Time Magazine Article on Autism

[ChristineR]

People with mild cases of autism lack social skills, are acutely sensitive to external stimuli, engage in ritualistic behaviors, obsess over seemingly pointless and arbritary subjects, and are resistent to change. They can be of normal or above-normal intelligence, and usually have good language skills but poor spacial skills and impaired motor skills.

 

[marksman]

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

Most parents who get hornswaggled by snake oil salesman like the Facilitated Communication Institute are not parents of high functioning Aspergers or Autist children.

They are parents of children who at the age of eight are still running into walls, have never smiled, have never spoken, have never communicated any emotion except discomfort or pain. They are children who it is impossible to tell are able to communicate, whether any parenting is having an effect on them.

I am sympathetic to those people who have Aspergers and Autism not to be pigeonholed or ill-treated because they ar eidfferent. I applaud it. That's not who these parents are.

By definition, FCI is only advocated for children who are unable to communicate, verbally or non-verbally. These parents are not worried about bullying, or being unable to communicate with their kids the way other parents do. These parents are worried their children will never be able to support themselves, will never be able to experience a positive emotion and will live their days in an institution solely because they are becoming physically impossible to care for at home.

FCI preys on the parents who are the most vulnerable.

This whole 1950's theory of making the child "act" as normal as possible is outmoded.

What therapy is that? It's not FCI, which is defrauding parents into thinking they can communicate with autistic children on their own terms -- but in reality through bunk science.

Are you referring to ABB, the only therapy proven to be able to take children who are unable to communicate and give them basic survival skills?

Again, I understand and applaud the efforts of functioning individuals with autism and aspergers not to be forced to act like everyone else. That's not what the FCI swindle is about.

Let's put the money and time into really researching autism. Not making the parents feel good.

I agree more research is needed. But let's not inject political debates into a thread about Facilitated Communication. Let's try to stay on topic?

 

[Pauliesonne]

Why would you respond in this fashion? .

I'm sorry if I came off as a jerk.

 

[bluess]

I'm sorry if I came off as a jerk.

Thanks for the apology.

 

[Cetecea]

Kitty-
I applaud your response, sounds like we are on the same page. As I often say in presentations- "Normal is a setting on your dryer"!

Marksman_
What is ABB therapy? I tried ye ole google!

 

[marksman]

Sorry! That was a typo. It's actually ABA, which stands for Applied Behavioral Analysis. It's a therapy which tries to train autistic children to mimic the behavior of non-autists, particularly children who lack basic survival skills (ability to communicate, toilet-trained, ability to recognize dangerous conditions, etc.)

It's success rate is pretty dismal (something like 25%, I think) and it is very expensive to do right (close to $100 grand a year), but it is the only therapy that has shown to have more effectiveness than doing nothing. (Many other therapies simply haven't been tested yet, with the exception of facilitated communication, which has been tested and has failed). Moreover, there are no licensing, registration or firmly accepted protocals for ABA (or any other treatment for autism). So it's the best of a very very bad lot.

Many high-functioning autists understandably object to ABA because it stresses conformity. I don't know that I would recommend ABA (and I'm not a physician or therapist) for autists who can communicate and who have basic survival skills.

 

[jj]

Thanks for the apology.

Speaking as someone who's dod gamn xysledic, I can understand the very serious annoyance when somebody spams the field with a total heap of bollocks.

 

[Cetecea]

thanks Marksman- That I have heard of but I didn't put the two together.

 

[bluess]

Speaking as someone who's dod gamn xysledic, I can understand the very serious annoyance when somebody spams the field with a total heap of bollocks.

Well, sure, idiocy gets you angry when it refers to something which affects you personally.

 

[Jeff Corey]

Sorry! That was a typo. It's actually ABA, which stands for Applied Behavioral Analysis. It's a therapy which tries to train autistic children to mimic the behavior of non-autists, particularly children who lack basic survival skills (ability to communicate, toilet-trained, ability to recognize dangerous conditions, etc.)

It's success rate is pretty dismal (something like 25%, I think) and it is very expensive to do right (close to $100 grand a year), but it is the only therapy that has shown to have more effectiveness than doing nothing. (Many other therapies simply haven't been tested yet, with the exception of facilitated communication, which has been tested and has failed). Moreover, there are no licensing, registration or firmly accepted protocals for ABA (or any other treatment for autism). So it's the best of a very very bad lot.

Many high-functioning autists understandably object to ABA because it stresses conformity. I don't know that I would recommend ABA (and I'm not a physician or therapist) for autists who can communicate and who have basic survival skills.

ABA programs are designed to teach whatever skills, such as speaking and appropriate toileting, the child needs. I would like to see your data on sucess rate- it sounds made up, as does the high cost. Many states, including FLA and NY, do have certification for ABA. I teach courses in a program that offers ABA certificates.

 

[Aepervius]

???

People with mild cases of autism lack social skills, are acutely sensitive to external stimuli, engage in ritualistic behaviors, obsess over seemingly pointless and arbritary subjects, and are resistent to change. They can be of normal or above-normal intelligence, and usually have good language skills but poor spacial skills and impaired motor skills.

That s funny...If you had wanted to describe me you would not have done a better job than that...

