The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the

difference between

lightning and

the lightning bug.

Mark Twain

Edited by author 07-27-2007 10:23 PM
Ok, I wrote an autism joke for y'all:

An autism advocate, aba therapist and an autistic person are in a shipwreck together and wash up on the shore of a tropical island. The aba therapist says, "We have to get some sticks and teach ourselves to make a fire with them. We'll practice all day!"

The autism advocate says, "We have to gather up a whole bunch of beach stones and write the word H E L P across the beach, in case a plane flies over!"

Finally the autistic person says, "I wonder if that hotel way down the beach has a swimming pool."

.

Edited by author 07-29-2007 04:47 AM
Cool joke, Mike PBJI. If only the autism advocate can pay the behaviour analyst enough, the behaviour analyst can fix that devastatingly inappropriate verbal behaviour on the part of the autistic. I mean, social deficit or what, pointing out the obvious out loud like that? Extinction procedures seem to be called for...

I haven't read Dr Grinker's book yet. It still looks too literary for me. Well, it doesn't take much. Mark Twain's mostly too hard for me, except in very small pieces.

Here's the "Refrigerator Parents" entry from Kev Leitch's autism wiki http://www.kevinleitch.co.uk/wiki/Theories/RefrigeratorParents I'd never seen a photo of Bettelheim before.

And for something completely different... via a comment left on my blog, see this Guardian article http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2007/...ion.it#more-article about the risks of forecasting human behaviours. A short excerpt:

"In cases of uncertainty, humans will tend to anchor on the first substantial piece of information they get and any new information that contradicts this initial idea is given less attention than it merits. This is the theory of anchoring bias."

"Who is to blame for our son's death?" http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/main.jht...asper130.xml&page=1

The NAS comments:

"Depression is not an inevitable part of an autistic spectrum disorder. It is often induced by environment."

From Mike S http://mikestanton.wordpress.com/2007/07/3...for-our-sons-death/ :

"Tim’s death is a waste; such a loss. It is not a tragedy. It is a crime, though I doubt there will ever be a guilty verdict."

Earlier today I heard on a CBC radio program (it is a summer show called White Coats Black Art, or something like that) about an autistic man of about 30 who was taken to a hospital emergency room (in Canada somewhere) by his "care home".

The "care home" people said to the emergency people that all the pain this autistic man (no name was given) was in was just constipation, and he should be treated for that. The autistic man was loud and disruptive and behaved in ways that the emergency people didn't like, and was generally in the way, so no one questioned what the problem was. He was treated for constipation in order to get him out of emergency as soon as possible.

The doctor in charge of the autistic man's care in emergency, who was telling this true story, then reported that when he, the doctor, showed up for work the next day, he was told that the autistic man had died of a ruptured appendix.

A discussion with another doctor followed. This doctor pointed out that no one likes autistic people or wants us around, which has a major detrimental effect on the standard of care autistics receive.

A lot of ways to lose your life when you're autistic. I've been thinking all day about that autistic man in terrible pain from a ruptured appendix, which no one does anything about--because he's autistic and we all know what autistic people are like. Then I read about Tim Whattler.

In the "so much for eye contact" dept., NYT article about eye-scanning technology that can be used with babies ( http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/31/health/p...science&oref=slogin ) reports that,

"Researchers at the MIND Institute have found, unexpectedly, that babies who look more often at their mother’s mouths have stronger language abilities at age 3. Their results were announced last March at a meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development."

Edited by author 07-31-2007 04:25 AM
"Mentally ill mice" http://www.theness.com/neurologicablog/default.asp?Display=145 , blog post from Steve Novella, following a Times story about a possible mouse model of schizophrenia ( http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/s.../article2159295.ece ). I don't think Dr Novella is being skeptical enough here, but at least he notices the problem of finding human neurological phenotypes in mice: "how do you know when a mouse is depressed?"

This reminded me of how animal models were discussed at the conference at Ste Justine's in Montreal (about brain development in children).

Guy Rouleau, who is a big deal in genetics in Canada, stated that all mice look anxious to him. He also reported (with some indignation) that he had been asked to look for human neurological phenotypes in earthworms, and went on to graphically describe the full range of earthworm behaviour that he was able to observe (this took a few seconds). This was in the interests of explaining the extreme limitations of animal models in the areas in which he conducts genetic research (now including autism and schizophrenia).

