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When it comes to the mystery of autism, we don\u2019t pretend, here, to be experts of any kind, on any level. There are many causes for it, it seems.<\/p>\n
Or are there?<\/p>\n
Is there some singular factor or event that has caused such an apparent upsurge in it?<\/p>\n
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Such is the instability of science that there is even argument (as there is about everything else) about whether there really has been quite so dramatic an increase or whether it is now simply being diagnosed under that nomenclature (in the same way that so many suddenly now are diagnosed with high blood pressure, which once was defined as over 140 \u2014 now is over 130 \u2014 and atrial fibrillation, once known more simply as irregular heartbeat).<\/p>\n
Once again, we rely on what the eyes see,\u00a0what the ears hear, and in our modern time, in this time when we swim in a chemical soup, when we bathe in all kinds of electrical radiation (when our bodies are probed with CAT-scans, when we breathe and imbibe and digest synthetics), what we see and hear are too many young with autism and \u201cattention-deficit syndrome.\u201d<\/p>\n
Is it one in 36 now, as one graph claims (with autism) or one in 45 (as the Centers for Disease Control calculates)?<\/p>\n
Is it mainly environmental, or genetic (it can run in families)?<\/p>\n
Caused by viruses during pregnancy?<\/p>\n
Whichever, there is a lot of it \u2014 basically, just about one case for every two classrooms.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know that there is not one autism\u00a0but many subtypes, most influenced by a combination of genetic and environmental factors,\u201d\u00a0says a site<\/a>\u00a0dedicated to the disorder. \u201cBecause autism is a spectrum disorder, each person with autism has a distinct set of strengths and challenges. The ways in which people with autism learn, think and problem-solve can range from highly skilled to severely challenged.\u201d<\/p>\n Adds WebMD: \u201cPeople with\u00a0autism<\/a>\u00a0have trouble with communication. They have trouble understanding what other people think and feel. This makes it hard for them to express themselves, either with words or through gestures, facial expressions, and touch.\u201d<\/p>\n A possibly dirty little secret: vaccinations. Up until a few years ago, mercury \u2014 a toxic metal that can beyond question impair the brain \u2014 was used in certain vaccinations as an adjutant, enhancing the vaccine\u2019s effects. There is little question that vaccines save and have saved many lives. There is also little question that medical science is not entirely certain of the side effects. As a society, we are grossly over-medicated (choosing to cover over illnesses with medicines instead of getting to the root cause, such as poor diet, stress, or obesity).<\/p>\n And if vaccines are like most synthetic medications (note those pharmaceutical commercials all over television), side effects there\u00a0are<\/em>, some potentially damaging.<\/p>\n But let\u2019s stay here on autism:\u00a0The CDC maintains that \u201cno links have been found between any vaccine ingredients and autism. One vaccine ingredient that has been studied specifically is\u00a0thimerosal<\/a>, a mercury-based preservative used to prevent contamination of multidose vials of vaccines. Research shows that thimerosal does not cause [autism].\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cU.S. public health officials and physicians have been combating misconceptions about vaccine safety for over twenty years,\u201d says an organization called\u00a0Public Health<\/a>. \u201cThey\u2019ve had mixed success. Despite the fact that numerous studies have found no evidence to support the notion that vaccines cause autism and other chronic illnesses,\u00a0a growing number\u00a0of parents are refusing to vaccinate their children.<\/p>\n \u201cResearchers now link\u00a0falling immunization rates to recent resurgences of vaccine-preventable diseases. In 2010, California saw 9,120 cases of whooping cough, more than any year since the whooping cough vaccine was introduced in the 1940s. Ten infants too young to be vaccinated died of whooping cough during the outbreak.\u00a0The CDC warns\u00a0that events like these will become more frequent and harder to control if vaccination rates continue to fall.<\/p>\n Others disagree\u00a0\u2014 quite vociferously. Many vaccines given very young children \u2014 babies \u2014 had what to the layman\u2019s eyes certainly seemed to have too many concoctions in it. No one knows what the effect of many synthetics might be , especially when they are combined with each other (a process called \u201csynergism\u201d).<\/p>\n Some years back we heard from a mom in Florida named Stefanie Stark who fought an incredible battle to free her son from the \u201cdisease\u201d \u2014 and apparently, with the help of a spiritual approach, as well as a natural one, was able to.<\/p>\n \u201cI wrote a couple of years ago to say that our middle son, Andrew, had fallen ill with vaccine-induced autism. I also wrote, during that time, of a bird-flu pandemic in the works,\u201d she had said.<\/p>\n \u201cI believe that Our Lord is asking me to share the follow-up story with you.<\/p>\n \u201cIt has become so clear to me, through hindsight and the Holy Spirit,\u00a0why<\/i><\/em>\u00a0this had to happen to Andrew.<\/p>\n \u201cMy son, like all of the children\u00a0with vaccine-induced autism, are little messengers of God. They are angels on a mission to teach us that we must turn back to God and to a more natural way of living that is in accordance with God\u2019s creation, as opposed to a chemical\/synthetic world such as the one we are creating through science and medicine.