“You have to adjust. It’s as if part of your son has been taken away,” says Abel Community resident Tammy Jones as she talks passionately about her young son Travis who was diagnosed with autism following a series of immunizations at 19 months of age. Prior to that fateful event the Jones were living what they thought was the typical American dream. Tammy’s husband Billy is employed as an engineer with Honda in Lincoln, she is a youth director at Liberty Hill Congregational Methodist Church and their plans were to build a new home in Cleburne County. The Jones’ older son Dylan was in perfect health so they expected no problems with Travis and when the time came for his series of childhood immunizations they thought nothing of it when he was given eight vaccinations on the same trip to the pediatrician. “After the immunizations he got a high fever but it went away,” said Jones as she reviewed the trips to the pediatrician who told them everything should be fine and not to worry. “But we noticed changes. He was withdrawing and didn’t respond to his name. He stopped talking. He started doing strange things like he lived in his own little world,” Jones added And before his second birthday Travis had indeed entered his own little world - the world of autism which is a complex developmental disability occurring in as many as one in 150 individuals, over 8,000 of whom are Alabamians. The disorder makes it difficult for those with autism to communicate with others and relate to the outside world. The disability is the third most prevalent developmental disability and the most misunderstood. Autism awareness is raised each April by groups and organizations striving to find help for those with the disability, as there is no known cure. With the help of pediatrician neurologists in Birmingham the Jones’ learned of their son’s fate. Since there is no medical test for the disability there are other avenues to diagnose the disease including checking brain activity and other factors. “His brain activity was normal and he had no seizures but in October, 2001 he was properly tested, through EEGs and blood tests, at the Glenwood Facility in Birmingham and we were told Travis had autism. It knocked the wind out of me. Here we were a perfect family - how could this happen? I didn’t really want to seek help because I was in a state of denial but at our parent’s urging we acted. It’s as if a part of your son has been taken away. I started blaming God even though I’m a youth director at Liberty Hill Congregational Methodist Church,” explained Jones. She credits their pastor Don Henley for saving her. “We got together and he just prayed and I cried and cried and cried but when it was over I felt I had the strength to deal with the situation. I realized there is no cure and I had to deal with that,” she adds. Jones said families in similar situations must be able to grieve and move on and deal with the problem. “I had no idea what autism was or how to get help,” said Jones who now does what she can to help other families in the area who have loved ones with autism. Jones said she got on a crash course of reading books and magazines, searching the Internet and joining the Calhoun-Cleburne support group. She also connected with Auburn University where she went through a workshop on how to deal with autistic children. “That was perhaps the best thing I went through because they explain autism from the mild cases to the severe and mentally retarded. They taught me how to teach my son and how to communicate with him,” Jones explained. She said many autistic children are visual learners who show little emotions or are incapable of abstract ideas and thoughts. Jones had to set up a special classroom with special equipment at home where Travis could be taught on a one-on-one basis. He has a speech pathologist in Anniston. “We went from nothing to getting some speech response. He can now spell and write his own name. What people need to realize is this is an epidemic. There are nine autistic children born each day in California. In 1990 there was one in 10,000 and last year that figure was 1 in 150,” she explains. While researchers are still unclear about all of the causes of autism, reactions to childhood immunizations seem to be a major factor and perhaps cause. Jones said her first son had the same shots and had no problems but there are some researchers who believe some kids may not have sufficient immune systems to handle the amount of vaccinations. Jones also tells parents that they can stretch out childhood vaccinations over a period of time rather than have a complete set of injections at once. “This is something doctors usually will not tell you but, yes, it can be done. Know the facts about immunizations.” she warns. “Knowledge is power.” She said there are several families in Cleburne County who have autistic children and she would like to see them better served, particularly in school settings. She said these children must have a one-on-one relationship with teachers and a very structured routine and placing them in multi-handicapped situations is not recommended. “Many school systems say they don’t have the funds but federal special education funds are never prorated or cut. It just depends on what school systems actually do with the money,” she said. Jones credits Cleburne County Elementary School Speech Teacher Cindy Calhoun for her work with Travis. In addition, on the homefront the Jones’ have had to structure their lives in a more routine way and change their dietary habits.
Medical researchers found autistic children were staying “high” due to their system’s reactions to certain foods. The Jones’ eat a gluten free diet because Travis’ system cannot process wheat flour products and he reacts to food items containing such as if he had been loaded with cocaine - his pain sensors will shut down and he becomes “unable to focus.”
Researchers in England, Norway and at the University of Florida found peptides with opiate activity in the urine of a high percentage of autistic children. Opiates are drugs, like morphine, which affect brain function and the main culprits were gluten and casein which is milk protein - highly addictive, like opium, for an autistic person. Many medical professionals and scientists also blame thimerosal-containing vaccines for the increased rise in autism and learning disabilities. Thimerosal, a preservative added to many vaccines, is considered more toxic than mercury and giving a 10-pound infant a single vaccine containing thimerosal is equivalent to giving a 100 pound adult 40 vaccines in one day. It is a major source of mercury in children. Harris Coulter, author of Vaccination and Social Violence estimates one in five children is affected to some degree by a childhood vaccination. He writes, “Vaccination programs were instituted in the late 1930s, and the first handful of autistic babies were noted in the early 1940s. When vaccination programs were expanded after the war, the number of autistic children increased greatly. As the children of the first vaccinated generation (born in 1945) reached the age of eight or nine (in the 1950s) it was found that they could not read. This problem has continued to worsen until today about 20 percent of American school children are thought to have learning disabilities.” The Federal Drug Administration and Environmental Protection Agency called for the removal of mercury in infant vaccines beginning in 1999. In 1986 Congress passed the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act which grants compensation to individuals injured by certain vaccines as long as claims are filed within the appropriate time. The act has already made compensation of $80 million and over 4,000 claims await resolution. In the end, Jones said, she hopes Travis will be able to make a difference in the world, despite his disability, and she believes he will. For those wanting more information about autism Jones said she could be reached at 253-2285 or at Tmyjones30@AOL.com.
Travis (r) lakeside with older brother Dylan at their home
About Wayne Ruple
Cleburne News editor Wayne Ruple is a native of Ashville. Before coming to Heflin, he worked for three years as a computer systems manager in Birmingham. Ruple has worked for The Sand Mountain Reporter in Albertville, and was the editor of The Independent in Robertsdale. He has also worked for the Shades Valley Sun, the St. Clair News-Aegis and The Daily Home in Talladega.
