Is Jett Travolta Autistic?

[Barbarella]

I saw this on Perez, so I'm not taking much stock in it, but has anyone else ever heard that he is?

John Travolta's son, Jett, looks like a lovely kid.

He enjoyed some time with his parents, including mom Kelly Preston, in Hawaii recently.

But the Scientologists are currently coming under fire for not only refusing to admit that their son is autistic, which many close the couple claim is true, but also for refusing to give Jett the proper treatment for his condition.

According to the Church of Scientology, people with mental illnesses are "degraded" and capable of curing themselves by working harder on the church's teachings.

And then there's this from the New York Post:

June 1, 2007 -- JOHN Travolta, 53, and his wife, Kelly Preston, 44, just announced they want to try for their third child - even while they fall under increasing pressure to publicly acknowledge the disability of their son, Jett.

Travolta has either pretended there is nothing wrong with Jett, 15, or claimed his condition is Kawasaki syndrome, a disease characterized by high fever, skin rash and swelling of the lymph nodes.

But parents of autistic children say that Travolta should join Sylvester Stallone, Doug Flutie, Jenny McCarthy and Toni Braxton, who all have autistic kids, in raising awareness and research funds to cure the disease.

One magazine editor who has interviewed Travolta more than once says that the star's son is disabled - and yet he continues to behave as if nothing is wrong.

"Travolta sits there in interviews talking about how Jett loves to read or play sports, but it is clear that the boy can barely do either," the editor said.

Tim Kenny, the father of a 4-year-old autistic girl from Ocala, Fla., near the Travolta estate, told Mark Ebner of HollywoodInterrupted.com that he introduced the actor in February at a restaurant he manages "as one autistic child's father to another" but that Travolta was in denial.

"Scientology is keeping him from acknowledging his son's autism. They see it as a weakness," Kenny told Ebner.

According to the Church of Scientology, people with mental illnesses are "degraded" and capable of curing themselves by working harder on the church's teachings.

"It's fine with me if Travolta doesn't want to become the poster child for autistic parents, but every time the parent of an autistic child hears about someone else who is in this fight, it makes them feel better," said the editor who interviewed him.

"He could do so much good for autism awareness if he would just come forward."

Travolta's lawyer, Marty Singer, told Page Six: "The Travoltas are wonderful, loving parents, and their priority is their children. They have [taken] and they continue to take the best possible care of their children. To suggest anything to the contrary is very hurtful to a loving family and also would be false and defamatory."

[MyNameisWarts]

Sounds like maybe they are just protecting their kid? How do we know that among themselves they are in denial about his autism?

I am the first one to criticize Scientologists for being gullible whack jobs, but I'm not sure this is a fair criticism. Unless they come out publically denying the existence of autism, I don't think they are under any obligation to "acknowledge" their child's mental disorders.

[KV]

^I have to agree. Although it really irritates me that Scientology thinks mental disorders can be cured simply by their teachings alone. That whole scene is so fucked up and completely out of balance. And in some cases I am not sure it is not abusive to deny a child the medical attention they need.

xo
Rachel

[Samwitch]

That poor kid has a thousand mile stare. He's never seen any more in public with his parents and hasn't for years. He's about 15 now, I think.

[Jezebelle]

I recall hearing this a few years back but yea - I can't even remember the last time his parents mentioned him let alone had him out in public.

I read the above articles (I work closely with autistic children and their families) and also learned that Jenny McCarthy's son has also been diagnosed with autism. I just read her book Belly Laughs about pregnancy (it sucked). Apparently, she'll have another book out soon about having a child on the autism spectrum.

[Fox in Socks]

yeah i dont know, who's to say they arent doing anything for their kid via various therapies, school, whatever. i dont think they are under any obligation to inform the public on the status of their kids cognition. nor are they under any obligation to "join forces" to "cure the disease". it's not really a disease anyway. but thats a discusson for another thread.

[Samwitch]

John and Kelly deny that Jett is autistic. They believe his problems are due to chemicals in rugs and carpets. Here's an excerpt from an article I found about Jett:

Apparently this is not the first time that alarm bells have rung about the Travolta’s behavior towards his son’s autism before. Other celebrities familiar with autism, as well as the Autism Society of America, have expressed their frustration (http://www.hollywoodinterrupted.com/archives/a_plea_from_hollywood_john_travolta_open_your_heart.phtml) at how the Travoltas are sweeping their son’s ailment under the carpet. The reason for their denial may stem from the fact that Scientology does not recognise autism as a disorder, nor will they go anywhere near using drugs to treat the psychological illness. Autistics in Scientology are usually known as “degraded beings” (http://www.xenu.net/archive/WIR/wir10-15.html) who brought the affliction on themselves. Kelly Preston has gone as far as saying in the past that Jett suffers from Kawasaki Syndrome like disease (http://www.hollywoodinterrupted.com/archives/a_plea_from_hollywood_john_travolta_open_your_heart.phtml) because of “environmental toxins”, with Jett reacting badly specifically to carpet cleaning chemicals.

