Aug 9, 2018, Livingston (MI) Daily: Oxford Recovery Center opens 'cutting edge' facility in Brighton to treat autism, other conditions https://www.livingstondaily.com/story/news/local/community/livingston-county/2018/08/09/oxford-recovery-center-opens-cutting-edge-facility-treat-autism/891404002/ The 5-year-old’s head rested on a pillow while he gazed up at a cartoon playing on the TV screen above the hyperbaric oxygen chamber in which he was enclosed last week at the Oxford Recovery Center in Brighton. … Since then, Megan has driven her son three hours from their home in Sturgis twice a year for month-long visits to the Oxford Recovery Center for treatment, including daily “dives” into the hyperbaric chamber which delivers 100% pressurized oxygen. The current visit coincides with the center’s move from South Lyon to Brighton, and its grand opening. … Oxford Recovery Center works to do that through a “synergistic” approach Peterson said, using multiple therapies to treat children and adults with a wide variety of medical conditions ranging from autism, cerebral palsy and attention deficit disorder to macular degeneration, traumatic brain injury and depression. Diane Kim, a Milford mom, said her son Mitchell, now 10, has “made a full recovery” from autism spectrum disorder after receiving the hyperbaric oxygen therapy and other treatments at the Oxford Recovery Center. He received treatments for two years, starting when he was 3. “It was harder then, once a kid was diagnosed. No one can help,” Kim said. “Schools are not allowed to give advice. It’s overwhelming. Your life changes overnight, and you don’t know where to turn… There is no hope, you don’t know what causes it or how to fix it. They tell you there is brain damage, do some ABA (applied behavior analysis) and good luck. They can’t speak more than 50 words, he did the ‘Rain Man’ thing where he did the alphabet over and over.” Tammy Morris, chief program officer for the Autism Alliance of Michigan, said more than 500 children in Livingston are identified as eligible for autism special education services, but that means the number is actually much higher due to children who are homeschooled, in private schools, in preschool or children undiagnosed with mild impairment. While the statewide average of special education students with autism is 9.9%, all five of Livingston County’s public school districts have higher percentages, ranging from a low of 10.7% in Brighton to a high of 16.7% in Howell. Other districts include Pinckney (12.2%), Fowerville (12.4%) and Hartland (14.1%). The number of children with autism spectrum disorder has doubled in the last 40 years, she said, and just five years ago, there was only one provider of applied behavior analysis in Livingston. Now the alliance, which offers a navigator resource for families seeking autism services, is aware of 14 in the county. …
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Childhood Lost
Children today are noticeably different from previous generations, and the proof is in the news coverage we see every day. This site shows you what’s happening in schools around the world. Children are increasingly disabled and chronically ill, and the education system has to accommodate them. Things we've long associated with autism, like sensory issues, repetitive behaviors, anxiety and lack of social skills, are now problems affecting mainstream students. Blame is predictably placed on bad parenting (otherwise known as trauma from home).
Addressing mental health needs is as important as academics for modern educators. This is an unrecognized disaster. The stories here are about children who can’t learn or behave like children have always been expected to. What childhood has become is a chilling portent for the future of mankind.
Anne Dachel, Media editor, Age of Autism
http://www.ageofautism.com/media/
(John Dachel, Tech. assist.)
What will happen in another 4 years? How can we go on like this? This is a national (and international) problem of monumental proportions. We have an entire new class of children who cannot be accommodated by the system: many are manifestly neurologically impaired. Meanwhile, the government and the medical profession sleep on regardless.
John Stone,
UK media editor, Age of Autism
The generation of American children born after 1990 are arguably the sickest generation in the history of our country.
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
It seemed to me that with rising autism prevalence, you’d also see rising autism costs to society, and it turns out, the costs are catastrophic.
They calculated that in 2015 autism cost the United States $268 billion and they projected that if autism continues at its current rate, we’re looking at one trillion dollars a year in autism costs by 2025, so within five years.
Toby Rogers, PhD, Political economist
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