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talk about spectrum

longman

I went to a lecture last night by a paediatric neurologist about new directions in autism. There were some interesting ideas that have given me something to think about, I thought I might share the points that struck me.

On the autistic spectrum a division was made between about 1.5% who qualified for an official diagnosis and up to 30% who had significvant social interaction difficulties on that account, but were outside official diagnosis. That at least is comforting with regards to people saying everyone is on the spectrum. Why more of the 30% aren't diagnosed seems to lie with politics and maintaining statistics about health, as well as the cost factor.

I had formed my own theory that my difficulty socialising caused me to overly analyse and worry about why I couldn't socialise properly, and why things went wrong. And that led to low self esteem and anxiety.

The perspective I heard last night was that NTs don't develop an understanding of social cognition processes because it happens instinctively so they don't have to analyse it and don't think about how it comes about (so presumably don't even remember social gaffs). Whereas people on the spectrum by necessity analyse social interchanges and become expert at it (but at the cost of increased stress and worry).

Main message was the need to increase self esteem and self confidence, and give children on the spectrum space to explore and expand their knowledge. A lot of harm done by trying to get children on the autistic spectrum to be like their parents, or fit parental ideas of success. The evidence seems to be that given the opportunity to develop special interests and skills, many children on the spectrum do better.

Which brings me back to an underlying concern of mine, voiced in the lecture, that early diagnosis may be imposing unnecessary restriction by trying to change things, and doing more harm than good.

I confess I'm not sure where my preconceived ideas merge with the talk in this synopsis, so if anyone has heard similar talks, but not sure I've got the facts right,  its a personal impression here. Likewise apologies to anyone giving such talks if I've got things askew.

Parents

  • Thanks for those thoughts. I felt it was inappropriate to name the speaker, and felt the need to be cautious generally about representing a given talk in this field, as clinicians/NAS staff looking in probably know. NAS could probably best advise me whether I have handled this appropriately.

    I agree with the Imp of the Pe...'s view of this. This was a talk to a parents group, so about the kids mostly, but it did address transition and adults. It is as well to remember that the health service and Government consult paediatric neurologists and other such professionals before they listen to us. So I felt it useful to air what I learned from the talk, because my guess is it was pretty close to current official thinking .... and policy.

    Again NAS Moderators could confirm or tell me I'm talking rubbish.

    I was bullied from primary through to secondary, mainly because sudden noise, complex movement and noise, especially in the periphery of my vision, ramped up my tension to melt down point (though meltdowns haven't happened much as an adult). So my peers quickly found I could be used as entertainment. They could stage manage a meltdown. I've seen it done to others. The normal "rules" as to what bullying involved didn't really apply (and two years ago I asked several anti-bullying charities what they knew about autism as a factor in school bullying and none of them knew anything about it - I doubt that's changed).

    The point about addiction to being bullied is a real issue, not only because I know others who have been so affected and but even myself. As I say I couldn't find anything about it on the web, and maybe NAS Moderators could look at this one for me, but I'm pretty sure the speaker was right about this, though its only him saying it that has got me thinking..  I'm not talking about actually wanting still to be bullied but letting yourself into situations where it still applies. And that may be an issue in the workplace.

    The other thing is the cure. Yes it is financially and politically desirable to believe ASD can be cured. But the difference between boosted confidence and opportunity to grow reducing stress, and actually resolving things like environmental overload, eye contact, social interaction difficulties, coordination and motor skills, is one of fundamental thinking.

    But the fact is, I suspect, that clinicians and neurologists don't deal in these parameters, they see them as side effects rather than causes. For them our condition is curable with counselling therapy and pills, and somehow we are then supposed to get over the rest.

    The point is that still drives Government and Health services policy.

    One thing more I remember from the talk which struck me. I knew that a lot of alcoholics had some form of autism, I didn't know, as the speaker asserted, that this was true of a lot of drug addicts.

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  • Thanks for those thoughts. I felt it was inappropriate to name the speaker, and felt the need to be cautious generally about representing a given talk in this field, as clinicians/NAS staff looking in probably know. NAS could probably best advise me whether I have handled this appropriately.

    I agree with the Imp of the Pe...'s view of this. This was a talk to a parents group, so about the kids mostly, but it did address transition and adults. It is as well to remember that the health service and Government consult paediatric neurologists and other such professionals before they listen to us. So I felt it useful to air what I learned from the talk, because my guess is it was pretty close to current official thinking .... and policy.

    Again NAS Moderators could confirm or tell me I'm talking rubbish.

    I was bullied from primary through to secondary, mainly because sudden noise, complex movement and noise, especially in the periphery of my vision, ramped up my tension to melt down point (though meltdowns haven't happened much as an adult). So my peers quickly found I could be used as entertainment. They could stage manage a meltdown. I've seen it done to others. The normal "rules" as to what bullying involved didn't really apply (and two years ago I asked several anti-bullying charities what they knew about autism as a factor in school bullying and none of them knew anything about it - I doubt that's changed).

    The point about addiction to being bullied is a real issue, not only because I know others who have been so affected and but even myself. As I say I couldn't find anything about it on the web, and maybe NAS Moderators could look at this one for me, but I'm pretty sure the speaker was right about this, though its only him saying it that has got me thinking..  I'm not talking about actually wanting still to be bullied but letting yourself into situations where it still applies. And that may be an issue in the workplace.

    The other thing is the cure. Yes it is financially and politically desirable to believe ASD can be cured. But the difference between boosted confidence and opportunity to grow reducing stress, and actually resolving things like environmental overload, eye contact, social interaction difficulties, coordination and motor skills, is one of fundamental thinking.

    But the fact is, I suspect, that clinicians and neurologists don't deal in these parameters, they see them as side effects rather than causes. For them our condition is curable with counselling therapy and pills, and somehow we are then supposed to get over the rest.

    The point is that still drives Government and Health services policy.

    One thing more I remember from the talk which struck me. I knew that a lot of alcoholics had some form of autism, I didn't know, as the speaker asserted, that this was true of a lot of drug addicts.

Children
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