Posted on 04/08/2012 6:22:16 PM PDT by neverdem
THE report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that one in 88 American children have an autism spectrum disorder has stoked a debate about why the condition’s prevalence continues to rise. The C.D.C. said it was possible that the increase could be entirely attributed to better detection by teachers and doctors, while holding out the possibility of unknown environmental factors.
But the report, released last month, also appears to be serving as a lightning rod for those who question the legitimacy of a diagnosis whose estimated prevalence has nearly doubled since 2007.
As one person commenting on The New York Times’s online article about it put it, parents “want an ‘out’ for why little Johnny is a little hard to control.” Or, as another skeptic posted on a different Web site, “Just like how all of a sudden everyone had A.D.H.D. in the ’90s, now everyone has autism.”
The diagnosis criteria for autism spectrum disorders were broadened in the 1990s to encompass not just the most severely affected children, who might be intellectually disabled, nonverbal or prone to self-injury, but those with widely varying symptoms and intellectual abilities who shared a fundamental difficulty with social interaction. As a result, the makeup of the autism population has shifted: only about a third of those identified by the C.D.C. as autistic last month had an intellectual disability, compared...
--snip--
But whether the diagnosis is now too broad is a subject of dispute even among mental health professionals. The group in charge of autism criteria for the new version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders has proposed changes that would exclude some who currently qualify, reducing the combination of behavioral traits through which the diagnosis can be reached from a mind-boggling 2,027 to 11, according to one estimate...
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Years ago, Thomas Sowell wrote a book about children like your neighbors’. It was called “The Einstein Syndrome,” and dealt with late talking children who often showed signs of what many would consider autism.
The gist of the book was that there is a whole population of kids who are NOT autistic but seem to develop later than others, and who have exhibited some odd behaviors in early childhood. Many of these children spend years being misdiagnosed and medicated before finally being properly diagnosed.
I read the book when my own son was about 2 or so. Sadly, Johnny was not among those who would be classified as having “Einstein Syndrome.” Turns out he’d had a stroke in infancy and the delays he exhibited were the results of that event. Those delays were signs of the damage done to his brain — he’s 14 now, six feet tall, and terribly
handsome. If you saw him, you’d never know something was wrong. Until he spoke. THEN you’d know. While he shows no signs of autism, there is a definite intellectual deficiency.
Anyway, your neighbors might be interested in the book even though their son is grown — just to see if his symptoms matched Dr. Sowell’s theory.
Regards,
Interesting. Albert Einstein was a very late talker. His brain formed heightened analysis to compensate for his late verbal skill development.
I have a close friend and her oldest son has Aspergers. Like you, she is/was a stay at home Mom. She also knew something wasn’t “right” when he was a small baby. She did everything “right”... ate well, took vitamins, etc... and loved that baby in utero and the day he was born. Wonderful home, no domestic issues, great pediatricians... you name it. I don’t see Autism and the spectrum as parenting issues. What it is from.. I have no idea but in my personal experience... it isn’t the parents.
From the article:
"In South Korea, a recent study found a prevalence rate of one in 38 children, and a study in England found autism at roughly the same rate — 1 percent — in adults as in children, implying that the condition had gone unidentified previously, rather than an actual increase in its incidence."
That's the best I can do about other countries.
Thanks for the links!
My granddaughter also has Asberger’s. She sounds a bit like your son. She’s now in first grade and doing pretty well. She dances, tap and ballet, she sings and does variety show type dance, and she has an orange belt, with stripes, in Tong So Do, a form of Karate similar to Tae Qwon Do. She can break boards with hand, foot and elbow. She spars with others her size/age (And likes it!) . But she still has some issues. She turns out to have lots of food and chemical allergies. Gluten, dairy, soy plus artificial dyes. She also takes anti-virals. But it’s all helping her a lot. She’s now more spontaneous with her talking for example. Instead of her usual “meltdown” today, she just got mad and stomped off,slammed a door, etc, just like any other first grade girl.
Or even plasic surgery, for extreme cases.
I’ve worked with autistic children, one in particular named Dominique. Although it was many yrs ago, during my senior yr as an undergraduate studying psychology. I don’t specialise in Clinical Psychology, but know that:
It is a Neuro-Developmental Disorder which affects social interaction & communication, but also delays cognitive development, as well as how information is processed in the brain. The latter may partly explain the examples (jail & Ten Commandments, animals & rain) you gave of your son in post 18.
You’re correct, it has a strong genetic basis, sometimes environmental factors can contribute or cause it. Factors such as toxins, heavy metals, pesticides, even childhood vaccines.
Unfortunately, what exactly causes autism is still not completely clear, even its genetic basis is very complex.
Years ago, they also used to call autism “childhood schizophrenia”. And, even now most ordinary folks equate schizophrenia with multiple personality or think it is a personality disorder; it isn’t.
