Michael Savage explains comments that angered parents of autist...

Some parents of autistic children have called for Savage's firing after he described autism as a racket last week.

[Gayla]

Savage is right! Autism is a farce. I don't think I would call the kids idiots and morons. I think those terms should be reserved for the doctors, the schools, the social services and sometimes the parents who create this "phenomenon" and train children to be "autistic". Children need to be taught to focus, they need to be taught self-discipline. Parents and schools, etc. don't need a convenient label to absolve themselves when they fail in these duties. Kids who are a little different and inconvient don't need to be abandoned to an erroneous, albiet convenient, diagnosis. Parents need to grow up, take charge, and parent their children. What do you expect when schools have 12-year old students playing in sandboxes and with video games as their schoolwork? This new disease serves as a whole new cash crop for the medical community, a new brain-washing technique for schools, and a new excuse and self-indulgent, sympathy-inducing tool for parents.

[Euro K 2Me]

I have a grandson labeled as 'autistic'...or at least the Dr's wanted to label him that way. Granted, he was slower than most 2 year olds, but he was NOT autistic. That diagnosis came about 2 years ago, he is doing very well in school now, and his 'autism' has magically disappeared.

Autism, like ADD is the 'disease of the month'. Im not saying these diseases NEVER happen, but they are much less frequent than Drs think.

[Goomba]

Savage is a big-mouth, but sometimes you must listen carefully to the message rather than the messenger. Like it or not, he does have impressive credentials.

[joe poli]

Everyone has some form of ADD or autism. We men show the symptoms when our wives ask us to do projects around the house such as changing a light bulb!

[Chris]

Savage for President!

[LookingToEscape]

Goomba wrote:

Savage is a big-mouth, but sometimes you must listen carefully to the message rather than the messenger. Like it or not, he does have impressive credentials.

I tune in Savage for an hour or so in the evening and had heard the shows in question.
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While Michael Savage can be a wild ride in the world of radio, he has continually attacked drug companies and the medical establishment for offering services of dubious benefit.
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For the subject in question he has suggested less weird diagnosis and more involved parenting for children who do not act perfect from the day of their birth.

His view on children's behavior is from another time, when it was expected kids were here to drive their parent's crazy and that either a very firm hand or a very kind word were expected from a parent, not heavy drug therapy.

[FRAN]

joe poli wrote:

Everyone has some form of ADD or autism. We men show the symptoms when our wives ask us to do projects around the house such as changing a light bulb!

Thanks I needed that laugh!

[Old School Mets Fan]

Euro K 2Me wrote:

I have a grandson labeled as 'autistic'...or at least the Dr's wanted to label him that way. Granted, he was slower than most 2 year olds, but he was NOT autistic. That diagnosis came about 2 years ago, he is doing very well in school now, and his 'autism' has magically disappeared.
Autism, like ADD is the 'disease of the month'. Im not saying these diseases NEVER happen, but they are much less frequent than Drs think.

My wife and I were worried about our 2 year old daughter. While she could say some words and was incredibly well behaved and "easy" she seemed in her own world. Our pediatrician dismissed us. A year later, another pediatrician told us it was obvious our daughter had autism and it should have been picked up earlier. My daughter is now 6 and severely autistic. Maybe earlier intervention would not have made a difference, but maybe it would have and that haunts my wife and I to this day.

So parents and grandparents, if you think it's "stupid" labeling kids at this age, maybe it is, but better safe than sorry.

[TV Dad]

Vassar Clements wrote:

<quoted text>
No he doesn't. He's an idiot...and so are you.

Savage is no idiot. His ratings just skyrocketed.

[radical moderate]

No he doesn't. He's an idiot...and so are you.

The guy is a nutritionist! He has a degree. He knows what he's talking about. Last nights show was brilliant!

[george]

This guy is just a shock jock. He'll say anything to get ratings, and this publicity is exactly what he wants. Ignore him and he'll disappear.

