The explosion in autism really astounds me. It is frightening! It certainly makes a couple fearful of having a child. To realize that so many families in my vicinity are affected by autism, Asperger’s and mental retardation really disturbs me.
For one, we know that a family into which a child is born who has Down’s syndrome will in all likelihood divorce. We don’t know why, but couples who have a Down’s syndrome child usually divorce and end their marriage. That does not help with the stability of society and makes marriage precarious.
Likewise, I fear similar outcomes for married couples who have children with autism or Asperger’s Syndrome. While I know of no studies on the prevalence of divorce due to children born with birth defects, clinically we have observed over the years, this phenomenon of divorce apparently precipitated by such births and the burden of taking care of such disabled children.
A couple of years ago it appeared that the rate of autism was beginning to decline; however, that is not the case and it appears to have been a false hope. With the rate exceeding 1 out of every 166 children, this represents a massive increase from the 2 children I saw during my years of post doctoral training.
This is such a rapid increase and it makes one wonder why we as a nation have not done something about it? Such lack of response makes one wonder if it was not planned? While that certainly seems ludicrous, the deafening silence from Washington and from our leaders makes one wonder.
Since the rate of autism appears to still be increasing, what will it take to get the attention of our national leaders? Do we have to wait until 1 out of 88 of our children is born suffering an autistic disorder before we take action? Do we have to wait until there are several autistic children living on every block before we seek to start a campaign to combat this scourge? What does this bode for the future of our country?
Tags: Asperger's, Asperger's syndrome, autisitic disorders, Autism, children, couples, deafening silence, divorce, Down's syndrome, marriage, mental retardation
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Maybe back up statements like those with some facts. What a load of…As a married father of two children with ASD’s and one with Down’s Syndrome, I can assure you that my marriage will not end in divorce due to our children.
How many marriages are strengthened due to the circumstances? Have you thought about couples growing closer because of their circumstance? I know some marriages end in divorce, but to state that “couples who have a Down’s syndrome child usually divorce and end their marriage” is grossly irresponsible, and ignorant.
Don’t be lazy, do some research before making such idiotic claims and presenting them as fact.
Dan,
I write from years of clinical experience, obrservation and training. I’ll allow your comment to stand (albeit somewhat insulting) because you point out correcly that positive outcomes are possible. Nonetheless, over the years we clinical psychologists have observed that most marriages in which there is a child born with birth defects, such as Down’s Syndrome, end in divorce. Hands down. Admittedly, it is an observation but it has been so consistent I do not recall ever having seen statistics.
In the past my superiors who trained me to become a psychologist pointed out such “facts” to me. They had years of training and experience. I found their insights extremely helpful. For the most part, they knew these things but I do not recall a reason given for this phenomena of practically universal divorce following the birth of a genetically compromised child.
In the 1990’s this was practically a universal occurance. In other words, divorce almost always resulted and it appeared we clinical psychologists were impotent to keep marriages intact no matter what we did to help keep the couple together!
However, remember that the prevailing rates for ASD were something on the order of only 1 out of every 5,000. 1:5000. During my four+ years of supervised postdoctoral clinical experience, I only saw & treated two cases that qualified under autistic spectrum disorders.
[However, AD/HD may be considered a continuation of the autistic spectrum -on the same continuum- and I saw far more AD/HD--which I treated successfully. I received the most difficult cases from seven counties. Utilizing parent training, bibliotherapy and whatever it took, I was able to get approximately HALF of my clients OFF medications.]
Before graduate studies, as a music therapist in Anchorage and as a substitute teacher in Boston, I worked with between 20-30 children and young adults formally diagnosed with Autism. After graduate studies, I visited several facilities and interviewed for positions to provide services for those diagnosed with autistic and other serious disorders.
That said, “we” are not “statistics.” We are not “numbers,” and as your comment points out so well, not every marriage with autistic children ends in divorce. And I am grateful for your comment.
If you would like to do some research I welcome you to post here what you find.
There is nothing like team work and joining in pursuit of a superordinate goal to unite diverse groups (Sherif, 1954) or couples, IMO.
As society changes, norms change. Since 1 out of 49 boys has ASD today, the norms of our society have changed.
However, have you listened to my archived shows? Have you heard about the environmental causes of ASD? May I suggest that you and you wife and your children may obtain relief for ASD by contacting Dr. Jerry Tennant?
First, I apologize for coming off too strong. I certainly could have toned it down. Thank you for the suggestion to contact Dr. Tennant. However, we are fine and in no need of relief. Our children have made our marriage stronger and (unfortunately due to their circumstances) have made us more involved parents. We attend support groups and lead one for Down syndrome families.
I am in research. I have done plenty of research into autism and it’s causes/cures. There are many theories out there about what causes autism. None (that I have found) have held up under clinical testing.
MMR vaccine link? No.
http://www.cdc.gov/vaccinesafety/concerns/mmr_vaccine.htm
Now, can they play a role? Sure. But not as a cause.
Genetics? Appears so.
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/OnCall/story?id=4114447&page=1
Also, regarding Down’s Syndrome, 92% of unborn babies that are prenataly diagnosed are terminated. I do not believe that of the 8% that are not terminated, most of their parents will divorce. I know of no couple that has a child with Downs to have divorced. Granted, I only know 30-35 couples and I am sure some marriages will not work because of the stress.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10521836
Dan
Dan,
Apology accepted. No problem.
It is my belief that the humane genome is under assault today and it boggles my mind to understand why our own ever expanding government has not taken action, more action. If we lost as many on the highways, we’d have declared war on it long ago and taken it to task and beat it long ago. But, this is multifaceted.
It is difficult not to place credence in the links you offer; however, I think Down’s Syndrome has no singular cause. As far as innoculations and the possibility of immunizations having untoward effects, may I suggest books by Eustace Mullens and more recently Leonard Horowitz? However, be advised this is not light reading and in extremely disturbing. I hope to post book reviews on each in the future.
More importantly, it appears you have not listened to my archived shows because it is clear that most autism is caused environmentally by the formulae and food we feed our children. Manganese! {My apologies for not having detailed outlines of each show and not all of my past shows are posted. I was hoping others might help me with that or I could have experienced the success necessary to hire staff for that.}
Also, in one of my past shows, I cited recent research stats showing that divorce rates were plummeting (through 2006) and that divorce stats are often “manipulated” to support politically liberal agendas.
It saddens me that so many Down’s Syndrome children are terminated in utero. For one, I suspect there are a lot more False Positives than the medical establishment wants to acknowledge. For another, such children enrich our lives. Finally, it is against the Ten Commandments to kill them!!!
FYI, fetal ultra sound testing was banned years ago in Scandanavia because of evidence that ultra sound (Imagine the sounds inside of a moving rail road box car.) is associated with [and may cause] mental retardation in male children! I do not recommend any optional ultra sound. Only subject an unborn child to an ultra sound test if there is good reason. BTW, just knowing the sex of the child in advance of birth is NOT a good reason.
PS Dan, Dr. Tennant could help if you are dealing with Autistic Disorders but he could not likely help with Down’s Syndrome. I thought from my reading of your comment that you might be dealing with Autism.