Also, Autism is not the same as Mental Retardation (MR) or Syndromic mental retardation, which are both, primarily, “intellectual disabilities”, coupled with 2 adaptive behaviour deficits.
I can fully appreciate that it can be stressful for parents to manage a child with autism. The best treatments and/or management is when related deficits & family stress are reduced. Mostly, a combination of behaviour & social skills therapy, structured learning/teaching, speech & language therapy, and sometimes occupational therapy - tailored to suit the child’s needs.
If it is hard to access suitable schools, it may be an idea to have your psychologist or physician tailor a management program, in conjunction with one or two qualified professionals (therapists) in above-mentioned fields, and for the therapist or qualified teacher to then work with your child at home. It can be done, for example, 3 days a week. If you network with other parents who have autistic kids with similar needs, then perhaps, the sessions can be shared.
They want kids to be factory robots.
Plenty of individual differences.
Thanks
Don't know, but there seems to be a higher incidence when the father is older.
Don't know, but there seems to be a higher incidence when the father is older.
Don't know, but there seems to be a higher incidence when the father is older.
I hate opening threads on FR on Child Development topics because of all the insensitive responses from people that know nothing about the subject. The common answer is we are not spanking enough, or we are bad parents, or like one reply I read here, we caused it by our “recreational drug use”. I was one of those doubters myself once. My son now 10, made me a believer. If they could only walk in our shoes.
If autism is, indeed, a “spectrum disorder,” then we can forget this “1 in 88” nonsense: every last human being EXCEPT the one, ultimate person of the most pristine normalcy will, by definition, fall somewhere down the spectrum towards autism.
Dr. John Cannell of the VitaminDCouncil.org has published a theory regarding a possible cause for what he calls an epidemic of autism, and it’s a theory that makes a lot of sense.
Essentially, he believes that the 1989 recommendation by the pediatricians to avoid direct sunlight when pregnant, and in addition to shield babies from direct sunlight, has caused the epidemic by depriving babies of vitamin D3, the sunshine vitamin.
He theorizes that vitamin D3 is essential to brain development and that the vast majority of newborns in most northern climates are now being born with abnormally low levels of vitamin D3. Until fairly recently, the threshold level of vitamin D3 was set by doctors concerned about bone health and rickets in newborns, with a level of 15 ng/ml deemed sufficient to prevent rickets. This is why milk has has modest vitamin D fortification for decades.
However, since pregnant women (who are most likely to listen to their doctors of all patient groups) began following their pediatricians’ advice and avoiding direct sunlight, more and more babies have been born with low levels of vitamin D3 in their systems.
And it turns out that D3 is used by nearly every cellular system in the body, not just bones, and that it is essential for proper brain development. Dr. Cannell theorizes that the low level of D3 is capable of triggering neurological maldevelopment in children who are genetically predisposed to autism, or autism spectrum disorders.
I don’t do html links in here normally, but here’s one you can cut and paste that will get you to his paper eventually:
http://ontrackreading.com/dyslexia-puzzle/vitamin-d3-and-autism
That page covers parallels between autism and dyslexia, but the first few paragraphs contain links to his paper and to an interesting exchange between Dr. Cannell and the parent of an autistic child.
They get the money, but the don't deliver an effective product. My oldest and youngest are classic ADD cases. The oldest also had heart problems that required 4 open heart surgeries to fix. He was so hyper that he was kicked out of kindergarten the first day...after they located him 3 blocks from the school campus. His IEP meetings produced "plans" that resulted in slightly better than "general population" efforts. There was always the pressure to "mainstream" even though the "mainstream" teachers weren't ready to handle it. The youngest was doing just "OK" in San Diego schools. We moved to Idaho and the wheels came off. The teachers were completely unprepared. I have an 8th grade dropout on my hands.
I mention the classic ADD diagnosis because they are both bright. The oldest has pursued a degree in geology and is better read than most literature grad students. He has a mind like a steel trap, but his "executive functioning" just isn't up to the level required to make good progress through his college curriculum. The youngest cut his first CD with a band as the drummer at age 15. Three weeks of time in the studio. He plays electric and acoustic guitar proficiently. He has been in the top 5 world wide in "guitar hero". When not playing or writing music, his amusements include writing new elements into first person graphical "shoot up" style games in Lua or Ruby. Very bright. I wish I could get him to settle down long enough to knock out his GED.
Check out the story at this link
You are 100% correct. It is a challenge to raise somebody that has not only a short-term memory loss, but, also a causal effect deficiency...add in fetal alcohol syndrome and life becomes a roller coaster ride. And the school districts willingness to apply the label to any child that acts out in a social situation only serves to muddy the waters. Parents have to become the childs advocate. And that is almost always against people who have a vested interest in advocating for the school district by forcing you to the fringes.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.