Posted on 07/10/2019 4:45:59 PM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
I am perennially asked whether I do or do not “believe” in autism. I suspect that on most occasions, it’s a test. Nonetheless, it’s a fair question that usually takes this form: “I know you don’t believe in ADHD; but do you believe in autism?”
To be clear, it would be absurd of me to deny that there are children – plenty of them, relatively speaking – who frequently exhibit behaviors associated with the bogus diagnosis of ADHD (attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder). Those kids are problematic, for sure. But no one has ever proven that they “have” something. Childhood behavior disorders like ADHD are constructs; they are not realities. Leukemia and nearsightedness are realities. The spurious claim that these kids “have” something – biochemical imbalances being the number one “have” – is used to sell various therapies, including drugs that have yet to reliably outperform placebos and involve the very real possibility of dangerous side effects.
But ADHD and classical autism are horses of different colors. I have no way of proving it, but I am convinced that autism in its classical form is a very real, “have” thing, albeit researchers have yet to discover the nature of its reality. They are handicapped in doing so by the fact that autism is classified as a psychiatric/psychological disorder. What, pray tell, is psychological about a two-month-old baby who doesn’t want to be held, doesn’t smile, and seems pained by eye contact? What unresolved issue is at work here? The answers to those questions are “nothing” and “none.”
(Excerpt) Read more at rosemond.com ...
Autism, real autism, is real. All this crap in the last 30 years is not. I have a severely autistic nephew. You would know it if you saw him. Labelling young children is one of the biggest crimes of this century. It brings more money to the school, and lets parents off the hook. Plus, believe it or not, it has become cool. These poor kids.
Psychiatric/psychological disorders very often have physical, genetic causes. It takes time, but the causes are slowly being revealed.
What are some of the characteristics of autism. I sometimes wonder if I don’t have a touch of it.
Bingo.
My mother was a special-ed teacher and admin, and has no belief in the latest fads or the “autism SPECTRUM”, which basically will label all of us.
My friend’s 5 year-old is autistic. He’s not very verbal, and speaks his own version of English, so if you don’t spend a lot of time with him, you don’t understand him. My friend is a teacher (proper, not a liberal parrot), and has done speech therapy and everything. He’s shown improvement, but he’s having a hard time.
He exhibits a lot of the obvious behaviors, including varying sorts of fidgeting and hypersensitivity to noise and touch. Hand-flailing, and he doesn’t pick up on social behaviors a typical 5 year-old should. He’s very smart, and receptive to those with whom he’s familiar, but has difficulty with other kids his age.
Sorry, but this blogger needs to fix his “word wrap” so the reader doesn’t have to scroll side to side to read the text. Meanwhile, I’ll just read the rest here.
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The symptoms of classical autism appear much too early and much too randomly to think of it as anything but a yet-undiscovered physiological malfunction of one sort or another. Taking it out of the realm of psychology/psychiatry – that is, removing it from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders – would be a boon to research as well as a boon to the kids in question and their anguished parents. The roadblock to that has much to do with the fact that autism is producing a significant income stream for lots of mental health professionals. And yes, I proudly admit to cynicism.
The further problem is that one can’t talk in general terms about autism without consideration of the so-called “spectrum” that includes, most prominently, something called Asperger’s Syndrome. I say “something” because this Asperger’s something is about as ill-defined as something can be. The common denominator among kids who are hung with this label or are said to be “on the spectrum” seems to be “odd” and/or “quirky.” Personally, I think children should have the right to be at least slightly odd and quirky.
Without exception of which I’m aware, once a mental health diagnosis begins to gain traction – that is, it begins to sell – the mental health professions begins expanding it – explicitly or implicitly – such that it captures more and more people (i.e., paying clients) over time; thus things have gone with “the spectrum” and Asperger’s.
I don’t deny that some kids who are said to have Asperger’s may need help. Equally likely, their parents need help managing and disciplining them. The many anecdotes I’ve been told strongly suggest that most of the somewhat odd kids in question, however, grow out of it, whatever “it” is.