Simon Fisher (from Oxford) presented about the FOXP2 gene, which is associated with language and has therefore falsely been assumed to be a great candidate for an "autism gene". He pointed out the limitations of studying this gene in mice, including that mice don't talk or write a lot. He showed that scientists were clever enough to squeak out (so to speak) some questionable results in mice--by using distress noises from mouse pups. This didn't look like anything resembling an informative tool (as Dr Novella claims) but more like something scientists did because it's trendy.

The there was Seth Grant. He presented his research about the SAP102 gene, and a lot of this involved SAP102 knock-out mice. You can read about this research here http://www.sanger.ac.uk/Info/Press/2007/070308.shtml --except that, contrary to this press release, at Ste Justine's, Dr Grant made it clear that humans missing SAP102 are NOT autistic and he did not, if I remember right, try too hard to tie this work to autism.

But about those SAP102-deprived mice. The press release repeats what Dr Grant presented: that the SAP102 knock-out mice had more difficulties than typical mice learning in one way, but were more efficient than typical mice in learning another way.

This is one way the press release dragged in autism: "The behavioural changes seen in the mice is similar to that seen in children with autism or Asperger's syndrome, who often do startlingly well on some psychological tests because they are able to use mental strategies that other people cannot."

And having created mice excellent at one kind of learning, Dr Grant still saw these mice as defective and in need of intervention and treatment to make their learning typical. Meanwhile, the typical mice, who clearly were poor at one kind of learning, were not considered to require any intervention or treatment. I suppose Dr Grant's priorities make this work relevant to autism in a way. Could we study Dr Grant's behaviour as a model for the ways in which many researchers behave when they study autism?

Via Ben Goldacre's blog (him again!!), the BMJ issues a correction http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/335/7612/0-c

"...we incorrectly said that researchers from Cambridge University's autism research centre would conclude in an as yet unpublished study that autistic spectrum disorders were more common among British schoolchildren than previously thought, with 1 in 58 children having such a disorder."

They refer to Prof Baron-Cohen's letter to the Observer, and his view that 1 in 100 (very approximately from Baird et al., 2006) is the current "best estimate" of autism prevalence.

I disagree with SBC about the 1 in 100 figure (see my recent blog thing about recent autism epi studies), but good on the BMJ for straightforwardly correcting their error.

Edited by author 08-01-2007 09:35 AM
Smile... autistic kids have better teeth.

From PubMed, "Do autistic children have higher levels of caries? A cross-sectional study in Turkish children." The authors looked at dental status in 62 autistic ("AD") and 301 non-autistic children. The abstract is here http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?D...nel.Pubmed_RVDocSum

The authors find that "Children with AD compared to those without AD had lower experience of caries" and "Children with AD had better caries status than children without AD at younger ages."

Just waiting for the headlines ("Autism prevents cavities"). Still waiting...

Someone should send that study about autistic kids' teeth to Autism Speaks:
http://images.google.ca/imgres?imgurl=http...%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DG

The podcast for the CBC White Coat, Black Arts program is here (reference to autism is about the 9 min. mark): http://www.mefeedia.com/entry/3162307/

For the masochistically inclined, Oprah's autism special is to be rebroadcast today.

And if you don't already have a bitter taste in your mouth from that, try an Autism Speaks blend from Starbucks. Starbucks always has little quotes on the side of their cups- here is a recent one from Autism Speaks #264:

The cup says: Every 20 minutes-less time than it will take you to drink your coffee-another child is diagnosed with autism. It's much more common than people think, with 1 out of every 150 children diagnosed. Learn the early warning signs of autism and if you're concerned about your child's development, talk to your doctor. Early intervention could make a big difference in your child's future. Bob Wright, Co-founder, Autism Speaks, www.autismspeaks.org

-It takes me at least 2-3 autism diagnosis to finish MY coffee...four if it is a Venti.

I was amused to read the quote that followed (#265):

Wild animals often do a much better job of caring for their offspring than we civilized and educated humans do. If we cannot keep children safe in their homes, how can we hope to make ourselves safe in the world?
-- Lee Grogg
Executive director of Ryther Child Center, an agency providing safe places and opportunities for children.

