What is going on?

I have been in education for over twenty years.  As a math teacher and now and administrator I have had many experiences with students with special needs.  I have had dealing with students that have Autism spectrum disorders.  Even with those experiences, it is just not the same until you have a child of your own who has Autism.  As an educator I have seen an increase in the number of students who are "on the spectrum."  At first I thought it was a matter of better diagnosis.  In other words I believed that the percentage of students with Autism really has not changed, it is just the number of students who are actually diagnosed had increased.

After experiencing Autism first hand I have decided that I was woefully misinformed about Autism.  The increase in Autism I do not believe can be completely attributed to better diagnosis.  I really believe there is a lot more going on.  Here are some links to articles about the increase in the number of people diagnosed with Autism.

USA Today Article
Fox News
CNN
CDC

Why has there been an increase?  I really believe that it is time to comprehensively study why we are seeing these increases.  It is time to collect data and use technology to statistically analyze the data and try to determine at a minimum some sort of correlation.  I know that correlation is not the same as causation.  Being an old math teacher, I have an understanding of statistics.  I am just saying it is time to stop guessing and start researching.  Find correlation and then try to extend that to causation.

What could be the reasons that we are seeing an increase of autism?  Here are some areas I would like to see studied:

• Gluten
• Dairy
• GMO's
• Vaccines
• Toxins

Why is it that Autism seems to effect males more than females?  Is there a genetic component that we do not understand?

It is time to stop guessing.  We have some of the finest colleges and universities in the world.  The predominance of Autism in our children is almost at an epidemic rate.  At what point do we focus our efforts on not so much how to fix it as much as how to prevent it?

In working with Preston, I have come to believe that Autism is the brain reaction to something chemical not being right in the body.  One thought is that the body of Autistic children is not eliminating toxins as efficiently as people that do not have toxins.  Am I correct?  I do not know.  I do not have the research to back up my theory.

What do I know?  We keep Buzzy gluten and diary free.  When we screw up and let him consume something that was one or the other or both, we see behavioral difference sin him.  That tells me that his body is unable to eliminate some of the bi-products of gluten and dairy.

An interesting side note to this - our household has been gluten and diary free from close to 18 months.  Now I admit that I cheat, especially at work - but still in the last 18 months I have lost close to 30 pounds.  I have not been working out.  I have not been cutting back on the amount I eat.  What I do eat is so much more nutritious than what I used to do before.  We try to buy exclusively organic.  We purchased our beef in bulk from a local farmer who raises the cow on grass only.  We rarely go out to eat.  We used to eat a lot of pizza - we do not do that anymore.  Bottom line as a family we are eating better, and from a health standpoint, I have to say I feel better.  I now weigh under 200 lbs.  I can say I have weighed under 200 pounds in over 20 years.

In closing, as an educator I worry about the number of students that are being diagnosed with Autism.  The resources that are going to need to be available for these students is going tax the public school systems to the max.  I believe it is time to figure out why kids are becoming autistic and fix the root cause.  If we do not do that, the long term cost to public school alone is astronomical.

As always I encourage you leave any comments you  have.