HI! I just finished watching the show about autism. I was very moved and touched. Autism has been apart of my life for 4 years, but not because I have a child with autism. I am a first grade teacher. For the past 5 years I have had students with autism in my class. My first year teaching, I was approached about having a child with autism join my class. He was to come for story time and to socialize with the other students. Being a brand new teacher I didn't know much, but I wanted to help this child, so I said yes. I knew nothing about autism at the time. The little boy only spent the last 4 weeks of school with us, so I really didn't get to experience autism behaviors. The following year the same little boy, plus two other boys with autism where placed in my class. I still knew very little about autism. My school sent me to a one day training about autism. The training was only about what autism was not how to teach children with autism. My public school was trying to include all children in the classroom. I soon discovered that no one knew much about how to include these children. The first few weeks were crazy. All 3 boys had completely different behaviors. One screamed all day, one hated loud noises (so hearing screaming didn't help), and one kept kicking everyone. Plus, I had 22 other children to teach. I was totally freaked out, so I didn't exactly what JennyMcCarthy did....I googled Autism. I tried to learn as much as possible. I observed other kids with autism. I was determined to keep the boys in my class and help them be successful. I cried almost everyday after school with frustration. Then it went to crying once a week and so on. It slowly got better. I was getting use to the boys the boys were getting use to me and then magic happened.....The other students started forming friendships with them. Almost like brother and sister bonds. I was amazing. The year went by and each day was different. I just kept trying new things. I realized that some of the strategies I use for the boys worked for all the kids (ex. visuals). On the last day of school, one of the boys gave me a "Best Teacher" mug. When he gave it to me, it fell out of the bag and broke. He was so upset I glued every piece back together. I saved that mug. To this day, I put it on my desk to remind myself about how hard my class worked that year. Our pieces fit together...with just a little glue. JUST and FYI...I am still teaching and I have had students with autism in my class every year. Each year gets easier because my knowledge has increased. I believe I was put on this earth to help children. I hope my story gives hope to the parents with children with autism. Push your local public schools to include your child. The power of inclusion is amazing!!!

I just wanted to say thank you for your comments on changing the diet of an autistic child. We have a 9 year old son who was diagnosed as autistic when he was 2 & 1/2. We began both speech and occupational therapy immediately and saw small improvements. We also had his blood tested for food sensitivities and allergies - imagine our dismay when the results came back that he was allergic to most of his favorite foods!! ( goldfish crackers, peanut butter, toast, etc.) Our pediatrician at the time had the attitude of "you just need to live with it". When summer came, (I am also a teacher) I felt ready to begin switching him over to a gluten free, casein free diet. It was a little daunting at first - that's why I waited until summer vacation! But by substituting some of his favorites with the alternatives, i.e. rice or corn spaghetti for wheat spaghetti, he began to eat the healthy alternatives, and we saw measurable improvements within a few weeks. The cookbook "Special Diets for Special Kids" by Lisa Lewis helped us be able to make many good alternative baked goods for both our sons,the youngest having been diagnosed with Sensory Processing Disorder. And it is not as time consuming or expensive as you might think, and the results are enheartening.

My oldest son, who is also named RJ, has made great progress, his eye contact is great, his speech is much clearer, he is totally potty trained (this was a difficulty before), he is in regular ed classes for at least 1/2 day every day, and is at or above his grade level in progress. Does he still struggle sometimes, oh yes, especially with abstract reasoning skills, but our adventure with our two wonderful boys continues, and we take each new development and skill acquired with great celebration and pride.

Yonee Bryant-Kuiphoff

Jenny, my science is named Andy and he is now in heaven. He didn't have autism but he did start having seizures days after having his MMR shot at 15 months. We had 19 years of constant seizures. I to believe that the shot was why they started. He died at the age of 20. Don't give up the fight about the shots. People have no idea. God bless you and your son.

