Posted by Baseball55 on September 2, 2016, at 6:36:52
In reply to Re: vaccinations and autism, posted by linkadge on September 1, 2016, at 19:45:42
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> Also, performance on key standardized tests (math / science) was significantly higher than today (despite your argument of a significant lack of 'proper diagnosis').According to the national assessment of educational progress, the percentage of 4th and 8th graders ranked as proficient in math has more than doubled since 1990. Just one little factoid in the history of us education you've got wrong.
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> In the 80's and 90's we could eat peanut butter galore (every 2nd child brought a peanut butter sandwich to school for lunch).Data? My children,in the 1990s, were not allowed to bring nuts of any sort to school. But then, what do I know about education history compared to an expert such as yourself?
> Now, I walk into classrooms where multiple students *in each class* have autism, ADHD and are on multiple medications (despite a significant lack of clinical trial data for many of these meds in children).
Data? There's no question that diagnoses of ADHD and autism have skyrocketed since 1990. But so what? What does this prove? Vaccination rates haven't risen over this period. Parents are much more aggressive in claiming disability status and demanding accommodation for their children than they used to be while stigma about such status has lifted significantly. Surely this is a factor driving the data. A uvery recently published book, reviewed just last week in the NYTimes, argues that ADHD is over diagnosed, in part driven by drug companies, in part by stressed out pediatricians and school personnel who find it easier to smack a label and drug a child than to investigate problems more deeply.
Maybe over diagnosis is part of the problem. We don't know. Experts in the field certainly consider this a possibility. I'm not just pulling the idea out of a hat.
In fact, consider the brief history of childhood bipolar disorder, a diagnosis that didn't exist until Joseph Biederman, funded by the manufacturer of Risperdal, practically invented it.
> Children are more likely to be overweight, have diabetes, high blood pressure, ADHD, depression, anxiety disorder, autism, peanut allergies (you name it).
> Our food is less nutritious, children are exposed to significantly more industrial chemicals in the womb and in the environment after birth. They are getting less exercise, less social contact, less sunlight.
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> Why is it so unconceivable to you that our children's declining health is MAN MADE?
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Did I say this'? Child health is always a bellwether of social and economic health. Lack of exercise, poor nutrition are undoubtedly problems especially for poor urban children who live in so-called food deserts and have no safe outdoor places to play. These children are also exposed to near daily trauma from exposure to crime and poverty and no doubt experience high levels of stress. Did you know that 38 percent of black children are tracked into special Ed, seeing as you're an expert in education history?
This number reflects not an epidemic of mental disorders but a racially driven tendency to label and drug children rather than to try and alter the lousy circumstances of their lives.
> Do you deny global warming as well?
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> Linkadge
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poster:Baseball55
thread:1091559
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20160819/msgs/1091643.html