When a child wanders away, panic usually sets in and families frantically do everything possible to find them.

But a child with autism presents even greater challenges, especially to search crews.

Today may be just a practice run, but Chris Lacey says it is incredible to see Project Lifesaver in action.

It’s a program she’s worked hard to help bring to Dane County that will help locate those like her son — who has autism — and a tendency to go missing.

“With autistic individuals wandering is a very large scenario, and unfortunately, last summer, a young boy in Wood county died — and why I started this training… because I realized that could have very easily been my own son,” Lacey says.

Project Lifesaver works with a computer chip worn on either a wristband or a belt.

Police are able to then track down a child, or even an adult with Alzheimer’s.. within a mile radius.

Chris has been working with police to help them do it in a way.. that will bring them home again. Because in cases where there is an autistic child, typically, it’s not easy.

“Often, those with autism don’t respond to their name being called.. making a search more difficult… and that’s just one of many issues first responders would face.”

Things like bright lights, sirens can be a real problem certain colors textures touch can be a huge issue.

“So if you are working with an autistic individual avoid touching if at all possible.”

“My eyes were open that this is an interesting program that needs to be taken on by a law enforcement agency because of the large numbers of children that have autism in the area. Talked to one mother who was interested in the program and she said there are 5 children within 2 blocks of her house.”

There are so many other families facing similar situations.. those caring for loved one with Alzheimer’s.. or Down Syndrome.. where this will help…. and hopefully give everyone.. peace of mind.

Chris Lacey has really built up an incredible number of resources, not only for law enforcement.. but also for families.

Source: NBC15.com

I was reading one of my favorite Autism blogs Nat Matt and all That and was surprised to learn that normally calm and tender hearted Nat was really upset. After reading her post, and then the article recently run on Fox News, I understand why.

She begins…

Very few things cause me to get truly angry. Annoyed, irritated, bugged - oh yes. But true anger is not something that is in my everyday emotional spectrum.

However…

If you want to see me angry sometime, just do something to hurt or humiliate one of my children. Then you will come eye-to-eye with a mother bear the likes of which you haven’t seen before.

I came across a story online just a few minutes ago that doesn’t involve either of my boys, but … close enough. It could have been. It could be someday. There but by the grace of God go I. And I’m pissed. (Having been raised by my mother that use of the word “pissed” is possibly even more vulgar than the “f” word, you know where I’m coming from.)

(Continue reading her entire post)

I followed the link in her blog to an article appearing on Fox News and couldn’t believe my eyes. And embedded within the article was a link to a video of the report. You can read the Fox News article Florida Teacher Allegedly Lets Kindergarteners Kick Autistic Boy Out of Class in ‘Survivor’-Like Vote . I pulled a copy of the video (below) as well.

After reading this, I can understand (and agree) with Nat that we take action to help this precious little boy and his distraught family by letting them know this Florida teacher doesn’t represent the rest of us. If I could be allowed to quote Nat:

But I’m even more in favor of writing to Alex and his mom with a card or letter or e-mail of encouragement. They need to be overwhelmed by the fact that there are truly good, loving people in the world after they have faced such hate. If you get a chance, send Alex a quick note.

Alex is Special
c/o Barbara Curtis
15648 Britenbush Ct.
Waterford, VA 20197
supportalex@treasurecoast.com

I follow a Newsletter over at http://articles.mercola.com that published a VERY interesting article today. Now, the info in that article won’t come as such a surprise to most of you, but the comments added by Dr. Mercola might. In an insightful and “cut-to-the-bone” brutally honest “rant”, Dr Mercola accuses Dr Paul Offit of conflict of interest in being on the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) AND a patent holder of the rotavirus vaccine (Patent application number 353547) and recipient of a $350,000 grant from Merck for it’s development.

While I will post the contents of the article here, you should visit his site to read the comments and accusations. Then I invite you to speak out. As parents we shouldn’t allow the big drug companies, corrupt doctors and pocket-lining-profiteers to be the ones to decide what goes into our children’s precious little bodies.

Dr Mercola Writes: 

Vaccine-Autism Question Divides Parents, Scientists

.