I am a 40 year old man. I am dyslexic and autistic. Or maybe you would have me say I have dyslexia and autism. It really means the same thing to me. I am not trying to offend any one. I am just saying what the medical professionals labeled me as because of all my challenges (stemming, no speach, no eye contact, would go to the bathroom on myself while awake and asleep, not reading, I was unresponsive to stimulation instead of being hyper sensitive to stimuli, etc, etc). I have been able to integrate normal behavior into my life with the constant help, motivation, love, and even ridicule of my family and special education I have been involved with my whole schooling experience, even in college. It was my family, friends, homeroom teachers, mainstream teachers that did not understand me, even a Vice Principle in my High School who ridiculed me, not the saints who worked in the special education programs I was in my whole schooling life or my father. Now having come to the understanding of what is expected of me I try my best to do exactly what I am suppose to do. People now think I am a perfectionist or weird for trying to do the right thing all the time. I am still autistic and don't know how to read between the lines. There is no gray areas in my life. I love having a very structured life. I have a very repetitious Job that I feel is my calling in life. I have been forced into a management positions in the past and was very miserable doing it. I finally told the General Manager of the company I worked for, I could not do it any more. Upper management promised me if I did a good job, they would let go back to what I was doing and no strings attached. They thought I could reproduce other employees like me and I would learn to like it. When I spoke to the General Manager about going back to my regular job after 5 months of being a supervisor/county contact, he said I did so well at what I was doing, he wanted to promote me to the next level of management. I ended up telling him I could not do the job any more because of my learning disabilities of dyslexia and autism. He could not believe what I said, because his 5 year old son was autistic and he did not let any of us know it. He said I was the smartest person he had ever met and asked if I wanted to met his son and family. I met his family and his son Connor. Connor from the very beginning took to me and interacted with me and was responsive to me. I told them it is because I am autistic too, that is why Connor is so comfortable around me. I told them right from the beginning he was able to sense our feeling and read us without us even saying or doing anything. I explained to his family what it was that Connor was doing/going through. I said it is like when you are watching tv. You don't interact with the people on the tv nor do you have the desire to do so. My wife and I have worked together to get Connor to desire to be potty trained (no more diapers, I went to the bathroom on myself until I was 11 years old awake and asleep), interact of course with eye contact, sing, answer questions, play catch, ride a bike, swim without floatation devices by himself, read with a 25 word reading vocabulary, follows verbal and directional prompting, not to stem, speak to us without being prompted, tell us when he does not feel well and what is bothering him, and of course to tell the people he loves that he loves them in a sentence and by name. I have posted on my AOL profile, ScottEKearns@aol.com, MySpace.com, and RevolutionHealth.com what we are doing with Connor and his progress to send a message of hope to parents with children who have autism. I know Connor is smarter than I am, I just have more patience (stubbornness) then he does. My father taught me to play chess at the age of four. Specialist would tell him one after another, that was the only thing I would ever be able to do and I should be institutionalized so I did not pull down the rest of the family. One specialist even tried to tell my parents that my tongue muscles had to be cut to loosen my tongue up. Thank God they did not listen to those so call professionals. They finally found a doctor who made sense to them and he became the Doctor for my whole family.

Jenny and Holly, I am excited Oprah finally did a show on this subject and congratulations for making it happen. It would be great if Dr. Oz would do a show on the importance of the diet for behaviors. My daughter is 36 years old and is on supplements and the gluten-free/casien-free diet for eight years. She has made excellent progress and currently lives in her own condo, drives her own car and is a cashier at our local grocery store. She still has autism; however, she is a success. She is in a social group at her local YMCA and sings in her church choir. It is never too late for families to make a difference in their child. One of my best friends son, 32 years old, died last month. He was in an excellent group home but the treatment of choice was a cocktail of psychotropic drugs! Believe in the future. I applaud you bringing this to the Oprah show. Ann Millan Robin's mother

Jenny and Holly, I am excited Oprah finally did a show on this subject and congratulations for making it happen. It would be great if Dr. Oz would do a show on the importance of the diet for behaviors. My daughter is 36 years old and is on supplements and the gluten-free/casien-free diet for eight years. She has made excellent progress and currently lives in her own condo, drives her own car and is a cashier at our local grocery store. She still has autism; however, she is a success. She is in a social group at her local YMCA and sings in her church choir. It is never too late for families to make a difference in their child. One of my best friends son, 32 years old, died last month. He was in an excellent group home but the treatment of choice was a cocktail of psychotropic drugs! Believe in the future. I applaud you bringing this to the Oprah show. Ann Millan Robin's mother

Jenny and Holly, I am excited Oprah finally did a show on this subject and congratulations for making it happen. It would be great if Dr. Oz would do a show on the importance of the diet for behaviors. My daughter is 36 years old and is on supplements and the gluten-free/casien-free diet for eight years. She has made excellent progress and currently lives in her own condo, drives her own car and is a cashier at our local grocery store. She still has autism; however, she is a success. She is in a social group at her local YMCA and sings in her church choir. It is never too late for families to make a difference in their child. One of my best friends son, 32 years old, died last month. He was in an excellent group home but the treatment of choice was a cocktail of psychotropic drugs! Believe in the future. I applaud you bringing this to the Oprah show. Ann Millan Robin's mother

HI
Thank you so much for the show.
I am a mother of three beautiful children. One that I think is on the spectrum. How do I know? I have been through Autism before. I have lived it. My brother was diagnosed with Autism about 10 years ago. He was about 3 years old. I shadowed him in school for a couple of months until my parents were able to get him into an early intervention school who deal with Autism. I know what the signs are and I know what to look for. Because of his Autism if did affect the family. People did not want to date into the family due to the "problem child" as they used to say. My brother even had a broken engagement bcz the girls parents were ignorant about Autism. My husbands family is also ignorant when it comes to Autism but my husband is begining to understand more about it.

