http://www.aconversationonautism.com/ - RSS Feed en-us matto@environmentalops.com matto@environmentalops.com Monday, April 29, 2024 EfficionConsulting Articles Module (www.efficionconsulting.com) Copyright 2024, A Conversation on Autism This article describes the top 10 reasons why autism is not caused by vaccines, looking at the issue from the perspective of logic rather than science. http://www.aconversationonautism.com/Home/ctl/details/itemid/78/mid/703/top-ten-reasons-vaccines-dont-cause-autism-ignoring-science-other-than-counting Matt O'Leary Sun, 15 Feb 2015 00:00:00 GMT A discussion about autism and aggressive behaviors through the lens of Matt's theory. http://www.aconversationonautism.com/Home/ctl/details/itemid/77/mid/703/aggression-in-autism Matt O'Leary Mon, 14 Jul 2014 00:00:00 GMT I have not actively managed this webpage for about 5 years though I didn't have the heart to take it down after all my hard work. Work got pretty intense with the melt down in the US real estate markets and two wonderful children were added to my world, now ages 2 and 5. I am hoping to be a lot more active in updating this page and responding to any questions. However, I am not quite at the point where that is going to happen regularly. I will try to respond to any Feedback given. But, I you do submit Feedback, please include your email in the text of your message as the website does not convey that info for whatever reason. If you want to contact me directly to discuss something, please feel free to email me at matto@environmentalops.com , as that will make sure I know someone is looking for me. http://www.aconversationonautism.com/Home/ctl/details/itemid/76/mid/703/sorry-for-my-absence-but-life-got-really-busy Matt O'Leary Wed, 04 Jun 2014 00:00:00 GMT   http://www.aconversationonautism.com/Home/ctl/details/itemid/33/mid/703/the-contribution-of-diagnostic-substitution-to-the-increasing-prevalence-of-aut Matt O'Leary Fri, 21 Aug 2009 00:00:00 GMT There has been a fair amount of media attention on the publicized link between Somali immigrants living in MInneapolis and increased rates of autism. More information on this can be found at the following cite. http://www.twincities.com/news/ci_12041479?source=rss . An excerpt from the article follows: The state found that 0.9 percent to 1.5 percent of Somali children ages 3 and 4 received autism support through the school district's preschool programs, compared with 0.2 percent to 0.7 percent of non-Somali children in these programs. Please note this is not a huge difference in autism rates. The 2 to 7 times difference in autism rates seems to be generated by comparing the two ranges. I think this is a little misleading. For instance, the 7 times upper estimate seems to be generated by comparing the low estimate for non-Somali children with the high estimate for Somali children. Nonetheless, there does seem to be some elevated risk of autism in Somali immigrants to Minnesota. I haven’t seen any reasonable explanations offered for this potentially elevated number of autism diagnoses within the Somali community in Minnesota. So, having a little time this afternoon, I will offer my own. And, I am not saying that all of these elements are involved. I think that some of them are, and all of them have the potential to be involved. This offers the opportunity for an interesting thought experiment. In most venues, it is very difficult to untangle the genetic and environmental contributors to autism. This clouds potential analysis. While it is certainly possible that genetics are playing a role here, it would seem more likely that an environmental explanation is more likely dominant, if in fact autism rates among Somali immigrants really are elevated in this area.& http://www.aconversationonautism.com/Home/ctl/details/itemid/31/mid/703/a-theory-about-somali-immigrants-and-autism Matt O'Leary Sat, 02 May 2009 00:00:00 GMT This is a copy of the letter I sent to Dr. Lynn Waterhouse, an autism research pioneer, in response to an article she wrote called 'Autism Overflows: Increasing Incidence and Proliferating Theories. My letter attempts to integrate much of the content of her paper with my theories. I will let you know if she responds, which I suspect is unlikely, but we will see. http://www.aconversationonautism.com/Home/ctl/details/itemid/30/mid/703/a-letter-to-dr-lynn-waterhouse Matt O'Leary Tue, 24 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT  I don't want any readers out there (to the extent there are any) to think I am not hard at work. I have just added a whole new section on Vaccines and Autism, where I try to add a fresh perspective to the debate. I try to apply pure logic to the various arguments about vaccines and autism, to see if I can shed any light on the truth. Like most things I write, it is a pretty challenging read. I still have work to do on this section, but I am going to move on for the moment. I have some new projects under way that should be posted soon. First, I am doing two papers on topics related to neural excitation imbalance in autism. One involves the paper published several months ago by Henry Markram et al, The Intense World Syndrome - An Alternative Hypothesis for Autism. You can find the paper here.  The other paper involves the protein mTOR, an intracellular protein that is crucially involved in cell growth and reproduction, as well as neural signalling in the brain. It is intimately involved in both tuberous sclerosis and fragile x syndrome, two the most common genetic causes of autism. It is fascinating, at least to me. My second project involves engaging in my own analysis of whether autism rates are actually increasing, or whether autism is just diagnosed more often today and has always existed at current levels. There are dozens of scientific papers on the matter, which I am in the process of reviewing. I think the application of logic to this question can unearth some perspectives that scientists necessarily miss because of the constraints of the scientific method. This is a crucial piece of the puzzle for my theory on autism - if autism rates are not actually increasing, then my whole theory probably comes crashing down in pieces. http://www.aconversationonautism.com/Home/ctl/details/itemid/28/mid/703/coming-soon Matt O'Leary Fri, 09 Jan 2009 00:00:00 GMT The case of Hannah Poling has been the most discussed topic in the autism world in the last few months. Hannah is a 9 year old girl who was just awarded a settlement by the United States Department of Health and Human Services related to a vaccination she received. Shortly after she received a vaccination for 5 diseases at 19 months, she quickly developed various health problems along with the symptoms of autism. She had been developing normally, according to her parents, but in the months after the shots, she developed a fever and litany of other symptoms including diarrhea, appetite loss and intermittent screaming. A pediatric neurologist examining her later noted that she had lost some of the speech she had previously acquired, was no longer making eye contact, and was no longer sleeping through the night. http://www.aconversationonautism.com/Home/ctl/details/itemid/27/mid/703/hannah-poling David O'Leary Wed, 10 Sep 2008 00:00:00 GMT