Toni Braxton's Autism Ads May Mislead Parents

I actually disagree. I was diagnosed with autism as a child and still suffer from it. Although I never was diagnosed till much later, I am in grad school. It’s just different for different situations but it is best to know early (although that wasn’t the case with me) it may have made a huge difference if it was.

The message of early intervention should never be diluted. Kudos to Toni Braxton for delivering that message. There is no cause for criticism here.
However, Toni Braxton’s focus is hardly raising awareness in concert with Jenny McCarthy. Their mantras have very different impacts on the parents.
McCarthy intimates that there is a cure out there if you subscribe to her potions.
Braxton has not made those statements.

Misleads and lacks focus. Throw the early intervention card out there. But then what??? There resources and remedies are not available to parents. We as a society need to address all facets of the Autism spectrum. The condition and all ages.

Robin,
Jenny has done more than any other celebrity to mobilize and take action for families impacted by Autism. She is vocal on multiple fronts. Requesting that we review vaccine safety, we provide services, we research therapies, and we maintain open minds and hearts.

It took my mainstream Doctors suicide to get a local Defeat Autism Now Doctor to help my son. It was the advocacy of Jenny McCarthy and Generation Rescue that we moved in that direction. The result words we have not heard in over 6 years. I am not alone. Results are being recognized and soon the ground swell will be a tidal wave. Fringe will be mainstream. Mainstream will have to deal with Guilt, prison, and God for abandoning a Generation.

http://www.causecast.org/member/tanners-dad

I have to say that one of the MOST surprising things I’ve learned as the About.com Guide to Autism is – early intervention is NOT the one and only key to treating autism. In fact, it’s not necessarily the critical factor at all.

What is really critical, early on, is establishing a means to communicate with your child on the autism spectrum (verbal, sign, keyboard, cards, whatever works). Outside of that – kids with autism, and everyone else, just keeps on learning over time.

I think that this idea that early intervention is critical comes from the idea that mainstreaming by kindergarten will make all the difference. Personally, I think that’s a lot of hoo ha. Many kids who do fine in Kindergarten fall apart in third grade… or sixth grade… because demands of all sorts change over time.

That’s why I am so gung ho for homeschool! (my new blog on the subject: http://www.examiner.com/x-2007-Homeschooling-Examiner).

Lisa (autism guide)

Dear Ms. Rudy,

Is Ms. Braxton’s message misleading? Perhaps.

However, as a father of a 6 year-old autistic son, I’m surprised that we’ve reached the point in our public discourse about autism where we would begin to criticize people for getting the word out and encouraging early assessment. Have we really reached that point?

We haven’t.

Ms. Braxton’s ad is not a triple-stamped guarantee for a bright future. The ad’s message is one of encouragement to parents to find out more information – and sooner rather than later.

Since autistic children may reside on one or more of an infinite number of points along the autism spectrum disorder, from very mild to very severe, and since no one has identified a verifiable cause to PDD’s, who are you to say that child A would not benefit from early assessment and diagnosis? Child A may very well reap huge rewards from such a move, while admittedly Child B may not at all.

The benefits to a child of an early autism diagnosis more often than not might far outweigh any “damage” or “disappointment” that would result from ignoring the possiblity of autism altogether, or of receiving an early positive diagnosis of autism (mild or severe) that may be completely unreceptive to therapies and treatments.

Until such time that the medical and scientific community start publishing significant and concrete findings on PDDs and their causes that can be verified and replicated, I, for one, think a little humility is in order around here.

Let’s get off our high horses long enough to stop pretening to know things we don’t know.

The lack of meaningful autism disorder research is by itself both a national and international embarrassment, not to mention a global emergency.

Is it so wrong to encourage parents to find out all they can and to take appropriate steps as early as possible to help their children? Ms. Braxton doesn’t think so. And neither do I.

I’ve never much care for Autism Speaks ads nor their comparisons. My most not liked ad is the car accident one. In any event, early intervention is a good start and maybe it’ll help that parent-jump start when a child is young. I suppose also, one would have to know what is their definition of early intervention? And whose providing it? One shouldn’t rely on any one school system for it, either. It may be a little misleading, for there are children who do not seem to progress as well as others do and may take them longer. I also suppose it may be hard for some parents to relate to these Movie Stars when their own child is not seeing the progress displayed on an ad. Two fold I might say. However, back in the day, there was no Movie Star to help me along and I imagine if there was none, we’d still find the answers we need/ needed as I did.

