Questions About Vaccines Did Not Cause Rachel's Autism: My Journey as a Vaccine Scientist, Pediatrician, and Autism Dad

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I don’t know what causes autism, and I doubt that anyone else does either, but something strange is going on. In the 70s you may hear of one child who was autistic in an entire town, now there is practically an autistic child in every family. Something is happening at some stage of their life that is causing such a huge increase. If someone knows, they need to set these children free. What does causes autism then?

Margaret The classification has changed. Years ago, many more children were labeled as "mentally retarded." That has gone down. And high functioning children o…moreThe classification has changed. Years ago, many more children were labeled as "mentally retarded." That has gone down. And high functioning children on the spectrum were simply designated as different or difficult in the past. The numbers are not higher, but the diagnosis has become more specific, which gives families answers and gives kids access to appropriate intervention. A pediatric neurologist once showed me videos of her patients' first birthday parties, before the kids had their series of MMR vaccines. Parents did not recognize it, but almost all the kids would be interacting with each other and their child was repeatedly banging something. The differences were there long before the measles vaccine, and scientists know the differences are there in utero and believe they are mostly based on genetics. (less)

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