My long-time readers know that with some conservatively-defined exceptions, I’m not in favor of allowing children into rooms with therapists (and I’m a licensed therapist). Labels, which therapists have a bad habit of dispensing, tend to stick. For me to believe in Asperger’s (hypothetically) is one thing; for a child to believe he “has” it is quite another thing.
Autism, like the lesser Asperger’s Syndrome is a dominant aspect of consciousness and suppression of the feminine. This is the reason more boys get it than girls.
It causes the thalamus to not be able to handle feminine consciousness input in the priority sort.
I’ve worked with many Autism Spectrum children over the years.
The origin appears to be during the 3rd month of pregnancy.
It’s a bit too complicated to explain the cause here in a post. There are several influencing factors.
Autism is a real thing. In the 80s my brother had it, and there is no way doctors were reaching on the diagnosis. Most of them didn’t even know what it was, my parents were educating them. There were only a handful of books, nobody knew what it was and yet he had it. But then again, nobody knew what it was because it was unusual and kinda rare. Now it seems every third kid is diagnosed as being “on the spectrum”, which I think means you are autistic even though you don’t seem in any way autistic.
You and me both. I may be mildy “on the spectrum” considering the reactions of folks to some things I say, things I think are perfectly fine, but seem to put them off in some way.
My Dad (R.I.P.) once told me that he and Mom sent me to a school for children with learning problems because I was actually withdrawing into an autistic state, but apparently the school helped, because I’m more or less OK now.
And since you’re on here asking questions, you undoubtedly do not have the classical version, where the individual tends to be partially or mostly withdrawn from life in general.
What causes? All I’ve heard is what it isn’t. I have good reason for wanting answers.
Bookmark.
Vaccines
They are definitely real but unfortunately just as definitely overdiagnosed.
I always thought the prob was adding general mental health to insurance in addition to the classic teacher wanting to get rid of a “normal” behavior problem.
If you go to a doc with a complaint, they will try to treat it and they will “code you” a certain way based on your insurance (otherwise there’s no payment).
Autism is a genetic disease. Many cases of schizophrenia are also genetic.
The specific genes have not (as far as I know) been identified yet. The task is complicated by the fact that more than one gene is involved.
I’m just the opposite. I tend to let little things set me off. I always apologize afterwards but I can tell by the looks on people’s faces that they were shocked at my outburst. I hate it. Couple that with my inability to stay focused on a task and get easily sidetracked.
Autism has strong biological contributing factors. The mirror neurons seem to be weaker than the average person. You don’t have much interest in people relative to things, and you don’t learn to read people at pre-verbal ages. That undermines social skills dramatically.
Aspergers/ASD can be defined as autism plus high enough IQ to learn intellectually what others learned before they could really communicate verbally.
Risk factors for autism include:
* premature birth, the earlier the greater the odds of problems
* a father who is strong on systemic thinking
If you’re a preemie, the brain development is cut short by the need to live. Increased odds of learning disabilities and mental retardation. And autism.
If Dad is an uber-nerd, that doesn’t mean you lack social skills, but if you get a double dose of the genes, the odds of ASD and autism go up. Part of the reason we see more of it today is because the very nerdy types who would have been bookish monks 200 years ago make a fortune in Big Tech and get married. Michael Burry of “the Big Short” is a classic case of this - including his autistic son.
Assortive mating - nerdy types hooking up in Silicon Valley and the international equivalents - is probably a factor, too.
And then there is the rediagnosis craze. The kid in the corner with behavioral issues isn’t “retarded”, he’s labeled as autistic. More money and services that way. OK, reclassify more as autistic to get them more services.
As a nutritionist, I have read quite a bit over the years, and worked with a few parents of such children.
In my opinion: Congenital autism is real and rare. Induced autistic symptoms may arise either pre- or post-natally, due to a toxic load too heavy for a small body with an immature immune system.
AMA types may scoff, but the human body was not designed to scavange unlimited quantities of unnatural (artificial, not merely synthetic) chemicals.
The induced type often improves somewhat by regulating methylation.
Correction: congenital autism should be genetic autism.
Obviously, a pre-natally induced condition is congenital. Also, while I think there can be a genetic component to the induced type, I also think that is distinct from the classic autism.
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