...mumps, rubella) vaccine causes children to develop autism shortly after receiving it. There seems to be a clear line drawn between those who believe the vaccine causes autism and thise who refute the claim. On one side, there are the parents who claim their child was “normal” until receiving this vaccine, and on the other side, there are the researchers, doctors, and drug companies who have completed in –depth studies of the MMR vaccine, and say that it is safe. According to an article in the Lancet, a British Medical Journal, Dr. Andrew Wakefield, completed a study that proved there was a connection between the MMR vaccine and early autism in children who were seemingly normal before they received the vaccine. He claimed that the vaccine inflamed the gut and that allowed the “toxic substance” to enter the bloodstream. The National Autism Association has even focused on the vaccine preservative, thimerosal, as a possible culprit. However, since 1992, thimerosal has been removed from all vaccines in the United States, and autism diagnoses continue to climb. Most children are given their first dose of MMR at around 12 – 15 months of age. Some parents are reporting that shortly after their child received this vaccine was when they noticed a change in their child. The parents of these kids are saying that their child was developing normally, and then started regressing during the second year of life. However, when talking with doctors and researchers about autism, they say that...
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...Gregory Carter Comp II Mr. Best Final Paper Is there a link between vaccines and Autism? For many years now there has been an intense debate over the link between the cause of Autism and vaccinations. Since its appearance in the medical community the cause has come under much scrutiny. Research has been conducted by many leading scientist, always to be debunked by skeptics worldwide. The historic timeline for Autism always seems to correlate to an outbreak in new treatments and vaccinations. Some communities worldwide do not receive vaccinations and have no symptoms of Autism within their population, while there are others that do receive them and show no symptoms either. Based on these factors, one cannot surely believe there if there is a link between vaccines and Autism. Although Autism has become more common today than in the past, it is still very much misunderstood. Many people think that it is a disease, something contagious however it is a disorder, not a disease. There are many forms of Autism, labeled in the Autistic spectrum disorder, however it is a very complex disorder that affects the brain, and the immune system (A Medical mystery 2). The severity varies from child to child but the symptoms are pretty typical ranging from social skills, sensory issues, to slurred speech and uncontrollable body movements. It affects children of all ages but most commonly diagnosed around the age of three (2). The disorder crosses all economic and social boundaries, however...
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...are methodical errors that lead to loss of validity since it limits the significance and applicability of a study, (Sica, 780). Other errors that affect research include errors associated with sampling which lead to variation since a sample population may not reflect fully the characteristics of the whole target population. Research is an incomplete process since it is a discovery journey and thus no research can be said to be perfect or complete. This is denoted by the practice of researchers proposing topics for further study in their research works. Research is also carried out within boundaries that limit a researcher and as thus the idea of perfect research can only be a fallacy. Conflicting findings and conclusions in research on Autism a neurological disorder that...
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...Autism is commonly heard about but do people really know what it is? Autism is a series of developmental disorders that is generally diagnosed at a young age. Every now and then it is challenging to distinguish if someone is autistic. Many children with autistic behaviors do not have as much brain control as a person without autism. The disorder is not rare and more people should be acquainted with the term “Autism.” Researchers have been exploring for the past century to find if Autism has a type of inheritance. Over the years researchers have been working hard to find a specific type of genetic background in order to find the precise genetic nomenclature that contributes to the development of Autism. Even though the solid connection between...
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...Jennita Coates DEV107 Critical Communication (Speech) February 29, 2016 Speech What would you do if you had unlimited resources and finances to investigate a medical problem? I know what I would do. I would investigate the cause of Autism. Autism is a mental condition, present from early childhood, characterized by difficulty in communicating and forming relationships with other people and in using language and abstract concepts. This is a passion of mines because my three year old son, Nathan, was diagnosed with Autism at the tender age of two. No one know where it came from or how it started. Some experts believe that environmental factors like mercury poisoning, dietary habits and early childhood vaccines can cause Autism. However, none of these theories have been convincingly proven. Having a child with Autism can be very challenging and time consuming. Its hard to communicate with them and their behavior can be all over the place. When my son, Nathan, was first diagnosed with Autism, we could not communicate at all. He would sit, stare into space and not answer to his name. At one point I thought he was deaf because he was so unresponsive. When we are in public, Nathan tends to fall and spaz out, making it hard to control him. In that moment, it made me feel hopeless like I have no power. As a parent it broke my heart to see my child in this state. I blamed myself for his condition. This is typical with many parents with children on...
