Need help in understanding Autism (Page 1/5)
Wichita SEP 01, 03:54 PM
Autism is a subject that is very confusing to me. Like many people, we never knew or heard of this developmental disorder until the 2000s and later.

I've never known anyone who confessed that they take Ritalin, speed or other psychotropic drugs in order to cope in school. I'm sure they existed, but I personally never knew anyone.

I remember special Ed kids, but they had mainly neurological or physical handicap issues. But didn't know of one that had behavioral issues or at least never seen it.

I talk to public school educators now and it blows me away how they describe autistic kids, who have these extreme behavioral issues and they exist in every classroom and how many come from unstable families without much support nor active parental involvement. It is very interesting to hear the perspectives of educators who were trained and taught overseas. Yes, there is a huge difference in the amount of scope of autistic kids.

One was retired in over 30-years of teaching and was begged to come back to help, and so he did and he never seen anything like what is happening now.

In perspective, a private highschool with over 1,000 kids and only one kid was reported to be Autistic. Not so in public schools. It is very common, as every class pretty has a few kids that are.

I also, outside of someone claiming this person has Asperger's, don't know any adult that claims to be Autistic.

I read a bit, watch some video explainations from experts on it and listen to others, like educators who have to help these kids tell me what it is and they are all not coherent or clear. One will say it's kids with physical tics and characteristics, one will say they are slow to learn as they are delayed, others say it is behavioral...as few examples but there are many, but I have no idea still.

First time I ever heard about 'autism' was from Hollywood celebrities who blame their developmental delayed children on childhood vaccines.

I guess autism is many things, but as a catchall it is still confusing. It's like saying "I'm sick." Well, being sick is many things and any ailememt, but we have learned to narrow the topic down to specifics as to communicate what exactly it is from cancer to the common cold.

If a kid was throwing a temper tantrum in a grocery store, with his mom, wearing pajamas, ignoring him while staring at her phone, I wouldn't have a clue if that was an autistic child or not. If I suppose to feel empathy for the child or the mother. I have no clue but I want to understand.
Patrick SEP 01, 04:14 PM

quote
Originally posted by Wichita:

Autism is a subject that is very confusing to me. Like many people, we never knew or heard of this developmental disorder until the 2000s and later.



I started public school in the fall of 1961. Looking back, I can recall several kids over the years who today would be classified as Autistic. They seemed to lack comprehension of any/all social cues. The other kids would sometimes refer to them as "retards", a catchall phrase that encompassed anyone who wasn't "normal". Autism is nothing new. Whether there's a higher percentage of people who actually suffer from it currently, I don't know... but it's certainly now being reported much more often.
Jake_Dragon SEP 01, 04:46 PM
I have a cousin that is autistic, she is now in her early 40s but in some ways has stopped developing mentally past the age 12.

When I was in school I had behavior issues, I acted out. But you know what the difference is between now and when I was in school? They cracked my ass, sometimes they even sent me to the office and had the gym teacher swat me. That ****er could raise you off the ground. It kept me in check for most of the time. I was also a good example of what would happen to you if you acted out. I was the deterrent for a lot of my peers By the time I turned 15 I had grown out of it and that is about the time they stopped corporal punishment in public schools.
Little monsters are a product of their environment. Teachers have no other way to deal with them so they label the kids and drug them. Parents are working and tired so they let the TV/Computer baby sit the kids.

I am glad that I was not labeled with some mental issue that would follow me for the rest of my life.

[This message has been edited by Jake_Dragon (edited 09-01-2022).]

Zeb SEP 01, 08:06 PM
Autism is the popular catchall for many different difficulties. It covers a huge spectrum of behaviors, so that makes it so hard for non-clinical people to understand.

Eventually they'll figure out that classifying kids as autistic really isn't helping, and come up with new diagnoses. Maybe they'll figure out treatments for those, because whatever they're doing for autism doesn't seem to be reducing the incidence of it.
TheDigitalAlchemist SEP 02, 11:25 AM


I'm familiar with it. The spectrum is wide and varies wildly.

It ranges from extremely slight behavioral "quirks", some more noticable, kinda like "Stewart" on Big Bang Theory, Some are totally non-verbal, non-communicative, almost primitive and savage and STRONG and DANGEROUS. I know some and worked withsome on both ends of this.
Things that REALLY suck -

It's EXPENSIVE to be diagnosed.

MOST schools are not really suited for Autistic kids.

Treatments are controversial (such as ABA) - is it torture? Usually no. WAS it at one time...? yeah, kinda)

ANY child that meets the criteria for Medicaid should be eligible regardless of their parents' income. Having to get divorced in order to become eligible is awful, the alternatives are also pretty bad.

The monthly expenses range from 500-5,000 for supplies (5-10 diapers a day, special foods, therapies and treatments,)

Dental expenses are ASTRONOMICAL.


What pisses me off is adults who diagnose themselves and use it as an excuse to be a douchbag.
Being Autistic does not make you an expert on all the "flavors" of Autism.


There are some kids that "became autistic" because of vaccines. bad batches from China. Contained stuff in it that basically killed an area of the brain.

Like that bad formula and dog food

Wonder why so many people have "gluten" issues? one reason is stuff like THIS: "s a result of FDA and USDA's comprehensive investigation, on February 6, 2008, FDA announced that two Chinese nationals and the businesses they operate, along with a U.S. company and its president and chief executive officer, were indicted by a federal grand jury for their roles in a scheme to import products purported to be wheat gluten into the United States that were contaminated with melamine."

