The Autism News

The Autism News | English

Photo: Van Redin/HBO

By Emma Rosenblum | NY Mag

Saturday night saw the premiere of HBO’s original biopic Temple Grandin, the story of the renowned autistic animal scientist and best-selling author who pushed herself to succeed in the sixties when her disorder was widely misunderstood. Grandin was just the latest in an increasing number of movies, books, and TV shows that have focused on autism in the last few years. Much like any other illness, disease, or issue that hits critical mass in the news, autism has become — and wow, this feels crass to say — hot. There was John Elder Robison’s 2007 memoir, Look Me in the Eye: My Life with Asperger’s, while last year’s Sundance Film Festival had two movies about autism: Adam, a sweet romance with Hugh Dancy, and the claymation Max and Mary. On TV, last season’s Amazing Race had a contestant with Asperger’s, the first episode of Community introduced Abed as having the same disorder, and in the pilot of the upcoming NBC drama Parenthood, Peter Krause’s son is diagnosed with autism.

Increased education about a disorder is a positive thing. “These portrayals do bring awareness to the issue, making people more comfortable with autism, and raising sensitivity,” says Sabeeha Rehman, the President of the New York metro chapter of the National Autism Association. But it’s hard to ignore that nearly every autistic we see in movies or TV is of the high-functioning sort: a quirky Asperger’s genius with social issues, say, rather than someone uncommunicative and incapable of interpersonal connection who needs full-time care. And the majority of those with autism are not high-functioning, says Rehman.

Movies and TV are entertainment, so it makes sense to have uplift in plots about those with autism. Danes did a wonderful job of capturing Grandin’s anxieties, fits, and difficulties relating to others, but in the end, Grandin comes out on top, rising to extraordinary professional heights. She’s an aspirational story, the kind on which Hollywood thrives, but she’s not an example of a typical autistic child. The takeaway from movies like Grandin, Adam, and TV shows like Parenthood (in which the autistic child overcomes a social hurdle in just one episode) is so hopeful that it’s not representative: It educates, but in a happy, slightly misleading way. “Most of the movies have been about those who are high-functioning, with Asperger’s, with sharp memories and unusual traits,” says Rehman. “But it’s really the low-functioning part of the spectrum that needs the awareness. It’s a condition that affects you physiologically, there is severe pain. Some of these people are completely non-verbal, and it’s very draining for parents. But I realize that doesn’t make for good entertainment.”

St. Elsewhere and Rain Man showcased autistic characters incapable of a climactic hug or dramatic progression, but very little since has. Rehman recommends The Horse Boy, a 2009 documentary by a father whose severely autistic son forms a special relationship with a horse. “It shows a child with very difficult issues, but still how he makes the world a better place,” she says (Even The Horse Boy is hopeful — the boy’s speech and behavior is markedly improved after a visit to the horse-driven culture of Mongolia). But Rehman admits that it’s not an easy film to watch. “It’s upsetting, of course, to see the true realities of autism onscreen.” So which is more important: being realistic about what audiences want to see, or giving a realistic picture of the whole autism spectrum?

Source: http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2010/02/hollywoods_big_on_autismwithin_1.html

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The Autism News English Adam, asperger, asperger syndrome, autism, autistic, Claire Danes, Hugh Dancy, Movies, Temple Grandin, tv

The Autism News | English

Pam L’Ecuyer dances with adopted son David, 8, in their living room, in 2003. Pam L’Ecuyer died this week at age 57. (DAILY RECORD FILE PHOTO)

By Colleen O’Dea

At an age when most adults are in the empty nest years, Pamela L’Ecuyer was feathering a new, unique and very special nest.

Having already mothered two sons into adulthood, L’Ecuyer started a new family a dozen years ago. It started when she adopted a baby with microcephaly, which led to her marrying Richard L’Ecuyer and adopting with him two boys who also have special needs.

When she wasn’t mothering David, Tiffany and JJ, Pam L’Ecuyer was caring for the elderly and ill patients at Morris View Nursing Home, where she worked for 29 years.

So her death Tuesday at Lehigh Valley Hospital in Pennsylvania at age 57 after a short illness leaves a huge void in the lives of her nuclear family in Parsippany, as well as her work family at Morris View.

“We are a family here,” said Carol Alcock, who worked closely with Pam L’Ecuyer as a care assessment and planning coordinator. “We are just going through waves of crying and mourning.”

