Well... MOST kids have an immune response (a good thing) when they get vax'd. (The immune system working is what creates the symptoms of tiredness, lack of appetite, aching joints, etc. For more info / a down and dirty explination of the immune response here's a link to a flu post I did not long ago. http://www.mamapedia.com/questions/13525474770564546561 )
MY SUSPICION as to the rest is this:
- Actual Autism / 2 is the normal age for most milder and HFA forms to be diagnosed
- Terrible Twos
- Natural Regression being part of the normal developmental process
- Self Fulfilling Prophesy
Starting Backwards...
SFP isn't a totally accurate description... but it's the fastest way I can think to describe people seeing what they want to. For example: My step aunt is absolutely convinced that MILK caused my cousin's autism. No amount of science will convince her otherwise. My cousin IS allergic to milk. So he had a nasty couple of weeks which meant a LOT of doctor's visits, during which time he was finally diagnosed with autism. I say FINALLY, because the day he was born he "mewed"... which is a red flag for autism. But despite the rest of the (medically trained) family getting wide eyed with that... to her, it was "cute" and "just him". Many many other warning signs presented over the months that followed. But she just didn't/couldn't see them. (My 30yo cousin never progressed beyond the age of 2 mentally, and in some ways physically -for example, he's never been able to be potty trained- and it took him 7 years to get to that stage despite tremendous care). My aunt was *completely* blind to all of the signs of autism that presented from day one. So in HER mind (seeing what she wants to see) milk caused his autism, because that's when it was diagnosed... not the facts, that the extended care / exposure to medical professionals during his milk allergy allowed his autism to finally be diagnosed.
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Natural Regression: Kids don't develop in straight lines, as most parents come to learn. Instead they develop in leaps and bounds. Most parents are so in awe of the amazing progress their children are making / understand the limits of a human brain... that the fact that children ALWAYS regress when
- working on a new area (large motor, fine motor, cognitive)
- when they're ill
doesn't bother them at all. They see it for the natural process that it is. Some parents though, wig that their child who was running all over has STOPPED running and instead is sitting and coloring (large motor to fine motor), or who was talking up a storm has quit talking half as much or more and started running all over the house at mach 2 (fine motor -lips, tongue, breath control + cognitive to large motor). Ditto, it's VERY normal for kids to need a few weeks of snuggles / to regress in their milestones for several days to several weeks after being sick (it's usually a nervous system thing, young children don't have total control over their nervous system, under stress it goes back under autonomic control, instead of conscious control... so they start having accidents, want to use a bottle instead of a cup, etc... aka either it's been yanked back, or they drop back a milestone or two to what's "comforting" while they recoup.
Vax's cause an immune response. Most kids are just a little tired and cranky for a few hours. For some, it lasts for several days. Not because they're sick, but because their immune systems go into overdrive. Even parents who understand the natural regression that happens when they're actually sick can get quite frightened at the natural regression from the immune response. It's *natural*, the same thing kids do when they get colds. They come out of it just like they do with colds.
So some kids get a couple weeks of natural regression from the immune response. OTHERS just happen to be trading in one developmental stage for another. I've known HUNDREDS of parents convinced that the 2yo shots had harmed their child -for a few weeks or a few months- then, a few months later their kids had finished the developmental stage they had switched to and the walking/talking/whatever thing they had dropped for the new developmental stage has another "growth explosion" and they totally forget how worried they were.
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Terrible Twos is a totally natural (and needed) developmental phase where kids pull away from parents (independence seeking). Like all milestones, it has a bit of a range (we had the terrible 3's at our house). Despite this being the BEST known of milestones I am still ABSOLUTELY FLOORED at the number of parents who have NO CLUE either about it at all, or some kind of delusion that with "good" parenting it would never happen with THEIR child. These same parents FREAK out when their children start doing cognitve emotional integration and independence seeking. Some, for the entire year that it typically lasts. Often causing quite a few problems in insisting on treating their child EITHER like an infant who only has needs, or like an adult with adult understanding. Not most by any means, but definitely a good percentage of parents I've known in certain areas (seattle and parts of so. cal. in particular have a really high percentage rate) who claim that this NORMAL AND WANTED developmental stage is caused either by
- immunizations
- a non-organic diet
((In certain other parts of the country I've seen it blamed on "possession" / "the devil" in the apx same percentage as those who blame it on immunizations or diet... aka the percentage of people who HAVE to have an outside source to "blame" it on))
A rather large percentage of parents who don't understand the terrible 2's also mistake it for autism OR vax injury. ((My neighbors, for example, took their son to over 30 autism specialists when he was 3, convinced he had autism because he 'quit listening, screaming for no reason, hit his head on the floor/wall/etc, got picky about his food' etc. He's a perfectly normal 10yo now. He was just going through the terrible 2's... but my neighbors don't "believe" in them. The dad is actually all puff chested about how they "cured" his autism with diet. <rolls eyes> The kid was a perfectly normal toddler, who "behaved" for most of his caregivers to the extent that a toddler CAN behave. But he's been "cured" by diet ;)
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Actual Autsim
In the "autism world" my cousin (the one my aunt thinks milk made autistic) was diagnosed fairly early at a little over a year. One reason sooooooooo many kids are diagnosed at age 2 is that at that point the "deadline" for a lot of milestones has firmly passed. SPEAKING, for example the normal range is 9-18mo. Kids who are *perfectly normal* can be "late" in talking coming in at 19-23 months (or even later)... but it's a bell curve. It is VERY VERY rare for a child not to be speaking AT ALL, by age 2... 6 whole months late. Even bilingual and multilingual kids usually have at least a dozen or more words at this point, and many have quite a bit more. Walking is another milestone that if they aren't doing it by age 2... is a major concern. DITTO, by age 2 most kids have been walking long enough for *pecularities* in their walking to show up (most kids walk strangely when they first learn, those who continue to lurch about or only walk on part of their feet after 6-12mo of practice are concerning for *many* things (as are all of the previously mentioned things... deaf children, for example, aren't talking at age 2, and children with inner ear problems often lurch about or walk very "precisely" -like toe walking-)
Point being... at age 2... it's possible to diagnose milder forms of autism that would be considered "wait and see". In my experience about half the children born have "wait and see" issues (it may well be higher in reality, but in my observation the rough estimate is half ). Obviously, half the children born aren't autistic. Most children are completely typical, a large percentage have some sort of developmental issue that is completely and totally unrealted to autism (sensory processing, speech delays, hearing problems, vision problems, etc.).
SO at age 2 a lot of children are diagnosed that had been on the 'wait and see' list. Kids don't "suddenly" develop symptoms not meeting milestones. They had not been meeting milestones for months. It's just deadline time at around age 2. ((CAVEAT... one of the scarier forms of autism is 'regression autism' where kids who had previously BEEN meeting all of their milestones start regressing and regressing and regressing. Autism itself is fairly rare. Regression Autism is even rarer. (Sort of like how early onset alzeheimers is a rarer form of alzeheimers - MOST people, even those who will get Az later in life just do NOT get it at age 30ish). Regression Autism happens in kids in 3rd world countries who don't get immunizations. It just happens. Someday we may know why/how. It may or MAY NOT be environmental. )) Far more common than regression autism, however, is the deadlines being past long enough to start warranting a lot of testing to determine cause.