13-year old Michelle Cedillo is at the center of a court case pitting thousands of families of children with autism against the medical establishment. While a number of prestigious medical institutions say there is no link between vaccines and autism, the families believe vaccines caused their children’s autism, and have taken their case to court.

Theresa and Mike Cedillo, Michelle’s parents, believe the MMR vaccine, which at the time contained a mercury-based preservative, drastically altered the course of their daughter’s development. Within days of receiving the injection, Michelle suffered from a high fever, persistent vomiting and problems with her digestion — and also stopped speaking and no longer responded to her name.

Dr. Paul Offit, chief of infectious diseases at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, claims the apparent connection between vaccines and autism is “nothing more than a sad coincidence.”

But families who believe vaccines can trigger autism point to the case of 9-year-old Hannah Poling; the U.S. government conceded that vaccines “significantly aggravated” her underlying illness, predisposing her to symptoms of autism.

The court heard testimony in the Cedillo claim in June of 2007. Testimony in other test cases is scheduled for 2008.

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To read the comments Dr Mercola added (I highly recommend it!) please visit http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2008/04/26/vaccine-autism-question-divides-parents-scientists.aspx

Found on “The Republican” - by Sandra E Constantine.

SOUTH HADLEY - A 16-year-old South Deerfield teen-ager who is a student at Pioneer Valley Performing Arts High School is out to educate the public about autism spectrum disorders as part of April being National Autism Awareness Month.

The youth, Daniel E. Sandberg, has Asperger’s syndrome, which is on the autism spectrum. Autism is a complex developmental disability that typically appears during the first three years of life and affects a person’s ability to communicate and interact with others, according to information posted on the Web site of the Autism Society of America.

Asperger’s syndrome is characterized by limited interests or an usual preoccupation with a particular subject to the exclusion of other activities, according to information on the Web site of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.

Asperger’s syndrome may also involve repetitive routines or rituals, peculiarities in speech and language, socially and emotionally inappropriate behavior, the inability to interact successfully with peers, problems with nonverbal communication, and clumsy and uncoordinated movements.

Sandberg is raising awareness about autism through posters to which he added interlocking puzzle pieces that state simple facts about the disorder.

Among them are, “People with autism spectrum disorders accept others without judgmentã and, “Many people with autism spectrum disorders are very anxious.”

The poster also has a photograph of Albert Einstein, who is suspected to have had Asperger’s syndrome.

Sandberg said he is particularly pleased that students have reacted positively to posters.

“It made me feel so good,” he said during a recent interview at the school. “I’m trying to educate people about autism … I want to be a good advocate for teaching more people about autism.”

Sandberg, who was diagnosed at age 7, attends regular classes but has special help outside the classroom.

One way his disorder manifests itself is that he has difficulty in crowded, noisy situations, Sandberg said.

However, Joann L. Odato-Staeb, a consultant who works with Sandberg, said a positive aspect of being unusually sensitive to sound is that Sandberg is able to hear things musically that other people cannot sense.

Sandberg, who plays guitar and writes songs, said he would like to become a sound engineer.

The sophomore, who plans to do a presentation at school on autism spectrum disorders, said, “There is a lot more people could be learning … Education is a big thing.

“I’m never shy about letting people know what I have,” he added.

There have been two major transforming events in my professional career. One is when I decided to change to homeopathy and that was in 1992 and I discovered a whole new world of healing. And I would have to say the same event occurred in late 2005 when I was introduced to liquid activated zeolite with my partner’s (Elizabeth Webb) mother’s story. One of my primary focuses in my practice is helping autistic children and children who are developmentally impaired and that is primarily a disease of toxicity.

Usually we treat that with nutritional support and traditional chelators. The introduction of liquid activated zeolite into my practice has radically transformed the outcome of many of these cases and also my whole level of enthusiasm and excitement in treating these children and being able to offer the parents a highly effective detoxifying agent that has such an incredible safety profile.

It has truly surpassed all my expectations. It is just a magnificent tool in this particular setting and in many other settings. This is not about treating a particular condition. In fact I think it’s very wrong to think of liquid zeolite as being applied to any particular disease. It is a spectacularly effective detoxification agent and has usefulness in virtually every chronic disease. I believe toxicity plays a part in the pathology of practically every chronic disease and to that extent, liquid zeolite can be a marvelous tool in helping people recover. In conditions where toxicity is primarily the concerns like developmental issues, it is spectacularly effective.