Early intervention and early mainstreaming help A LOT of children with autism and hurt none. So what exactly is the problem here? No one is saying it is a magic solution that will poof away all problems. It is just a really smart, really beneficial thing to do for your kid. – Christine, Preschool Autism Teacher

For a while, I was relieved. My son wasn’t diagnosed with Aspergers Syndrome until he was 10, even though we knew about his Sensory Integration Dysfunction by age 5, and he’d been in speech therapy, and had an OT to help him with his grip etc. in Kindergarten. With the emphasis on early identification/early intervention, I’ve spent a lot of time kicking myself for not somehow having figured out what was going on all by myself, and convincing Them to recognize it too.

Hearing that early intervention can be great but isn’t required, why, that made my day! Not having the tools needed to get a diagnosis is my fault, of course, being the mom, but I didn’t completely fail my son yet!

And then I hear that early intervention IS of COURSE the only right way to do things, from several different sources.

I think I’m going to try to focus on the fact that I did all that I could with what I knew and what resources I had, and that I’m doing the best I can considering the lack of resources currently available, and that not being able to even begin for my son’s first 11 years doesn’t seem to have kept him from getting fair grades in school until now. Things are starting to fall apart, but we can get on track. I have to have faith.

As a Father of an 11 year old, I know for a fact that when our children were going through what they were going through nobody had a clue (for the most part many still do not have a clue). It is very important to maintain your sanity in an insane world. Do not blame yourself, love your child unconditionally, and involve him/her in our world. I personally believe a Defeat Autism Now Doctors do have protocols that can help at any age.

http://www.ageofautism.com/2008/12/olmsted-on-auti.html

MarkusR you said it best. I totally agree. Let us face facts… we may not agree with how some celebrities are getting the word out and we may agree with others. The point is this Autism awareness has never been more in the spotlight until now. More attention, services and interventions are needed but because it is a spectrum children with Autism will not all require the same services. If it was not for some of these celebrities speaking out I do not think some laws would have been changed to have some services covered. Parents are strong advocates regardless of status but it does help if you have money to have your voice heard. Please stop putting down parents for creating awareness they are spending time away from their child to do this and we all know time with our child is precious.

Research shows that children who are diagnosed early and receive services have the best outcomes. I think it just motivates parents to move that much faster in having their children evaluated. These may be parents who have adopted a “wait and see” approach with their child and are wasting precious time. Lisa Jo Rudy even states “kids who are diagnosed earlier do seem to be placed in typical classrooms more often.” Is this not the ultimate goal for our children? I dream of that day for my son.

Jean – I have to say that there was a time when the idea of my child being in a typical class was my highest goal for him. But that time is gone.

I see now that simply being in a mainstream classroom is nothing more than a placement. It could be a good placement for a particular child – or a rotten placement. Many kids with autism are IN typical classrooms, but require a 1:1 aide simply to be present and non-disruptive. Often, they are actually taught by the aide. Parents may be able to say “my child is in a typical classroom,” and feel good about that – but in fact their child is being tutored in a school setting by an uncredentialed paraprofessional.

I also now realize that child who is successful in kindergarten – where non-structured chase games, ungraded activities, and simple letter and number recognition and manipulation are the goal – may fall apart completely in third grade when testing becomes key. They may do fine in third grade but find middle school impossible.

In short, school is only a setting, and it certainly can’t be the litmus test of “success or failure” for a child with autism.

Lisa (autism guide)

Much of this repartee is about semantics.
Lisa
Why do we need to qualify “early intervention” vs. your definition:
“What is really critical, early on, is establishing a means to communicate with your child on the autism spectrum (verbal, sign, keyboard, cards, whatever works). Outside of that – kids with autism, and everyone else, just keeps on learning over time.”
Isn’t it all early intervention?

Tanners Dad, sadly many parents have written to me indicating that Ms. McCarthy’s words have been discouraging and hurtful. I stand by my statement that Toni Braxton and Jenny McCarthy are not preaching identical theories.

Robin – I don’t think Toni and Jenny are saying the same things, but I mentioned their names together because they have appeared together on TV. I honestly don’t know a whole lot about Toni’s “autism politics.”

Re early intervention, here’s my beef: I think that parents are pushed hard to start intensive intervention immediately upon any suspicion of diagnosis. As a result, many jump into multiple high-priced interventions with the expectation that (a) it’s now or never, because later intervention doesn’t work and (b) if I hit the problem now with everything I’ve got, the autism will go away.

Neither of those points are actually correct!

