Having an older grandfather or being a mother who was abused in her youth are linked to higher odds of having a child with autism, according to two studies published Wednesday in a leading US psychiatry journal.
You can point a mother to the ends of the earth and it won’t weaken her resolve to find that cure for her ailing child. Broadcast journalist Karen Davila’s firstborn, David, was 3½ years old when he was diagnosed with Pervasive Developmental Disorder, Not Otherwise Specified (PDD/NOS) in the Autism Spectrum, a severe form of autism. The development pediatrician said there was no cure for David’s condition.
For too many people, autism is simply a word used to broadly describe anything different. Autism is a cruel joke or insult. Autism is something that “other” families deal with. It is a complicated puzzle meant for doctors and scientists to unlock. In other words, it’s not our problem.
“When we graduated from college 25 years ago, simple lang naman ang pangarap natin di ba? Magtrabaho, mag-asawa, magkaroon ng pamilya…” Gina Luna-Bermudo told me over lunch in her home one bright Friday morning. At the table was another Ateneo batchmate, Mary Rose Ramoso-Pena, who echoed the thoughts.
WHEN my firstborn was not quite four months old, his first nanny had delighted me with the comment, “You have a precocious son.” And so it was that Billy became a source of family pride with his growing social, physical and mental prowess. So imagine what a shocking blow it was when several years later, [...]
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