‘She’s a strong-willed, soft-spoken woman with a heart of gold who shares her knowledge and wisdom so well,” said Kathy McNeil, another colleague who said Pam L’Ecuyer inspired her to become a nurse.

Catherine Engler, the nursing home’s administrator, called Pam L’Ecuyer “courageous” for adopting three children with special needs. The L’Ecuyers were honored by then-Gov. James E. McGreevey in 2002 for taking in hard-to-place children.

Pam L’Ecuyer was 45 and single and yearning for the daughter she never had when a co-worker convinced her to consider adoption. She got approved by the state Division of Youth and Family Services and soon was offered a 7-week old baby girl, with whom she immediately fell in love.

She recalled her joy in an interview with the Daily Record for a series of articles on the family in April 2003: “My father and I went running around like maniacs all weekend, I was so excited.”

When Richard L’Ecuyer saw Pam with Tiffany, he fell in love with both of them. The couple married about a year later, in November 1999. Soon after, the couple fostered, then adopted, David, who has autism, and Joseph “JJ,” who was born drug-addicted to an HIV-positive mother and recently was diagnosed with diabetes.

Born in Morristown, Pam L’Ecuyer lived most of her life in Parsippany. She graduated from the College of St. Elizabeth and became a registered nurse. She was a member of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Morris Plains.

In addition to her husband and their three children, Pam L’Ecuyer is survived by her sons from a previous marriage, John and wife Samantha Klindt of Boonton, and Jerod and wife Lori Klindt of California. She is also survived by her sisters, Linda Heffern, Sandy and husband Buddy Metcalf, and Brenda and husband Michael Bauer. She was also the loving grandmother of Jenny, Donna Rose and Caleb. She is also survived by her mother-in-law, Gisele L’Ecuyer, and many nieces, nephews and friends. Her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Robert Lucas predeceased her.

Funeral service at Dangler Funeral Home of Morris Plains Monday, Feb. 8 at 10 a.m. at the church. Interment will be private. It was Pamela L’Ecuyer’s wish that anyone attending her funeral should wear their favorite casual outfit.

In lieu of flowers, donations in Pam L’Ecuyer’s name for the material and medical needs of David, Tiffany and Joseph would be appreciated. They can be sent for the L’Ecuyer children, c/o St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, P.O. Box 104, Morris Plains, N.J. 07950.

Source: http://www.dailyrecord.com/article/20100204/COMMUNITIES/302040007/1005/NEWS01

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The Autism News | English

The mother’s age at conception has been linked with greater risk of autism.

By Madison Park and Miriam Falco | CNN

A 10-year study examining 4.9 million births in the 1990s has found more evidence that there’s a link between autism and the mother’s age at conception.

“The risk of having a child with full syndrome autism increases with maternal age,” concluded researchers at the University of California, Davis, who examined data from all births in their state for the decade. The findings are published in the February issue of the journal Autism Research.

The link between the parents’ age and children’s health is not entirely new. Prior studies have indicated that babies born to older women have higher risks of birth defects, low birth weight and certain chromosome problems, such as Down syndrome.

A 2007 Kaiser Permanente study conducted in California reported that autism risk increased with both the mother’s and father’s age. An Israeli study based in statistics from 1980s had isolated only paternal age as being linked with increased risk for autism.

Dr. Max Wiznitzer, a pediatric neurologist at Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital in Cleveland, Ohio, said the latest research had a far larger sample size.

Autism is a growing disorder; the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated that one in 110 children had the condition in 2006. But its causes remain unknown.

In the latest study, researchers found that mothers over the age of 40 had 51 percent higher odds of having children with autism compared with mothers between the ages 25 and 29.

The father’s age also played a factor, but only when he had a child with a woman under 30.

“When the mom has minimal age risk of an autistic child, we do see increased risks as dads get older,” said lead author Janie Shelton, a graduate student researcher at UC-Davis.

It’s unclear why the mother’s age has more bearing in autism risk than the father’s.

The study authors emphasize that while autism rates have risen 600 percent in the past two decades, older women having children contributed to only 5 percent more cases of autism.

As more women delay childbearing, it’s important to keep the study in perspective, said Geraldine Dawson, chief science officer of Autism Speaks, the nation’s largest autism science and advocacy organization.

“When we look at that dramatic increase [of autism] over the last two decades, there are multiple factors that have contributed to this,” she said. “It appears that advanced parents’ age, not just mothers but also father’s, account for a very small portion of that increase.”

Shelton said older mothers should not jump to conclusions.

