What Are Some Other Responses From Children On The Autistic Spectrum Through This Type Of Interaction
The Polyvagal Theory states that the myelinated portion of the vagus nerve the social portiongoes to five key body components: the eyes, ears, face, heart, and lungs. One of the main characteristics of children on the autistic spectrum is poor eye gaze, and we regularly see this change under chiropractic care.
The second key component the vagus nerve connects to are the ears. A lot of special-needs children tend to cover their ears because of their sensitivity to noise or difficulty understanding what someone is saying.
The vagus also connects to the face, as evidenced by the many children who come to our office that have a flat or reduced affect with no smile. After the adjustment, there is a tendency for them to smile, which may be due to its affecting the facial and trigeminal nerves. Lastly, the vagus connects to the heart and lungs, which a lot of special needs children have reportedly had a difficult time regulating.
Is It The Same Autism Or Adhd As An Adult After A Brain Frame
When we see kids with symptoms of autism or ADHD, or adults after a stroke, there may be a possibility of neuroplasticity. Certainly, the younger a child is the more adaptable, because her potential for change is so high.
We see kids in their teens with autism, and their pattern is more embedded in their system, making it much slower for change to occur. But its totally wrong to say that it wont, or it cant. According to these theories, it suggests that it may take more time to rewire the brain.
Theres a fundamental maxim in neurology, contributed by Canadian psychiatrist Donald Hebb, F.R.S., in 1949, that states: Nerves that fire together, wire together. This appears to be true in either direction.
You fire the right things, breaking old patterns, and you can create a new brain with new patterns. Therefore, it should work in the opposite direction. Like the old saying goes, If you keep on doing what you are doing, youll keep on getting what you are getting. So if you keep wiring the old patterns, youll keep reinforcing those same old patterns. Want something different? Youve got to do something different! Chiropractic care may be that something.
Autism Neuroplasticity And Polyvagal Theory What Does It Mean
Dr. Drew Rubin explains his experience and his point of view with autism, neuroplasticity and polyvagal theory.
When I was in college, we learned that the autonomic nervous system had two parts: the sympathetic and parasympathetic. We were taught that the ANS was a balance between the sympathetic and parasympathetic systems, where one was on and the other was off. As I began to specialize in pediatrics and deal with an increasing number of neurobehaviorally challenged children. I realized something was missing in the explanation of what was going on for these kids.
I was first introduced to the Polyvagal Theory several years ago at the Freedom for Family Wellness Summit in Washington, D.C. The theory, authored by Stephen Porges, Ph.D., adds so much into the loop of what we were taught about the autonomic nervous system.
Dr. Porges, in his extensive research with anatomy and psychology, found that there was a third controlling mechanism to the autonomic nervous system.
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Who Resolution On Autism Spectrum Disorders
In May 2014, the Sixty-seventh World Health Assembly adopted a resolution entitled “Comprehensive and coordinated efforts for the management of autism spectrum disorders ,” which was supported by more than 60 countries.
The resolution urges WHO to collaborate with Member States and partner agencies to strengthen national capacities to address ASD and other developmental disabilities.
Why Are Autism Rates Steadily Rising
Stefania Sterling with her son Charlie, who was diagnosed at age 3 with autism.
Stefania Sterling was just 21 when she had her son, Charlie. She was young and healthy, with no genetic issues apparent in either her or her husband’s family, so she expected Charlie to be typical.
“It is surprising that the prevalence of a significant disorder like autism has risen so consistently over a relatively brief period.”
It wasn’t until she went to a Mommy and Me music class when he was one, and she saw all the other one-year-olds walking, that she realized how different her son was. He could barely crawl, didn’t speak, and made no eye contact. By the time he was three, he was diagnosed as being on the lower functioning end of the autism spectrum.
She isn’t sure why it happened and researchers, too, are still trying to understand the basis of the complex condition. Studies suggest that genes can act together with influences from the environment to affect development in ways that lead to Autism Spectrum Disorder . But rates of ASD are rising dramatically, making the need to figure out why it’s happening all the more urgent.
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“It is surprising that the prevalence of a significant disorder like autism has risen so consistently over a relatively brief period,” said Walter Zahorodny, an associate professor of pediatrics at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, who was involved in collecting the data.
Searching for Answers
A Polarizing Theory
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Is Autism On The Rise Worldwide
Yes is the short answer.
Its worth noting that researchers havent been tracking autism for decades. In fact, serious tracking didnt start until 2000.
