Jenny McCarthy's son is autistic

[greysfang]

Jenny McCarthy has this new age-type website called IndigoMoms.com. She’s jumping on the “Indigo Child” bandwagon which is this kind of implausible esoteric concept that there are old-soul special children born after 1980 to help guide our planet to a higher level of consiousness or something. It all sounds like hoo-ha to me. These children are supposedly extra sensitive while having super abilities. Although I think my kid is special it doesn’t mean I’m about to attribute supernatural qualities to him the next time he freaks out when his matchbox cars aren’t lined up right.
McCarthy’s four year-old son, along with his mom believing he’s an “Crystal Child,” (which is like an Indigo child but psychic), has also sadly been diagnosed with autism. McCarthy is going to write a book about her experience with her son’s illness. While her first three books, “Belly Laughs,” “Baby Laughs,” and “Life Laughs” focused on the humor surrounding the pregnancy, birth and infant stage, this one sounds a lot more serious to go along with the subject:

In Touch can exclusively reveal that the comic has written a memoir about her quest to help her 4-year-old son, Evan, called Louder than Words: A Mother’s Journey In Healing Autism.
“It’s a heartbreaking story about a serious health issue,” Jenny tells In Touch. It’s quite serious, profound and beautiful. I’m hoping this book will shift the world. It’s an Oprah book, for sure…” Jenny, 34, believes that Evan (whose father is her ex-husband John Asher) is a “crystal child” with angelic abilities that make him vulnerable and powerful. “Evan is hypersensitive to air and water,” Jenny reveals. She’s now made it her life’s mission to change the education system to make it better for kids like Evan. “I want our children to start each day in silent meditation,” she writes. “I want organic cafeterias, outdoor class sessions, getting rid of rote memorization. I want it all.”

[From In Touch print edition, April 23, 2007 via Sammie’s Effluvia]
It sounds like McCarthy thinks her new age approach is the solution for everything. I guess you can’t blame her for wanting to believe in something when she’s dealing with such a difficult illness with her child. That’s an incredibly hard thing to go through and my heart goes out to her and other parents with autistic children.
A recent study by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention found that about one in 150 children develops autism or a related disorder like Asperger’s syndrome by age 8.
McCarthy’s new book is listed on Amazon with a publication date of September 6, 2007.


Cele|bitchy » Blog Archive » Jenny McCarthy’s son has autism and she’s writing a book about it

This is not an easy thing to go through. A girlfriend of mine has a son with the Asperger's form of autism and its really tough on her and her family. My heart goes out to Jenny and her boy.

[irishpig]

I agree, autism is a terrible thing to have to deal with, it changes the entire family dynamic, and your heart aches for the child who is trapped inside whichever parameters the autism inflicts on the individual child.

BUT...

"the comic has written a memoir about her quest to help her 4-year-old son, Evan, called Louder than Words: A Mother’s Journey In Healing Autism.
“It’s a heartbreaking story about a serious health issue,” Jenny tells In Touch. It’s quite serious, profound and beautiful. I’m hoping this book will shift the world. It’s an Oprah book, for sure…”

That Oprah remark sounds like she is pimping her kid out to get some publicity.

[RevellingInSane]

Autism is very challenging. It is not something that a child should have shared with the world. That is very personal.

Publicity whore.

[Mel1973]

I know lots of kids with autism of varying degrees. I volunteer at an organization for kids with special needs .. I think Jenny should write fewer books (and thank God this one wasn't called Autism giggle or something stupid) and spend more time with her son. as for her meditation, organic cafeterias and outdoor class sessions .. keep dreaming Jenny. I love how people think this is the way to save the world. Frankly, having one child with autism makes her an expert on nothing. she should pose some more for playboy or host an mtv show .. stick with what you're good at.

[Sweetie]

I hate that, he's a cutie too.

[Butterfly]

She should send the Travolta’s an autographed copy… Anyways, I feel really bad for her what a crap thing to have to go through.