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen Andrew was about four weeks old, I went to lay down and, as soon as my head touched the pillow, I had a vision \u2013 not a dream, but a vision. It was so real. I saw my baby lying in his crib. And kneeling beside the crib, praying, was a male angel dressed in a brown robe with a gold-colored rope for a sash, the kind the Franciscans wear.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd I heard Our Lady\u2019s voice\u00a0say, \u201cSpend every moment you can with him.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThen the vision ended. I sat bolt upright in the bed and thought that I was being prepared for my child to die. I got on my knees and begged God not to take him. But I remembered, also, the promise I had made in Adoration [of giving and trusting my children to Jesus, at His request], and asked that Our Lord would give me the strength to bear whatever His Will would be for Andrew\u2019s life.<\/p>\n \u201cWeeks later, I told my mother and sister about the vision. I was still so shaken by it.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I took my son for his 12-month-old check-up, I asked the pediatrician which vaccine he was to receive. I was told it was the MMR (Measles-Mumps-Rubella). I told the doctor that I had read an article just the week before (I think on\u00a0Spirit Daily<\/em>), that said the MMR, along with twelve other vaccines, was cultured on the cell lines of aborted fetuses.<\/p>\n \u201cI explained to the pediatrician that, as a pro-life Catholic, I would object to and refuse that particular vaccine based on my moral and religious beliefs.<\/p>\n \u201cThe doctor became furious\u00a0at this claim and said it was \u2018a lie made up by extremists on the right who have an agenda to push.\u2019 He stormed out of the office and returned with the package insert. He unrolled it in front of me like a scroll and said, \u201cHere. Look at this and tell me where it says aborted fetuses were used!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI was shocked by his reaction, but I also had nothing more to go on than the one article, and I couldn\u2019t even remember the source. I felt silly and unsure, so I went along and allowed Andrew to be immunized with the MMR. I later found out that, indeed, the vaccine is created using cell lines from aborted fetuses.<\/p>\n \u201cThe week before my son\u00a0was diagnosed with autism,\u00a0I went for a walk on the beach. I stopped to pick up a bird feather. Again I heard a voice. This time it said, \u2018Hope is a prayer with wings.\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cLater that day, I was at the bookstore.<\/p>\n \u201cAs I walked past rows of books toward the checkout, I spotted one whose title read \u201cH.O.P.E.\u201d It was a book about digestive health and how to heal the gut. I bought it on a hunch. Later, it became invaluable in understanding and healing my child\u2019s \u201cleaky gut syndrome,\u201d another aspect of autism.<\/p>\n \u201cThe day Andrew was first diagnosed with autism, he had just turned two. I was reeling from shock and disbelief and confusion.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat had happened to my precious, healthy child?<\/p>\n \u201cHow could this be?<\/p>\n \u201cI remembered, again, that I had committed my children to the care and protection of Our Lord.<\/p>\n \u201cThat night, I read Andrew a bedtime story\u00a0and tried not to break down in tears until I had put him to bed.<\/p>\n \u201cQuietly, he got up from my lap and walked over to the Holy Water font in his room. He dipped his tiny fingers in and then came over to me and made the Sign of the Cross on my forehead! He had never done that before.<\/p>\n \u201cI knew at that moment that Jesus\u00a0was right there with me and, just as in the poem \u201cFootprints,\u201d He was going to carry me and my family through this. I kept thinking, \u201cYou have to persevere in hope. Do not give up hope for even one instant.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI have witnessed the special connection that children with autism have to Jesus and Our Blessed Mother. When Andrew was two and a half and completely nonverbal, he took my agnostic sister, who struggles with infertility, by the hand and led her into the Shrine of Our Lady of Le Leche, that bears a statue of Our Lady holding the infant Jesus (in St. Augustine, Florida). Andrew motioned for her to kneel down. Then, without words, he invited her to clasp her hands and bow her head in prayer. It was a beautiful scene to watch!<\/p>\n \u201cAt three years old, Andrew had so few words, but such incredible comprehension, that the speech pathologist recommended he get a handheld computer device to speak for him. Our insurance company agreed to pay for the device.<\/p>\n \u201cAround the same time, we met a biomedical doctor who was willing to run the blood tests that my husband and I had been asking for.<\/p>\n \u201cThe tests came back showing conclusively\u00a0that Andrew had been infected with measles and rubella. The tests also showed that our son\u2019s immune system was barely functional \u2013 because his little body, by that time, had been fighting these viruses for nearly two years, which led to an auto-immune disorder.<\/p>\n \u201cWe began using vitamin supplements and B-12 shots to get his immune system functioning again. We also switched to a gluten-and-casein free diet and went organic as much as possible. We used homeopathy to detox his body from the viruses and heavy metals and to heal the damage that had been done.<\/p>\n \u201cWithin weeks of detoxing Andrew\u00a0from the damage his vaccines had caused, he began speaking and behaving more normally. When I called her to say that we would not need the speaking device after all, the lady at the insurance company said that she had never heard of a patient recovering to the point of not needing a speaking device, especially in only a few months time!