I just returned from an early morning appointment with my fifth local gastroenterologist. The reason I keep looking for one is that I have had a flare-up of digestive problems since summer.  You may recall that I had parasites, about which I wrote in 2007. Dr. Dietrich Klinghardt in Seattle prescribed a  combination of antibiotics and herbal preparations which killed those critters then. My present symptoms are similar, and showed up following a colonoscopy.

I travelled to Seattle in ’07 because I could not find a gastroenterologist in Pittsburgh who would consider parasites as apossibility.  After the last one told me without cracking a smile that “food has nothing to do with digestion,” I swore I would NEVER go to another.  Hoping not to have to return to Seattle, I gave Pittsburgh’s doctors one more try.

This one looked  different:  a female with a certification in nutrition!  My hopes that she would know something about diet were shattered however, when, after completing my colonoscopy this summer she handed me a prescription for colitis, while I was still under the cloud of anesthetic. In response to my question about foods, she declared that there was “no known diet” for that condition.  I tossed her prescription, after reading the long list of side effects online.  Still, I harbored the false hope that I might have a conversation with her about my chronic condition. Hence the appointment this morning, for which I rose at the ungodly hour of 5:30 am and drove in the dark to be there at 7:00 am.

The night before I had dutifully and carefully completed an 8-page questionnaire, with queries about my family history of illness, my present medications (only a bit of thyroid), and supplements (a lengthy list of herbs and vitamins which required an additional page.) The paperwork contained not a single question about diet.  Since I was instructed to bring my history with me, I doubted seriously whether
anyone would read it before my appointment. I was correct.

First, an obese nurse weighed me and took my “vitals.” (Is it my imagination or are most nurses unhealthy looking and overweight?) She registered surprise at my low blood pressure. “How old are you?” she asked.  “It’s in my paperwork,” I replied petulantly.  Next, I was moved to a tiny room with a single chair and a lone magazine, “Colitis Today.”  The door closed. I decided to flip through the magazine while waiting. Articles about dealing with the psychological effects of the disease, and ads for clothing that allowed quick and easy toileting. I slammed it shut.  Was I in denial?

Thank goodness I brought a book.  After 15 minutes, another over-weight nurse came rushing in (two for two!),  apologizing.  “Oh, you’re in the wrong room! Follow me.”  We wentacross the hall to an identical cubicle. The reading material in this room was a sports magazine with Raphael Nadal on the cover. Obviously, this was the right room, since I am a tennis fan!   I waited some more.  After another   15 minutes (it’s now 8 am.  I could have slept another hour! How can adoctor be running an hour late first thing in the morning?) A rap on the door, and  the doctor appears with my paperwork in hand.

I had scripted a brief description of my life’s work with families of children with disabilities and my belief that diet and nutrition were worthwhile treatment options.   Before I opened my mouth, however, the good doctor began questioning.  ”Any history of colon cancer in your family?” ”Yes, both my parents had color cancer. That’s why I came to you for a colonoscopy this summer. It’s in my  paperwork,” I stated for the second time that morning.  She flipped the pages.  “Oh, now I remember you,” she declared.

She continued asking me questions, this time about alcohol and caffeine consumption, again documented in the unread paperwork. I offered up that I ate well, a mostly organic, almost vegetarian diet. “Maybe that’s your problem,” she replied. (Does she subscribe to the hygiene hypothesis, I wondered silently.) Patience, which is not one of my virtues, was running out.

Finally, I interrupted her with my prepared  script, which I had edited and tweaked several times in my mind to be sure to sound respectful.  I ended by stating my surprise that her questionnaire contained no queries about diet.  “Oh, this is a terrible form, she admitted.  We really need to revise it!”

She politely explained my condition as one of “inflammation of unknown origin.” I politely inquired if she was not curious about possible origins. We were both holding our tempers well.  She forthrightly stated that studies were “inconsistent.”  “Could that be because people are all different?” I asked naively.
“Maybe,” she said.  “But drugs are the only way to treat your condition. And I have no problem with your getting some acupuncture and chiropractic too.”  Wow! She just embraced complementary medicine!

“Is it possible that I have an infection?” I asked.  “If you would like me to order some stool studies, I would be happy to do so,” she replied. “But you would not have ordered them if I had not asked?”  “No,” she answered, unfazed.

I have had a number of stool studies, which are notoriously unreliable.  Critters often don’t show up, which does not mean that they are not there.  When I shared my knowledge on this subject, my doctor said, “That’s why I don’t order them!”

I persisted. ”How about possible food allergies?”  “Well, I would be happy to refer you to an allergist, if you’d like; I don’t do allergy testing.  (No multi-disciplinary approach that considers the whole person here.)  I used to do elimination diets, but they don’t work, so I don’t recommend them anymore.”  “Don’t  work?” I asked why?  “Because no one can stick with them,” she stated. Determined to win one argument for food, I continued,   ”Oh, you mean they might workphysically, but not psychologically?”  “That is correct,” she agreed. One point for me!

“Are you going to examine me,” I asked staring atthe cold, hard, stainless steel table next to me. “Of course,” she declared. I hopped up onto the examining table which could have been in a museum of torture devices, and lay back.  No removal of clothing.  Afterpalpating my abdomen, she declared “All done!” and I sat up.

This seemed to be a good time to escape. I thanked her and headed toward the door.  As I was exiting, she asked me an astonishing question, “Does changing their diet help children with autism?”  “Yes,
I replied, elated that I could share some of my knowledge.  80% show benefit from a gluten- and casein-free diet. Not only do their bowels work better, but often we see positive changes in their language output and relatedness.”  “That’s SO interesting!” was her response.

I ran to the elevator.  Past the tables of Pepto-Bismal-pink raffle items (including an iridescent pink pumpkin!) for breast cancer awareness month. (Excuse me.  Do you know ANYONE who is NOT aware yet?) I couldn’t get out of this hospital, in which I was born more than 65 years ago,
fast enough.

Today’s doctor WAS different. Traditional, yes, but not bad, just uneducated. Thank goodness, she still has an inbox and a smidgen of curiosity. I do not want to be her teacher. I will return to my trusted and
educated team of health care professionals: a chiropractic kinesiologist,acupuncturist, herbalist, and homeopath.  We were making slow, but steady progress toward improving my health. I will continue my regemin of vitamins, minerals, anti-fungals, herbs and remedies, as well as my organic diet, while I work on my patience. This time I will not throw away her prescription.  I will keep it just in case I change my mind, and decide that hair loss and a possible stroke are worth exchanging for some bowel issues. I will then return to her for another round.

Until then, I will continue my stubborn search for the cause of my inflammation and treat it naturally. Tomorrow I will start drinking 32 ounces of apple cider and eating a totally vegan diet for six days in
preparation for a gall bladder and liver cleanse this weekend.  I’m encouraged by what I read about it.  In the meantime, if you EVER hear me consider going to another gastroenterologist, please slap me upside my face!  Thanks.

I’ll keep you posted.

Last week, I observed a friend frantically chasing her toddler grandson who had slipped out of her grip, run to a buffet table and grabbed a cookie. “Does it have nuts in it?” she yelled in abject fear to no one in particular.