Its also worth noting that unlike many other conditions, there isnt a blood test or scan that can detect autism. So we are relying 100% on doctors and researchers to objectively agree on criteria and diagnose in a consistent manner.
That is to say, its probably not very consistent compared to tracking of other diseases and conditions.
That being said, its undeniable that autism IS on the rise. The World Health Organization puts the autism rates by country at 1 in 160. The CDC has noted a 15% increase in autism spectrum disorder diagnosis over the past 2 years and a whopping 181% increase from 2004 to 2018.
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How Autism Spectrum Disorder Prevalence Is Estimated
As understanding of ASD has changed, so have the methods for diagnosing the disorder and estimating its prevalence in the general population.
It is critical to understand that any numbers measuring autism prevalence in the U.S. are estimates scientists use a statistical method to extrapolate a subset of data to the country as a whole. Research methods for estimating autism prevalence across the country are much more accurate than they were in the ’60s, as well as more broad, so they gloss over fewer cases in the general population.
In 2000, the CDC established the Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring Network to estimate prevalence of autism. It detailed its method in a 2016 study on autism prevalence. Every two years, these researchers scan a representative sample of the school records of 8-year-old children for signs of autism, then extrapolate that number to estimate the number in the general population.
The influence of awareness and resources for ASD on prevalence estimates is clear: without schools screening children and keeping detailed records, and without parents inquiring about their childrens ASD status to doctors, less children are diagnosed. This applies to distinct periods of time as well as to distinct geographical areas.
Why Is Autism Increasing So Much
Youve probably seen the Autism Speaks ads: Every two seconds a child is diagnosed with autism. As I write this today, the CDC has determined that 1 in a 54 people or 2% of males has an autism spectrum disorder !1Ever since Bob Wright, former president of NBC, became the grandfather of a child with autism and created Autism Speaks, awareness of and research on the condition has skyrocketed. Given this prevalence, you probably know someone who has a child with an ASD.
Welcome to my world. I am a developmental and behavioral pediatrician who has specialized, over the last 30 years, in caring for, diagnosing, and helping literally thousands of children and adolescents with ASD.
Over this time, my patients and their families have taught me so much about what it means to both struggle and grow and accept what cant be changed. I have learned to see through the eyes of the differently abled and their families. I have been witness to the miraculous potential within many of these children and adolescents who become fully functional and even indistinguishable from their peers . Recent research has found that the child with autism who receives intensive early intervention can outgrow their diagnosis.2 In my practice, I have many children who, over time, no longer met the official criteria for an autism spectrum disorder.
with lilacs. The last descendant.
J Child Psychol Psychiatry.JAMA Psychiatry.
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We Are Raising Awareness
Its important to realize that autism is simply more known about these days. Some of the education has been great! With the internet, we now have the opportunity to do research and find voices from autistic adults and other disability advocates who are reaching out to educate.
Some of it has been bad, see my post on Autism Speaks here. We also still have so far to go. We had to fight for A-Man to get a therapy evaluation because our pediatrician believed all of his behaviors were caused by bad parenting.
We still have people telling us that everyone is autistic now at the grocery store. We have some people believing that being autistic just means that youre quirky or weird because thats what theyve seen portrayed on their favorite tv shows, and other people believe that the only people who are really autistic are non-verbal and flapping their arms all the time because thats what theyve seen it portrayed as.
Either way, I would be willing to bet that 90% of people know about autism in some way, so they have the ability to learn more and potentially get diagnoses for themselves and their children. Its really hard to fight for a diagnosis when you dont know the diagnosis exists.
Why Many Police Traffic Stops Turn Deadly
Officers, trained to presume danger, have reacted with outsize aggression. For hundreds of unarmed drivers, the consequences have been fatal.
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By David D. Kirkpatrick, Steve Eder, Kim Barker and Julie Tate
Open the door now, you are going to get shot! an officer in Rock Falls, Ill., shouted at Nathaniel Edwards after a car chase.
Hands out the window now or you will be shot! yelled a patrolman in Bakersfield, Calif., as wrestled with inflated airbags after a pursuit ended in a crash.
I am going to shoot you what part of that dont you understand? threatened an officer in Little Rock, Ark., adding a profanity, as she tried to pry James Hartsfield from his car.
The police officers who issued those warnings had stopped the motorists for common offenses: swerving across double yellow lines, speeding recklessly, carrying an open beer bottle. None of the men were armed. Yet within moments of pulling them over, officers fatally shot all three.