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...Project Spring 2012 Jordan Lair Disorder #1: Mental Retardation Key Characteristics: Children that have Mental Retardation sometimes have poor memory, they’re slow learners, have attention problems, have problems generalizing what they already learned, and they lack motivation. Frequency of Occurrence: According to nichcy.org (2011), Mental Retardation occurs in approximately 6.5 million people in the United States. Resource #1: Medscape Reference website http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/289117-overview * This website provides the following information: overview of the disorder and all the different causes. * Something I found to be very interesting on this website was how many different causes to Mental Retardation there are. * This website listed about 16 causes to Mental Retardation, but it also says that there are some unknown causes as well. I chose this website because it describes all of the different ways Mental Retardation is caused and I feel that will help parents out to determine what exactly caused their child to have it. Resource #2: Education.com http://www.education.com/reference/article/characteristics-children-mental-retardation/ * This website provides the following information: characteristics of the disorder, self-care and daily living skills of people with the disorder, social development, and some positive attributes of people with this disorder. * The thing I found very interesting on this website is how it mentions...
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...For this assignment I decided to look into the question, I autism a kind of brain damage? I chose this topic because it seems like we are hearing so much about autism anymore and it still seems to be a mystery to people as to what causes autism. I often hear of so many things causing autism that I just find so unbelievable, but I have never looked into the fact of maybe some type of brain damage causing autism. I found two source that talks about autism and the causes of autism. The first reliable website that I visited is the Simons Foundation Autism Research Initiative (SFARI) website. SFARI’s main priority is to do research that helps people who are affected by autism. “With a budget of about $60 million per year, SFARI currently supports 175 investigators. Since 2007, this initiative has provided or committed more than $260 million in external research support to more than 250 investigators in the U.S. and abroad.” (Simons Foundations, 2014) In the SFARI article that I read it covered a study they did on low-birth weight babies with white matter injury. They performed ultrasounds on over 1000 babies who weighed 1.1 pounds to 4.4 pounds in the first few days of the babies’ lives. The ultrasounds determined if the infant had any hemorrhages, ventricular enlargements, and lesions in brain tissue or any other brain damage. The ultrasounds were kept and then the subjects were then assessed for autism about 21 years later. The study found that the infants who had any...
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...Abstract Autism is defined as; “a variable developmental disorder that appears by age three and is characterized by impairment of the ability to form normal social relationships, by impairment of the ability to communicate with others, and by stereotyped behavior patterns”. (Webster) “According to the Centers for Disease Control, autism affects as many as 1 in every 110 children in the United States”. Overall, we are looking at an estimated 1.5 million Americans who are affected with this disorder. By implementing a computer device that will assist in the learning capability of individuals with autism or individuals in general will be a success learning of one’s self. Organization and Product US Autism and Asperger Association (USAAA) is a non-profit organization that was developed in 1994. USAAA focuses on individuals with autism and asperger to provide the opportunity to educate, support, and solutions. “Our goal is to provide the opportunity for individuals with autism spectrum disorders to achieve their fullest potential (USAAA, 2011)”. USAAA is dedicated to: ← Providing immediate solutions through expert guidance and compassionate support. ← Consolidating the overwhelming amount of information and resources to simplify the lives of all associated with autism. ← Individualizing education on treatments and services for the diverse population of those affected. ← Providing networking opportunities for parents, professionals...
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...The Autism Spectrum Disorder is a very broad disorder, ranging from a brilliant scientist to a person who remains nonverbal with a severe disability. Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a group of neural developmental disabilities that can cause impaired social interactions, communication, and restrict and repetitive behavior challenge. Due to the increase of children being diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder, it is important for people to understand the effects of ASD. Knowing the causes, signs and symptoms, diagnosis, and treatments of Autism Spectrum Disorder, will help in early detection and acceptance. There is no absolute known cause of Autism Spectrum Disorder. The abnormalities, likely caused during fetal development, are centered...
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...Vaccines, Do They Cause Autism in Children? Michael L Eisenmenger Western Governors University Vaccines, Do They Cause Autism in Children? Vaccinations have been used for centuries to prevent the spread of some of the most dangerous diseases in humans. In 1998, a research study from Dr. Andrew Wakefield was published in the journal Lancet, suggesting common vaccinations were the cause of autism in children (Brink. 2013). That study has since been retracted by the Lancet and Dr. Wakefield has had his medical license revoked. However, the rates of vaccinations have declined because of the study and new outbreaks of diseases once considered eradicated are killing children. Research has shown that vaccines are not a cause of autism in children because the preservatives suspected of causing autism have been removed from them, research studies have shown no link between the two, the original research has been proven false, and the diagnosis of autism has changed. Ever since the debate of vaccines being a cause of autism has started, the ingredient thimersol has been one of the focus’ of study. Thimersol is a preservative that was used in vaccines until 2001. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has stated, “In 2001, thimersol was removed or reduced to trace amounts in all childhood vaccinations except one type of influenza vaccine, and thimersol-free alternatives are available for influenza vaccines.” (CDC, 2014) Thimersol contains the type of mercury...