Today, more than 1% of American children, like this little guy, and approximately .5% of adults in the United States are allergic to peanuts. That is an estimated one million kids and three million individuals, who could die by simply breathing the air in a room where someone ate a peanut butter sandwich.

When and how did this epidemic develop, and why is it continuing? Most important, what is its cause, and what can we do to stop it?

The frightening answers to these questions are in The Peanut Allergy Epidemic: What’s causing it and How to Stop it by Heather Fraser, a Canadian mom whose child had an anaphylactic reaction to peanut butter at 13 months of age. I could hardly put it down! You and everyone you know who, especially your pediatrician, should read it.

The “perfect storm” that spawned the peanut allergy epidemic around 1990, (not surprisingly paralleling the autism epidemic) occurs, like autism, in more boys than girls. “Victims” are the same: picky eater kids with lessened ability to detoxify, consuming less nutritious food and receiving an ever-increasing number of vaccinations, growing up in an increasingly toxic environment. My friend, Dr. Ken Bock wrote about them in his book Healing the New Childhood Epidemics: Autism, ADHD, Asthma, and Allergies: The Groundbreaking Program for the 4-A Disorders.

Bock knows from his busy practice that many children with autism have severe allergies, including life-threatening reactions to peanuts. Likewise, many children with peanut allergies are diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders, including attention deficits, pervasive developmental disorders, Asperger syndrome and full-blown autism. The commonality, he and others agree: an overburdened immune system. How did that happen? Let’s start by understanding allergy and the ONLY means by which mass allergy has ever been created: by injection.

What is Allergy?
Early twentieth century American researchers, Rachel Carson and Theron Randolph, and a contemporary, MacArthur “genius award” winning biologist, Margie Profet believe that allergy is an evolved, and often risky, protective response: the body’s natural defense against toxins linked to benign substances. An “allergic” reaction occurs when the body is exposed to proteins of unfamiliar foods, triggering immunoglobulin epsilon (IgE) antibodies, the soldiers whose job it to protect the body’s mucous membranes from invaders. When they detect trouble, they deploy a biochemical cascade, characterized by coughing, shortness of breath, itchy skin hives, leaking of blood vessels causing swelling and potential asphyxia, vomiting and diarrhea. Scratching, vomiting, diarrhea and sneezing are a body’s desperate attempts at ejecting a toxin as fast as it can. In severe reactions, blood pressure drops, draining vital organs and causing the heart to stop.

The term “allergy” was coined in 1906, only one hundred years ago, by an Austrian pediatrician, trying to reconcile an unexpected reaction to vaccination in some of his patients. The modern concept of allergy grew out of the occurrence of “serum sickness,” a man-made malady. Keep reading.

The Hypodermic Needle
Documented life-threatening mass allergic reactions were rare prior to the late nineteenth century, and first emerged as an “unintended consequence” of a new invention, precipitated by the unprecedented need for pharmaceuticals near the end of the Civil War: the hypodermic syringe. Louis Pasteur was the first doctor to use a hypodermic needle to inject a vaccine: anthrax for livestock, and later rabies to a boy bitten by a dog. Hypodermic needles were quickly adopted as a hygienic improvement over the messy, often dirty, transdermal lances previously used to puncture or scratch the skin to insert pathogens.

As demand increased, costs became more reasonable, and production soared. Upjohn and Parke-Davis (both now owned by Pfizer) and Eli Lilly (the developer of thimerosal) were born out of demand for hypodermically delivered vaccines. Their 1890’s marketing methods closely resembled today’s, minus television and computers. Sales reps visited physicians’ offices, leaving promotional literature and samples in lively packaging. And, don’t forget the annual medical almanacs! By the turn of the 20th century, vaccine manufacturing was big business.

The Need for Preservatives
With an increased demand for vaccines for dreaded smallpox, tuberculosis, diphtheria and cholera, and the realization that a single vaccination did not confer lifelong immunity, the need arose for vaccines that could travel safely and be administered efficiently. Pus and scabs from sick animals decomposed quickly; sick animals were difficult to transport. The answer: preservatives suspended in an antibacterial carrier gel made of vegetable glycerin that extended shelf life and could be delivered by injection.

Early twentieth century ingredients included mercury-based antifungals and various oils. Exact ingredients were fiercely guarded proprietary formulas, protecting the scientists, their companies and shareholders by law.

Serum Sickness
A common outcome of the first mass preserved, hypodermically delivered injections of sera for scarlet fever, tetanus and diphtheria was a poorly understood and potentially fatal condition. It was first called “serum sickness,” later termed “anaphylaxis” by French Nobel laureate and immunologist Charles Richet – from the Greek ana (against) and phylaxis (protection) – the opposite outcome from what was expected from vaccination. Symptoms included fevers, rashes, diarrhea, decreased blood pressure, lymph node swelling, joint pain, an enlarged spleen, kidney failure, breathing difficulties, and shock, lasting for days, weeks or a lifetime, and, occasionally, proving fatal.

What was causing so many people to get sick instead of stay well? Richet experimented with dogs to find the answer. He injected his subjects with raw meat proteins, and then fed them raw meat. The result was anaphylaxis! Two other researchers did the same, except by injecting egg and milk, showing that without exception, all proteins, toxic or non-toxic outside the body could produce anaphylaxis by injection. Richet discovered that this phenomenon is universal for all animals.

Austrian pediatrician Clemens von Piquet and his Hungarian colleague, Bela Schick, studied serum sickness in thousands of children, noting a paradoxical relationship between the two outcomes of vaccination: attaining immunity and acquiring serum sickness. In both outcomes, an incubation period occurs between the initial inoculation and appearance of symptoms. Subsequent injections (just like secondary exposure to infections) are accompanied by an accelerated and exaggerated response resulting from “a collision of antigen and antibody.” This conjecture was confirmed by the fact that in 90% of von Piquet’s patients, immediate adverse reactions occurred following the “booster” injection 10-30 days after the first.

In 1934, up to 50% of children experienced post-vaccinal serum sickness. Families were forced to weigh their fears of fatal diseases such as smallpox against the risk of being injured or killed by a vaccine, and choose the lesser of two evils. The only difference from today is that few of these dreaded diseases kill many people any longer in developed countries because of antibiotics.

Anaphylaxis
As Richet continued to experiment with cats, rabbits, horses and frogs, he deduced that “digestive juices” were required to break down the protein, and if this did not happen, the body would mount an immune response. Experimental alimentary anaphylaxis is almost impossible to demonstrate in the presence of healthy digestion. The first injection of undigested protein into the blood stream sensitizes and weakens an animal, making it susceptible to a second, smaller dose which then could cause a serious, even fatal reaction in persons with inadequate digestion. Conclusion: healthy digestive juices actively transform potentially toxic proteins, rendering them innocuous, or restated, inadequate digestion is a common sense prerequisite for food allergy.

