Aspies

[Erica C.]

I teach children with special needs for a living, including (obviously) kids on the autism spectrum. I agree that kids are being diagnosed at an alarming rate. Unfortunately, without a diagnosis services are not accessible. Parents with kids on the border are pushing for diagnosis so they can get the services they need, whether it be for anxiety, social integration, sensory issues etc. The government programs don't fund treatment based on symptoms, they treat based on diagnosis. Without that, you are out of luck. This, combined with the fact the autism and ADHD are relatively new concepts accounts for the high volume of diagnosis. When I was a kid we didn't plan around the needs of these children, instead we called them weird and let them suffer. Now we have names for these collections of symptoms and strategies that help. This is a good thing.

As an educator, it really comes down to differentiating instruction to meet the particular learning styles of the kids in the room. There is no "one size fits all" for designing curriculum. All students need programming that takes their individuality into account.

 

[mjp]

my experience has told me the only people that you really ever have to listen to are pretty women and bartenders.

And legal counsel.

we called them weird and let them suffer.

The idea that no child (or person or animal for that matter) should ever suffer is very recent, very Utopian and ultimately very idiotic.

It's always a question of degree, isn't it. And again, I'm not saying that really fucked up kids shouldn't be helped. But "fixing" millions of kids who aren't broken is going to come back and bite us, as a society, squarely on the ass.

 

[Rekrab]

Why listen to bartenders? With pretty women, just watch their lips. It doesn't matter what they actually are saying ... well, to us, anyway.

Around here we have a saying for when I ramble on in a meaningless way. "I'm just talking through a broken tin speaker in the side of my head."

 

[Erica C.]

"fixing" millions of kids who aren't broken is going to come back and bite us, as a society, squarely on the ass.

I completely agree. These kids are definitely not broken. They do not need fixing (a la Jenny McCarthy and her crusade to "cure" autism). Really, it is about building acceptance by others and developing coping strategies for the kids in question. Some of the kids I teach can do amazing things that we, collectively, just don't put enough value on. Generally speaking, my students excel in empathy, intuition, and creativity. We try to lessen their anxiety about touching mushy textures, for example, so they can explore their visual art talents to the fullest. Or teach self-calming strategies so they don't have panic attacks when a new person or supply teacher comes in the room. I don't think this will cause retro-active ass biting.

 

[Rekrab]

[...] We try to lessen their anxiety about touching mushy textures, for example, so they can explore their visual art talents to the fullest. [...]

I found this very interesting. Can you say more about their aversion to mushy textures? It reminds me of something I heard the art therapist say at the state mental hospital (I was there on a tour -- not as a patient!): they are careful about what media they have the patients use, and they never let them use fingerpaints. It can be disasterous, with the patient going into a complete catatonic shut down. Similar, but not the same phenomenon, I imagine.

 

[Erica C.]

I'm not sure about mental patients, but people with disorders like autism and ADHD have difficulty processing sensory information. There is a disconnect between the information the body receives and how the brain interprets it. While a neurotypical person may perceive mushy clay and slimy paint as unpleasant but adapt in a short time, people with sensory processing difficulty may find the textures altogether offensive, threatening and even painful. The "fight or flight" response kicks in. This is true for sounds, motion and other sensory experiences as well. They may shut down altogether or become highly agitated, losing the capacity to cope. We try to help students gain more control over how they process an experience so they cope better in their environment. This can be done by slowly and progressively introducing a troublesome stimuli in a controlled environment. I can see how this may be related to what you saw at the mental hospital.

 

[Rekrab]

Thanks for explaining that. It may be related, as you say. I got the feeling from the art therapist that fingerpaints provide too much freedom, too much choice, and that was overwhelming the patients. They do better with limited choices, and less immediate physical interaction with the medium. But that's just my paraphrase of whatever it was she said in a more scientific way.

 

[abattoir]

There was a TED speech that i watched recently by juan rodriguez. In it, he states that autism may be increasing because we are subjected to oodles of knowledge and in an effort to condense it, we warp our social communication . Some aspies out there that are smart as fuck.

 

[mjp]

I didn't know they did comedy speeches at TED.

 

[abattoir]

Well, they let a fat man ramble on about how information is food, so they must have a sense of humor.

 

[Rekrab]

[...] In it, he states that autism may be increasing because we are subjected to oodles of knowledge and in an effort to condense it, we warp our social communication . [...]

That doesn't make sense to me. Autism is diagnosed in babies, long before they are aware of all the information an older child or adult would be exposed to. I haven't heard the speech, but it sounds like he didn't think this theory through very well.

 

[d gray]

There was a TED speech that i watched recently by juan rodriguez. In it, he states that autism may be increasing because we are subjected to oodles of knowledge and in an effort to condense it, we warp our social communication . Some aspies out there that are smart as fuck.

sounds more like an LSD speech...

 

[abattoir]

There was also a series in the la times that suggested the recent spike in autism correlates to parents who talk about the "perks" such as extra help in school, more individual attention, etc. Jealous parents go get their kids checked at every clinic, until some doctor gives a bad diagnosis. They did surveys and there are pockets within the county where autism appears to breed.

 

[bospress.net]

There is no perk for paying through the nose for medications that your kid needs. If you are on medicaid, then most if not all meds are free. If you have insurance through your job (and pay your premiums) the insurance companies pay very little of what actually works. Once it becomes generic, then it is affordable, but my son needs a medicine that is $160 a month out of my pocket. Certainly not a perk.

I can imagine that some people are making money selling Ritalin to college kids, but I always give my kids the medicine that they get. I used to get prescribed Ritalin for myself until I had a heart attack. Cardiologists don't like their patients taking strong stimulants. Now I get much less work done......

Bill