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Virtual Autism: Does it Exist? What is your Take around this topic?

James Njenga

At 3 years (that was in 2020), my son was diagnosed with speech delay. 

The SLP also spoke something in the line of virtual autism.

Of late, I have seen lots of content being generated on this 'virtual autism' talk.

And indeed, I have seen that the World Health Organization warns that kids below 2 years should not have any screentime while those between 2 to 6 should have maximum 1 hour screentime per day (screentime here refers to time spent with tv, tablet or smartphone).

Personally, I am guilty because my son was exposed to the baby shark doo doo song when he was yet one year.

And he got addicted to Cocomelon youtune channel.

In fact he would wail whenever the smartphone was taken away from him or when one changed to a more adult Youtube channel.

At 6 years, though he speaks, he still slurs and I am not sure whether it was the reduction of tv time or maybe its because of preschool that has had him improve.

Any takes on this virtual autism talk?

  • I can see that the phenomenon can create similar effects to some of the attributes of autism, but that seems to be as far as it goes.

    Do you have any history of autism in your family? I beleive the chances of it being inherited from one or both parents are arounf 80% so if autism is already present then it seems probable in is just genetic.

    Since the virtual autism as caused by the screen time and social disconnect then I would suggest a response of reducing screen time and increasing social interaction to give the child time to rebalance this part of their development. At 6 years old they are very adaptable creatures so switching up to a more balanced upbringing should give them the chance to develeop their brains normally.

    School should be able to suggest speach therapy to adapt the slurring. They should also be looking to assess him for conventional autism so if they have not alreadty done this then i recommend speaking to them about it.

    With conventional autists, the brain development seems to happen in a set way regardless of what you do so this technique will probably have no impact on them.