A Mother's Take On Vaccines

Michelle Turner of Movement Lesson and Navigating Disabilities.com is the expert when it comes to shot regression. After her son Graham received a vaccine at the age of 13mos. he immediately went from a child developmentally on track, to years of delays in speech, sight and muscle tone. Here are the key signs of what she says parents must look for:



1. Non-responsive - A healthy child starts to look if you say 'Where's Daddy? Where's the ball?" Suddenly you find yourself repeating it or saying it louder. Needing to touch or prompt your child to get their attention.



2. Staring - Babies and toddlers work the room. You don't loose a child into a good TV show until they're a few years older. If they seem like they're zoning out or loosing track of what they are doing or obsessing over one item for a length of time.



3. Sensory & Touch - Babies and toddlers like to explore there environment. If they once enjoyed food & getting messy now the suddenly have fear of smells, messes, touch and/or sounds.



4. Fear - Does your child suddenly have fears? Does the child suddenly cling to a parent or have separation anxiety? Lost a sense of calm or peace that they previously had?



5. Slouching - babies and toddlers with a healthy nervous system don't slouch. Your child might suddenly seem heavy to pick up or carry around. They're not 'laid back' or easy going. Young children should be curious about the world around them.


I conducted an email interview with Michelle. Here are the questions and answers:

1. If a parent thinks that vaccines have had a negative affect on their child, what should be their next step?


There is a big argument from parents that vaccines cause Autism. What parents and professionals don’t understand is that you don’t get the shot and have Autism the next day. The first stage is the trauma to the system. The second stage is the developmental delays that start to occur. Then the child is old enough and delayed enough to qualify for an Autism diagnosis.



The first thing that a parent must realize, sometimes over the advise of their pediatrician, friends or family, is that the child can’t recover from that trauma on their own. The initial reaction is to think that the child is sick and will recover. Within a few weeks, calls need to be made to early intervention, or get a referral to a physical therapist, occupational therapist or Anat Baniel Method practitioner, along with follow-up with specialists. Taking the steps to find what works for their child, another key factor, to help the child develop.



This is the main reason Autism is a spectrum. To change the trajectory of a child’s life in mid development makes that child unique or their own flavor of Autism. There will never be one way to get a child to mainstream. This will be hard on a federal level and in school systems who will have the brunt of working with this epidemic.


2. What do you think needs to be done to prevent this from happening to so many children?



I can’t say that we shouldn’t vaccinate. I would like to ask if we can take a step back. Can we give only one vaccine at a time? Can a few vaccines be moved to a time where the child is older and their system is stronger to handle the dose? HIB and MMR are the two vaccines that seem to be in question by so many. Can we go back to single dose MMR for five years?

3. Do you think that there is a way to recover from development delays that are believed to be caused by vaccines? If so, what?



Yes I do. I believe that early intervention is just that. I had a child that has PDD/NOS. I was already in the system when my second son had a vaccine reaction. There were therapists in my home that told me that I had a problem. My son’s preschool teacher saw me holding my son and told me to go to a doctor that day. Even with all of that, it was five months from the vaccine to getting evaluated by early intervention and getting actual services. My son didn’t get an ‘Autism’ diagnose until he was almost three. That was a year and a half later. If I had waited until the diagnosis until starting services, I would have missed two years of his life. This is what is happening to too many children.



My son started preschool at the Foundation for the Blind. He started services at 18 months and at 28 months started with Anat Baniel Method (I am now a practitioner). Graham is in mainstream first grade. He goes to resource room for reading and writing comprehension. Graham has a full Autism diagnosis. I know that he would have been self-contained with hardly a future had I waited until the diagnosis to get started. 0-5 years of age is crucial to the development of any child. With my work, I can do a well baby check up and see concerns at weeks old. Are current thoughts are “We’ll just wait and see.” “He’ll grow out of it.” “She’ll catch-up.” A few lessons in infants stages and redirect having to do years of lessons by waiting a few short years.

4. The CDC denies that vaccines play a role in autism. What is your response to this?



I’m sending you pictures of Graham before and after his HIB vaccines at 13 months. The CDC doesn’t know about Graham and thousands of other children. I lost my son on that day. He got HIB (haemophilus influenzae) and that wasn’t diagnosed until he was 4. He now has no immune system because he had a massive infection for 3 years. No doctor has reported him to the CDC.



Also, as I’ve mentioned above, it’s the trauma to the system that changes the child’s life to develop differently and blossom into Autism. As scientists, they are looking for vaccine=autism. I see it as vaccine=development=autism.



The CDC also has a conflict. It is their position to make vaccines safe. It’s also their position to get everyone vaccinated. How do you have the same agency doing both jobs? Where is the check point?

