'Journalism' on the Today show

My expectations are never high when I watch a Today show 'exclusive.' Newsreader Ann Curry can barely read a teleprompter. My husband and I would have created a drinking game out of her hard news reaction -- she furrows her brow, nods, and says, "Mmmmmmmmmmmmm," when the going gets serious -- except that she is on the air at 7:00 a.m. and we aren't in college anymore. Matt, Meredith, and Al are affable, but let's face it, their jobs require gravitas one day and broadcasting in Halloween costumes the next.

Overall, my hopes were not high for Dr. Wakefield's interview this morning. I was disappointed, but not surprised, by Matt Lauer. He had a script and he stuck to it. Was he that constrained by time, or is he, like many journalists, so uncomfortable with science topics that he can't improvise? Dr. Wakefield brought up the vaccine court cases the government has settled not once, but twice. The follow-up questions were practically dancing in front of Matt's teleprompter wearing gold spandex and fishnets and Matt left them hanging. Ask him what he means, what cases he's citing, if he's claiming the government is lying. Whether you think Andrew Wakefield is a genius or a quack, ASK THE QUESTION. Journalism 101. Reporters can bore you to tears about it.

Unfortunately, the cornerstone of American journalism, objectivity, was also lacking. The pre-interview piece included comments from British journalist Brian Deer about Dr. Wakefield's alleged conflicts of interest related to his GI studies. For the moment I'll concede that there is not sufficient time on the Today show to examine everyone's conflicts of interest related to vaccines. However, since they used Deer as their talking head and mentioned the Sunday Times stories he wrote about Dr. Wakefield and his case, they should also have mentioned that Deer is one of the people who initiated the complaint against Dr. Wakefield in Britain. In the United States, no one worthy of the title 'editor' would have permitted Brian Deer to write news stories about a complaint he had a hand in filing. He would have been nowhere near that story. So which is more inexcusable -- knowing about Deer's conflict of interest and leaving it out, or not knowing, because you didn't vet Brian Deer thoroughly before you quoted him?

The possibility that researchers will shy away from asking the legitimate questions that still surround vaccines is the saddest possible consequence of Dr. Wakefield's fate. Hopefully his quote at the end of the interview will invigorate his colleagues: "These parents aren't going away. Their children aren't going away. And I'm most certainly not going away." We still need more study and more answers.

-- Alison Hamilton

P.S. Watch the interview, below:

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A bad way to handle a bad day

At a coffee talk meeting recently, a parent asked for feedback about her elementary-age son's current school placement. In sharing background information, this parent disclosed that her son's previous school had a habit of calling her on his bad days and asking her to pick him up.

I wish I could say that's the first time I've heard about a school team handling bad days this way, but unfortunately, it isn't. And it sticks in my craw every time because it's totally unacceptable. Leaving aside the school's legal obligations to children with disabilities (we'll get back to those in a moment), sending these children home with their parents when they have bad days forms a dangerous pattern. No matter where they fall on the autism spectrum, our kids are savvy enough to figure out pretty quickly that having a bad day (whatever that is) means they get to go home. Once they figure that out, what are the odds that the bad days will increase?

The main thing parents need to know is that if school administrators call you to pick your child up early, it counts as a suspension. And there are limits to the amount of time your school can suspend your child if the behavior is a manifestation of your child's disability. A student with a disability cannot be denied education services for more than 10 days in a school year, and repeated short-term suspensions can constitute a pattern of exclusion. The bottom line is, the school is not educating your child if they're calling you to come and pick him/her up.

What to do if you're on the receiving end of calls like this? If your child has a behavior intervention plan (BIP), find out if it's being followed. If there's no BIP in place, there should be. Call an IEP team meeting to discuss the situation. If the school can't handle your child without calling you for pickup, then it's time to call in the cavalry. School districts vary, of course, but they should have specialists who can come out and consult with your school team to help them manage your child's behavior. The school should be reaching out for help without parents having to make noise, but in my experience, the schools who are calling parents to pick up their kids aren't the ones that are on the ball.

Given that, it may be time to consider whether another placement is in the best interest of your child. Can the current school right the ship, or is your student more likely to be successful somewhere else? Sometimes the answer to that question isn't easy, but remember that the main goal is for the pickup requests to stop and for education to resume. You don't need the stress of fielding pickup requests, and your child does not need to continue a negative pattern that costs valuable instructional time.

A friend once put it best when she said, "I have a no-pickup rule. I tell my sons' schools not to call me unless there's blood, fever, vomit, or threat of serious bodily harm to self or others. Don't call me to come and get him because he's 'having a bad day.'" Amen.

I recently found a publication by the Maryland Disability Law Center that addresses these and other special education issues. You can download Special Education Rights: A Handbook for Maryland Families and Professionals in pdf format from their web site. The section on discipline and suspensions begins on page 33.

-- Alison Hamilton

Dynamic Development May Meeting

A huge thanks to Michelle and Lisa from Dynamic Development for a great lecture today. We learned about new techniques in occupational therapy, auditory assessments and intervention treatments, and played on the interactive metronome.

A few highlights from our meeting today:

Astronaut board - a therapy option that can help some kids with vestibular issues and sensory processing issues.

Interactive metronome - challenges the patient to synchronize a range of hand and foot exercises to a precise computer-generated reference tone heard through headphones. The patient attempts to match the rhythmic beat with repetitive motor actions. It can help with focus and attention and physical endurance and stamina.

Karoake - singing with your child and having them use a karoake machine helps to stimulate the listening and also singing stimulates the brain.

Auditory training programs - there are many different protocols that you can follow. The selection is specific to each child. You may do one at one point of helping your child and then move to another when you are seeking to improve different skills. Working closely with a licensed and trained therapist is critical.

What a great way to spend a Saturday learning and helping our kids.