source:http://www.celebitchy.com/3860/the_travoltas_ignore_their_sons_autism/

[Jezebelle]

Does anyone else find it ironic that the above article claims the Travolta's "sweep the problem under the carpet" and then go on to claim its a result of carpet cleanign chemicals? :p

By the way, there is no medication to treat autism.

[Mrs.Rollins]

I recall hearing this a few years back but yea - I can't even remember the last time his parents mentioned him let alone had him out in public.

I read the above articles (I work closely with autistic children and their families) and also learned that Jenny McCarthy's son has also been diagnosed with autism. I just read her book Belly Laughs about pregnancy (it sucked). Apparently, she'll have another book out soon about having a child on the autism spectrum.

In that forthcoming book she refers to her son as a "crystal child" with magical psychic powers. She also rails against childhood vaccinations (as per usual) and states her desires to have all children attend school outdoors only, be forced to meditate, and eat nothing but organic food.

So, um, yeah. Just because your child has a disease and you happen to be quasi-famous does NOT make you an expert on health, despite what Us Weekly and OK! Magazine would have us all believe.

[Rizzabella]

By the way, there is no medication to treat autism.

Nope, but there are things that a child with severe autism can take to help control their energy if that's a problem. My brother took (and I think still takes) stuff to control his hyperactivity which is really the biggest problem for him and, when he goes without meds, is what makes it clear that he's not 100% normal.

I don't feel that the Travoltas should be obligated to become really vocal about their son's problems but as you've all mentioned already, Scientology's blindness in the face of any problem such as this makes it a horrible situation. It's so sad that they buy into this shit so much that they rob their child of medical attention just to save face.

[Jezebelle]

In that forthcoming book she refers to her son as a "crystal child" with magical psychic powers. She also rails against childhood vaccinations (as per usual) and states her desires to have all children attend school outdoors only, be forced to meditate, and eat nothing but organic food.

So, um, yeah. Just because your child has a disease and you happen to be quasi-famous does NOT make you an expert on health, despite what Us Weekly and OK! Magazine would have us all believe.

Yeah, I read that, too. I like her so I was hoping perhaps the writer was wrong.

[T.C.]

John and Kelly deny that Jett is autistic. They believe his problems are due to chemicals in rugs and carpets. Here's an excerpt from an article I found about Jett:

Apparently this is not the first time that alarm bells have rung about the Travolta’s behavior towards his son’s autism before. Other celebrities familiar with autism, as well as the Autism Society of America, have expressed their frustration (http://www.hollywoodinterrupted.com/archives/a_plea_from_hollywood_john_travolta_open_your_heart.phtml) at how the Travoltas are sweeping their son’s ailment under the carpet. The reason for their denial may stem from the fact that Scientology does not recognise autism as a disorder, nor will they go anywhere near using drugs to treat the psychological illness. Autistics in Scientology are usually known as “degraded beings” (http://www.xenu.net/archive/WIR/wir10-15.html) who brought the affliction on themselves. Kelly Preston has gone as far as saying in the past that Jett suffers from Kawasaki Syndrome like disease (http://www.hollywoodinterrupted.com/archives/a_plea_from_hollywood_john_travolta_open_your_heart.phtml) because of “environmental toxins”, with Jett reacting badly specifically to carpet cleaning chemicals.

source:http://www.celebitchy.com/3860/the_travoltas_ignore_their_sons_autism/

okay they're just completely bonkers, the whole lot of them.

a friend of mine said he had a talk with a scientologist, and the whole ''degraded" thing has to do with... aliens. i'm not kidding. he told me that the scientologists consider people with mental disorders possessed by aliens and that they need to follow church doctrine to expel the aliens. or something. whack jobs.

[Barbarella]

^ Yeah, a lot of Scientology is based on aliens. Or so I hear. *watches back*

[Bernkastel]

When the TomKat "You don't know the history of psychiatry" thing broke there were a lot of threads here about Scientology is all about. I was really obsessed with these crazies for awhile. Heh.