“I don’t think a mom blaming herself is going to help us understand what’s causing autism or help prevent further cases,” she said. “I would urge parents not to blame themselves, regardless of what age they are.”

Shelton and the co-authors obtained all birth records in California from 1990 to 1999 and then collected data from the state’s Department of Developmental Services to count the number of autism diagnoses from children born during that decade.

How parental age increases autism risks remains unknown, but several hypotheses exist. Some suggest that the cumulative effects of the environment, changes to the autoimmune system, stress and reproductive technology may affect autism risk.

“As people age, we know there are changes to our DNA that occur,” Dawson said. “There have been studies that show we have increased damage to our DNA as parents age. They’re more likely to have children of low birth rate and more birth complications. It’s not surprising that those factors would slightly increase the risk for autism as well as other neurological disorders.”

Despite the lack of concrete answers, Shelton said, the findings offer some hints.

“It gives us some clues where to look biologically,” Shelton said. “In an epidemiological study, age is a proxy for a lot of things. And so we’re trying to further understand why age might be showing up as a risk factor, because we don’t know the mechanism yet.”

Source: http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/02/08/autism.mother.age.risks/

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The Autism News | English

Gigi Jordan was desperate to find a cure for her son’s severe autism according to reports. (DNAinfo/Gabriela Resto-Montero)

By Nina Mandell | DNAinfo

Nearly three days after the shocking murder of an 8-year-old autistic boy in the Peninsula Hotel, his body sits unclaimed in the Medical Examiner’s morgue.

His mother, Gigi Jordan, a wealthy pharmaceutical executive, is locked in a psychiatric ward at Elmhurst Hospital, in Queens, awaiting arraignment on charges she murdered the little boy called Jude Michael Mirra with a drug overdose.

His biological father, who had not seen Jude in years and gave up custody so he could be adopted by Jordan’s second husband, lives in California.

“Jude is alone. Nobody has identified his body,” the father, Emil Tzekov, told the New York Post.

As Jude waited to be claimed, friends and family described how Jordan had become increasingly obsessed with finding a “cure” for his autism.

The wealthy pharmaceutical executive “went to clinics all over the country looking for a treatment, grasping at straws,” one source told the New York Daily News about Jordan’s erratic behavior.

A friend told DNAinfo on Friday that Gigi had devoted herself to researching the disease, even as her marriages to two men crumbled.

On Friday, a relative in Belgium called police after Jordan sent an email threatening to kill herself and the child, which led the NYPD to track the pair to a room at the Peninsula Hotel, on Fifth Avenue.

Inside the room, police found little Jude dead on the bed and his mother lying on the floor, barely alive, next to him. Police said she had killed the boy by feeding him a drug overdose.

Jordan has been charged with murder in the second degree.

The woman described in reports had become withdrawn and desperate over the past few years. Friends also told the News that Jordan cut all ties six months ago as she became increasingly desperate to fix her son’s condition.

She once claimed her child was being molested by a satanic cult and was detained by Wyoming police, authorities told the New York Post.

She also made similar claims in a rambling letter to a Wyoming sex-crimes investigator, and more recently in a rambling 20-page suicide note the Post said.

Jordan also indicated the mob was after her, according the report.

Source: http://www.dnainfo.com/20100208/midtown-west-hells-kitchen/body-of-murdered-8yearold-boy-lies-unclaimed-city-morgue

Report from Associated Press:

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The Autism News English, English autism, autistic, City Morgue, drug overdose, Elmhurst, Gigi Jordan, hospital, Jude Michael Mirra, murder, pharmaceutical executive, psychiatric ward, unclaimed

The Autism News | English

By Melissa Silverstein | Huffington Post

I have been waiting impatiently for about a decade now to see the spark in Claire Danes’ eyes that I saw way back when she played Angela Chase in My So Called Life. She’s been in a bunch of movies and has been lovely and usually very good, but no where near great.

Finally, she has a found a role where she is beyond great, she is stupendous. Claire Danes is revelatory as Temple Grandin animal behaviorist, best-selling author, autistic and expert in autism. This is a fascinating movie and I learned so much about this woman and about autism. Temple did not speak until she was four and if not for her mother would have probably ended up spending her life in an institution. What a loss that would have been.

I was riveted in many ways by the film especially the scenes about how Grandin related to animals, especially cows. I couldn’t believe it when I learned that she has designed over 50% cattle slaughterhouses in the country and they are all designed to promote humane treatment of the animals.