Re: /m6494

I think I'll stay away from Oprah's special, thanks. Luckily, I don't drink hot coffee at Starbucks - just frappuccinos - so I won't have to deal with the Autism Speaks propaganda. Though I want to find a recipe so I can make my own frappuccinos at home and then I won't have to give money to Starbucks anymore.

That quote from Lee Grogg is perfect. It actually relates to my personal reasons for not taking on a "foster child" through an organization like World Vision or Compassion International. I know it's good work, and they're helping kids in Third World countries who otherwise wouldn't have enough to eat and wouldn't be able to go to school. The thing is, I would rather support agencies that work to help the starving and otherwise disadvantaged children right here in Canada first.

How can we be so arrogant to assume that we know what's best for other countries when we can't even look after ourselves properly?!?

In April 1972 the British government set up a Committee of Inquiry into the care of patients at South Ockendon Hospital [in the county of Essex, near London] for the mentally handicapped and to make recommendations. This was triggered by the death of an elderly patient in February 1972, which was being investigated by the police, and the violent death of a young patient, Robert Robertson, in February 1969. Also in 1968 a young patient had been found with severe injuries suggesting a severe beating. When these matters were raised in the House of Commons in April 1972, "mention was also made of an autistic boy who was said to be deteriorating rapidly in a locked side room at the hospital." The Committee's Report was published in May 1974.

http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/toc/psci/18/8

Psychological Science

August 2007 - Vol. 18 Issue 8 Page 657-751

RESEARCH REPORTS
The Level and Nature of Autistic Intelligence
Michelle Dawson, Isabelle Soulières, Morton Ann Gernsbacher, and Laurent Mottron
pages 657–662

    * Abstract
    * | References
    * | Full Text HTML
    * | Full Text PDF (143 KB)
    * | Rights and Permissions

Yep, I was fast asleep (heat wave, computer objects--loudly--to heat, ergo, I've become sort of nocturnal) when our paper officially appeared.

Anyway, here's the abstract (it's here http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/abs/1...7-9280.2007.01954.x and also here if you click on "Abstract" http://www.psychologicalscience.org/journa...=ps&content=ps/18_8 ):

--------------------------------------------------------- -----------------

Research Reports

The Level and Nature of Autistic Intelligence
Michelle Dawson, Isabelle Soulières, Morton Ann Gernsbacher, and Laurent Mottron

Psychological Science 18(8), 657–662.

Autistics are presumed to be characterized by cognitive impairment, and their cognitive strengths (e.g., in Block Design performance) are frequently interpreted as low-level by-products of high-level deficits, not as direct manifestations of intelligence. Recent attempts to identify the neuroanatomical and neurofunctional signature of autism have been positioned on this universal, but untested, assumption. We therefore assessed a broad sample of 38 autistic children on the preeminent test of fluid intelligence, Raven's Progressive Matrices. Their scores were, on average, 30 percentile points, and in some cases more than 70 percentile points, higher than their scores on the Wechsler scales of intelligence. Typically developing control children showed no such discrepancy, and a similar contrast was observed when a sample of autistic adults was compared with a sample of nonautistic adults. We conclude that intelligence has been underestimated in autistics.

---------------------------------------------------------- ----------------

Thanks for the podcast link, Mike PBJI ( /m6493 ). I don't drink coffee, but see "Talk is cheap, coffee is expensive" for a cup fit to drink from http://aspergersquare8.blogspot.com/2007/0...e-is-expensive.html

Related to /m6496 , I was going to post something about this story http://edition.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/08/01/wheres.molly/#cnnSTCText but Autism Diva has stepped up with "Where's Molly? Where are the others?" http://autismdiva.blogspot.com/2007/08/whe...ere-are-others.html There's a quote from Allison Lapper, and a CNN blog post by Kay Olson http://edition.cnn.com/HEALTH/blogs/paging...ng-people-with.html

See also this thread http://www.autismspeaks.org/community/foru...owthread.php?t=1020 , where there's more about an old story involving Kanner and abuses in institutions, and about how easy it is to abuse people who are written off and whose existence is denied and whose lives are erased.