How is autism treated in Japan?

[EdZiomek]

My grandson is autistic. Of course, we are going through the stage of self examination...what did we do? what did we eat? what family histories do we have. Autism, if you have read, is reaching epidemic proportions in the United States, affecting 1 out of every 160 new born children.

Yesterday I saw an amazing video clip from CNN, Dr. Sanjay Gupta explaining his visit with an amazing autistic adult, Amanda Bragg, a remarkably communicative autistic person who actually explains her bizarre behaviour via a computer keyboard. Shockingly good and insightful.

http://www.cnn.com/HEALTH/blogs/paging.dr.gupta/2007/02/behind-veil-of-autism.html
http://www.cnn.com/HEALTH/blogs/paging.dr.gupta/

How does Japan treat autism? Are there any specialists doing new work in this area?

Any help is appreciated, thank you.

[craftsman]

I saw the video on you tube - In my language (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnylM1hI2jc)

It was astonishing.


The first part is in my "native language," and then the second part provides a translation, or at least an explanation. This is not a look-at-the-autie gawking freakshow as much as it is a statement about what gets considered thought, intelligence, personhood, language, and communication, and what does not.I had the chance to visit many families and learning difficulty centres across Japan in the mid nineties when I ran an NGO in Japan. The public perception of autism was very negative and families had a tough time receiving enough help in schooling and benefits.

Now I live next door to an autistic boy who is in the same class as one of my sons and the attitude to him is very positive both from the school and community. There was also a drama on TV last year about an autistic man starring Kusanagi Tsuyoshi from Smap that was hugely popular. So people are more aware of autism now and there must have been some of a change in attitude but how much I'm not sure.

Try The autism society of Japan (http://www.autism.or.jp/)

As far as specialists' work, my area of expertise is traditional acupuncture and herbs and as I have treated some autistic patients before, I am aware of some of the research.

Incidently looking at it from an Oriental medicine viewpoint - it is totally logical for autism to have increased in the world as it is due the internal balancing system of the body at a very young age - and with diet being what it is now, and pollutants, and lifestyle etc etc - changes are going to happen.

My wife's nephew has Downs Syndrome and greatly benefited from having acupuncture at an early age. Treatment for autism is also considered to be most effective when young. There are also newer developments in tongue acupuncture (youch!) for autism.

[Han Chan]

My grandson is autistic. Of course, we are going through the stage of self examination...what did we do? what did we eat? what family histories do we have. Autism, if you have read, is reaching epidemic proportions in the United States, affecting 1 out of every 160 new born children.

I think you should stop torturing yourself. Autism is to the fault of parents or gandparents. What seems like an epidemic, is to a large part due to the fact that too few were actually hot given the right diagnose in the past.
Quote from Wikipedia: "Many epidemiologists argue that the rise in the incidence of autism in the United States is largely attributable to a broadening of the diagnostic concept, reclassifications, public awareness, and the incentive to receive federally mandated services."

My nephew was diagnosed as suffering from infantile autism when he was six. now five years later the experts had to admit that they were wrong. Now they say he is suffering from a mild degree aspergers. Actually I think he has proven everyone wrong, I think he is quite normal - maybe a bit a nerd.
:-)

[Han Chan]

Dear Ed

My wife helped me search for treatment of autism in Japan. I am quite certain the you will find these threads usefull:
http://www.musashino-higashi.org/english.htm
http://www.autism.org.uk/nas/jsp/polopoly.jsp?d=297&a=3295

good luck!
:wave:

[EdZiomek]

Thanks craftsman and Han Chan... I will be following up on this.

I think Asian perceptions and remedies are so wonderfully different in certain instances, than western medical practices.

My grandson has been officially diagnosed as "autistic", but I am learning that the term is very broad and encompasses many "types".

Two classic symptoms is his refusal to make eye contact, his lack of a single word of vocabulary after two years, little things like that. He is in an intervention group with the State of New Jersey, so he is making progress in that he seems to point to what he wants to do or say. We are extremely, extremely encouraged at his progress.

PS...I watched him accidentally drop his bottle, and in a split second he reached out and caught it in mid-air! Something good is learning there, and we are hoping for the best.

Craftsman, your comments, and I couldn't agree more...."Incidently looking at it from an Oriental medicine viewpoint - it is totally logical for autism to have increased in the world as it is due the internal balancing system of the body at a very young age - and with diet being what it is now, and pollutants, and lifestyle etc etc - changes are going to happen."

The next time ANY, ANY, ANY American idiot starts harping on the killing of whales (which yes, I oppose, but..!), please do the world a favor and ask "Why is America using Dioxin-type herbicides to kill Coca crops in South America", or "poppy crops in Turkey"? These of course make their way into the birds and bees and the soils, for generations to come.

Why is America using mercurial herbicides to kill insects on cattle-feed corn, which naturally passes into the human blood stream?

What is America doing to clean up the air, and why did America not sign the Kyoto agreement for a cleaner air system? Or a cleaner ocean system for our fish crops?

By the way, there are third generation VietNamese showing significant numbers of birth-defects among their newborn, from the Agent Orange defoilation programs, of 40 years ago!!!

Epidemics, yes, many epidemics.

[EdZiomek]

Again from an additional CNN program, I was informed that the child within the autism malady may be entirely normal, maybe even hyper-intelligent, but is unable to express his opinion or feelings.

Example...we want food, we point to food, we eat food.

An autistic child wants food, but all that individual can do is twist his head and scream. (Maybe this is a bad example)

My grandson is now learning a very few expressions in sign language, and we have learned he does not want to be looked at, nor does he look at anyone without extreme discomfort.

But this is an amazing positive step towards learning this child's world, which we are strangers too.

Again, thanks to news organizations for studying this epidemic problem in the United States, with 1 of every 160 children now born with it.

[EdZiomek]

From Science Daily...recent news on autism...

http://www.sciencedaily.com/upi/index.php?feed=Science&article=UPI-1-20070514-10452100-bc-us-autism-dna.xml

Increasingly, as an amateur researcher, I am hearing that autism follows a genetic...DNA style pattern, as if some persons are more susceptible to autism due to their inherited DNA traits.

In the same frame of mind, another researcher claims a mercurial expulsion non-capability among autistic children. The effected children may not be born autistic, but exposure to toxic elements in our world (such as mercurial toxins and vaccinations) trigger autistic situations, that these certain children do not have the bodily capability to expel. That same researcher claims that just as autism is an acquired triggered event, steps can be taken to mechanically cleanse the system of toxins, thus possibly reversing the autistic malady.

Any thoughts from around the world?