But it is Danes who is a revelation, and I really hope that this will convince her and others that she has the range to dig into meaty roles in the future.

Temple Grandin spent a couple of minutes on the phone with me talking about the film, her work and her life.

W&H: First I want to talk a little bit about your mother. The film shows how your mother never gave up on you. And it’s almost a love story between the two of you. What was your father’s role?

Temple Grandin: Mother was the one who kept me out of an institution. My father, like a lot of dads, had very little input. He would have gone along with the doctors. Back in the 50’s you sort of did what the doctors did. In a lot of families where they have a severely handicapped kid, it’s the mothers that take care of it. I go and do a talk and autism meeting and there are a few dads there. But for every dad there are ten mothers.

W&H: What was so magical for me was your relationship with animals.

TG: When I was in high school I thought everybody thought in pictures like I did. The movie showed how I thought in pictures brilliantly. The other thing that I really liked about the movie was that all my projects that were in the movie. They were all actually done and they were all made. The squeeze machines were built off the drawing. Those were all built exactly the way I did them.

Read more…

The Autism News English, English autism, autistic, Claire Danes, Entertainment News, HBO, Temple Grandin

The Autism News | English

Dave M. Benett/Getty Images

By Natalie Finn | E! Online

Remember when Jim Carrey was just funny?

The French knight and lady love Jenny McCarthy are speaking out again on behalf of their pet cause, the continuing quest to prove a link between childhood vaccinations and autism, an incredibly controversial issue that has scared many and polarized many more.

The latest thorn in their collective side is what they perceive to be the virulent smear on the character and work of British gastroenterologist Andrew Wakefield, who authored a landmark paper in 1998 about the possibility that 12 patients with autism and bowel disease were affected by their MMR vaccines.

According to Carrey and McCarthy, Wakefield is now having an awful time getting his current work published, for no good reason other than corporate treachery.

“Dr. Andrew Wakefield is being discredited to prevent a historic study from being published that for the first time looks at vaccinated versus unvaccinated primates and compares health outcomes, with potentially devastating consequences for vaccine makers and public health officials,” read part of a long, detailed statement issued Friday by the couple.

Wakefield and his colleagues are “on the brink of publishing their entire study,” they wrote. “It is our understanding that the difference in outcome for the vaccinated monkeys versus the unvaccinated controls is both stark and devastating.”

“Having denied the possibility of the vaccine-autism connection for so long while profiting immensely from a recent boom in vaccine sales around the world, it’s no surprise that [vaccine makers] would seek to repress this important work,” the statement continued.

Britain’s General Medical Council ruled last month that Wakefield had been “dishonest, irresponsibile and showed callous disregard for the distress and pain of children” while conducting his research in the 1990s.

In 2004, 10 of the 13 authors of the 1998 paper disassociated themselves from the article and the editor of the journal it was published in called it “fatally flawed,” according to London’s Telegraph.

Meanwhile, there are others, like the 40,000 people who subscribe to The Autism File, which grew from Wakefield’s study—as well as Carrey and McCarthy, apparently—who consider the doc a hero.

So obviously they’re not alone. But is it encouraging or irritating that McCarthy, whose son suffers from autism, and Carrey are issuing their own epic statements on these complex scientific issues?

Source: http://ca.eonline.com/uberblog/b165972_jim_carrey_jenny_mccarthy_jump_back.html

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The Autism News | English

B.J. Pikey & Dana Wigfall

By Tyler Profilet | Channel 12 – KFVS

WARDELL, MO – Dana Wigfall isn’t surprised her son’s senior trip plans have hit a snag.

B.J. Pikey has autism, and he’s raised enough money to join his North Pemiscot High School classmates on a trip to Orlando and Daytona Beach, but with his needs, he can’t take care of himself for eight days.

“Somebody else needed to go,” Wigfall said. “He couldn’t go by himself, obviously, with his diagnosis and stuff.”

She says she needs to be with her son on the trip.

However, the school does not allow parents to accompany students on the senior trip.

District leaders did offer to send his special needs teacher, but that’s not enough for Wigfall.

“There’s just certain things that she’s not going to be able to do for him. And as a mother, I’m the only one who can do these things with him,” she said.

Wigfall has written a couple of letters to superintendent Terry Hamilton and the North Pemiscot School Board.

Hamilton says the school had no comment on this specific case, but did say special needs students have been on the senior trip before without an aide and had no incidents.