My Son Picks Shania Twain As His Birthday Present

Taking both of my kids to the store can be stressful. When I do it without my husband, it is only done because I have to. When it is my husband and my kids, it can still be stressful, but I am not alone. It is easier when I have someone to help me keep an eye on both of the kids.

Grocery shopping is the worse. Neither one of my kids wants to stay with us. They both want to roam around. They both want things that they don’t need. I spend the whole time saying “No.” Then we get to the check out register. Really? Who’s bright idea was it to put chips and candy at the check out register? After spending the whole shopping trip going up and down aisles saying “no,” I just don’t have it in me to say it again. I just want out of there and I don’t want to listen to anymore temper tantrums.

When I go to the store with just one of my kids, it is a little easier. It’s easier to keep track of one, than two. If I am going to the store to just look around, I don’t feel stressed out when I am with just one of my children. Since I don’t have to get anything, I let my child lead the way. I follow.

Saturday was my son’s birthday. He received birthday money that he split up and piggy banked part of it and the rest was to spend. He wanted a game for his Nintendo DS. My daughter had to go to school for half a day in order to make up a snow day. My husband and I took our son out for a birthday breakfast. Afterwards, we hit the pawn shops and the local indoor flea market in search of used Nintendo DS games.

My son loved it. This is a boy that walks as slow as a snail when we take him to stores to get things that the house or my husband and I need. When this little boy has money to spend, and can spend it any way he chooses, he becomes the energizer bunny.

We didn’t find anything in any of the places we went to, so my husband dropped us off at home. Our daughter needed to be picked up at school and I was determined that our son be given the opportunity to buy what he wanted without his sister’s presence. I knew that if she was with us, she would be begging me to buy something for her.

There was one last store that we could go to for a great deal on Nintendo DS games. It was Sam Goody, a small store that was going out of business. They primarily sell music CD’s, DVD’s, and games. I took my son there to pick out a game, but, once we got there, he wanted nothing to do with the games. Up and down the three small aisles he went. He was on a mission to find the perfect CD.

It took a while, and I was just about to give up, when he finally stopped, pointed, picked up a CD and headed for the register. Wow! He did it! He picked out an item for himself with determination and confidence. I had to shake my head and laugh at his choice, though. It was Shania Twain’s Greatest Hits. Now it’s in his CD player and he listens to it over and over again. We left for the beach that evening, and when we returned on Sunday, he went straight back to his room to listen to his Shania CD. It could have been worse. He has been watching all of the different music channels. He could have picked out something that I absolutely hated. I would have let him buy it, but I am so glad he picked out a country music CD.

Calling for Action After the CDC Reports Higher Autism Rates

1 in 110 children are diagnosed with autism. That is 1 percent of our children in the United States. “These results indicate an increased prevalence of identified ASDs among U.S. children aged 8 years and underscore the need to regard ASDs as an urgent public health concern. Continued monitoring is needed to document and understand changes over time, including the multiple ascertainment and potential risk factors likely to be contributing. Research is needed to ascertain the factors that put certain persons at risk, and concerted efforts are essential to provide support for persons with ASDs, their families, and communities to improve long-term outcome.” - CDC

Identifying ASD at a young age is important. Early intervention has been proved to benefit our children. Yet, “the average age of diagnosis was 53 months” - CDC. Autism Speaks is pushing for the government to finance efforts to improve this number. I feel that this is extremely important for children that have yet to be diagnosed.






The CDC also acknowledges that community services are important in order to “improve daily functioning and long-term life outcomes.” The Autism Society of America agrees with this, and is calling upon the “government to address the pressing need for community-based services to ensure a better quality of life for people with autism and their families and to increase funding for research into what factors put people at risk and treatments that will mitigate the severest medical symptoms affecting people with this chronic medical condition.” http://www.autism-society.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=15481&news_iv_ctrl=1882

Both organizations are working towards important goals. Both are doing what they can to get the government to step up and help the children of America. This is no longer a concern for the few. The statistics show that the ASD rates are increasing drastically. It is time that the government started making a real impact in this area.

A child should not have to wait until the age of 4 and 5 for a diagnosis. Appropriate therapy can not be established without an appropriate diagnosis. Parents should not have to fight for a few hours of therapy a week. Children with autism benefit more from intense therapy, like ABA or Floortime, 20 to 25 hours a week, minimum. Most parents are not able to get this for their child. Speech, Occupational and Physical Therapy are important, but they don’t address the communication and social skills issues that are key with most autistic children. Two hours a week of combined therapy in those three areas are just not enough.


It is important that we all demand that our government take action. It is not enough that Autism Speaks and Autism Society of America are rallying their resources for us. We, the people, need to make our voices heard. It is time to call and email your Representatives and demand action. Call and email every level of government and every official that represents your city and your state. It is time that they started giving us some real help.