Parents Rally Around Physicians Making Progress with Patients Diagnosed With Autism
NIXA, MO – A two-part article appearing Saturday and yesterday in the Chicago Tribune has parents of children diagnosed with autism wondering how so many inaccuracies
can be printed in a mainstream newspaper.
The article, designed to discredit several physicians treating children for the underlying pathologies and abnormalities associated with an autism diagnosis, contained false and misleading information.
It also included off-the-record remarks from a Harvard researcher without mention of her significant contributions to autism-related science.
“So many children have progressed because of these wonderful medical practitioners, and unfortunately that was not noted in the article,
” said parent and National Autism Association (NAA) board chair Lori McIlwain.
“These physicians listened to us and helped our children at a time when most in mainstream medicine would not.
We'd love for the American Academy of Pediatrics to help our children, but for now, it's only those few practitioners brave enough to look at their real medical issues and address them,
even if it means coming under unfair scrutiny,” she said.
Articles like this are often false, misleading and unbalanced. This particular article implied that seeking medical treatment for autism is wrong; however, no other source used in the article could provide ideas on how to help those with underlying medical problems.
And while there is extensive science behind the protocols mentioned, the article maintained negative attacks on doctors and families rather than supporting further research.
It also discouraged families from seeking appropriate clinical care for their sick children.
“Our children have a label of autism, but they also have many medical issues that need to be addressed,” said NAA Board Member Leslie Phillips.
“Parents will have to either address these issues on their own, allow their children to live in pain and discomfort, or rely on the practitioners who are willing to help.
As a mother, I am grateful for those physicians who, despite criticism from mainstream medicine and biased media sources, continue to focus on what's most important - healing our children.”
Also of note:
Chelation is FDA-approved for heavy metals, has been used safely for decades, was used well before the Vargas paper, is based on extensive science in addition to the Vargas paper,
and this was known by the reporters
Major national advocacy and parent organizations were not contacted; therefore, a balanced look was not provided
NAA joins parents and caregivers in requesting fair representation of medical and scientific advancements in the medical treatment of autism.
Letters to the Chicago Tribune editor can be sent via online form at
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/letters/For more information about autism, visit
www.nationalautismassociation.org -30-
Think Autism. Think Cure. ®
