By Jackie Moore Pictured: 126.2 Runners, Deano Montreuil, John McBrayer, Johan “Taz” Desmet, Errol Josephs, Jason Miller and Eric Loffland along with the 126.2 Crew and Jackie Moore, TACA This Friday, January 18th at 4:00 AM, an amazing group of runners will start from Turner Field in Downtown Atlanta on a 126.2 mile, 2 day […]
Category: Guest Blogs
Shh…. The Secret to Successful IEP Meetings: Part 1 – How to prepare
Blog by Summer Stech, Esquire – TACA’s Legal Advocate TACAnowblog series: Legal Advocacy The new school year is finally underway! Of course a new school year means it is time to start thinking about your child’s Individualized Education Program (IEP). Although many annual IEP’s are developed in the Spring – due to the prevalence of […]
The Real Cost of Special Education: Considering the Return on Investment
Blog by Summer Stech, Esquire – TACA’s Legal Advocate TACAnowblog new series: Legal Advocacy Return on investment is defined as “a performance measure used to evaluate the efficiency of an investment or to compare the efficiency of a number of different investments.” The benefit of the investment made is divided by the cost.[1] A greater benefit […]
What Is Causing the Pertussis “Epidemic”: Unvaccinated Kids or an Ineffective Vaccine?
By guest blogger Dr. Bob Sears Pediatrician & TACA Physician Advisory Board member The recent increase in pertussis (whooping cough) cases has the media and public health officials in an uproar. They’re calling it the worst pertussis epidemic in half a century. Pertussis a serious disease for infants that tragically kills about 20 babies every […]
A Mouse Model for the Immune Dysregulation Subtype of Autism
By guest blogger & TACA Physician Advisory Member: Dr. Cindy Schneider A landmark paper was published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Researchers at the California Institute of Technology have successfully created an animal model for autism.[i] By injecting mice with synthetic double-strand RNA, they were able to precipitate an […]
Autism: It takes an entire family
by Guest Blogger: Nancy Cook A Grandmother’s Journey Everyone talks about being a mother and how devastating it is when your child diagnosed with autism. I bring a different perspective, that of a grandmother. My grandson was diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder at 3. That day I not only lost my grandson, but I lost […]
Vaccines in the news – an on-going series: Merck
Lawsuit Claims Mumps Vaccine Less Effective than Believed: Two Merck researchers blow the whistle on fraudulent research data By Dr. Bob Sears – TACA Physician Advisory member Merck Pharmaceuticals, the makers of the MMR II vaccine which protects against measles, mumps, and rubella, is under fire with claims that the mumps portion of their MMR […]
A huge loss in the scientific community looking into autism
Guest blogger & TACA Physician Advisory: Dr. Elizabeth Mumper The mother was beautiful, smart, and resourceful. She dedicated most of her life to the care of her son who had autism. Her voice cracked during her phone call when she told me, “my son died during the night.” Her son was 20 years old. He […]
Pay No Attention to the Man Behind the Curtain…
Guest blogger & TACA Physician Advisory Member: Dr. Cindy Schneider You remember it…the scene in The Wizard of Oz where Dorothy returns with the ruby red slippers and requests an audience with the Wizard, only to find that he isn’t a wizard at all, he’s a short pudgy fraud bellowing “Pay no attention to the […]
Ode to Joe & all dads
Guest blogger Charlie (age 10) doesn’t let autism get in his way talking about his hero dad Joe. We will let him share his thoughts. Ode to Joe is to all dads. We love all the TACA super dads. We appreciate and love you. Happy Fathers Day! Write your ode to a special dad in […]
Vaccines in the news – an ongoing series
This installment by Dr. David Berger – TACA Physician Advisory member Although thimerosal/ethylmercury has been removed from most of the infant vaccines in America, I just read in “AAP News” dated June 1, 2012 that the American Academy of Pediatrics and the World Health Organization recently announced that thimerosal should still be in the world […]
Autism in Past Tense: Recovered. Really.
By Guest Blogger: Holly Riley In November I spent four whirlwind days at the Autism Research Institute’s conference in Las Vegas. This was not a vacation. The ARI conferences are intense and full of information, and I was volunteering as a Parent Mentor at the TACA booth and Coffee Talk meetings. So when I wasn’t […]
Letter to parents looking at biomedical intervention for autism
Guest Blogger: Andrew Zimmerman In this photo: the amazing Zimmerman family with TACA Founder (NOTE: This is a feature from the new TACA Autism Journey Guide – Volume 2. For more information please see: http://tacanow.org/about-autism/autism-journey-guide/ ) Dear Parents, I am writing this to encourage you to consider biomedical interventions for your child. I hope many […]
DSM 5: LAST CALL TO ACTION. Proposed Changes in the Autism Diagnostic Criteria
By Holly Bortfeld DSM-5 Draft Criteria Open for Public Comment Mental health diagnostic manual available for final online comment period The DSM – Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders published by the American Psychiatric Association – is like a giant catalog of diagnoses. It’s the “bible” that lists the criteria for each disorder. DSM-IV-TR […]
The Big Time
Guest blogger: Janice Kern, TACA North Dakota Small town USA is a buzz in Spring with sports teams making it past district competitions, sectionals or regionals in order to make it to ‘The Big Time’ — the State Tournament. Where we live, believe it or not, we are now sending a third team to a […]
Honest Thoughts from a Sibling: I am affected by autism too
TACAnow Guest Blog: By Amber Betzold Growing up with a profoundly autistic sibling has been an adventure. It has been at times both painful and enlightening. I think in some ways I matured faster than my peers with neurotypical siblings. Growing up with my brother, Beau, required me to learn patience, and I like to […]
So autism is common. Who cares?
By: Dr. Bob Sears – Pediatrician and TACA Physician Advisory Member Before you yell at me for the title, pause and sense the sarcasm. I do care; I care deeply. As a full-time practicing pediatrician, I have continued to witness an alarming increase in the number of healthy babies in my practice who regress into […]
1 in 88 hit me hard
New numbers, same reality By guest blogger: Alison Hamilton One in 88 hit me hard. I wasn’t surprised, sadly. This isn’t the first time since Leah’s diagnosis that the autism rate has taken a jump in the wrong direction. But this one felt more personal. The CDC calculated one in 88 using children born in […]
I CHOOSE ELLIOT..
A Physician’s Perspective on the Proposed DSM-5 Autism Diagnostic Criteria
By Dr. Bob Sears- TACA Physician Advisor With the upcoming proposed changes in the DSM – 5 diagnostic criteria for autism, many parents are worried that their child may no longer qualify for much-needed services. One 2009 study published in Pediatrics (1) revealed that almost 40% of children who were previously diagnosed with autism improved so […]
