Gail Ludwig M.A. CCC & Brooke Wagner M.A.
Gail Ludwig, M.A. has worked as a speech/language pathologist since 1981. She received her Bachelor of Arts Degree from the University of Maryland and her Masters Degree from the University of Northern Iowa. Starting in 2003, Gail began working with teenagers with autism spectrum disorders. She struggled greatly to determine how to best meet their needs. She wanted to give them a chance for true remediation. Gail pursued training to become an RDI® Program Certified Consultant and a Certified HANDLE® Screener. These are two developmental interventions that work on increasing neural connectivity in the brain. Gail has a passion for working with families of teenagers on the spectrum and adults on the spectrum, and also enjoys supporting children of all ages.

Brooke Wagner, M. A. has supported families with children with Autism Spectrum Disorders both locally and internationally since 2000. She holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Psychology from Santa Clara University, a Masters Degree in Human Behavior from National University, and is an RDI® Program Certified Consultant. She has also received extensive training and experience in developing and implementing comprehensive programs utilizing RDI®, ABA, Floortime, PRT, PECS, How Does Your Engine Run?, Handwriting Without Tears, Social Stories, Touch Math, and TEACCH.

Lecture and Book signing (Notice! This is a second Tuesday of the month meeting.)

About The Age of Autism:

“Olmsted and Blaxill’s devastating account shows how medical and manufacturing interests have mounted an assault on human health for decades and covered their tracks along the way. THE AGE OF AUTISM is only the latest episode in centuries of crimes against nature but is in many ways the most troubling. Autistic children are the canaries in the coal mine; shame on all of us if we don’t heed their distress call.”

--Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

When humankind began to mine mercury--the second deadliest element on earth after plutonium--the metal began to accumulate—in our food, air and water.  Today, worldwide environmental mercury exposures are skyrocketing, and our personal levels are rising higher than ever before. Recent studies have detected mercury in the blood of 30% of U.S. women, a figure that is 1500 percent higher than ten years ago.  Now, in THE AGE OF AUTISM, Dan Olmsted and Mark Blaxill reveal startling new discoveries about the link between mercury and autism, as well as other devastating illnesses and disorders. They show how mankind has unwittingly been poisoning itself for half a millennium, and how autism is just the latest case in which mercury has instigated a disease of epidemic proportions.

Beginning with its use to treat syphilis in 1494, mercury has had tragic effects that the authors believe the medical establishment has either been reluctant to acknowledge or completely missed. They explain how the use of mercury caused the horrific affliction called “general paralysis of the insane” in syphilis patients, was responsible for what Freud diagnosed as “hysteria,” and instigated the thousands of tragic cases of childhood mercury poisoning know as “pink disease,” which was caused by mercury in teething powders. Mercury and other pollutants from coal combustion spewed into the air for the first time during the Industrial Revolution, and the surge correlated with an explosion of severe mental illness cases in England.

One of the book’s most stunning revelations links mercury compounds--found in lumber treatments, seed disinfectants and vaccine preservatives--to the first cases of autism discovered in the 1930s.  The authors were able to identify--for the first time--the names and families of psychiatrist Leo Kanner’s original case studies and discovered a common thread of mercury exposure, particularly ethyl mercury, in the occupational and medical backgrounds of the early cases.  The authors show how these exposures were overlooked for decades as autism was attributed first to psychogenic and later genetic causes.

THE AGE OF AUTISM offers a powerful case that not just autism but several of history’s most baffling disorders have their roots in mercury poisoning.  The implications are enormous, because mercury exposure is growing today through coal pollution, dental fillings, and vaccine campaigns around the world.  While it has been removed from some vaccines in the U.S., it is still in most flu shots given to pregnant women and to infants as young as 6 months.  Although the authors are not “anti-vaccine”, they strongly believe that vaccines need to be individually and collectively tested for safety and not deployed excessively.  “Too many vaccines too early,” they say, “may be part of the toxic picture.” 

The authors do believe mercury was present at the creation of autism and continues to be a major player as autism rates increase. In 2005, autism affected 1 child in every 166. Today that statistic is 1 in 110. “Autism is man-made. Informed by this simple truth, we can stop triggering autism and start treating it for what it is,” say the authors. “And we can learn lessons that may help crack the code of other modern plagues from Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s to asthma and Lou Gehrig’s disease.”

THE AGE OF AUTISM is a revolutionary new work that is certain to generate much discussion and controversy.

About the Authors:

DAN OLMSTED is an award-winning journalist and MARK BLAXILL is the author of several scientific papers challenging mainstream research on autism.

Lecture and Book signing  
(Notice! This is a Monday meeting and location is yet to be determined.)

Kim Stagliano lives in Connecticut with her husband Mark and their three daughters, Mia, Gianna and Bella, who have autism. Her book, All I Can Handle I'm No Mother Teresa from Skyhorse Publishing debuts 11/1 and is available for pre-order now. Visit her website kimstagliano.com. She is Managing Editor of AgeofAutism.com a writer and advocate for children with autism spectrum disorder.