Anyway, I point all people who want to find out what Scientology is really about to Operaton Clambake: http://www.xenu.net/

But here is a slimmed down version:

Scientology is indeed about aliens, though this is supposed to be "secret knowledge" known only to people who reach a certain level (OT III) on the Scientology power structure. So basically, it's not like they're recruiting people who believe in UFOs or whatever. They pull in gullible people who want quick fixes, control over their lives, peace of mind, what have you. Then they brainwash them and pump them for cash. By the time they are told about the secret of Xenu and how we human beings are composed of the souls of dead aliens (thetans) whose incredible mental powers are being suppressed by psychiatry, drugs, and false history (basically, the world is not as old as we've been told, it's only a couple hundred years old). Scientology is meant to be a method by which these impurities are gradually stripped away until you become "clear" and then have access to all of these powers (by the way, Tom Cruise is supposed to be a Clear).

The story of Xenu (summarized from the writings by L. Ron Hubbard -- not stuff that was published, these are secret writings that are supposed to be "true"):

Once upon a time (75 million years ago to be more precise) there was an alien galactic ruler named Xenu. Xenu was in charge of all the planets in this part of the galaxy including our own planet Earth, except in those days it was called Teegeeack.

Xenu the alien ruler Now Xenu had a problem. All of the 76 planets he controlled were overpopulated. Each planet had on average 178 billion people. He wanted to get rid of all the overpopulation so he had a plan.

Xenu took over complete control with the help of renegades to defeat the good people and the Loyal Officers. Then with the help of psychiatrists he called in billions of people for income tax inspections where they were instead given injections of alcohol and glycol mixed to paralyse them. Then they were put into space planes that looked exactly like DC8s (except they had rocket motors instead of propellers).

These DC8 space planes then flew to planet Earth where the paralysed people were stacked around the bases of volcanoes in their hundreds of billions. When they had finished stacking them around then H-bombs were lowered into the volcanoes. Xenu then detonated all the H-bombs at the same time and everyone was killed.

The story doesn't end there though. Since everyone has a soul (called a "thetan" in this story) then you have to trick souls into not coming back again. So while the hundreds of billions of souls were being blown around by the nuclear winds he had special electronic traps that caught all the souls in electronic beams (the electronic beams were sticky like fly-paper).

After he had captured all these souls he had them packed into boxes and taken to a few huge cinemas. There all the souls had to spend days watching special 3D motion pictures that told them what life should be like and many confusing things. In this film they were shown false pictures and told they were God, The Devil and Christ. In the story this process is called "implanting".

When the films ended and the souls left the cinema these souls started to stick together because since they had all seen the same film they thought they were the same people. They clustered in groups of a few thousand. Now because there were only a few living bodies left they stayed as clusters and inhabited these bodies.

As for Xenu, the Loyal Officers finally overthrew him and they locked him away in a mountain on one of the planets. He is kept in by a force-field powered by an eternal battery and Xenu is still alive today.

Another place to check out is http://www.whyaretheydead.net -- but only if you have a strong stomach (some of the links contains pictures of corpses). As you might guess, it is about the many mysterious deaths linked to Scientology, including L. Ron Hubbard's own son.

[T.C.]

mommy the crazies are scaring me!![shock][shock]

Josephus Havenith (45)
Room 771

An autopsy report lists his death as "probable drowning" but notes that his head was not under water. He died in February 1980 at the Scientology Fort Harrison Hotel in a bathtub filled with water so hot it had burned his skin off.

*shudders*

[Jezebelle]

I tested a child with "Kawasaki disease" earlier this year and briefly looked it up. I recalled it being related to a blood disorder. The mom was bat shit crazy .... I mean she won the award for Most Crazy Mother this year. I wonder if she was also a Scientologist?! That would actually surprise me. She was psychotic; literally.

[Nova Scotia]

This is the thread that's showing up #6 or 7 on google...

[lacuna]

I just googled jett travolta autistic and it's #2. Go @forumz?

[Gog]

I tested a child with "Kawasaki disease" earlier this year and briefly looked it up. I recalled it being related to a blood disorder. The mom was bat shit crazy .... I mean she won the award for Most Crazy Mother this year. I wonder if she was also a Scientologist?! That would actually surprise me. She was psychotic; literally.