But Pikey’s mom says B.J. has never been away from home for more than a couple of days, and eight days in Florida scares her.

“Just being that far away if something was to happen. I’m in a totally different state and I can’t be there right then and there,” she said.

Dana Wigfall says she doesn’t know if she will send her son to Florida without her, but hopes she doesn’t have to make that call.

Source: http://www.kfvs12.com/Global/story.asp?S=11942058

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The Autism News English, English autism, autistic, autistic child, B.J. Pikey, can't travel, classmates, Dana Wigfall, Daytona Beach, North Pemiscot High School, Orlando, senior trip, traveling, trip

The Autism News | English

By DNA India

London: Autism and related conditions were underdiagnosed in women and teenage girls, UK researchers have observed.

Experts due to speak at Britain’s first academic conference on the issue noticed that up to 80% of diagnosed cases of autism were in boys.

Richard Mills, research director of Research Autism, found that doctors and parents often fail to notice or misinterpret the symptoms of autism and Asperger syndrome, a milder form of the condition, in women and may confuse the signs with eating disorders or other problems.

“Girls are less likely to have language delay than boys with autism, so all the right boxes get ticked when they are toddlers and their autism can get missed. Autistic girls are also more likely to be outwardly social when they are younger whereas boys are less so,” Times Online quoted Mills as saying.

Dr Mills added, “What was happening was that other diagnoses were being made – personality disorder or perhaps schizophrenia. This is possibly because most tests were developed around male characteristics of autism.”

Janet Treasure, an expert on eating disorders at the Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College London, pointed out that girls on the autistic spectrum often focused on diet or calorie control, which became their obsession.

She said, “Those who are severely underweight and unwell, with serious disruption of eating patterns, share a lot of the cognitive and emotional styles common to autism. Their poor nutrition means that they can’t see the bigger picture, they focus on detail and have a rigid way of thinking, finding it hard to adapt.”

Mark Lever, the chief executive of the National Autistic Society, said, “We are extremely concerned that many women with autism may be going undiagnosed. So many tell us that trying to get a diagnosis feels like an insurmountable hurdle and they have to fight tremendous battles to get the help, support and services they desperately need. Autism is a serious, lifelong and disabling condition and without the right support it can have a profound effect on individuals and families.”

Source: http://www.dnaindia.com/scitech/report_autism-underdiagnosed-in-women-say-uk-researchers_1344150

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By The Mind, Disrupted Biomonitoring Project

Mind, Disrupted Tests for Toxins Among Learning
and Developmental Disabilities Community

First-Ever Biomonitoring Project Finds Dozens of Neurotoxic Chemicals

Washington, D.C. – A new report released today documents toxic chemical pollution in the bodies of people from the learning and developmental disabilities community.

Twelve Americans volunteered for the Mind, Disrupted Biomonitoring Project to explore the question of how the chemicals all around us — and in our bodies — may be linked to learning and developmental problems such as those directly experienced by the study participants, their children or grandchildren.

“The overwhelming evidence shows that certain environmental exposures can contribute to lifelong learning and developmental disorders,” explains Ted Schettler, MD, MPH, Science Director for the Science and Environmental Health Network and Board Member for Pesticide Action Network (PAN). “We should eliminate children’s exposures to substances that we know can have these impacts by implementing stronger health-based policies requiring safer alternatives.”

The set of chemicals studied are found in everything from baby bottles to frying pans, computers and children’s toys to the vegetables served with dinner. They are known or suspected to be neurotoxicants, hazardous to nerve cells, or endocrine disruptors with the potential to alter normal hormone function.

The report released today by the Learning and Developmental Disabilities Initiative, Mind, Disrupted: How toxic chemicals may affect how we think and who we are, summarizes results of the study: All 12 participants tested positive for at least 26 of the 89 tested chemicals. Overall, 61 toxic chemicals were present in the bodies the study participants.

“The fact that these chemicals are present in the people tested doesn’t necessarily mean they can be blamed for the developmental problems in their families — but it’s certainly a possibility,” says Dr. Margaret Reeves, a Senior Scientist for PAN who has worked closely on biomonitoring projects with the Commonweal Biomonitoring Resource Center, which supported the study. “That possibility should force us to look very hard at the relationship between the chemicals we carry in our bodies and rising rates of autism, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and other learning and developmental disabilities.”

All 12 participants had detectable levels of organochlorine pesticides, bisphenol A (BPA), mercury, lead, polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs, perfluorinated compounds (PFCs) and perchlorate in their bodies. Eleven participants had detectable levels of the pesticide triclosan.

