To J.S:

“I am a mother of 2 children that have been diagnosed with autism… What a joke!! They are nothing but late talkers that are spoiled brats as well… God Bless You man! and parents, PLEASE snap out if it.. stop acting like victims… You’re really pethatic!”

So, are you taking Savage’s word for it that your children are simply brats? Or have you had them re-evaluated. For your children’s sake, I hope the latter is the case. If they were, and found not to be on the spectrum…that’s fantastic news! I am happy for your family! If not, are you happy with the fact that they will just be “spoiled brats” for the rest of their life, and not get them the therapy that they need to become functional in society? Does it make you feel better that Michael Savage told you it was okay to take the label off your child and just suck it up and deal with it?

I am the mother of a beautiful 5 year old boy who happens to have autism. He was diagnosed at the age of 2. I am also a Registered Nurse, who does not believe in pumping children full of medication. I never once entertained the idea of looking for a “magic pill” that would make my child behave “NORMALLY”, but also as a mother of a neurotypical child as well, I’m sure we can all joke that we wish their was one from time to time. My son’s treatment for his autism consists of intensive in-home applied behavioral therapy 35 hours a week, as well as speech and occupational therapy in conjunction with special education in the early childhood program in our school district. It is a lifelong commitment, and certainly a much more rigorous but healthier path than just “pumping him full of medication”. When times were really difficult, I wished I could have simply blamed it on him being a spoiled brat. But it’s not that simple.

One more thing…my husband and I are not victims. My son is not a victim. He is our son, who happens to be autistic. His autism is not what makes him Nicholas. Nicholas is what makes him Nicholas. His autism has showed us a different view of the world around us. Of course I wish he never had it, but I can’t imagine our life without having this a part of it.

For people who pride themselves on their intelligence, it’s sad to see so much ignorance. J.S. please do your children a favor and seek a second opinion, as much as it might pain you to do so, if you haven’t already. If you’ve stopped treatment, or seeking treatment, because you hope your children are simply just “late talkers” and “spoiled brats” you are only decreasing their chances of a recovery. And for the record, when I refer to treatment, I’m referring to therapy, not medication.

To Braddley, behind the atrocious spelling I got wind of your ignorance as well. Maybe “back in your day” there was hardly anything known about autism, and if there had been, those people you choose to label “mentally retarded” might be very functional, contributing members of society today. My son will never be “locked up”, as you predict might be next. Why? Because he is getting treatment.

As far as there being “big money” to be made from Autism..that is an extremely weak argument. Sure, the therapy costs money..the medication costs money, etc. etc. So, is giving someone the diagnosis of cancer or heart disease all just a ploy to make the pharmaceutical companies richer? Do you believe that a bunch of suits sitting around a conference table in their 32nd story office building pulled an all-nighter brainstorming diagnoses that they could slap on children because “OH EM GEE THERES BIG MONEY TO BE HAD HERE PEOPLE!?!?!?”.

How shallow and ignorant.

My son’s autistic, and he’s not on one single prescribed medication. Seems to blow a big hole in the assertions by more than one supporter of Michae Savage in this thread that parents are just trying to pump drugs into their kids.

Unfortunately, personality disorders cannot be treated as effectively, which again explains some of the comments of the Savage-backers.