Also, There are a few HUGE corporations who claim to be helping/ Autism, and its BS. MILLIONS of dollars and their research is *&)())( and their board members have "interesting" histories.

As for Meds, I know a few people who have taken Ritalin, and other stuff and it has helped a few of them completely turn their lives around. like "WOW, holy crap!", but meds are only one small part of that. You don't just take meds and not work on changing behaviors and strategies. its not like they are deficient of a nutrient and a pill resolves the issue.


some documentaries about Autism:
https://youtu.be/695gfVJC0OY

THIS is a very good one about it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVMcYkRHtcU

But one thing to take away from this is "you don't know what is going on in anyone else's life, so unless someone's physically attacking someone, and if no one is requesting your help, just leave them alone" Feel free to judge all you want, just keep it to yourself.

I'll hit you up on PMs later on today regarding some other stuff.

TheDigitalAlchemist SEP 02, 11:35 AM

quote
Originally posted by Zeb:

Autism is the popular catchall for many different difficulties. It covers a huge spectrum of behaviors, so that makes it so hard for non-clinical people to understand.

Eventually they'll figure out that classifying kids as autistic really isn't helping, and come up with new diagnoses. Maybe they'll figure out treatments for those, because whatever they're doing for autism doesn't seem to be reducing the incidence of it.


It's getting worse, and its not just medical folks "being able to detect it better".

Multiple contributing factors, increasing preemie birth rates, increase use of formula, environment, nutrition,


"mild" cases may not even be on the spectrum, but its usually not just a "spoiled" kid "acting up" or neglect, parents allowing too much screen time or whatever...

And there are other conditions which aren't under the Autism Spectrum and are even less understood.


The longer you go down the multiple rabbit holes, the more sickening certain aspects of it become. The amount of money and "shady stuff" involved is mind-blowing.

[This message has been edited by TheDigitalAlchemist (edited 09-02-2022).]

Jake_Dragon SEP 02, 12:01 PM
I don't have any form of reference in what is going on now. I don't deny that diet, drugs and life style have a direct influence. Doesn't change the fact that those are all part of an environment forced on a lot of people.
Drugs and food that we have no idea what is put in it. Both parents having to go to work and having more and more pressure put on the middle class to support everything. No time at home, fearmongers making it impossible to grow up as a child.
This world didn't just happen.

But I know several people with autism that can not function in society, they want to understand and are not able. By grouping everyone together instead of diagnosing each kind of autism separately it will do more harm.
82-T/A [At Work] SEP 02, 12:07 PM

quote
Originally posted by Wichita:

Autism is a subject that is very confusing to me. Like many people, we never knew or heard of this developmental disorder until the 2000s and later.

I've never known anyone who confessed that they take Ritalin, speed or other psychotropic drugs in order to cope in school. I'm sure they existed, but I personally never knew anyone.

I remember special Ed kids, but they had mainly neurological or physical handicap issues. But didn't know of one that had behavioral issues or at least never seen it.




I think it helps to understand exactly what "Autism" means. Ritalin is an old-ass drug that was originally a weight-loss drug, but that was used to treat attention deficit hyperactive disorder.

To be completely clear, ADHD is not autism... it's not classified as autism, and it's not on the spectrum.


I "had" ADHD, still do... but less so the H part. For me it was hereditary... my dad has it, my grandfather had it, and my daughter most definitely has it. I took Ritalin for 12 years... essentially, I guess you could call it impulse control. As a child, I absolutely could not sit still in my seat, and paying attention to anything was basically next to impossible. No matter how much discipline my parents enacted on me, there was nothing I could do. They often call what I had "childhood" ADHD. I look at videos of myself as a kid, and they're almost embarrassing because you're like... "Todd, WTF are you doing?"

I don't mean to be non-humble, but what I have can often go hand-in-hand with higher intelligence (don't laugh, hahah), and it's often that the mind is unable to control all the thoughts. Imagine if you walk into a room where there are 50 TVs playing different channels all at the same time. And you think maybe you're expected to pay attention to one of them. This makes it impossible as a child in a classroom setting, but as you get older with some maturity, you can harness it. Imagine now that same room with 50 TVs all playing different channels, and imagine how that might help you if you are able to learn to focus? One aspect is that I'm uniquely able to identify similarities between dissimilar concepts and information. I can effectively bridge two concurrent streams of thought into relevance.

But whatever... I had horrible grades growing up because of it... I mean, attrocious. I graduated high school with a 1.7 GPA. I stopped taking Ritalin when I was 16. With Ritalin, my grades were a bit better... I was getting Bs, but once I stopped taking it, I was outright failing. As I got older though, I had to kind of force myself to learn to adjust. I'd have to work longer hours to get the same things accomplished because of distractions. This still happens. Never the less, I went back to school when I was in my late 20s. For what it's worth, I have dozens of degrees, and basically got straight As in all of them, while working full time. I don't say this as a brag, but only to emphasize sort of the point I think you're making, is that we all have challenges... and they can all be overcome.

I never thought of myself as a victim, I mean... not ever. It was never even a thought. For the record, my daughter has had to take something else (since she was 7), I can't remember the name. No one really takes Ritalin anymore. She gets straight-As now... and we've been working with her while I slowly ween her off the medication as she's become a teenager. Like me, I never wanted medication to be a crutch. Without it completely though... OMG...


On the other hand, