978-1572305441

Sally, Ann, and Danny 119
“What we want to know is what tests can we do to see if the vaccination
caused his autism?”
“I don’t think there are any,” I reply, knowing that this answer will
not satisfy.
“What about urinary peptides or blood levels of proteins? Other research
we have seen on the Net shows that kids with autism after the
vaccination have abnormal levels of these chemicals.”
“I would be interested in seeing those results. I find it hard to keep
up with research that is only posted on various Websites. To me that
could mean that the authors would prefer to not have their research
scrutinized by members of the scientific community. That’s usually the
minimum requirement for accepting as valid what people might claim
to be true.”
“That’s because most doctors don’t want to believe the research.”
I sighed. This was going to be a long interview.
* * *
I see Joan and Dave and the triplets six months later. They have
now had several months of intervention in a community child care setting
with lots of extra support from people knowledgeable about
autism. If the impairments in the children were transient or caused by
something other than autism, one might expect that there would be a
large improvement. I learn that the triplets have adapted well, they enjoy
going to day care, are eager to get ready for school, and quickly participate
in the activities. They do not need time to warm up but are at
the sensory bins first thing. Sally is using her few words more communicatively,
but the other two are still not talking. The difficulties in
social interaction remain, and the preference for repetitive and solitary
activity is still very strong. They are not really interacting with the other
children in day care; they still love to watch videos; and Danny still
jumps on the couch for hours at a time. I tell the parents that I think the
triplets do in fact have autism. They take all this in stride. A few tears
well up in Joan’s eyes, but she tells me she has already done her crying.
Given the enormity of the predicament, I perhaps naively expected
them to be more distraught, but of course they knew all along what was
wrong with the children. Most parents are, in fact, devastated by the diagnosis
and do their mourning in private, hopefully with the support of
family and friends. It is parents who have trouble accepting the diagnosis,
who do not mourn, who have the most difficult time moving on.