Can the booster MMR be detrimental to an autistic child?

[TartWithAHeart]

My friend's son has been diagnosed with autism. He is non verbal at 3.5, alongside showing other autistic traits.

She is thinking of not giving him the booster MMR because she says it might make him "more autistic".

I think she is wrong - but I am no expert. Any ideas anyone?

I have my own DS aged 3.11 with me at present demanding to be played with so forgive me if I don't respond to posts straight away.

I don't really know anyone locally, I live in Ilford. I am sure there must be people in my area. I am going to look around for local support groups tomorrow. Maybe I will start at the library. I NEVER go there!

Try the NAS - they often have local support groups. Or ring up portage and ask there whether they know of anything locally. The key is finding one person with a child similar to your own. Then add on others- but one going through very similar things is so helpful.

When my son ( now 17) had his first MMR he had his one and only fit within 3hrs. Years later when he finally received a diagnosis of Aspergers and dyspraxia I asked about the link between it and the MMR and was told that they thought he had had auistic tendancies and the MMR had acelerated them. He wasn't offered a booster..they didn't give them in those days.

My 3 youngest children have been/will be offered a booster. My 11 yr old was the first and whilst he doesn't have aspergers we do see quite strong traits in him. I was concerned and discussed it with the dr who told me the real aim of the booster was to catch those who had fallen through the net with the first jab. I decided I couldn't take the risk and he didn't have the booster. Our next youngest has hypotonia, right hemiparetic cerebral palsy and joint hypermobility syndrome he had the first jab but we weren't perpared to take any greater risk than we had to so he hasn't had the booster. As for our youngest she's not old enough yet she has no special needs but i haven't made a decision yet. Out of my older 5 3 haven't had it because they were too old when it came in and 2 haven't had it for specific reasons... non of them have suffered any illness because of not receiving it!!!

I don't think I'll risk it with DS; he's not got a diagnosis yet, but I think a diagnosis of HFA is on the cards, and if he doesn't get a diagnosis of HFA but of speech and language disorder, he has got lots of traits.