The “ingestion” theory of anaphylaxis has persisted to explain the vast majority of food reactions. Some of these reactions, however, are not life-threatening, but more subtle and hard to pinpoint, such as migraines, skin conditions, fatigue, anxiety, irritability and behavioral problems. Egg was a case in point; why did a young boy suffer from “egg poisoning” in 1908 when nobody had ever injected egg into him? Hmm…Unfortunately, his doctor did not know that for many years prior, emulsified egg lecithin was used extensively in vaccines, and vaccine manufacturers had introduced fertile hen’s egg as medium for growing viruses. What was the link? The answer came in the 1940’s with the discovery of penicillin.

Penicillin Allergy
When we first examined the peanut allergy epidemic, we recognized the attributes of the perfect storm for the “victims.” With the discovery of penicillin in 1928 by Scottish biologist Alexander Fleming all the pieces of the “perfect storm” for the “weapon of mass destruction were in place: a pathogen suspended in an injected or encapsulated undigested protein from oil.

Both oral and injected forms of penicillin contained a new ingredient, cottonseed oil, a product whose proteins are considered potent allergens. A gelatin capsule sealed the drug, which was not released until it reached the small intestines, bypassing the modifying effects of digestive enzymes. I’m sure by now you can guess what happened!

From the 1930’s through 1950, sensitivity to cottonseed oil grew, as did penicillin allergies. Scientists sought a cheap, plentiful replacement. You guessed right again. After World War II, the all-American peanut replaced cottonseed as the oil of choice in the manufacturing of penicillin and in almost all vaccines! It was plentiful, inexpensive, stable in heat, and during the war, patriotic.

By 1953, Pfizer and others produced six hundred tons of penicillin, laden with peanut oill mixed with beeswax (POB for penicillin in oil beeswax) to coat the penicillin particles in a concoction known as the Romansky formula. As the body metabolized the wax and oil, the drug was released into the system. By the mid 1950′s, an estimated 2.5% of all children had developed an allergy to injected penicillin. Scientists reduced the amount of beeswax and oil in an attempt to reduce and eliminate undesirable reactions, such as fatal anaphylaxis, antibiotic resistance, fungal overgrowth and dysbiosis.

Then came a new formula mixing penicillin with aluminum monostearate (PAM), also suspended in peanut oil. PAM was the delivery of choice from the mid-fifties through the 1980′s. More frequent and more severe allergic reactivity, including anaphylaxis emerged during what was dubbed “the PAM era.” Penicillin had created an unparalleled outbreak of allergies and anaphylaxis.

Peanut Allergy
During the late 1940′s and throughout the fifties, peanut oil in penicillin was not suspect. It was used not only in this wonder drug, but in streptomycin, broad-spectrum antibiotics, injected epinephrine for asthma, in anesthetics and vaccines. Unknown to consumers, peanut oil was a popular ingredient in vitamins, skin cream and even infant formulas!

Prior to 1941, the literature shows no report of peanut allergies in adults or children. A survey of people showed self-reported peanut allergies in .3% of those born 1944-47, .4% of those born 1948-57, and .6% between 1959-67. In 2008, over 1% of people born 1944-67, reported allergies to nuts, including peanuts.

Articles published in the late 1950′s and early 1960′s show a growing awareness of peanut allergy, but the first formal study of peanut allergy in children was not launched until 1973, and then on only 114 kids. Doctors watched the mysterious rise in peanut allergies, but few asked “why?” By the early 1990′s tens of thousands of peanut allergic kindergartners entered school, not only in the U.S., but in Canada, the United Kingdom and in Australia. This allergy accelleration was concurrent with an unprecedented push of political, social, legal and economic reforms to alter and accelerate the vaccination schedule in these countries.

The Vaccine Connection
In 1964, pharmaceutical giant Merck announced a new vaccine ingredient promising to extend immunity: Adjuvant 65-4, containing up to 65% peanut oil as well as aluminum stearate. An adjuvant (from the Latin “adjuvare,” to enhance) is a vaccine additive that stimulates the immune system, upping the body’s production of antibodies to a pathogen. Adjuvants reduce production costs as the vaccine maker needs less of the expensvie antigen; they also increase a vaccine’s efficacy. The can also be dangerous; the more effective a vaccine, the greater the risk of allergies and other adverse effects.

The inventor of Adjuvant 65-4, Maurice Hilleman and his colleagues at Merck knew that allergic sensitization to the peanut oil in the adjuvant was a distinct possibility, but considered toxicity and allergenicity inevitable outcomes of vaccination. It was simply difficult to balance potency and safety.

The public clearly did not know what was being injected into their children, called by immunologist Charles Janeway, “the immunologist’s dirty little secret.” The peanut allergy epidemic in children was precipitated by vaccines. Lawsuits ensued, especially related to the DPT vaccine. By 1985, over 200 lawsuits were pending against four vaccine manufacturers. This litigious environment caused many pharmaceutical companies to abandon the lucrative vaccine market, causing a vaccine shortage. A solution: combination or conjugate vaccines.

Vaccines were combined for convenience. With speed and efficiency the U.S. Pediatric vaccination schedule took off, helped by President Clinton’s Childhood Immunization Initiative in the mid-nineties. By 1998, childhood vaccination rates were at an all time high. So was the incidence of peanut allergy in children. Between 1997 and 2002, the peanut-allergic pediatric population in the U.S. grew by and average of 58,000 children a year, and doubled between 2002 and 2008. By 2008, more than one million children under 18 and another two million adults were allergic to peanuts in the United States alone.

According to Heather Fraser, “vaccination was the elephant in the middle of the room. Researchers glanced at it, knew it was there, but were reluctant to get too close.” The possibility that hundreds of thousands of children have been sensitized to peanuts by ingredients in one or more routine pediatic vaccinations is just too much to conceive. But it is too obvious to deny. The real clue is the sudden rise in peanut allergy following the escalation of the pediatric vaccine schedule.

Cross Reactivity and Vitamin K1
Most peanut-allergic patients have IgE antibodies against other legume proteins, including soybeans and other oil seed proteins, such as castor. At the same time that the vaccination schedules were accelerating in the mid-1980′s, doctors in the U.S. and many Western countries added a prophylactic injection for newborns. The purpose of this shot was to prevent hemorrhagic disease in newborns (HDN) or vitamin K-deficiency bleeding (VKDB). The two available brands contained castor seed oil, as well as aluminum, a well-known IgE stimulating adjuvant, 4% of which remains in the body indefinitely.

These ingredients remain in the body for an extended period of time, and are still being released as a baby receives its first Hib, DpaT, and Hep b shot at one or two months of age. IgE to castor could cross-sensitize a child to peanuts.

Detoxification
Why don’t ALL children react to peanuts? Ken Bock and other doctors treating children with autism spectrum disorders believe allergenicity is inversely related to an individual’s ability to detoxify. Children with peanut and other allergies have compromised immune systems and are poor detoxifiers. Most have gut problems, including fungal and other infections. Most are male.

Prevention and Rationalization
Screening children before each vaccination could help, but is antithetical to the goals of mass vaccination. Obviously, the “one size fits all approach to vaccination is simply not right. We have sizes of shoes, different ages of walking, teeth eruption, speaking and reading. We need to look individually at appropriate vaccine schedules.