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...Do Childhood Vaccinations Cause Autism? Jennifer Jones XBCOM / 275 August 24, 2014 Kristine Dunn Do Childhood Vaccinations Cause Autism? The idea that autism is caused by childhood vaccinations has been influencing public policy, even though rigorous studies do not support this hypothesis. Legislators are right to take into account the concerns of parent groups and other individuals who are directly affected by autism, but policy decisions should be based on hard evidence rather than unproven ideas. The hypothesis is based on the observation that the number of autism cases increased in the years of the 1980s, coinciding with a push for greater childhood vaccinations, which increased above recommended levels of a child’s exposure to mercury in the vaccine preservative, called thimerosal. The autism diagnosis continued to rise even after thimerosal was removed from the United States childhood vaccines in the year of 2001. A review by the Institute of Medicine, of over 200 studies concluded that there were no links between vaccines containing thimerosal and autism. Autism is no more common among vaccinated children than those children who are unvaccinated, and its incidence has not varied with the presence of thimerosal in vaccines across different times and locations. These findings have not persuaded supporters of the mercury autism link, whose strategies have become more extreme as the evidence against the hypothesis have mounted. Mercury is a known neurotoxin,...
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...Student’s name Teacher’s name Course name Date The impact of immunization on the development of autism In recent years, a worldwide concern over immunization and its schedule has increased dramatically. The vaccine-autism hypothesis belongs to the most extensively debated theories related to the origins of Autism Spectrum Disorder. Critics of dangerous ingredients contained in vaccines designate that such preservatives may contribute to, or cause, a range of cognitive disorders in children. When administered at early age, immunization may seriously affect neurological and not completely developed immune systems. In contrast, both biological and epidemiological studies tend to contradict the vaccine-autism theory. Given this fact, it is of vital importance to thoroughly examine both sides of the coin and come to a reasonable conclusion. PECULIARITIES OF AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDER Autism, or, more broadly, Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), includes a number of complex cognitive and communicational disorders. According to Richard Lathe, the molecular biologist, autism is difficult to define (20). However, there exists a range of distinctive peculiarities, by which one can recognize ASD. Repetitive patterns of behavior, a withdrawal from social relatedness and interaction, and specific movement patterns characterize autism. The symptoms occur from early childhood, usually at age of 2-3 years, and affect daily functioning (Lathe 32). The diagnosis of ASD incorporates the evaluation...
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...Literature Review: Vaccines vs Autism Emily Willingham and Laura Helft/posted 09.05.2014/NOVA www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/body/autism-vaccine-myth.html In the late 90’s the vaccine Measles, Mumps, and Rubella know as (MMR) was said to have a link to Autism in children. In my literature review I compared two articles both from the relation to Vaccines and Autism from the late 90’s until the present time. The assertion that vaccines could be linked to Autism burst onto the international stage with the 1998 publication of a paper in the British journal “The Lancet”. (Willingham, E.; Helft, L.et.al.) The other article I reviewed has somewhat of a different outlook. The 1998 publication of a study suggesting an association between (MMR) vaccine and Autism, 13 studies in five countries showed no such link, no data supported any causal connection between the (MMR) vaccine and Autism. (Thompson, J.et.al). I will describe the problem, if the vaccine MMR is the cause of Autism in infant children. Is this vaccine the cause of infant babies developing Autism? Here is what the problem was thought to be in the vaccine MMR. According to the article “The Autism/Vaccine Myth” the vaccine MMR is not responsible for Autism. The myth behind this assumption is first the ingredients used in the vaccine MMR and then the febrile seizures that the parents were concerned about. According to the U.S. Centers of Disease Control and Prevention, most febrile seizure happen when a child is sick rather than...
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...is a process where a person is injected with a substance to make them immune to a disease. Diseases that can make you sick, disabled or even kill you. Most vaccines contain the disease that it is trying to protect you from by building up your immune system to help you fight it if you ever come across the real thing. Many parents of an autistic child blame the condition on vaccines being the direct and only cause. Often, many of those parents have no real concrete evidence to support their claim. Those parents usually are just reading blogs of parents who are facing the same issue. Over the past decade many parents face the hard decision on whether they want to vaccine their child or not. Jenny McCarthy said, “If you ask...
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...cured. Some of them occur at birth. Some of them have no true cause--for example autism. Autism is a serious development disorder that is present in early childhood, it makes it difficult to communicate and socialize with others. There are almost 200,000 cases in the United States per year. Autism is diagnosed more in males than in females. In the early 90’s there was an increase in children being diagnosed with autism as well an increase in the number of vaccines children received (Novella 1). Many people believe there is a link between the MMR vaccine and autism, because they connect vaccine-injuries, side effects of specific ingredients may be causing autism, and...
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