Instances of autism among the children of Somali immigrants in Minneapolis are significantly higher than the rest of the population. Now parents and experts alike are asking why.
Last year a quarter of preschool students in the city’s autism treatment classes were Somali even though Somali children represent just 6 percent of the city’s students.
Officials don’t know whether the numbers are symptomatic of an outbreak or just a statistical fluke. And now the Minnesota Department of Health is conducting a study in coordination with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in hopes of finding out more.
Many Somali parents do not speak English and know nothing about autism until their own child is diagnosed. And among the concerns is the prospect that Somali parents could stop vaccinating their children due to the belief some parents have that autism may be linked to vaccines. That presents a public health worry since some families visit Somalia where measles remains a threat to children’s health, reports the New York Times. To read more click here.
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As an adult with Asperger’s Syndrome and the parent of a severely language-delayed autistic child,I found the whole NY times article disconcerting, not so much because of its alarmist tone about autism, but because the researchers here seem to be missing a key point.
Wouldn’t a full genetic analysis be the obvious first step here? The only such research mentioned was the March of Dimes study of birth defects, which did not specifically address autism. If, as the author of the article points out, there is a high rate of close intermarriage in Somalia, and if the migration pattern matches that of many immigrant groups with essentially whole families and villages ending up in the same part of the United States, then shouldn’t somebody be looking further into a genetic common denominator?
I’m just sayin’…
Carol Greenburg
Executive Director
Brooklyn Special Needs Consulting