But why should the burden be on the consumer and a family’s health-care providers? Clearly, vaccine manufacturers must take some responsibility. Right now they are basically financially exempt from ANY damage. Why? Because vaccines are BIG business tied to the military and school admission.

Furthermore, from an economic standpoint “food allergy” is BIG business. Think of all the enterprising companies producing peanut-, gluten-, casein-, soy-, and egg-free foods. Do we want to put them out of business? Hardly.

The biggest problem though is that it is virtually impossible to prove a causal link between vaccination and a later life-threatening allergy, even though the medical literature demonstrates that the ONLY means by which immediate and mass allergy has ever been created is by injection. Starting with combining the hypodermic needle and vaccines at the end of the 19th century, mass anaphylaxis exploded into the Western world.

We MUST have a formal study of vaccinated vs. unvaccinated populations. For starters, peanut allergy is virtually unknown in Amish communities, which discourage vaccination. Now that parents of children with autism are selecting not to vaccinate subsequent children, perhaps a target group is emerging. The National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC) has promised to pursue this research. Let’s hope it comes soon!

So for today, parents of peanut-allergic children are coping. Some have discovered ways to lessen their kids’ reactivity with energy medicine, acupuncture, NAET, and other alternative medicine techniques. But coping with an outcome that was forced upon them is unfair and insufficient. These parents must combine their forces as has the autism community and say “Enough!” Only then can we stop this runaway train.

What if there were places for adults with disabilities to live, grow and eat delicious food?  Places where they are treated with respect, participate fully in meaningful work, and live in nurturing and supportive multi-generational family-type atmospheres?  Well there are more than 100 such “life-sharing” communities in over 20 countries in Europe, North America, Africa and India. They are called Camphill Communities.

Last month I attended the Camphill Symposium “Being Human in the Twenty-First Century: Toward New Thinking,” celebrating 50 years of Camphill in North America.  My goal was to explore Camphill communities as alternatives for the multitude of young adults with special needs graduating this year from our high schools, and for others in their twenties and thirties whose parents are aging and who languish at home without a social network or life skills.

The symposium brought together almost 100 folks from a variety of disciplines.  I met social thinkers, environmentalists, scientists and members of a dozen life-sharing communities who spoke passionately about their desires for collaboration and cross polination.

The Camphill community model is based on the teachings of the philosopher Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925).  Steiner’s philosophy melds body, mind and spirit to apply “spiritual science” to all aspects of life. The legacy of this true Renaissance man is an amazing array of accomplishments, including a worldwide network of Waldorf Schools, a farming system now known as Biodynamic agriculture, holistic medicine encompassing a broad range of complementary treatments, as well as art, architecture, and even ethical banking!  His writing, including about 30 books, was so prolific that no one even knows how many lectures he authored, but it is estimated to be well over 6000!  Today, his teachings are known as “Anthroposophy” and practiced around the world.

The Camphill movement was founded in the 1940s by an Austrian pediatrician and follower of Steiner, named Karl Konig.  Anthroposophists believe that every human being possesses a healthy inner personality that is independent of physical, developmental, cognitive or emotional disability.

The symposium took place at Camphill Village Kimberton Hills, PA, near Valley Forge, a vibrant farming and handcrafting community of about 100, including both neurotypical  individuals of all ages and 40 adults with developmental disabilities. At Kimberton Hills, Copake Camphill Village in New York, Heartbeet in Vermont, and Camphill Village Minnesota, as well as in Camphill communities worldwide, villagers live in small homes, learn vocations, eat what they grow, move, paint and live anthroposophy 24/7. Neurotypical adults and their families, including young children, support and care for each other, the land and the environment around them, following organic and biodynamic principles whenever possible.

Each day of the symposium had a theme.  Invited speakers presented to the group as a whole, and then intimate focus groups of mixed ages, abilities and disciplines fleshed out the subjects further. The conversational sessions were enhanced by an artistic activity of our choosing.  Offerings included pastel painting, poetry, clowning, eurhythmy (a form of therapeutic movement) or singing.  We dined together for lunch and supper in the newly renovated café on delicious locally prepared cuisine. I listened to and shared insights with some astounding people during these opportunities.

Shelley Burtt, the Executive Director of the Camphill Foundation, spoke of “robust inclusion.”  She believes that society needs to be more open and expand its thinking about what is “normal.”  This process includes finding a new vocabulary that does not pathologize, but rather is accepting of people with differences in abilities and knowledge.

Judith Snow, who despite being paralyzed from the neck down, concurred with Shelley, urging us to support inclusive, not exclusive communities. Judith, who has a master’s degree, fully participated in all symposium activities in her wheelchair, which she propels by blowing into a tube.  With the help of a personal assistant, she spoke passionately about the assets individuals like herself bring to communities.  As a life-long advocacy for the disabled, she calls herself a “social inventor,” in addition to being a sought after motivational speaker and visual artist.

Coleman Lyles, President of the Camphill Communities of California expertly and equitably facilitated the morning focus group in which I participated.  His lifetime experiences with and love of the Camphill model is palpable.  He understands the history of the movement and its roots, yet has a vision for its future, as well.  The session he monitored on “nature, nurture and technology” was memorable in that he helped the group see how these forces can live compatibly in today’s society.

Eugene Schwartz, a veteran consultant and expert on both Waldorf education and Camphill communities, was a member of my focus group.  He has labored for over 30 years to make Steiner’s work available to the public through his extensive website and teachings.  He believes in the power of Camphill to spin off new communities to meet the needs of today’s populations of adults with special needs.

Tom Stearns, President and founder of High Mowing Organic Seeds in Vermont, turned a seed-collecting hobby into one of the leading organic seed companies in the United States.  Tom agreed with Eugene, and spoke to Steiner’s sense of urgency, which frequently fueled his inspirations into action.  He described the Camphill communities as the seeds for future organic-based farms for the disabled.

Barton Kirk, a fellow Pittsburgher, with whom I traveled to Kimberton Hills, and shared my artistic experience painting with pastels, is an ecological engineer who plants other types of seeds.  His seeds are ideas that germinate into innovative solutions for water and waste problems.  Barton grew up with community supported agriculture (CSA) and interned at Camphill Kimberton Hills. Today he is focusing on interdependence instead of independence in his work.

Hannah Schwartz, (no relation to Eugene), the vibrant co-founder of the newest American Camphill community, Hearbeet, is a true breath of fresh air. She grew up at Kimberton Hills. The late Judith Bluestone, founder  of HANDLE, a sensory-motor program she developed, would be ecstatic to learn that Hannah has introduced the HANDLE method to several Camphill communities.  Accompanying Hannah to the symposium were several of her villagers, including an extremely appealing couple, both with Down syndrome.  Hannah recounted that each had lost over 100 pounds since moving to Heartbeet.  Both participated fully in the symposium, making relevant comments, reading poetry and socializing with others.  Their warmth, ingenuous curiosity and passion brought tears to my eyes. Hannah plans to expand Heartbeet to include young adults with autism in the near future. I hope to visit her this summer in my travels to New England.