<\/p>\n \u201cMore important than all of the physical remedies: I not only prayed for my son but\u00a0over<\/i><\/em>\u00a0my son.<\/p>\n \u201cI asked for the intercession of so many saints, especially Our Blessed Mother.<\/p>\n \u201cI asked, for example, St. John Chrysostom, saint with the golden voice, to pray for Andrew\u2019s voice to be restored.<\/p>\n \u201cI stood on the Scripture in Mark where Jesus healed the deaf and mute man when He said, \u2018Ephatha!,\u2019 that is, \u2018Be opened!\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cI claimed the Scriptures for my child.\u00a0I anointed his forehead with Holy Water and blessed oil daily as I prayed over him.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd perhaps most powerful of all,\u00a0I praised God and thanked Him every day for Andrew\u2019s healing long before he was actually healed.<\/p>\n \u201cI also prayed every day that I would be given the grace to hope beyond hope and never lose faith that my child would be healed.<\/p>\n \u201cIndeed, Andrew has been healed of autism!\u00a0All praise and glory be to God!\u00a0He goes to school with normally developing children,<\/em>\u00a0and people are shocked when I tell them that he has recovered from autism.<\/p>\n \u201cHe is now a normal, active four-year-old.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen he was finally able to speak (which he now does in full sentences), Andrew said, \u201cMommy, Jesus is the Bible.\u201d I said, \u201cYes, much of the Bible is about Jesus.\u201d To which he replied, \u201cNo. Jesus\u00a0is\u00a0<\/i><\/em>the Bible, Mommy.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI encountered another autistic boy at the doctor\u2019s office one day. He looked to be 12 or 13 but had the social skills and speech of a five-year-old. I asked him if he liked to swim. He said yes. I asked if he liked to swim in the pool or the ocean. And he replied, \u2018Ma\u2019am, I don\u2019t have an ocean, but I have a river, and His Name is Jesus.\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cThese kids are so close to Our Lord!<\/p>\n \u201cI believe that God allowed this to happen to Andrew. I have met literally hundreds of parents with the same or a similar story to Andrew\u2019s, and they have found renewed hope that their child can recover.<\/p>\n \u201cThis experience has also opened my eyes to the many ways our children are being harmed through vaccines. The swine flu vaccine is perhaps scariest of all. The adjuvant, squalene, has not only been proven to cause severe neurological damage and auto-immune disorders, but also paralysis and death. Squalene can cause a person to become allergic to cholesterol, something your body needs to survive!<\/p>\n \u201cI am also very troubled by the fact that Baxter International, (the same company that accidentally sent avian-flu tainted flu shots to 18 countries), applied for a patent to make an H1N1 vaccine in August 2008, even though swine flu did not appear in the population until April 2009. (For the patent,\u00a0go to:\u00a0http:\/\/patft.uspto.gov\/<\/a>\u00a0Click on publication number search on the right for patent applications. Enter: 20090060950).<\/p>\n \u201cI know the vaccine issue\u00a0is just one of many sins against God and His creation. Our bodies are His temple, Scripture says. The Bible also says that \u201cwe perish for lack of knowledge.\u201d<\/p>\n [Books on healing<\/em><\/a>]<\/p>\n![\"<br>](\"https:\/\/store.spiritdaily.com\/v\/vspfiles\/photos\/GI-978-1.jpg?v-cache=1524567241\" "\\"<br>")
<\/a>[Feedback: \u201cPrayer is always needed, however, the graph and title for this page:\u00a0https:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\/news\/look-at-the-autism-rates<\/a>\u00a0seems to indicate that there is a rise in actual developmental disorders in the general population. This may be true, but this graph doesn\u2019t show it, and it certainly wouldn\u2019t be that dramatic.<\/p>\n\u201cThe reason for the increase is because of diagnostic definitions and screening. Autism as defined in the 1970s is probably constant in diagnoses through the decades since.The graph would have to be normalized to show the different uses of the word and the diagnostic rigor. To say Autism rates have increased as the graph shows is equivocation, ie, the definition changed through the decades.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\u201cIn particular, autism used to require severe intellectual and language disables (ie, mental retardation). Then, for the Autistic definitions without those were only applied in severe circumstances (ie, when an individual had gone through several stages that required more medical attention). Now, it is more widely known and a person can be diagnosed without any major crises or apparent disability.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\u201cSo, the rates of Autism Spectrum Disorder, as it is now defined, have only changed because of definition changes and increased awareness. The actual rates of people with what we would call \u201cClassical Autism\u201d probably have not changed at all. The big jumps in diagnoses were not a continuous curve as presented, but will show spikes and leveling off as the diagnostic criteria changed and younger people were diagnosed with the new definitions.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\u201cPrayer is perhaps more needed for the reality that many people view people with Autism as life unworthy of life (especially those who are intellectually disabled) and there may be selective abortions. I know this is the case for other disorders, but I do not know the specifics for Autism.<\/div>\nPax,<\/div>\nJ. F. O\u2019Neill<\/div>\n