 

[rocketdodger]

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.

I am just alarmed that it took this article to get you all to realize what a pile of dung Time magazine is. I have known for years.

Every scientific article in Time that I have ever seen is nothing more than a bunch of interviews with fringe "experts" and data selected carefully to maximize emotional impact. I have NEVER seen them offer a complete picture of any issue.

They should just stop attempting to discuss anything related to science or technology. By trying to make the articles both "readable" (read: completely devoid of the logic and math that might hurt the average american's tiny brain) and "sensational" (read: hyped up enough to get people waiting in supermarket lines to buy this issue), they twist what are important debates into piles of steaming misinformitive s---.

 

[marksman]

ABA programs are designed to teach whatever skills, such as speaking and appropriate toileting, the child needs. I would like to see your data on sucess rate- it sounds made up, as does the high cost. Many states, including FLA and NY, do have certification for ABA. I teach courses in a program that offers ABA certificates.

It was given to me at a school board in informational materials given to me by a parent of an autistic child in my school district. Sadly, I did not retain the materials. So either the data given to me, or my memory could certainly be flawed and I apologize if I contributed to any misinformation on autism or its treatments.

 

[Jeff Corey]

Fair enough. For more information about ABA and autism http://www.behavior.org/autism/

 

[SquishyDave]

A memory just resurfaced for me. I was watching a show on this very topic years and years ago. I think it was for retarded people, not autism. The people were mentally retarded to the point where they couldn't really move properly. I was watching the person helping this retarded girl type on the computer keyboard, and the retarded girl looked out of the window for a good second or two. Long enough for her to apparently touch type with one index finger 2 or 3 letters. Quite a feat I thought.

 

[steve s]

The CBS evening news just did a story about FC. The girl must have had a fairly mild form of autism because she was able to move her arm and type without any aid from the facilitator. I'm not even sure why the facilitator was there. She just held the keyboard up. If the girl can type on her own, is this even considered FC?
The reporter didn't even bring up examples of FC where the facilitator guides the hand of the person.

Steve S.

 

[Cyphermage]

People with mild cases of autism lack social skills, are acutely sensitive to external stimuli, engage in ritualistic behaviors, obsess over seemingly pointless and arbritary subjects, and are resistent to change. They can be of normal or above-normal intelligence, and usually have good language skills but poor spacial skills and impaired motor skills.

Is there a downside to this? I'm cranky, a klutz, and spend most of my time thinking about problems in computational complexity theory that only a few other people care about. I'm happy. I don't care what anyone else thinks.

Pointless to whom, I ask? Arbitrary by whose criteria? I consider poor social skills something to be cultivated.

 

[chance]

Is there a downside to this? I'm cranky, a klutz, and spend most of my time thinking about problems in computational complexity theory that only a few other people care about. I'm happy. I don't care what anyone else thinks.

Pointless to whom, I ask? Arbitrary by whose criteria? I consider poor social skills something to be cultivated.

Is there a downside to this? I'm cranky, a klutz, and spend most of my time thinking about problems in computational complexity theory that only a few other people care about. I'm happy. I don't care what anyone else thinks.

Pointless to whom, I ask? Arbitrary by whose criteria? I consider poor social skills something to be cultivated.

No doubt said in jest, but just to clarify for readers.

Depending on the severity of the Autistic, it is quite possible for that person to be content when left alone, in a safe environment. Indeed, part of the therapy is to allow them ‘time out’ to be themselves.

The problem comes with the inevitable interaction with the rest of society and the expectations. E.g:

a. just being safe (crossing the road) (reading warnings labels) (“don’t touch that”) (hygiene),
b. getting what you want (a drink of water) (watching TV),

Life, is about interaction with our fellows, Autistics find that a very difficult concept.

 

[Cyphermage]

A good definition of "personality" might be "our style of interacting with others to get our needs met." A "personality disorder" is therefore something which interferes with that process.

So the degree to which one is disordered is highly sensitive to ones needs, and also ones means.

I have a wealthy friend who sits in his mansion all day, and has all his needs met by paying people money to do things for him. If he were to become poor, and have to get a real job, he'd probably get fired in a week and be in jail for being loud, beligerent, and threatening.

When I was in college, my psychology professor told me that he would never be able to hack 9 to 5, and if he wasn't a professor, he would be a bum.

People with needs and no means get diagnosed with all sorts of creatively named problems which try to explain why they are unsuccessful or unmotivated to toil at the wheel.

We get into the mode where anything becomes justified to "help" the different individual fit into the mold of what society considers "normal."

I'm not sure a happy autistic person has anything wrong with them. Who knows what deep thoughts are running around in their head as they sit for hours playing with buttons, or watching dust particles dance in a ray of sunshine.

Remember the final episode of "St. Elsewhere," where the entire series was the fantasy of an autistic boy contemplating a snow globe ornament.

 

[Huntster]

Mrs. Huntster is a special ed teacher, and is on the frontline of dealing with autism.

She told me the other day, and I verifed her accusation with a google search, that the incidence of autism has skyrocketed in the U.S. and U.K. over the past 20 years by thousands of percents.

Childhood inoculations are leading the field of suspicions on why this has occurred.