Peter Bruckner, my extraordinary pastel instructor, is a multi-faceted artist who heightened my enjoyment of the symposium. While I signed up for “painting,” I did so with fear and trepidation. Peter made it so much fun that I went out and bought some pastels to share my new-found skills with my daughter and grand-daughter. Over Mother’s Day weekend, we spent a full afternoon painting.  In addition to teaching art at Camphill communities, Peter makes one-of-a-kind jewelry, writes poetry, paints, and is the founder of a touring marionette theatre. Peter’s huge heart extended to everyone at the symposium as he sprinkled his talents and humor among us.

Several non-profits are now focusing their attention on developing programs for adults with autism and related disorders.  The Autism Research Institute (ARI) has publishes a bulletin on the subject, and  The Autism Trust from the UK, has launched a United States initiative to establish franchised “Centers for Excellence”  in all 50 states and many other countries, a creating worldwide virtual campus adult community. DDR too is looking at alternatives. I strongly believe that restrictive, non-inclusive communities are counter to what I experienced  at Camphill.  I urge all of those involved in planning for adults to take a look at the Camphill model.  I think that once you see the love, respect and interdependent support in each unique community, you too will choke up with emotion.  For over 50 years Camphill’s success has spoken for itself all over the world. Why reinvent the wheel?

“Severe deafness.”  “Profound hearing loss.”  These were the words heard by Jennifer and Bill Rosner within hours of each of their daughters’ births.  Imagine knowing that your children could possibly live in a world without music, voice, laughter and words, when yours was filled with violins, singing, humor and talking?  Unthinkable. 

I learned of this family’s odyssey through an Evite a few months ago:  an electronic invitation to a reading and book signing of If a Tree Falls, hosted by Jennifer’s sister in a Washington, DC suburb.  Since I travel there frequently, she included me in the guest list. Unfortunately, I was not able to attend, but I quickly ordered the book.  The holiday weekend gave me the time to devour it.

As a mental health professional working with parents of children with disabilities for over 40 years, I have listened to and read countless stories. Few have touched me as profoundly as Rosner’s. She takes us on a roller coaster ride into the land of the hard-of-hearing, a fractured battleground where those committed to signing are pitted against those sold on inclusion in the verbal world.

My first thoughts compared the Rosners’ experience to those of parents whose children are diagnosed with autism. Unlike autism, hearing impairment is now routinely diagnosed immediately. Infants are whisked off for hearing tests, and the die is cast.  Confirmation comes two weeks later, with a clearer picture of the seriousness of the problem. With autism, many months of worry, fear, denial and angst usually precede confirmation. Which would you prefer:  knowing immediately that your child faces challenges, or having a year to bond before the diagnosis?   Tough question!

There the contrast ends with a fork in the road.  In autism, those espousing behavioral plans debate those who evangelically preach diet and nutrition. Faced with severe and profound hearing loss, the Rosners immersed themselves into the worlds of signing versus speaking aloud. How to choose?  

After much debate, Jennifer and Bill decided that they were “talkers.” “We were constantly debating, questioning, arguing, doubting, agreeing, wondering aloud. And we were hearers, in the hearing world. A soundless, wordless world was unimaginable.”  They made the difficult decision to bring their daughters into their world.  

Baby Sophia was fitted for hearing aids, and baby Juliet received a cochlear implant on her first birthday.  Then they waited.  Would each girl hear and eventually talk? 

Living this emotional soap opera was insufficient for Rosner. Armed with information from geneticists, family trees, immigration records, and her fertile imagination, she takes the reader back over 150 years to the origin of her children’s deafness.   A chromosomal abnormality, asterisks marking those who could not hear, and a missing name all combined for her to conceive how sisters, brothers and parents were torn apart.  We travel in our minds’ eye to an Eastern European shtetl, where not only being Jewish, but the double whammy of being deaf, isolated ancesters.

All families hide secrets, but this one was in plain view: a mother with hearing aids and a poor ability to listen, was an experience I could identify with only too well. How many readers struggle with the burden of not being heard, and are shushed as I was, because talking about the elephant in the middle of the room was not “nice.”

Thank you Jennifer for opening Pandora’s Box for YOUR girls, and hopefully for others who want to know what was previously “unknown.” Simple, yet profound, this memoir shows how one family answered the question, “After the diagnosis, then what?” I hope that this book will be read widely in the disability community, as it offers hope, love and tenacity when the future looks bleak.

Do “green” schools positively impact students’ achievement and teacher performance? Common sense says “yes.” Recent studies now pinpoint the factors that make the difference, according to Vivian Loftness, Professor at Carnegie Mellon University School of Architecture.

I learned so much yesterday at the “Green and Healthy Schools Conference,” held at Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens, one of Pittsburgh’s hidden gems, showcased last year by Barack Obama’s G-20. This was my second year attending this amazing conference, co-sponsored by the Green Building Alliance. In case you didn’t know, Pittsburgh is a national leader in “greening” old buildings. That’s one of the reasons I love living here.
What is a “green School” anyway? Many people think it is one that is energy efficient. Well, that is only one of its attributes. Green schools also save water and waste, are toxin-free, and connect interiors with the outdoors.
How do we measure whether greening a school environment is worth it? The following  are considered meaningful outcomes:
• Increases in students’ test scores, as well as teachers’ productivity and retention.
• Decreases in teacher and pupil absenteeism and the number of asthma emergencies
Green Schools are:
• Dry and stay dry – Excess moisture, including condensation on machinery, grows mold, which causes sickness. One of the first cases of pervasive developmental disorder (PDD) I ever saw was in a girl attending kindergarten in a moldy church basement.  As soon as she changed schools, she no longer fit that label.  See my article on that subject. Ultra-violet light and sunshine reduce mold growth.
• Comfortable temperatures - Doesn’t letting light and sun in create glare and over-heating? “Dress” your school as you would yourself, according to season, suggests Loftness. Shutter and shade them in hot months and filter them in winter. Choosing proper materials for the roof and walls also helps control the thermostat.
• Well-ventilated – Which has better quality, indoor air or outdoor air? You may be surprised that “fresh” air from the outdoors wins hands down. Study after study says, “Open the windows!” Naturally ventilated classrooms outperform mechanically ventilated ones because heating and air-conditioning systems are chronically under-maintained. As carbon dioxide levels raise, performance drops.
• Quiet – Ambient noise is a problem, especially for our youngest students who are just learning speech and language. Noise from the street (cars, trucks, sirens, trains), air (planes), machinery (heaters, projectors), and adjacent spaces, interferes with learning. One study showed a 21% increase in productivity by decreasing noise.
• Clean – Good, “green” cleaning matters. No-touch faucets, doorways and spraying keyboards, desktops, toys and other shared spaces reduces sickness. So do non-toxic products made with vinegar, tea tree oil and baking soda.
• Well-maintained – On-going maintenance of the building structure is critical. The poorer the maintenance, the higher the drop-out rate for students and teachers. Obviously, no one at the top cares, why should they!
Surprisingly, lighting is not one of the crucial factors. Why? Because most schools are well-lit, according to Loftness. Performance does change, however, using different types of lights. Robin Mumford’s lamps have been shown to increase reading performance in young children.
What can YOU do to “green” your school and make it healthier for your students?
• Start a “green” committee
• Get students involved by making your school a “living laboratory” with projects such as a “rain garden” built into the curriculum
• Switch to integrated pest management and non-toxic cleaning materials
• Maintain your building with “green” products
• Read Greening Our Built World by Greg Kats
Have fun being “green,” and let me know what you are doing!