Lisa (autism guide)

No, early intervention isn’t a gaurantee for success, and an individual with autism should not be written off just because the individual did not receive early intervention. My son received a diagnosis before the age of three, which was considered early in 2000. Everyone kept saying that he was getting early intervention, but unfortunately, they just kept saying it without doing any treatments. In addition, many used it as an excuse to write him off earlier than they would have had he not received the label of autism so early. It was a nightmare.
That being said, it is just common sense that the earlier we know about any condition, the more possible it is to receive treatments and interventions. Hopefully, this will in crease the chances of a favorable outcome eventhough it’s not a gaurantee. This would apply to any condition, whether it be cancer, the flu, autism(I’m not saying that autism is the same as cancer or that there aren’t strengths to autism), etc.

This entire issue is a big part of my grief. My son has regressive autism. That means that I had a couple of years where my son had skills that he doesn’t have now. That means that there were a couple of years where I knew that something was “off” and that everyone around me was telling me I was a crazy mother. I know I can’t change anything, but I just wonder if two years of thinking I had a “normal” child was worth the pain of losing that “normalacy”. He was my first child and he is my only child, and had I known that he had autism from the very beginning, I wouldn’t have anything different to compare it to. I have two years now, and it is just grievous to know how much life changed after those two years…difficulties from no longer being a part of mainstream society, not receiving love and acceptance from family, and just not “fitting in” or “going with the flow”. I also wonder if it would have been better for a doctor to be able to come in after my son’s birth, do a blood test, and give me the results when family was surrounding me, and when I was anxiously awaiting the proclamation of all ten fingers and toes and somewhat prepared that we would find out at birth if I had a healthy child or not…I know nothing prepares you for the worst…but I think most of us mothers expect the pronouncement of congenital problems, disabilities, etc. at the birth.
In conclusion, Toni Braxton is a celebrity. She’s rich and famous(although I actually have a photo of my son as a baby with a picture of Tony Braxton on television in the background talking to Oprah Winfrey on her show about her bankruptcy!) and has access to resources that not all of us do, and it isn’t fair, but Toni Braxton has choices. So does Jenny McCarthy. Whether you agree with them, or like them, no one is holding a gun to their heads and making them do what they feel is helpful for all of us with children with autism. Come on. Toni Braxton is just trying to help in her way, and I don’t think that calling for early intervention and autism awareness is some unpardonable sin by any means. She’s just trying to help and use her fame for good when she doesn’t even have to do that. I think common sense needs to be used. We really shouldn’t attack anyone for calling for early intervention and for promoting autism awareness.

I can relate to what Danielle said. Nothing can prepare you to have a child who is perfectly sound for alomost two years who suddenly upon recieving their shots nosedives into regressive Autism. I call it my two week decent to hell. That is what it was like for alomst a year. In that time I sought out ECI, had them coming to my house daily, and totally rearranged my head and my heart to raise my son properly. I think ECI is important yes, but I think parent education is even more important. I think having resources available for parents to plan the future for their child is critical, and something severly lacking out there right now. ECI is just the beginning of a process. McCarthy seems to be looking for someone to blame and tryign to figure out how to cure it. Braxton seems focused on not being in denial and seeking help. Those are both the early stages fo this process, and so, well, I guess I have no problem with them.

The (over)reactions and expectations of parents are about as rational and predictable as the autism spectrum itself.

Is your child mildly autistic, severely autistic, or somewhere in between, or does your child demonstrate a combination of mild and severe developmental delays or behaviors?

The very nature of the autism condition makes the human reaction and response to try and overcome it all the more desperate.

It’s a sad state of affairs when we have the media allowing TV personalities to serve as knowledgeable “experts” for neurological conditions that have not been thoroughly researched by any comparable standard. How many years of constructive autism research do we really have under our belts since 1960? I think the answer to that question which is “little, if any” explains a great deal as to why a generation of American parents would even considering turning to Toni Braxton for answers.

I’m obviously jaded. It would be nice if the US and national governments, as well as the medical and scientific research community would step up and take some ownership and more prominently share the scientific expertise we’ve accumulated up to 2008. There’s more than there was. More is needed.

Why are parents so worried about their children? It’s not unlike setting sail in the 15th century and still believing that yo’re ship just might fall off the end of the earth into oblivion. With respect to autism spectrum disorders, at this stage of scientific and medical research, nobody knows any better.