[Saery]

Believe me, a parent who's child is autistic is willing to try damn near anything to help them. For McCarthy, if this new age stuff appears to help her son, then it's really no one's place to judge until they have been in her specific place. I spent quite a while researching and working with autistic kids, and it is so hard to deal with. The more exposure this condition gets, the better, because there are families out there who are in a hellish place and it helps to know they are not the only ones. Also, I don't think Jenny McCarthy released this info solely to gain publicity. It's national autism awareness month, so it's actually quite a timely press release.

[blissfullyunaware]

Poor kid.She seems like a positive person, and I am sure she'll find what works best for her son. As for the crystal child stuff....WTF?

[lurkur]

Tom Cruise said it was because she didn't take her vitamins during the pregnancy.

[Mel1973]

Originally Posted by Saery

Believe me, a parent who's child is autistic is willing to try damn near anything to help them. For McCarthy, if this new age stuff appears to help her son, then it's really no one's place to judge until they have been in her specific place. I spent quite a while researching and working with autistic kids, and it is so hard to deal with. The more exposure this condition gets, the better, because there are families out there who are in a hellish place and it helps to know they are not the only ones. Also, I don't think Jenny McCarthy released this info solely to gain publicity. It's national autism awareness month, so it's actually quite a timely press release.

you're right - how silly of anyone to question the motives - that kid's part angel .. posing in playboy guarantees a child that's part angel. Little Dannielynn is 100% angel. she's in hollywood for a reason - one more money grubber. Her child has autism, this isn't the dark ages - people are familiar with it. There is help. Any parent of a child with any disability will do anything to help their child - Jenny didn't invent it. in most cases, treating the child like you would any other child helps...just because jenny wants it, doesn't mean jenny gets it. she can always put her child in private schools - do you really think she'll opt for a public one?

[Novice]

Originally Posted by Saery

The more exposure this condition gets, the better, because there are families out there who are in a hellish place and it helps to know they are not the only ones. Also, I don't think Jenny McCarthy released this info solely to gain publicity. It's national autism awareness month, so it's actually quite a timely press release.

To let other parents know that they are not alone is a good thing.

Originally Posted by RevellingInSane

Autism is very challenging. It is not something that a child should have shared with the world. That is very personal.

Publicity whore.

I don't understand why you think this? It wasn't long ago that John Travolta was vilified here for not announcing that his son had autism. (BTW I'm not saying that it was you that vilified him)

As for the organic cafes - there is a strong line of thought in the UK that link the MMR (Mumps Measles & Rubella) vaccination to autism. To the extent that we had a measles near-epidemic last year (or there were fears that it could rapdly turn into an epidemic due to the number of children contracting measles).
The parents are concerned that all the chemicals & hormones in food effect their children.

(Our health service has done studies on MMR & autism, & are linking measles to autism. MMR the facts)

The whole indigo children is interesting within the New Age religion context, but I thought that the Oprah comment was because Oprah (in my mind) triumphants self-help & "feel good" stuff?

[Mel1973]

what the hell is the crystal child bs about - I've never heard of that and have no desire to google... sometimes kids are born autistic - either functioning or not but it happens. Just like down syndrome and other such things. I'm not knocking her because she has a child with autism, when's the last time you saw the kid out with her, though? I constantly see pictures of her out with Jim Carrey. Why not do a benefit of something to raise public awareness instead of pulling the jetset shit?

[Novice]

Originally Posted by Mel1973

what the hell is the crystal child bs about - I've never heard of that and have no desire to google... sometimes kids are born autistic - either functioning or not but it happens. Just like down syndrome and other such things. I'm not knocking her because she has a child with autism, when's the last time you saw the kid out with her, though? I constantly see pictures of her out with Jim Carrey. Why not do a benefit of something to raise public awareness instead of pulling the jetset shit?

Here is some stuff on it from wiki (coz I can't be bothered to look any further LOL)

And I get that you're not knocking her because she has an autistic child.
And I dunno when I last saw a picture of her out with her son (but I'd say within the last couple of months..... but as for the Mr Carrey stuff....)

