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Time Magazine Article on Autism

marksman

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Unbelievably, this week's issue of Time has as its cover article, "New Insights into the Hidden World of Autism", which turns out to be a ten-page spread extolling the virtues of the bunk science known as Facilitated Communication, and basically gives an unskeptical look at the claims of Syracuse University's Facilitiated Communication Institute.

I have never been more aghast at an instance of reckless and irresponsible journalism. Do not buy this issue. Do not give Time your money. If you don't believe me, browse through it from your local newsstand.
 
This is the most depressing thing I've heard in a while. Don't they realize the damage they'll cause by endorsing Biklen and his crew? Facilitated Communication can be debunked so easily, it's a wonder that anyone takes it seriously. And Time does something like this? This is truly terrible news.

I predict/hope that Time will get such a roasting from the scientific community that their reputation will take a serious hit.
 
"She just found out she's been spending the last 6 months talking to herself."
- ADA Jack McCoy to his assistant after demolishing "Facilitated Communication" in front of an autistics mother in court on Law & order.

Love that show. ;)

BTW, isn't facilitated communication similar in principle to how anthropoligists(sp?) claim to talk to apes via sign langauge?
 
By a strange coincidence, we have been talking about facilitated communication on Skeptical Community since last week. :)

http://www.skepticalcommunity.com/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?t=10255

Marian just wrote an article about it which you can read in that topic. THere is also a link I put in that topic to a Frontline show which discusses Syracuse University's controversial use of facilitated communication. Or you can look at it by clicking here.

It would be a shame if Time magazine is really extolling the virtues of a form of bogus communication that is so easily debunked.


I brought up the Law and Order episode in that topic. :D

My next door neighbor's (they moved away last week) daughter has autism and has a keyboard to communicate with. She was taught how to use it by her mother but now uses it by herself. Her level of ability is quite stunning for a four/five year old.

She does not talk at all. Except through the machine. Since she uses it by herself, it is not technically "facilitated communication", but she did start out by having her mother help her, which is a form of facilitated communication.
 
I saw that on CNN.COM too

The best part was when they said that the mother was "gently" helping the arm of her kid to click on the keyboard and the message which came out was "i love momy". Maybe I am a bitter, self referencing, on the verge of the destruction sceptic (*), but I was exactly thinking that the mother was more "guiding" than "supporting" the arm.

(*) sceptic are endangered specy on the verge of the destruction. New at 11.
 
Sword_Of_Truth said:
"She just found out she's been spending the last 6 months talking to herself."
- ADA Jack McCoy to his assistant after demolishing "Facilitated Communication" in front of an autistics mother in court on Law & order.

Love that show. ;)

BTW, isn't facilitated communication similar in principle to how anthropoligists(sp?) claim to talk to apes via sign langauge?
Click to expand...
got an episode name or production number for that episode? i would be interested in watching it, but i must admit that i couldn't care less about Law & Order anymore, so the chance of me seeing it by... chance... is a non zero probability, but it is very small indeed.
 
60 Minutes did an expose' of Facilitated Communication some years ago; you'd have thought the Time editors would have given it a look.
 
Sword_Of_Truth said:
"She just found out she's been spending the last 6 months talking to herself."
- ADA Jack McCoy to his assistant after demolishing "Facilitated Communication" in front of an autistics mother in court on Law & order.

Love that show. ;)

BTW, isn't facilitated communication similar in principle to how anthropoligists(sp?) claim to talk to apes via sign langauge?
Click to expand...
Not at all. Psychologist Penny Patterson taught Koko to sign using physical prompting and reinforcement, but faded out the physical prompts rapidly. I
The FC people don't seem to ever remove the direct manual guidance of the autistic person.
 
Hasn't FC been debunked for years? I vaguely remember reading about it when I was in high school, which would mean at least 12 years ago.
 
The mind-boggling Frontline expose from 1993. The transcript is online, but it doesn't really do it justice.

If you do read it, pay attention to the comments of Marian Pitsas. That woman is a real hero in my eyes--fell deep into woo, did the double blind tests, admitted she was wrong, cried, shook herself off, and went back to clinically tested treatment methods.
 
dissonance said:
Hasn't FC been debunked for years? I vaguely remember reading about it when I was in high school, which would mean at least 12 years ago.
Click to expand...

Yes. The Frontline story about Syracuse University and FC I linked above is from 1993.

One of the people credited in that story wrote an article for Skeptic Magazine the following year.

And then the Law & Order episode aired for the first time the year after that.
 
I suffer from a minor dose of autism, so this well and truly, pissed me the ◊◊◊◊ off!
 
Look it up.

I've been told about it, all through my life so far, and it really has no effect on me.

So I don't ask my parents, who admirably helped me through it as a child, which I am forever thankfull for.
 
There are levels of autism and aspergers.

A lot of people contend that Bill GAtes has some form of it.

What gets me is that parents can't accept that their children are different. Well, every child is different. Autism isn't anything to be ashamed about. There is really GOOD work being done that doesn't try to retrain the child into whatever "normal" is supposed to be, and teaches the child to adapt and compensate, while still retaining who they are. This whole 1950's theory of making the child "act" as normal as possible is outmoded. Temple Grandin (my hero) speaks of people for the first time thinking of what will make the CHILD feel happy and successful and NEEDED. Not what makes the parents comfortable.

REdefine normal and start accepting the differences we all have. Let's put the money and time into really researching autism. Not making the parents feel good.
 
Pauliesonne said:
Look it up.

I've been told about it, all through my life so far, and it really has no effect on me.

So I don't ask my parents, who admirably helped me through it as a child, which I am forever thankfull for.
Click to expand...

Why would you respond in this fashion? I genuinely do not understand what you meant. Couldn't you explain what this means?

So I turn to Kittynh. Thanks, I didn't know that there were varying degrees of the conditions. What would a mild case of autism look like, as opposed to a severe case?

I have no experience with autism within my family and friends.
 
kittynh said:
There are levels of autism and aspergers.
Click to expand...
Precisely, it is also likely that there is more than a single cause for the syndrome, thus making a cure very difficult if not impossible.

What gets me is that parents can't accept that their children are different.
Click to expand...

This IMO is why woo cures of all ilk’s thrive, parents are desperate.



General comments:

What can be done and a couple of personal observations:

The current treatments of ‘early intervention’ produce results, many Autistics do well if you get them young.

The dedication of the ‘special need teachers’ cannot be overemphasised, it’s a stressful job sometimes and the rewards small sometimes.

Looking for a ‘special school’: Don’t worry too much about the bricks and mortar it’s the individual teacher that make the difference.

Lower your own expectations of your Autistic child, and priorities on ‘life skills’ above academics.
 
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