I’d passed the sign hundreds of times:  “Round Hill Park.”  Some day I’ll check it out, I’d promised myself.  That day was last Tuesday.  I spent a gorgeous late summer morning and early afternoon picking organic beans.  Thousands of beans.  Fistfuls of beans.  Green, yellow and purple beans. 

Joining me were Bryan Ritti, farmer, and COO of FarmsCorps, Inc., a social enterprise created to support aging farmers, local food banks, and regional agriculture organizations.  This summer he and Chelsea Attwood have co-managed the farm operation at Allegheny County, PA’s Round Hill Park, an oasis south of Pittsburgh, just off of Route 51, near Elizabeth.  Bryan spent two years in a monastery, so the solitary life of a farmer is natural to him.  Like many of today’s new breed of young farmers, he is smart, dedicated and passionate about living  off the grid  and off the land.  For lunch he devoured raw kale on homemade almond bread and chased it with a just-off-the-vine super ripe tomato. 

Also picking was Lauren, an educator from the Outdoor Classroom. She is also a gleaner for the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank, one of the lucky recipients of the bounty produced at Round Hill’s cultivated acre of fruits and vegetables. Organic kale, okra and string beans are a far cry from the rotten apples I saw the last time I volunteered at a local soup kitchen.  Thanks go to the Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture (PASA) for this outcome.  PASA, one of the largest state organizations supporting farmers and a sustainable  lifestyle is remarkable also.  They provide mentors for young farmers like Bryan who have chosen farming as a vocation.

So why am I  spending a day picking beans?  First, it is a delightful way to soak up, instead of supplement, my deficient Vitamin D. Second,  Bryan and his contemporaries interest me because, I believe they hold the health of the next generation in their hands. 

Today’s new farmers live and breathe the mantra of “Eat fresh and local.”  My car sports a bumper sticker with that message.  In season food that has traveled only a short distance tastes better.  Food that comes from your neighbors supports your local economy.

Bryan and other twenty- and thirty-somethings are the parents of the next generation .  It is THEIR health that will determine the health of their children.  If they are toxic from pesticides, PCBs, phthalates, mercury, lead and aluminum, they will dump their personal toxic loads into their unborn children.  If they are health conscious, eating organic vegetables, using natural personal care products and cleaners, avoiding fish and other products with heavy metals and watching their electro-magnetic fields, their offspring will be healthy.  It’s that simple!

Bryan and his buddies have big plans. FarmCorps, a not-for-profit modeled on the Peace Corps and Americorps.  It collaboratively provides the critical labor needed for farmers to increase scale and diversity of production.  As a social enterprise project of New Sun Rising, FarmCorps serves local farmers while providing experiential learning and training opportunities in sustainable agriculture – from agri-tourism like the exhibit at Round Hill Park to farm succession. Crops produced in specialized FarmCorps programs are donated for public benefit as a part of FarmCorps’ aim to serve southwestern Pennsylvania through strengthening the local food system.

Inherent in FarmCorps’ mission is providing training and vounteer people power for the aging farmer families. Hopefully fewer will not have to yield to pressure of real estate developers to sell their family farms and succomb to suburban sprawl. With the lofty goal of providing services in all 50 states, FarmCorps is just getting organized.  When I suggested to Bryan that his farms would be viable potential homes for workers with autism, he lit up like a Christmas tree.  “Putting marginalized populations to work is one of our goals,” he said. 

In the next year, DDR is going to be exploring connecting with organizations  like FarmCorps to delve into opportunities for inclusion of adults with disabilities.  In addition, we will be meeting with trend analysts to determine how to connect with tomorrow’s parents to investigate avenues for educating them about having healthy babies. 

In the meantime, shop locally, eat seasonally, and enjoy the gorgeous fall weather.

The first photos arrived. The baby didn’t look “quite right.”  But all newborns are “funny-looking,” I told myself.  Don’t be an alarmist.  Keep your mouth shut, Patty!

A long career diagnosing kids’ issues; this one was really hard.  I have known the parents and grandparents of this infant for many years.  Nope, just be quiet.

He’s now three months old; the family is coming for a visit.  Wow, I’ll have an opportunity to get a closer look. I take a deep breath and enter the house. He’s very cute in an unusual way.  A little agitated; maybe he just woke up.  His parents try to calm him; not an easy job.  Bouncing seems to help.  

Can I hold him?  Sure.  I look into his pale blue eyes.  They appear to be wiggling back and forth.  A nystagmus?  Maybe.  Not a good sign.  I try hard to get eye contact. I make goofy faces, crazy sounds, dangle my keys in front of his face.  No response.  I hand him back to his daddy. 

Back home, I wonder, “What’s going on here?”  Vision is something I know more than a little bit about.  Why are his eyes wiggling?  I should be able to engage a three-month- old easily.

Maybe Goggle can help.  I type in a few key words.  There it is, in a nano-second: a diagnosis of a rare congenital anomaly.  All the symptoms are present.

Do they know?  The father and both paternal grandparents are physicians.  Of course they must know suspect something.  Or do they?

Now I have an ethical dilemma. I recognize the need to move quickly, know the importance of early intervention. If therapies start NOW, this little guy has a chance to maximize his vision and other abilities. 

With whom do I share my concerns? Maybe a loving great aunt, who supports my work. Perfect! She relates my perhaps premature diagnosis to her brother, the other grandfather   Now the dilemma is his.  He calls the doctor grandfather. No, he has not heard of this particular pathology, but he will ask his friend the ophthalmologist.  

A call back.  No, the diagnosis is faulty, because the baby has no nystagmus. What was it I saw, then?  Maybe it was intermittent, occurring only when he was tired.

Sit tight.  Baby boy goes for his four-month check-up.  The pediatrician has some serious concerns. He sees a nystagmus, makes grave conjectures about its source: a brain tumor?

Off to a pediatric ophthalmologist.  In another nano-second, my Google diagnosis is confirmed.  Prognosis unknown.  What to do now?  Wait and see!  Return in three to six months.  WHAT?  Waste valuable time.  Not acceptable!

The calls and emails begin.  First the grandfathers. How many cases of this rare condition have I seen?  NONE!  How did I diagnose it then? 

Google!  Then the grandmothers.  How did I know? I saw a baby with symptoms that I didn’t like. Are there any experts nearby who can help? Yes, I know two special people in the same town where they live!

Treat the child, not the diagnosis!  For over 40 years, that has been my mantra.

First stop, a developmental optometrist. Both eyesight and vision can be elicited with lights and other novel instruments.  Visual stimulation jump-starts some movements. She offers a positive prognosis, and a home program of visual, motor, and other sensory stimulation. Within a short time, he is responding with laughter and relatedness.  Great signs!

