Collegio Online

Issue date: 6/12/08 Section: Front Page

A Pittsburg woman has enlisted some Hollywood help to spread the word about autism.
Jenny McCarthy, actress, author and activist, will speak at the first-ever Kansas Autism Conference, to be held Thursday and Friday, June 19 and 20, at Pittsburg High School.
Mandy Commons, 36, a Pittsburg mother who is organizing the event, says she believes her son, Bryce, now 12, became autistic after receiving vaccinations while still a baby.
Commons says Bryce lost nine pounds in 13 days after receiving the MMR vaccination and was diagnosed with "leaky gut." He then stopped talking and "looked right through you."
"We kept thinking, 'Something's not right.' We took him to be diagnosed for autism, and that's when I was told he was severely autistic and he would never be past a four-year-old level, and to prepare myself to institutionalize him."
While many believe vaccines are linked to autism, most mainstream scientists dismiss the idea. Still, Commons is convinced the MMR was to blame.
Commons says Bryce is now at the sixth-grade level in everything but his communication skills. She credits Bryce's recovery to applied behavior analysis, a highly structured system of education meant to condition the child for normal living, and to the encouragement of doctors and other parents of autistic children.
Now she wants to spread the word to others affected by autism through the conference, the first of its kind in Kansas.
"The awareness, the education - there's so much they're going to learn that it's going to be unbelievable," Commons said.
Commons says she was spurred to form a Kansas chapter of the National Autism Association after visiting numerous national conferences.
When Commons had a fateful meeting with McCarthy, they bonded over their experiences with autism. Commons says McCarthy was eager to come to Kansas to speak at Commons' conference, which was planned for October.
Problem was, McCarthy's busy schedule meant she was available only in June.
This left Commons, who works full time at Names and Numbers in Pittsburg, with only two months to plan a conference that she predicts will be attended by 1,500 people.
Somehow, she pulled it off.
"It was fate," Commons said. "It was meant to be."
While McCarthy's talk will be held on Friday, June 20, Dennis Debbaudt, a specialist in autism risk management, is scheduled to speak on Thursday, June 19, to law enforcement officers, emergency medical staff and firefighters about how to handle emergencies involving autistic people.
"(Emergency personnel) are seven times more likely to come into contact with someone in the autism spectrum," Commons said. "Autistic kids have no sense of endangerment."
In addition to the presentations by McCarthy and Debbaudt, doctors Jon Pangborn, James Neubrander and Kurt Woeller are to be on hand, as well as Sarah Scheflen, speech therapist for McCarthy's son. Scott Wasserman, an attorney who specializes in special education laws, is also scheduled to attend.
Registration for Thursday's events, which focus on autism safety, costs $30, while registration for Friday's events, including McCarthy's speech, costs $65.
For more information, or to register for events, visit www.kansasautism.org or call Commons at 249-1978.

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