Lisa,
Once again, I think it is about semantics. I don’t think you give parents enough credit. Whatever intervention we employ, involves time and effort and maybe some prayers. There are no guarantees. The earlier the better is not a bad creed. Trial and error have stood the test of time, and the earlier you start, you can weed out the negatives. It is not a complete event to caution that early intervention is the operative force. You absolutely have to start somewhere and Autism Speaks has supported that notion.

Early Intervention is often the on-ramp for further treatments. It is however, only as good as the resources available to a family where they are located. They are not created equal and one of the first cruel lessons that parent’s learn is that they need to question everything that is “available” to their child. Technically, my child received early intervention services (state funded). In reality, that service was minimal and not of high quality. We’ve since moved to another state soley to access better services for our son.

Behavioral therapies (most typically what early intervention offers) combined with bio-medical therapies are the most effective. They work in concert with one another – not against one another.

Mere semantics my friends. Most doctors will tell you that early diagnosis will give you a better chance at living as close to a normal life as is possible. I don’t believe the Ad is misleading. What people should do is to go out and do more research for themselves, talk to the health care professionals especially those with authority on autism. Dependence on famous musicians to educate you about autism is ludicrous. While they can help people to become aware that autism exists, it is your responsibility as a PARENT to find out more about it, especially if you think your child may have symptoms. The fact of the matter is that early intervention has proven to be helpful and lead to some amount of normalcy in children who have autism. Probably what needs to be done are further studies or research on whether earlier intervention and treatment will lead to better futures for children. If I were to chose though, I would say that the earlier a child is diagnosed, the better his or her future will be. As with most other human deficiencies, the earlier the better.

“It took my mainstream Doctors suicide to get a local Defeat Autism Now Doctor to help my son.”

Mr. Welsh, can you explain how your doctor’s suicide motivated a DAN! practitioner to treat Tanner?

You’re an idiot lady. Early diagnosis is the key.

Proud Warrior Father to a Recovering 3 y/o Son

http://www.jennymccarthybodycount.com/Jenny_McCarthy_Body_Count/Home.html

Toni Braxton should be the public face of autism. Not Jenny McCarthy.

I think the point that they are trying to make is that any intervention can be helpful. There are some people out there that don’t have a clue about autism, or even know what it is. It’s all about awareness. I don’t think there is anything wrong OR misleading about the ad. If you had a child with autism you might understand. Don’t write about it unless you know what you are talking about!

Unless you have walked this road and have had a child with Autism then you should listen and not speak. I, too, knew by 17 months of age that my third son had something significantly wrong. Two pediatricians missed the diagnosis, but I persevered. Finally received a diagnosis by age 2 1/2. He had early intervention and received one on one therapy for several years. He is now in 9th grade in a college preparatory school. This would not have happened if I did not intervene early on in his childhood. Even the specialists were amazed at his progress. What we need to advocate for is making finances available so that every family can have the needed therapies available for their children. Diagnose early and treat!

I am amazed at all the controversy over this, really. A celebrity has a child with autism… there are probably many out there, Jenny McCarthy and Toni Braxton are just the ones brave enough to stand up and say it. All in the hopes that they can use their status to raise awareness. The list of celebrities using their status for the benefit of their personal causes is long, and so what, aren’t we a land of free speech? We speak of what is important to us, so why should they be faulted for doing the same, whatever the venue?

Whatever their “politics” may be, who cares??? Awareness is awareness.. our country has no problem trying to scare us about the miniscule chances of getting the swine flu, but does not take the long serious look at the real pandemic in our world and that is autism.

Yes, I have an autistic son, while the doctors were going through the “he’s just delayed” crap, I was seeking out speech, and other services. We started with biomedical not too long ago and his strides have been geometric. Learning is based on basic foundations that the earlier learned the better. Why wait?

I believe that early intervention is beneficial but that ANY intervention at any age is necessary. My daughter has Autism Spectrum Disorder and was not diagnosed until age 3 1/2 because I had to wait 6 months to see a developmental pediatrician. She had hypotonia and did not walk until 21 months old, but I was told that she was ‘developmentally delayed’. She rocked and flapped from 10 months old onward. It’s when she regressed in her speech to screaming that the doctor took notice. At 3 1/2. her speech was at a 1 year old level.
I am happy to say that just last week my daughter, who is now going to be 9 in January, was DISCHARGED from speech and occupational therapy. This was due to early intervention and of course my diligence with putting her in preschool with speech and OT and paying for private speech and OT as well. I do not believe that homeschooling these children is the best option as they need interaction with other children to aid their development.