The report is being discussed at a Senate Hearing today on public exposure to toxic chemicals, where lawmakers are reviewing the possibility of reforming the national law governing industrial chemicals (the Toxics Substances Control Act). A diverse and growing coalition of more than 120 groups, Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families, is pressing Congress to pass smart federal policies that protect us from toxic chemicals.

The Learning and Developmental Disabilities Initiative (LDDI) is a national project fostering collaboration among learning and developmental disability organizations, researchers, health professionals and environmental health groups to address concerns about the impact environmental pollutants may have on healthy brain development. LDDI currently has over 400 organizational and individual participants engaged in educational and policy efforts.

Click here to view the report:  How Toxic Chemicals May Change How We Think and Who We Are (36 pages)

Source: The Mind, Disrupted Biomonitoring Project

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Channing Tatum and Amanda Seyfried in “Dear John”

By Michelle Solomon | ABC 12 – KSAT

Novelist’s Characters Keep Dimension On Big Screen

Novelist Nicholas Sparks has a knack for exploring the complexities of love and then finding realistic circumstances that throw a large wrench into the mix. Consider the star-crossed lovers of “The Notebook,” or the middle-aged longing of two divorced lost souls in “Nights in Rodanthe.”

In “Dear John,” the latest Sparks novel to be brought to the big screen, it’s a two-week summer romance, a soldier on leave dealing with his non-communicative father, and his involvement with a girl from the wealthier side of the tracks. This recipe is all that’s needed to propel the romance story that, at its core, has been played out again and again since “Romeo and Juliet.”

But with the tender direction of three-time Oscar nominee Lasse Hallström ( “The Cider House Rules” ) coupled with Sparks’ creation once again of characters that ooze depth, the film hits more than a few emotional nerves.

Channing Tatum plays John Tyree, a soft-spoken Special Forces soldier visiting his father in South Carolina while on a short leave. Savannah Curtis (Amanda Seyfried) is staying at her wealthy family’s summer home for spring break. When the hunky John jumps into the water from a high-dive dock to rescue Savannah’s purse after it goes overboard, it’s the spark that begins an instant attraction.

Their two weeks of whirlwind romance, however, is constantly occupied by the looming inevitable: he’ll be forced to return to his deployment and Savannah will head back to college. During the short span of time, Savannah gets to crack the hard surface of the tough soldier. She spends some time with John’s father (Richard Jenkins), who is shy and insolated, and suffers from a milder form of autism, Asperger Syndrome. The only way to tap into Mr. Tyree’s world is to take an interest in his one obsession, a massive coin collection started when the young John found a mule nickel, a U.S. mint misprint with a penny backside and a nickel face.

When the time comes for John and Savannah to go their separate ways, the two promise to write letters to each other; no e-mail, Twitter or Facebook exists in John’s war world. The letter-writing campaign, while an intricate part of the relationship in the film, becomes a bit monotonous, and the film sags in its middle; John writing from some place in a far off desert, and Savannah waiting by the mailbox for his next post. Unfortunately, this is the trapping of presenting letter-writing on screen rather than words coming to life on a book page — the words somehow get lost.

Yet the point is made. The love affair is beginning to get laborious, especially for Savannah who is the lady in waiting. At the end of John’s leave, he returns to the place he met Savannah and, with a surprise twist in the story (albeit a bit dramatic), the depth of the characters and their difficult relationship returns; novelist Sparks and director Hallström sweep us away again.

The actors keep the story afloat. Tatum has the good looks and masculine energy that brings to mind Richard Gere sporting an officer’s uniform in the classic “An Officer and a Gentleman.” And when Tatum cries, get out the tissues.

Seyfried’s pretty cheerleader charm creates the right tension to Tatum’s tough guy appeal. And Richard Jenkins as the singularly focused father with a mentally crippling condition is at his usual best. Meanwhile, you’ll barely recognize an all-grown up Henry Thomas ( Elliott in “E.T.” ) as a single dad, and friend of the Curtis family, that happens to have a son with autism.

While “Dear John” doesn’t hold up as well Sparks’ whirlwind love story so heart-wrenching in “The Notebook,” it’s still worth writing home about.

Source: http://www.ksat.com/atthemovies/22465810/detail.html

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The Autism News English, English asperger, autism, autistic, cinema, Dear John, movie, Nicholas Sparks, Novelist, the notebook