Boilermaker Rick wrote:
It's not our opinions or hypotheses though. It is accepted and tested science and medicine. Now, of course there is always the possibility of science being wrong but you have to trust the process and accept that the current understanding is the most accurate answer. The fact is that most of these amateur scientists do more harm than good. A great example of this is the vaccination debate. Diseases are becoming more prevalent because moms are deciding that with no proof whatsoever, and a lot of proof they are wrong, that vaccines are not safe.
Science isn't perfect, but it's a lot more perfect than a bunch of moms talking at a book club. If you take two kids, and one of them you trust medical science and then trillions of dollars of research that has been done, and raise them based on the best advice of that, and take another kid and raise them based on the hunches of the mom and anecdotal evidence, who will be healthier? OK, maybe you beat medical science by not giving your kids red dye #4 and red dye #4 ends up causing your kid to be too hyper(which is another highly over diagnosed thing) but how many things will you be wrong about?
Rick, you couldn't be more right. Long story, that I will try to keep short.
My older son turned three last month. He is current on his vaccinations. At his 24 month checkup, the nurse asked us if he had a fifty word vocabulary. At that point, he really wasn't saying any words. She told us about the Early Intervention program, through the state. Three therapists came to our house to evaluate him, in his normal environment. They determined that he qualified for the program, due to his delayed speech, and sensory issues. From that time, up until his third birthday (the program is for children under three), he had three, one hour sessions at our house (speech therapy, developmental therapy, and occupational therapy) each week. In this time, he made tremendous progress.
As his third birthday approached, we had a meeting a special needs school in our district, where he was evaluated by several therapists, to see if he qualifies for the program. These therapists had spoken with the therapists that came to our house, so they could compare notes. After this meeting, they determined that he was on "the autism spectrum". Upon hearing this, my wife started crying. The therapists at the school reassured us, that this is a very broad spectrum, and most kids similar to him, go on to lead completely normal lives. The therapists felt that he could really benefit from the program, and this would be the only area of the 13, where he would qualify.
Quick shout out to Dr. Ken. We had a conversation about this very topic, over a couple cold ones. He is familiar with the program, and his words were very reassuring.
Fast forward to my son's third birthday. We had a party at our friends' house, whose niece was born the same day as my son. They are good little friends, and we thought a dual party would be fun. During the party, my wife was explaining all of this to some of our friends, including a woman who BRick has described perfectly. Quick back story, this woman has not vaccinated her children, and her sons play football. She reads Alex Jones' crazy website, and subscribes to more conspiracy theories, than Q. Bovifs. Once she heard my wife say "autism spectrum", our friend decided this was her time to get on her soapbox, and preach. She speaks very loudly, so anybody within earshot could hear her. She starts to rail on vaccines, because her friend knew a guy that was in the army, and he said blah blah blah, so she did some research on the matter. She eventually starts talking about autism and vaccines, and my wife just has a horrified look on her face. Our friend stops her diatribe, and says to my wife, "well, I'm not saying that vaccines cause autism", even though she just spent the last few minutes doing exactly that. My wife left the room with tears in her eyes. I said to our friend, "why don't you just go in the kitchen, find the sharpest knife you can, and jab her in the gut a few times?" We haven't spoken to her since, and I'm sure she has no idea why. Screw science. Alex Jones, Jenny McCarthy, and a friend of a friend say it's true. I suppose she would like it if I gave her the "I told you so" routine, if one of her kids get a horrible disease, or a head injury from football.
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I hadn't read Chus' unfortunate tale (sorry Chus) and thought this was a rather harsh jokey-response about pittmike's daughter. 