[Chris]

Savage calls it like it is. Those who don't like it call for him to be fired. The crybaby liberal creeps strike yet again.

[LookingToEscape]

Old School Mets Fan wrote:

<quoted text>
So parents and grandparents, if you think it's "stupid" labeling kids at this age, maybe it is, but better safe than sorry.

There some parents that played it safe and regretted it.
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Going by the experiences of others, some kids get worse before they get better.
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Savage (and others) had pointed out some kids seemed utterly hopeless and then they popped out of it in later years.

[Chris]

My comments about autism were meant to boldly awaken parents and children to the medical community's attempt to label too many children or adults as "autistic."

Just as some drug companies have overdiagnosed "ADD" and "ADHD" to peddle dangerous speed-like drugs to children as young as 4 years of age, this cartel of doctors and drug companies is now creating a national panic by overdiagnosing "autism, for which there is no definitive medical diagnosis!

Many children are being victimized by being diagnosed with an "illness" which may not exist, in all cases. Just a few weeks ago doctors recommended dangerous anti-cholesterol drugs for children as young as 2 years of age! Without any scientific studies on the possible dangers of such drugs on children, corrupt doctors made this controversial, unscientific recommendation.

Increasingly, our children are being used as profit centers by a greedy, corrupt medical/pharmaceutical establishment. As the brother of a severely disabled person who suffered and died in a New York "snake-pit" of a "mental hospital," I know first-hand what true disability is.

To permit greedy doctors to include children in medical categories which may not be appropriate is a crime against that child and their family. Let the truly autistic be treated. Let the falsely diagnosed be free.

Michael Savage

[Old School Mets Fan]

LookingToEscape wrote:

<quoted text>
There some parents that played it safe and regretted it.
--
Going by the experiences of others, some kids get worse before they get better.
--
Savage (and others) had pointed out some kids seemed utterly hopeless and then they popped out of it in later years.

From your lips to God's ears as they say.

[JAMAL BROWN]

george wrote:

This guy is just a shock jock. He'll say anything to get ratings, and this publicity is exactly what he wants. Ignore him and he'll disappear.

you can't ignore him. he's # 3 for a reason. tells it like it is.

[MissL]

I can't believe Savage thinks he is expressing his sick mind. As a parent of a child with severe autism. I really trully feel sad for him because he doesn't know that he is the one left without a diagnose and should be worring about seeing a neurologist to get his label so he can act like a man as his father told him. We all know why a parent will tell you to behave and act like someone; It's because you (Michael Savage) was/ and is acting like what your father was ashamed of. So grow up and seek help instead of humiliating yourself Moron!

[Eddie C]

One of his callers said it best. I'll paraphrase. "I used to hate you, but my boss had you on all the time and after a few months I came to realize that everything you say is true". Classic brainwashing mechanism. Talk radio is for the weak minded who can't think for themselves.
All talk radio fans do is regurgitate their favorite shock jock catchphrases. Sad.

[Vassar Clements]

radical moderate wrote:

No he doesn't. He's an idiot...and so are you.
The guy is a nutritionist! He has a degree. He knows what he's talking about. Last nights show was brilliant!

First, I listen to the show, and whether there is some brilliance involved in the marketing of his show or his ability to retain listeners is, at best, arguable. But, his ideas are disjointed, inconsistent and low-brow. He appeals those with mediocre minds, the same people, I might add,to whom Hitler would have appealed.

Second, do you really think his background as a nutritionist (with a degree!!!) is relevant to his ability to diagnose autism? If you do, you're an idiot. You sound like an idiot anyway.

[The truth hurts]

I didn't read the article, I never listened to M. Savage, but I do know many parents who deliberately worked the system to get funding by using their children as pawns. And to this day, those children are now young adults, and just like their parents, they now think everything should be handed to them because they deserve it because they have something wrong with them. Pathetic. We all have a story to tell.