There was a follow up that I saw this morning, a four year old boy who I began working with at the beginning of February, and at that time he was still in diapers, was totally non-communicative, was grinding his teeth and temper-tantruming on an extremely regular basis. I started him on some nutrients and liquid zeolite and within three days of starting the liquid zeolite, he was potty trained. Which completely blew his parents away, and me as well. Over the next six weeks his speech literally exploded, his spontaneous emotional expression exploded, he came into my office today asking a whole raft of different questions, including “why’s”. He wanted to know “why this, why that” all of which indicates normal cognitive function was really starting up in him. His temperament was vastly improved, his teeth grinding had completely resolved. His appetite and digestion had improved, it was just a truly spectacular response. Not every child responds in that spectacular a way, but certainly there’s an across-the-board response to this product in that group of children that I haven’t ever seen with any other single product.

I have another lady that I followed up with this week who was diagnosed six weeks ago with metastatic pancreatic carcinoma and it was involved in her spine, in her lymph nodes and her liver. When she came in six weeks ago she was feeling very run down, and had a tremendous amount of back pain which is a characteristic and ominous sign of pancreatic cancer. One month later she walked into my office full of energy. Her complexion looked great, her energy and mood was great and she had no back pain. Now, her story is certainly not over, but nonetheless there’s pretty convincing clinical evidence that her condition has improved tremendously and the only thing that she has been doing in that month is taking liquid zeolite.

So there’s two follow-ups I had this week that were both pretty impressive and powerful testimonies to the incredible ability this product has to pull toxins out of the body, and allow the natural healing mechanisms to operate fully and freely and the results speak for themselves.

With typical chelators, you simply do not see the quality of the response that I’ve been seeing with liquid zeolite. These kids seem to respond much more quickly and much more fully than with traditional chelating agents. It’s really a pleasure to use and it’s almost a delight to have a new child come in because I know that I have something that’s truly going to help this child in all likelihood. Previously there were things I could do and things that would help the children, but nothing to this extent. I would say that it is the most powerful tool that I have in my clinical arsenal to help this group of children.

At this point, I cannot think of a single child (out of 40) that I have used the liquid zeolite with, who has not responded to some degree.
This latest generation of children is probably the sickest generation of children in American history. The number of allergies, the incidence of asthma, diabetes, juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, developmental issues and chronic conditions of every sort has literally mushroomed in this last generation. When you see this type of global, multi-faceted deterioration in the level of health in an entire generation – 30% of these children are on some kind of chronic medication - that is clearly an indication of tremendous environmental toxicity that’s impacted these children tremendously.

Liquid zeolite is probably the single most effective agent that can favorably influence every single one of these conditions. This product is probably the single most valuable tool that a physician or a parent can use to help recover the health of their children.

I understand that that’s a very big statement to say, and I’m certainly not saying it glibly. I truly believe that this product is a godsend and something that is vitally necessary for us to start recovering our health.

Systemic toxicity is probably responsible for 90% or more of all of the illnesses that doctors see in their offices every single day. There’s not a person on this planet who does not have some kind of ailment that is the result of some kind of toxicity. Every single human being on this planet would benefit from taking liquid zeolite. I have not the slightest doubt about that and every condition that you could possibly mention in my opinion would benefit to some degree from reducing the toxic burden.”

Dr. Peter Prociuk, M.D.
Homeopathic Physician
Pennsylvania

Research funded by the Wellcome Trust suggests that many children diagnosed with severe language disorders in the 1980s and 1990s would today be diagnosed as having autism. The research supports the theory that the rise in the number of cases of autism may be related to changes in how it is diagnosed.

Control and Prevention say autism may affect as many as 1 in every 150 children, making it more common than pediatric cancer, diabetes and AIDS combined. Classified as a severe neurodevelopmental disorder with early childhood onset, the symptoms produce significant impairments in social, communicative, cognitive and behavioral functioning. According to Steven Moldin, Ph.D.