Indigo children is a term used within the New Age movement to refer to children who are alleged to possess paranormal attributes such as the ability to read minds. The Indigo child concept was first publicized in 1999 by the book The Indigo Children: The New Kids Have Arrived, written by the husband-and-wife team of Lee Carroll and Jan Tober.[1] Carroll insists that the concept was obtained via conversations with a spiritual entity known as Kryon.
The reason for the use of the adjective "indigo" is not universally agreed upon: some sources link it with an early researcher into the phenomenon, who was synesthetic. It has also been claimed that these children appear with an indigo-hued aura.

Characteristics

Carroll and Tober identify ten attributes that they assert describe Indigo children[1]:

• They come into the world with a feeling of royalty (and often act like it). Commenly known in the venacular as "spoilt little shits"
• They have a feeling of "deserving to be here," and are surprised when others do not share that. As above
• Self-worth is not a big issue; they often tell the parents "who they are." As above
• They have difficulty with absolute authority (authority without explanation or choice). This isn't a surprise given the above...
• They simply will not do certain things; for example, waiting in line is difficult for them. So teach them!!!!!
• They get frustrated with systems that are ritually oriented and do not require creative thought. Is it me of is this getting repetitive?
• They often see better ways of doing things, both at home and in school, which makes them seem like "system busters" (non-conforming to any system). Or anarcists?
• They seem antisocial unless they are with their own kind. If there are no others of like consciousness around them, they often turn inward, feeling like no other human understands them. School is often extremely difficult for them socially. Yeah! Groups of spoilt little shits!
• They will not respond to "guilt" discipline ("Wait till your father gets home and finds out what you did"). Why should they? Discipline the little snotty brat straight away!!!
• They are not shy in letting it be known what they need. Grasping too? Nice combination!!!

In her article[2] Wendy H. Chapman (enlightenment teacher at and Director of Metagifted Education Resource Organization [2]) says that Indigo children will also display many of the following:

• Have strong self esteem, connection to source
• Have an obvious sense of self
• Refuse to follow orders or directions
• Get bored rather easily with assigned tasks
• Are rather creative
• Display strong intuition
• Have either strong or no empathy for others
• Develop abstract thinking very young
• Are gifted and/or talented, highly intelligent
• Are often identified or suspected of having ADHD
• Are frequent daydreamers
• Have very old, deep, wise looking eyes

Critics point out that these traits are not unique, and are observable in most children (see Critical interpretations below).

[Mel1973]

this crystal child thing is nuts .... from crystalchildren.com
The Power of Crystal Kids
Imagine that you have just discovered that your two year old son can move things with his mind. How will you explain that to the neighbors? Envision what it will be like the first time that you take your little girl out in public and she begins to read the thoughts of the person sitting next to you in the restaurant. Much like the Indigo children that have preceded them, Crystal children have a very thin veil. It will be very common to have a Crystal child walk up to you and say: “Mommy, do you remember when I was your grandfather?” Additionally, Crystals have inter-dimensional abilities that enable them to cross the lines between alternate realities. In the beginning the Group says that we may misinterpret these abilities. But eventually the children themselves will show us how it all works. One of the most important abilities we will see with Crystals is that they carry an inbred understanding of unity consciousness. To us, this will be seen first as their ability to read our thoughts and know what is in our hearts through complete emotional empathy. Even though this will be difficult for humanity to accept at first it is clear to see that when we know what everyone else is thinking and feeling there will be no more secrets. When there are no more secrets, there can be no place for things like war.
kids with any imagination say things like that - my baby brother (when he was 2 or 3) used to say " you member when I was in college" - kids do this. it doesn't mean they have esp or any nutso shit going on...

[Novice]

Originally Posted by Mel1973

this crystal child thing is nuts .... from crystalchildren.com
The Power of Crystal Kids
Envision what it will be like the first time that you take your little girl out in public and she begins to read the thoughts of the person sitting next to you in the restaurant.

But eventually the children themselves will show us how it all works. One of the most important abilities we will see with Crystals is that they carry an inbred understanding of unity consciousness.

So if there are just beans & chips on the menu, it's not difficult to guess what's going to be ordered....

& if the children themselves will show us how it works, it sounds like more precotiousness is on it's way..... who-ppe!