| My youngest son has autism. When he was small he | | | | institution because Child Protective Services disagreed |
| used to beat me up regularly. He would hit and kick me | | | | with his parents' treatment choices. |
| out of sheer frustration. I never knew why and he | | | | A teacher called CPS after seeing self-inflicted |
| could never explain. He'd come in from school or being | | | | scratches on Nate's body and complained about the |
| in the garden and would attack me for seemingly no | | | | doctor-approved arm restraints used by Nate's |
| obvious reason. | | | | parents to keep him from hurting himself. Soon the |
| Luckly over the years he's found ways to | | | | Tseglins found themselves at loggerheads with the |
| communicate and I am no longer treated as a punch | | | | government over Nate's proper treatment. |
| bag for which I am extremely grateful. Another thing I | | | | The parents are opposed to the use of psychotropic |
| am grateful for is that my son never self-harmed. | | | | drugs and argue that Nate has had strong negative |
| Many autistic individuals do, and I've just read an article | | | | reactions to them. They have had success, however, |
| about a seventeen-year-old autistic boy who was | | | | with an alternative, holistic approach that focuses on |
| taken away from his loving parents and placed in a | | | | diet and psychiatric counseling. CPS disagreed with the |
| state-run mental institution because of it. | | | | treatment and forcibly removed the boy from his |
| Of course no-one wants to see a child injured but | | | | home. |
| clearly the Child Protection Services involved in the | | | | After he ran away from the group home where he |
| case have little understanding of autism and just made | | | | was initially placed, the government transferred Nate to |
| what was a bad situation even worse. | | | | a mental hospital. The Tseglins say the drugs the |
| They may have been genuinely concerned about the | | | | hospital gave Nate caused him to have a grand mal |
| child and disagreed with his parents' holistic treatment | | | | seizure, and his health has continued to deteriorate. |
| choices, but taking him away from his loving home, | | | | When the Tseglins visited Nate over the summer, they |
| placing him with the criminally insane, and then putting | | | | found his face swollen, and he faded in and out of |
| him on dangerous drugs is going too far. | | | | consciousness and suffered from convulsions. |
| Such ignorance, even if originally well motivated, should | | | | The Tseglins claim Child Protective Services has told |
| not be allowed. | | | | them they have the "wrong set of beliefs" and even |
| Read the article found in the Orange County Registry | | | | threatened to force them to undergo a court-ordered |
| and dated February 17 2008 for yourself and see | | | | psychological evaluation." |
| what you think. | | | | Reading stories like that makes me realise how lucky I |
| "Nate Tseglin, a 17-year-old autistic boy, was removed | | | | am! |
| from his home and placed in a state-run mental | | | | |