Thoughts on the Wakefield study
by Lisa
Those of us providing services to children with autism here at Easter Seals Central Texas often find ourselves working with families who are also receiving services from Thoughtful House, an autism center in Austin. Thoughtful House was founded by Andrew Wakefield, the doctor whose research triggered a health scare over the MMR vaccine in Britain.
A recent article in Time Magazine discredited his study; the MMR vaccine is now deemed to be safe. Medical authorities in the U.K. have also ruled that the manner in which Wakefield carried out his research was unethical.
Wakefield has resigned from Thoughtful House, and after hearing news of that resignation Dr. Arthur Kingsman (known for his evaluation and treatment of gastrointestinal pathology common in children with autism spectrum disorder) also resigned.
The recent Time Magazine article has served to bring the questions about vaccines back to the forefront of the minds of parents in our community. Questions continue to arise from families on a regular basis regarding any connection between vaccines and autism. As I stated in my blog in December, 2008, the questions regarding a connection between Autism and vaccines is still quite controversial and a topic of conversation with almost every family we encounter when an autism diagnosis is received.
Here’s something that is beyond question, until a cause is found, Easter Seals is dedicated to doing what we’ve always done — supporting people with autism and their families today by providing supports and services to those living with a diagnosis.
September 30th, 2014 at 9:11 am
Great question, Barbara! It looks like there are four studies in the works right now that are comparing the health outcomes of vaccinated children to those of unvaccinated children, but none have released findings yet.
September 29th, 2014 at 3:37 pm
I am curious do you have any data, how many kids who are un-vaccinated are also autistic? Thank you
March 6th, 2010 at 8:06 am
Thanks for the information and thanks to Easter Seals for the valuable services provided to children with autism. Keep up the good work!
February 26th, 2010 at 7:39 pm
“Here’s something that is beyond question, until a cause is found, Easter Seals is dedicated to doing what we’ve always done — supporting people with autism and their families today by providing supports and services to those living with a diagnosis.”
Thank you for that support. My appreciation to Easter Seals.
February 26th, 2010 at 3:37 pm
Thanks Lisa. This is great information to share.
February 26th, 2010 at 10:07 am
Thanks for writing on this sensitive topic. There is so much guilt that comes along with the territory of parenting (we all remember the “refrigerator mother” theory!) I can only imagine how heavily these decisions weigh on parents’ shoulders; if someday, their child does receive the autism diagnosis, it is inevitable they will think back to every decision they made, big or small… if they ate the wrong thing during pregnancy; if they gave too many vaccines at once. We can’t do enough to empower them that they made the right decisions for their child and support them in the next steps. Articles and blogs like these help parents sort through the information overload out there. Thanks for sharing, Lisa!
February 26th, 2010 at 8:09 am
Thanks for the link and the info, Lisa. I had missed the article in Time. Good to know the study has been disproved, but there are so many more questions out there. Thanks for staying on top of it.
February 26th, 2010 at 1:36 am
Lisa,
Thanks for this informative summary. Your insights are always well thought out and valuable.
February 25th, 2010 at 9:16 pm
This is useful information. Being a mother, i am always concerned how vaccines will affect my child. Thanks for the post.