Next stop, a reflex expert.  Another home program. Keep stimulating his reflexes passively. Give him lots of “tummy time.” Within  a few days he can almost turn over. 

More calls.  The parents relate their gratitude and grief.  Instead of “wait and see” they now have hope and an action plan. They’re “on the case.” Not the scenario they planned, but one they can handle. In addition to the private experts, they have connected with a multi-disciplinary early intervention center and their local school system.  Perfect!  I encourage lots of “tummy time” and movement.

Still many questions. How well does he see?  Would some lenses, prisms or highly controversial surgery help him? What about further testing? A genetic work-up? Nutrition?  He is still on only breast milk. Should it be supplemented?  Will he be okay cognitively?  These are all unknowns for now.    

Bottom line. The baby’s diagnosis is just a label. No matter what the name for his condition, I would have sent this young couple to the same two experts. No matter where they lived, I could refer them to top professionals.  All of us have the same goal:  treat possible causes, not symptoms.  Use a developmental, not pathological approach. Stay positive. Work with strengths to enhance weak areas. 

As they recover from the initial shock, they will most likely need some psychological support. They have a child with a diagnosis, a possibly devastating reality for high achievers. They don’t know as I do that this outcome is an opportunity for them and their family to learn and grow.  They are unaware of the miracles that can occur. I am grateful that they have the love, time, money and other resources to do everything possible. And to start at only four months.  What a luxury!

When my mother died on May 12^th,  DDR lost one of its strongest supporters.  Martha S. Heyman was a social worker at heart. She majored in sociology at Wellesley College, because she loved learning about people and hearing their stories. That is a trait I inherited from her. 

While she never received a social work degree, she spent a lifetime volunteering for and donating to social service organizations, helping those less fortunate than herself.  Whether it was counseling young mothers on how to dress for a job interview, improving the skills of disadvantaged minorities, or running a consumer hot-line for those encountering impediments to fixing leaky roofs or mechanically deficient cars, she was the ultimate advocate and philanthropist.  What a role model I had for starting DDR!

The most life-changing event for me in growing up with this “do-good” mother, was the day she came home with some completed vocational interest inventories.  At the adult day care center where she assisted, she was disturbed at the lack of activities available to the residents.  She had decided to poll them and brought the tests home for me to help her tabulate.  Her goal was to initiate some activities based on the interests of those attending the center. 

What fun I had helping her score and tally the results! At age 12, I was very impressionable. This, I decided was what I wanted to do for my life’s work!  Later, as a junior in high school, I plowed though college catalogs for hours (no Google then!) searching for a place to train.  Simmons College in Boston offered a double major in psychology and mathematics, preparing its graduates for careers as psychometrists.  Perfect!  Much to my mother’s dismay, I rejected her alma mater in favor of a non-liberal arts education.

After 30 years of diagnostic testing, founding DDR was a natural. While somewhat skeptical that I could run a non-profit, my mother was supportive financially and personally.  Every year for the past 15, she gave a significant donation, which allowed me to carry on the social service work that she so dearly loved.  Furthermore, because I needed additional education to run an organization, she encouraged and underwrote my masters in business.  She was so proud to attend graduation ceremonies when I received my degree at age 50.

My mother was continuously distraught that neither my brother nor I had a “real” job. For her that meant getting paid a “real” salary, and getting “real” benefits, such as health insurance. At the same time she clipped job announcements from the classified, and networked us with potential employers, she also bragged that although neither of her children was gainfully employed, that we both were making the world a better place. 

While my brother and I caused her a great deal of worry, my granddaughter Penelope brought her nothing but pleasure and pride.  I wish she could have seen this amazing three-year-old march up to her casket, describe a painting she made for her GG (for great grandmother), and then sing “Row, Row, Row Your Boat!”  The painting depicting the two of them (with hearts “because I loved her”), flowers and a butterfly is at the top of this blog.

Life was a painful place for Martha Heyman.  She felt others’ pain profoundly, and somaticized it as her own.  Hopefully, she is now in a better place, free of pain.  Today, I am eternally grateful to her for all the legacies she left, including DDR.  Without her generosity, this organization simply could not have existed. 

Rest in peace, mom.

I received a beautiful holiday card from a lovely couple showing several pictures of their two young children. The three-year-old boy is playing ball and laughing. The year-old-girl is wearing glasses and staring into space unfocused with her mouth open. I last saw these children about a year ago, when the girl was just an infant; I had not spoken with her parents since.

It appears to me that this little lady has crossed eyes, also known as strabismus. Her development concerns me greatly.  Unknown to me is what treatment she is receiving. I know from experience that strabismus is a serious visual condition that affects the ability of the eyes and the brain to communicate. A strabismus rarely goes away untreated; children generally do NOT outgrow it.

No one knows this better than neuroscientist, Sue Barry, the author of Fixing My Gaze. I just finished reading her remarkable book, and recommend it highly.  You don’t have to be a scientist to understand the impact of going through life with misaligned eyes. 

What happens normally? As we scan our environment, not only must our two eyes simultaneously aim at the same object, but our brains must integrate a message from each eye into a single image. The process of fusion (combining the pictures from each eye into a single picture) enables us to perceive three-dimensional depth and helps us to determine our relationships to objects in our environment. Vision emerges as the primary sense when a typical child integrates it with touch, movement and the other senses.

What goes wrong?  In children with developmental delays, signs of incomplete or inefficient eye teaming (binocularity) usually appear around eighteen months, just when expressive language is emerging. However, later onset is not uncommon. Poor eye teaming can be associated with neurological disturbances related to heavy metal toxicity, high fevers and childhood illnesses such as strep or pneumonia. Dr. Melvin Kaplan found that about half of the children with autism that he examines have an undiagnosed strabismus.

Initially, the inability to efficiently and effectively team the eyes may appear only at times of illness, fatigue or intense concentration. However, frequently, the vulnerable binocularity can worsen; strabismus and amblyopia or a “lazy eye” can result. 

First, Strabismus… In strabismus, one eye accurately aims at the object of regard, while the other eye misses it by aiming above, below or to the left or right of it. Double vision (diplopia) then results. The misalignment may be constant or intermittent, and thus not always noticeable.  Disorganization and confusion follow as the brain struggles to integrate competing messages.

Next, Amblyopia…. In order to minimize the disorganization and confusion, sometimes the unconscious mind adapts to strabismus by suppressing signals from the faulty aiming eye.  Eventually, visual suppression leads to amblyopia or “lazy eye,” in which the nerves that transport and interpret visual information lose some of their ability. The result is poor vision in one eye, due to an interference in the neurological interpretive mechanism. 

In many instances the reduced vision cannot be corrected with glasses or surgery.  With the eyes functioning at less than 100% efficiency, any sustained visual activity such as reading may require extra effort and strain. As in strabismus, the only obvious sign of amblyopia may be an eye turn. However, some people with amblyopia may turn or tilt their heads to see certain things or close one eye when reading.  I diagnosed a possible strabismus in a child after looking at photos in which his head was tilted to the left in each and every one. 

