 year old who was a perfect baby until he was vacinated. Then he began having seizures and learning became a very slow process. He also developed MS. She didn't put it together until years later. All of her hospital records had been destroyed.

 

[sandraladeda]

Not to be a witch, but....hey folks, on the topic of autism, can you start another thread about that? It get's confusing when reading a thread about the JBR case "If this case got solved.....", then read a dozen or more posts about a completely unrelated topic, that is, autism.

By the way, did anyone catch the Canadian men winning the gold in men's curling? :innocent:

 

[sissi]

Not to be "picky" but that is what the thread is about, "if the Jonbenet case gets solved .....what new topic?" I do believe , since this "epidemic" seems to touch every family that it is another interesting and tragic "mystery" that NEEDS to be solved.

 

[narlacat]

Not to be a witch, but....hey folks, on the topic of autism, can you start another thread about that? It get's confusing when reading a thread about the JBR case "If this case got solved.....", then read a dozen or more posts about a completely unrelated topic, that is, autism.

By the way, did anyone catch the Canadian men winning the gold in men's curling? :innocent:

No I didn't Sandra, we got a bronze in something though lol, some sort of skiing, I havent been watching ,but a couple of my mates have.
Good for you Canada!!

I dont know much about autism, I have never met a child here with it, but that doesnt mean it doesn't happen here. I have heard of a couple of kiddies that may have it, but don't know any personally.

 

[aussiesheila]

By the way, did anyone catch the Canadian men winning the gold in men's curling? :innocent:

No, I didn't. Is that anything to do with skiing? I love watching the Australians go crashing into the side fences.

 

[ellen13]

Okay folks, it's official, I'm kind of interested in the Holloway case now, so you might find me over there. Is anyone else on this thread over there as well?

Ellen

 

[narlacat]

No, I didn't. Is that anything to do with skiing? I love watching the Australians go crashing into the side fences.

Huh??
Me thinks you are not even Aussie.....
Thanks for implying we are hopeless Aussie, way to be patriotic!

 

[narlacat]

Okay folks, it's official, I'm kind of interested in the Holloway case now, so you might find me over there. Is anyone else on this thread over there as well?

Ellen

Ellen, I don't follow the Holloway case, no.
Is that the girl that went missing in Aruba??

 

[ellen13]

Ellen, I don't follow the Holloway case, no.
Is that the girl that went missing in Aruba??

Yes! I just got into it-saw one of the suspects interviewed on TV this week-he reminded me so much of SP (you know I was there before I came to JBR) that I got interested in that case. I've kind of been following it for a couple of days now. Even got my hubby interested in the Holloway case, so at least he'll talk to me about that one-LOL!!

 

[PalmettoSprings]

Okay folks, it's official, I'm kind of interested in the Holloway case now, so you might find me over there. Is anyone else on this thread over there as well?

Ellen

Hi Ellen,

This is my first post with JB. This has to be the best and classiest forum on the web. I find it to be so respectful. :blowkiss:

To answer your question I have been following the Natalie case since day one.

After following SP, I started following JB. In the past I would not read anything about JB because it was too grievous and depressing. It is still heavy, but I suppose I got stronger after learning about SP & MH.

 

[ellen13]

Hi Ellen,

This is my first post with JB. This has to be the best and classiest forum on the web. I find it to be so respectful. :blowkiss:

To answer your question I have been following the Natalie case since day one.

After following SP, I started following JB. In the past I would not read anything about JB because it was too grievous and depressing. It is still heavy, but I suppose I got stronger after learning about SP & MH.

Palmetto Springs,
It's nice to have you over here. It will get easier to deal with in time, in terms of the emotional impact it will have on you. Once you get past the fact that it was a 6 year old girl, you really start getting into the clues.
Welcome!
Ellen

 

[michelle]

Not to be "picky" but that is what the thread is about, "if the Jonbenet case gets solved .....what new topic?" I do believe , since this "epidemic" seems to touch every family that it is another interesting and tragic "mystery" that NEEDS to be solved.

Sissi, I think what she was referring to was that there is much talk about autism on this thread and it is titled "If this case got solved" and its in the JB forum, Not to take anything away from autism and the need to find out the causes and how to stop it, or at least to try....But it gets confusing when you go on a thread to talk about one topic and there is talk about another topic.....Nothing personal, it happens on a lot of threads....