I looked Kawasaki disease up last night too. It's a temporary, treatable disorder usually affecting kids under five. It affects the heart and blood vessels and there is not mention anywhere of it including any kind of brain damage, seizures or autistic affect. While the child may actually have suffered a bout of Kawasaki's early in life it would not explain his other symptoms or his obvious special needs status. The more I think about this, the more shocking it gets. It's one thing to be an idiot and refuse medication for yourself. It's quite another thing to withhold standard medications from a child or other dependent. Your right to practise your beliefs IMO ends when it comes to those beliefs affecting another person's wellbeing. It's tantamount to child abuse, however well-meaning, to withhold treatments and medications from a child because of your beliefs. I'm sitting here imagining what it would have been like if I'd been denied medication for asthma as a child. You know, if say my parents had been in some wackaloon sect like Scientology or Christian Science? Likely I'd be dead too, such was the severity of my symptoms and if not, likely my activities would have been curtailed and my quality of life would have been far worse than it was. This makes me really angry. if this is freedom of religion, you can shove it up your arse.

[Lord_Rask_of_Trevdale]

Another place to check out is http://www.whyaretheydead.net -- but only if you have a strong stomach (some of the links contains pictures of corpses). As you might guess, it is about the many mysterious deaths linked to Scientology, including L. Ron Hubbard's own son.

That's fucking crazy! Bad Scientologists seem to always die in bathtubs . .

-Jacob.

[Jezebelle]

I looked Kawasaki disease up last night too. It's a temporary, treatable disorder usually affecting kids under five. It affects the heart and blood vessels and there is not mention anywhere of it including any kind of brain damage, seizures or autistic affect. While the child may actually have suffered a bout of Kawasaki's early in life it would not explain his other symptoms or his obvious special needs status.



you're exactly right - I later came to learn far more about the disease through working with this family and the child had no signs of autism whatsoever. While this is the only kid I've ever worked with with Kawasaki disease, I've worked with dozens with autism. Probably 50 or so.

So the child had a history of seizures but was never allowed medical treatment?! I would assume that treatment for seizures would not fall under "psychotropic" medication since it is a very real, detectable medical condition. I haven't read much about the Travoltas short of this thread and the recent news on tmz et al - but to withhold medication to treat seizures would be tantamount to medical neglect in my opinion. Its similar to those crazy vegans who's baby dies as a result of nutritional neglect because they kept the infant on a vegan diet. They ended up doing time in jail as I recall.

[Bernkastel]

I've heard that a lot of seizure medication is also used to treat mental illnesses, since it's a neurological condition, but I don't know details about it.

[MyNameisWarts]

Sounds like maybe they are just protecting their kid? How do we know that among themselves they are in denial about his autism?

I am the first one to criticize Scientologists for being gullible whack jobs, but I'm not sure this is a fair criticism. Unless they come out publically denying the existence of autism, I don't think they are under any obligation to "acknowledge" their child's mental disorders.

^I have to agree. Although it really irritates me that Scientology thinks mental disorders can be cured simply by their teachings alone. That whole scene is so fucked up and completely out of balance. And in some cases I am not sure it is not abusive to deny a child the medical attention they need.

xo
Rachel

I have changed my mind, given the circumstances. If the kid was autistic and they did actually deny it, that is absolutely fucked.

[Jezebelle]

I've heard that a lot of seizure medication is also used to treat mental illnesses, since it's a neurological condition, but I don't know details about it.

yes, but thats quite a different contraversy. Seizure meds are often used to treat bipolar disorder kids, which is even another contraversy. But more and more I see 6 and 7 year olds taking depakote.

[Bernkastel]

Yeah, but what I'm saying is, that if seizure medication functions similarly to some psychiatric drugs/is used for psychiatric medication, then Scientology would certainly group them together.

[cold pressed olives]

yes, but thats quite a different contraversy. Seizure meds are often used to treat bipolar disorder kids, which is even another contraversy. But more and more I see 6 and 7 year olds taking depakote.

don't even get me started on doctors who "diagnose" 4-year-olds with "bipolar disorder." yes doc, prescribe that 4-year-old focalin XR, clonidine, trileptal, risperdal, AND xanax! smart!

[Barbarella]

^ I can't believe a parent would go along with such a thing!

[cold pressed olives]

^ i watched a frontline documentary the other night, "the medicated child," and it made me very angry and depressed. there are no definitive symptoms of childhood bipolar disorder, and doctors still don't know the full side effects of anti-depressants and anti-psychotics on their young patients, yet they still prescribe a cocktail of medicines BEFORE knowing if there is a true diagnosis or if the medicines will work. so then you have a child who by the age of ten has been on oh...six, seven, eight medicines...but you can't just make them quit cold turkey 'cause that might have some nasty withdrawal effects, especially if they've been taking a benzo for years, or they might have a complete mental break.

it was either a psychologist or child psychiatrist who in 1996 published an article stating that a good number of young children who were diagnosed with ADHD were actually suffering from bipolar disorder...since then, the number of children diagnosed with the latter has jumped 4000% in this country.

you should check out the documentary.