Proper early developmental vision examinations by an optometrist trained to look at the whole child are essential. Eye turns cannot always be observed and require special testing. Untreated binocular vision problems can pose obstacles to development in many areas.

Strabismus & Amblyopia Affect Spatial Relations and Balance Usually, such as in the holiday photo, cosmetic aspect of misalignment is obvious. Even more important are the effects on function and vision, because strabismus disrupts the ability to orient oneself in space.  A good number of the eye’s neural fibers bring information to the body’s balance system. If they deliver inaccurate information, the person’s sense of where he is in space can be compromised.  

The Psychological Effects of Strabismus -  Strabismus and double vision can adversely affect social-emotional development.  A child who is disoriented in space experiences himself and his environment as unstable and unpredictable. He may grow increasingly inward, become belligerent or demonstrate sensory defensiveness, all characteristics of “autism”

Treatment and Referral – Strabismus and amblyopia always require attention. Surgery, even when done when a child is young, may cosmetically straighten the eyes but usually does not improve visual function, especially without pre- and post-surgical vision therapy. Clinical studies indicate that fewer than 20% of patients who undergo strabismic surgery acquire depth perception.  Patching the “strong” eye to force the “lazy” eye to see is also of limited value.  Barry is one of surgery’s failures.

Effective treatment programs using vision therapy combine involve lenses, prisms and motor activity designed to teach the eyes, body and brain to work together.  Research shows that vision therapy can be effective at any age, but more treatment is needed the longer the condition has existed. Barry is one of vision therapy’s most prominent successes. 

At 50 years of age, she danced among falling snowflakes, experienced skyscrapers looming toward her, and tree branches projecting upward and outward, “enclosing and commanding palpable volumes of space” for the first time in her life. 

If you suspect that a child’s eyes don¹t work together, as I do with my friends’ child, go to the vision section in the Practitioner Directory at http://www.devdelay.org/ to find a qualified eye care practitioner in your area. This section lists organizations that train and certify optometrists to work with children and adults with a variety of vision issues. Go either to www.covd.org or www.oepf.com For a  complete explanation of this common problem, go also to http://www.strabismus.org/ .

Wow!  What a year it has been for news about vaccines.  Just when you thought it couldn’t get any crazier, it has!  The biggest, best, most informative conference ever!  A governor elected on a vaccine-choice platform!  And pediatricians petitioning against vaccine choice in Jewish schools!

 The Fourth International Public Conference on Vaccination: We Came Together, We Made History!  A huge congratulations to Barbara Loe Fisher and her husband, Paul Arthur for a most remarkable conference at the beginning of October. What a success!  Over 700 attendees from 44 states and 11 nations were riveted by over 40 speakers from dawn to late evening for four consecutive days. Their subjects included vaccine risks, global vaccination issues such as contamination, injury and safety, pregnancy, swine flu, Gardasil vaccines, and military families. We heard from investigative reporters, scientists, physicians, nurses, parents, homeopaths and others.  Sometimes speakers had to agree to disagree. 

I was honored to assist with book sales, registration and general organization. What a pleasure to work with such dedicated people with amazing energy and passion. I have worked closely with Barbara and her co-founder, Kathi Williams for many years, and attended the three previous conferences.  This one was THE BEST! 

The National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC)  raised over $100,000 in 24 hours to fund a study of the health of vaccinated vs. unvaccinated children. Go to  to view Barbara’s five-minute YouTube video describing it.  Watch the NVIC website to order CDs of the talks and downloads of the Powerpoint presentations. 

Governor Christie Elected in New Jersey!  Congratulations to Louise Habakus, Founder of Life Health Choices, in leading vaccine choice advocates who showed up in record numbers in to cast their votes and elect Chris Christie as New Jersey’s next governor. Christie made an official campaign promise to citizens of New Jersey in support of vaccination choice. He further cemented his position by becoming the first gubernatorial candidate to utter the words vaccines, autism and parental choice in the same sentence on Don Imus’ live radio show.  Habakus is now asking NJ residents to thank Christie for his promise.  Hopefully he will act in accordance with it!

Policy Recommendations to Pittsburgh Jewish School Administrators!  A group of 28 pediatricians in the Pittsburgh area, a majority of whom are Jewish, distributed a paper with the above title stating the following:

“We, the pediatric healthcare providers for the majority of the Pittsburgh Jewish community, ask the day schools, preschools and religious schools in the community to unite in stating the following policies regarding immunizations:

1.  All students will be required to provide proof of current, age-appropriate immunizations according to current Allegheny County immunization requirements, prior to the beginning of each school year.

2.  Any student not meeting these requirements must provide written, signed documentation, with state medical license number, from his or her licensed PRIMARY healthcare provider explaining the MEDICAL rationale for not immunizing the child in accordance with the American Academy of Pediatrics.

3.  While Pennsylvania law and Allegheny County code recognizes the right to “religious or philosophical objection to immunization,” our school does NOT accept such exemptions!  We consider vaccination to be a part of a person’s Jewish obligation to protect their own life and health and that of others; just as we expect that students and families choosing our school will accept that we provide explicit instruction in a variety of religious beliefs and practices, and expect our students to conform to school policies on dress, food, prayer, and ethical behavior, we consider this issue to be of equal, if not greater importance, and therefore expect the same level of respect and adherence. 

4.  Students not meeting the requirements outlined above will be excluded from school until they can comply with the requirements.

Exception:  We recognize that a student who is delayed in receiving immunizations often cannot receive them all at once.  Therefore, once a student can provide proof of having received the first doses in a “catch-up” schedule, along with a dated schedule from the physician indicating when the next doses are due, that student can be allowed to return to school.  The school reserves the right to exclude the student at a later date if the family does not follow through with completing the “catch-up” schedule in a reasonable time frame.  It is reasonable to expect that nearly all new students with immunization delay should be able to complete any standard “catch-up” schedule by the conclusion of their first academic year in the school.”

 Attached to this white paper are three pages of “Medical Evidence Supporting Immunization Requirements.”   No studies, no research. Just unsupported opinions on why “vaccination against infectious diseases is one of the most successful innovations of modern medicine ” Another statement:  ” Vaccination is perhaps the most rigorously tested, safest interventions practiced by modern medicine!”  WHERE ARE THE STUDIES?

A reporter for the Jewish Chronicle, a Pittsburgh Jewish weekly picked up this story.  The comments from Peter H. Meyers, Professor of Clinical Law at the George Washington University Law School and Barbara Loe Fisher of NVIC are worth reading.   Meyers, who is Jewish, directs the vaccine injury clinic at GWU Law School, and teaches courses on vaccination law.

To me this looks like an ACLU case waiting to happen!   I heard that one of the Yeshiva Schools had already sought legal counsel.  I just cannot believe that these doctors think they are above the law!  How can they dismiss the law of the state and people’s individual rights? 

Vaccinations and politics will no doubt continue to butt heads in 2010 for sure.  Wishing you and your family a healthy, happy New Year free of vaccines and politics!