The deaths are among a series of seemingly avoidable killings across the United States. Over the past five years, a New York Times investigation found, police officers have killed more than 400 drivers or passengers who were not wielding a gun or a knife, or under pursuit for a violent crime a rate of more than one a week.
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It Wasnt Called Autism Before
Autistic children and adults were often not labeled autistic until recently. The term autism was often tied to schizophrenia in research, so many, many people went undiagnosed. Even more people, however, were misdiagnosed.
Often autistic people would be diagnosed as challengedlanguage impaired or mentally retarded .
With modern diagnostic criteria, many people who received those diagnoses would fall within the autism spectrum if diagnosed today. In fact, the diagnostic criteria is still changing to attempt to become more accurate.
For example, many children who were originally diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome are finding that their diagnosis doesnt even exist anymore, now its all under the ASD umbrella. A lot more kids are diagnosed autistic now that we know what autism actually is.
Why So Many People With Autism Have Eating Disorders
Of course, all parents of late-talking children should be sure to have their child screened for autismand all other clinical conditions associated with late talking: speech disorder, language disorder, hearing loss and intellectual disability while also bearing in mind that many late-talking children do not have any disability whatsoever. But never forego assessment simply because the odds are favorable that a late-talking child does not have autism.
But, also be prepared for an even more dramatic increase in the next round of autism data and a HUGE increase in the reported incidence in 2020and beyondbecause the latest 2018 data do not include children who were screened in 2010 at age 2 when the new guidelines for screening 2-year-olds were initiated. That is, national data are for autism in 8-year-olds, but are not reported until four years after a birth cohort turns eight. This years increase is based on children who turned eight in 2014 and were thus born in 2006. The 2020 data will be for children born in 2008, and then screened as 2-year-olds in 2010. They will turn eight in 2016and be reported in the national data in 2020.
References
Autism Spectrum Disorder. Data and Statistics. . Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. accessed 4.29.2018.
Godlee, F., Smith, J., Marcovitch, H. Wakefields article linking MMR vaccine and autism was fraudulent. BMJ. 2011 342: c7452. Accessed 01/25/2018.
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Other Factors In The Increase In Autism Prevalence
There are other reasons why changes in practices around autism make it hard to compare autism diagnosis rates over time.
Writing for Scientific American, Jessica Wright, PhD, a genetics specialist at the research partnership Spark for Autism, stated clinicians tend to diagnose children on the borderline of the clinical criteria with autism because it now qualifies those children for special resources in school, where it did not in the ’60s.
In addition, a CDC study found that many African American and Hispanic children have historically had less early access to diagnostic services that would recognize and record the signs of autism, but more screening in schools has increased prevalence rates among those populations.
In the past two decades, the proportion of the child population the CDC has identified with ASD has increased 176%, from 6.7 cases per 1,000 in 2000 to 18.5 per 1,000 in 2016.
Finally, certain biological factors increase the chance that a child will develop autism. These include a child having older parents, in particular an older father, and a child being born prematurely. As modern health and medicine have enabled more premature babies to survive and parents of a greater age to have children, Scientific American estimates that these factors account for part of the rise in autism rates over time.
Before The Final Frame: When Police Missteps Create Danger
In dashboard- and body-camera footage, officers could be seen shooting at cars driving away, or threatening deadly force in their first words to motorists, or surrounding sleeping drivers with a ring of gun barrels then shooting them when, startled awake, they tried to take off. More than three-quarters of the unarmed motorists were killed while attempting to flee.
We have got to take him out, an Oklahoma state trooper declared over the radio in 2019 to patrolmen chasing a man in McAlester suspected of shoplifting a bottle of vodka. The officers used their cars to forcehis S.U.V. from the road,opened a door as it rolled slowly past and shot from both sides, killing the driver, dashcam footage shows.
A Tennessee sheriff ordered his deputies to fire at a motorist with a suspended license in 2017: Dont ram him, shoot him! he later recounted saying, according to a body-camera recording. Knocking the man off the highway might tear my cars up!
Some families of the drivers said that their relatives were not blameless.I dont have my head buried in the sand, said Deborah Lilly, whose 29-year-old son, Tyler Hays, had drugs in his car and tried to run away when he was pulled over for tinted windows last year by a sheriffs deputy in Hamilton County, Tenn. I am just saying he did not deserve to get shot in the back.
The overemphasis on danger has fostered tolerance for police misconduct at vehicle stops, some argue.
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