As I was saying before I have 3 beautiful children. A girl who is almost 5, a boy who is 2 1/2 and my baby boy who is 8 months. My 2 year old is the one that I am worried about. My "Mommy Instincts" are telling me that there is somthing diffrent about this child. My daughter at the age of 18 months was talking and understanding the world around her. My son was not. Is still not. My daughter was able to say he family names, my son is not. Do I think he has Autism no but I do believe he is on the spectrum.

I am right now waiting to be evaluated by a doctor that deals with autism but I know that there is something going on in my sons brain. He was evaluated for early intervention. We recieve Speech and SI Therapy twice a week and PT and OT once a week. This is not enough. I feel that if my "mommy Instincts" are right then he should be getting more then the therapy he is getting.

As I watched the show, I started thinking about the time that I saw my son pulling back from the adorable blue eye boy I knew. I said about 17-18 months. On the way home from dropping my son off at play group I made a quick stop to my doctors office and asked them when my son had the MMR shot. Guess what it was at 14 1/2 months. I strongly believe as well as my mother believes that this immunization is a big cause. I also believe that due to my sons weak immune system he should have been given the shots differently then the other children.

I also believe that these special kids are a gift to us. G-d does not give someone something that they can not handle. G-d knows who the right people are to take care of these special kids. To nurture them and to care for them. I know this because of my brother and I now know this because of my son. There is a saying that G-d gives the cure before he gave the sickness. There is a cure for Autism and we the gift holders are the one who will find it. We are the ones who were given this gift so we can watch them grow and so that we can speak our mind to find the cause to help us find the cure.

I am interested in starting my son on the Gluten free diet you were talking about. I know it will be a challenge for me because his favorite food is pizza. I do need your help on this. How do I start? how do I find the perseverance to work on it day after day after day? Where do I start? I saw it changed your son. To me I feel that it does not hurt to try. The worst that could happen is that it does not work for my child. I feel it is important to me that I try it out.

One of my sister's son's was diagnosed with Autism when he was 2 years old. He is 3 now. They were forced to leave England and come to the US since there is no ABA therapy offered in England. She and her sons are here and her husband is in England. Her husband is getting on to her because she does not give any therapy lessons, all are given by paid staff. She asked the lady running the program if she should start doing some on the weekends herself and the lady said no, that he gets 1 to 1 therapy 7 hours a day 4-5 days a week.

After seeing all the studies on giving intense therapy I find this hard to believe. I teach 4 yr. olds in school and I have never heard such an an answer on this topic. Have either of you?

I watched your program 2 times yesterday...and cried both times. I am a 35 year old momma to 4 boys ages 14, 9,7 and 3. My youngest AJ was a preemie...with the cord wrapped around his neck 2 times and tied in a knot. He was born at 33 weeks. He was in the NICU for just 2 weeks. When he was a few months old...he experienced a seizure...causes unknown and he has not had another one. At a year, noticed that he would smear his bowel movements very frequently when he was in his room...ALL OVER! He did not play with the toys that I had from the older 3. He had and still has serious separation anxiety and mood swings. Was told by Early on to have him evaluated by community mental health at the age of 2 1/2 years. There were concerns that he may be autistic, pdd, aspbergers, ahdh, and or sensory integration disorder.
We ended up taking a loan out to take him to a neuropsychologist to have him evaluated. She clearly states that he is NOT autistic but has a mood disorder anxiety and severe sensory processing disorder. also is concerned but he is too young that he may also be adhd.
We were told by our pediatrician that there was nothing else they could do for us...that is why we had to see the specialist.
We have been in OT for 6 months now...AJ has his days...where he clearly is out of sync...out of sorts. Now I am up to battle the evaluation for special ed...the young man needs to learn how to be mainstreamed into the education system. He would be kicked out of a normal preschool. The problem is...there is no code for sensory processing disorder. THERE NEEDS TO BE!!!! I have raised him like the other 3 boys. Like Jenny said...it was mommy instinct and I still have that...each day is a challenge...we cannot go to the store...it is too much for him and he freaks out! We have been in store where people have put their fingers in their ears and shook their heads at us. Another time...a woman came up to my husband in the grocery store as AJ was having a fit and stated all we needed to do is pick him up and love him. Although AJ does not have Autism...he has alot of characteristics of autism.
Stay strong mommas....love your children...trust your instincts!
Thanks for the show Oprah!
Stasia from Michigan

I too was sitting in the doctor's office seven years ago arguing with my doctor about the MMR shot. My fear was immense. I had done the research and read the "unofficial" mommy reports about what had happened to their children after the MMR shot. My doctor laughed at me. But, I had an out. My son had a severe egg allergy and the MMR shot is egg based. I refused the shot based on the allergy since she did not validate my gut feeling. My doctor tried to convince me that the allergic reaction would be far better than the alternative to not vaccinate. I walked out and never went back. I found another pediatrician who was supportive of my decision. The mommy instinct that Jenny talked about is key. All mothers should feel confident in following through with their instincts. Six years later my son grew out of the egg allergy and my husband and I decided to go ahead with the shot. For some reason it felt right and to date, our son did not react negatively to the vaccination.