Changed my entire perception of autism

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Beautiful.

This validates what I have always known. Too many people use "Autism" and "Mental Retardation" interchangeably, and I have always said that this is not true. Maybe now people can open their eyes and really wake up.

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Specializes in pediatrics, public health.

Wow. Amazing. Thanks for sharing the link!

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Specializes in ICU.

Wow thats awesome. Ive never believed for a minute these kids are not intelligent. They may be "different", but I think what they are "lacking" as far as normalcy goes, they make up for in many many other ways that most of us normal folks wouldnt be able to compare.

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I want to believe. However please read Paul Offit, M.D.'s book Autism's False Prophets. From 1992 to 1994 there was a large movement of facilitated communicators working with autistic children. Dr. Offit's book exposes exactly what this news report showed. The whole facilitated communicator movement was officially, scientifically, discredited.

Please believe me I want to believe this child. Unfortunately I take the word of a scientist, Dr. Offit, over some TV news personalities.

I just hate to give parents false hopes. As the grandmother of a disabled child I know nothing hurts more than hope destroyed.

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Specializes in Dialysis.

I've seen autism all over the spectrum. I think ALL these kids are wonderful and CAN be helped. Parents and providers just need to get to their level and work with them. Every one I've worked with, I've seen improvement. One of my favorites is a boy who is always role playing

(16yo): Go McDonalds? Buy ice cream?

Me: It's 7 in the morning, it's too early for ice cream. (smile) how about pancakes?

16yo: Yes, pancakes!

We would follow this routine several times a day and eventually, he asked about appropriate types of food depending on the time of day. Sometimes I would mix it up and ask about other restaurants or whatever. Trying to generalize concepts for him in this manner.

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Specializes in Infectious Disease, Neuro, Research.
I want to believe. However please read Paul Offit, M.D.'s book Autism's False Prophets. From 1992 to 1994 there was a large movement of facilitated communicators working with autistic children. Dr. Offit's book exposes exactly what this news report showed. The whole facilitated communicator movement was officially, scientifically, discredited.

Please believe me I want to believe this child. Unfortunately I take the word of a scientist, Dr. Offit, over some TV news personalities.

I just hate to give parents false hopes. As the grandmother of a disabled child I know nothing hurts more than hope destroyed.

I would largely agree. I believe we will see that "autism" is a broad spectrum of processes, not necessarily all of them connected, much as we have begun to differentiate Alzheimer's and dementia pathways. My suspicion is that personality will also play a significant role in "capacity" for the autisim-affected. People were born deaf-blind-mute ages before Helen Keller; it was the synchronicity of HK and her mentors that brought revelation.

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Specializes in Critical Care, Emergency Medicine, Flight.

My brother has autism. He is going to be 30 this year. When he was first diagnosed at like 3, not much was known and my parents thought that they would have to "baby" him for the rest of his life. As the years have passed and hes gotten older, he has learned to take care of himself and express his wants and needs so much better..he picked up sign language like the same DAY..because he needed it as an outlet to express himself (he's not deaf, however he knows what he wants to say, but the connection between his brain and the word coming out of his mouth just dont connect)& he understands more than we used to give him credit for. He still lives at home w/ my parents as he will have to but. He's has grown to become a typical "annoying" brother to me.

Anyways, i get really peeved when people call individuals w/ autism "retards" or "retarded" , "mentally challenged" or the like. its just offensive!

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It happens more than you would think. Friends on FB with a young woman who uses a tablet to speak,also have met her in real life,she's quite real . It happens. Take any IQ estimates on the Autistic spectrum with a grain of salt.

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I've always suspected that autism is really a form of a higher level of intelligence that is so superior, it adversely affects the victims' abilities to cope with what they may perceive as an uninteresting and unstimulating environment. And since humans continue to evolve mentally and phsyically, that might help explain the increased incidence? Of course there's also Jenny McCarthy's claim that it's related to immunizations, while she promotes e-cigarettes because they are "sexy, and don't leave that nasty taste in your mouth when you're with that 'someone special'"?

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Having a son with autism I have to agree that there is a lot of "false" intelligence that comes when people "help" others use assisted communication. There are other children it works for and they are able to use them on their own. My son is 9 and has not been very communicative until lately when we got a new st who uses a speech combined with cognitive behavioral therapy way of working with him. He is rocking it. Because he is finally slowing down and actually listening to what other people say and attempting to communicate with the person not just telling the person what's on his mind like chicken nuggets the trash or bus. Which to most seems random but to him I am sure it made perfect sense.

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Specializes in NICU, PICU, Transport, L&D, Hospice.

NIMH - Disorganized Cortical Patches Suggest Prenatal Origin of Autism

“While autism is generally considered a developmental brain disorder, research has not identified a consistent or causative lesion,” said Thomas R. Insel, M.D., director of NIMH. “If this new report of disorganized architecture in the brains of some children with autism is replicated, we can presume this reflects a process occurring long before birth. This reinforces the importance of early identification and intervention.”
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