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Autism
rate up 1,500% in state
"Only a small fraction of autistic kids recover because
only a small fraction of parents follow this procedure," Rimland
said. "Traditional doctors will tell you that's nonsense, but
that's because they're ignorant."
by Mike Wowk, The Detroit News, March 3, 2003
Original URL:
http://www.detnews.com/2003/health/0303/03/d01-98106.htm
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INDEPENDENCE TOWNSHIP -- The rates of autism in children have
risen 700 percent nationally and more than 1,500 percent in
Michigan since 1992, according to a recent study, and no one in
the medical industry or government knows why.
But Gary and Rose Lannen may have come up with their own
solution to the mystery.
Two years ago, their son, Sean, then 3, could not speak. He
growled at strangers. He wouldn't let his parents or anyone else
touch him.
He was eventually diagnosed with pervasive developmental
disorder, a milder form of autism.
Now, Sean, 5, talks and acts like any normal kindergartner as he
greets a stranger who knocks on his front door.
"These are my brothers, Robert, Thomas and David," said Sean,
making the introductions of the other boys in his Independence
Township home. "But there are no girls here."
His parents won't go so far as to say that Sean has been cured
of autism, a neurological disorder that some authorities say has
reached epidemic proportions in recent years.
"We like to say he's on the road to recovery," Rose Lannen said.
While Sean Lannen's experience is not unheard of, it is unusual,
said Dr. Catherine Lord, a professor of psychology and
psychiatry and director of the Unviersity of Michigan's Autism
and Communication Disorders Center.
The autism center has about 200 autistic children from across
the country under long-term study. Sean Lannen is not part of
the study.
"We probably have 10 kids in that group whose parents would say,
'Look, they don't have autism anymore.' But when I see them, I
see remnants of autism," Lord said.
Rebecca Landa, a speech-language pathologist and autism expert
at the Kennedy Krieger Center of Johns Hopkins University in
Baltimore, cautioned that parents of other autistic children
should not get their hopes up.
"I've had a couple of cases (like Sean's), but only a very small
minority of these children (can appear normal)," she said.
"People are seeking a cure. But there isn't one."
The Lannens say Sean is making progress toward recovery because
they put him on a gluten- and dairy-free diet and enrolled him
in an intensive, behavior-therapy program recommended by, among
others, the Autism Research Institute of San Diego.
The institute's director and father of an autistic son, research
psychologist Bernard Rimland, admits much of his program is not
accepted by mainstream doctors.
"Only a small fraction of autistic kids recover because only a
small fraction of parents follow this procedure," Rimland said.
"Traditional doctors will tell you that's nonsense, but that's
because they're ignorant."
As recently as the early 1990s, only about one in every 2,500
children was diagnosed as autistic. Some researchers are
suggesting the current rate is as high as one in 150.
The apparent explosion in autism cases has produced speculation
over a possible environmental cause. Some parents have blamed
vaccines, despite a Danish study that said the vaccines given to
young children appear to be safe.
Other experts say the definition of autism, which was first
described in the 1940s, has been medically broadened to include
many related conditions. Also, public schools are being required
to offer more services to autistic children.
An often-referenced California study showed the number of
children diagnosed with autism in that state more than tripled
from 1987-1998. A follow-up study released last year showed the
numbers continuing to climb.
An Internet newsletter on autism, The Schafer Report, quotes
U.S. Department of Education data that show the number of
Michigan children diagnosed by their public schools as autistic
has risen from 12,222 in 1992 to 97,847, an increase of 701
percent.
Public schools in Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties say the
number of children enrolled in their autistic programs has more
than doubled since 1996.
Gary and Rose Lannen say Sean was developing normally as a
toddler. His behavior changed after he received a series of
common children immunizations about age 2.
"You couldn't get near him," Gary Lannen recalls. "If strangers
came into the house, he would hide. He wouldn't play with his
toys, but he would walk around all day with the same toy."
The first few doctors who examined Sean gave his parents no
satisfactory answers.
One doctor told the couple that Sean would be fine if they
waited another six months.
But the Lannens took a proactive approach. They read books on
autism, conducted research on the Internet and contacted the
Oakland County chapter of the Autism Society of America.
One of the first changes they made was to remove dairy and
gluten-containing foods -- wheat, oats, barley and rye -- from
Sean's diet.
"There was an amazing change in Sean's behavior after only a
couple of weeks on the new diet," Rose Lannen recalled.
However, autism experts Lord and Landa say there is no
scientific evidence that nutritional changes have any effect on
autistic symptoms.
The Lannens also enrolled Sean in the fall 2000 in the newly
opened Early Interaction Center in Birmingham.
Jennifer Wiessner, the local center's executive director, said
Sean Lannen was one of the first three autistic children
accepted by the center -- and its first graduate.
"When Sean first came into our clinic, he had no verbal
language, but he growled," Wiessner recalled. She described the
kind of progress that he has made since then as "pretty rare."
"You have to catch it early enough, and you have to have the
treatment intensive enough, and you have to do it the right
way," Wiessner said.
Sixteen children are now enrolled in the Birmingham clinic.
Therapy costs the center about $6,000 per month, per child.
Scholarships and fund-raisers bring the cost for each family
down to $4,000 a month.
Sean Lannen was a 30-hours-a-week patient of the clinic for
several months, and then was a part-time patient from February
2001 until last September. His parents estimate the treatment
there cost them about $50,000. Savings and generous relatives
paid the bills.
Now, Sean attends a regular kindergarten class at his
neighborhood elementary school. But his parents say he has a
long road ahead.
You can reach Mike Wowk at (586) 468-0343 or
mwowk@detnews.com.
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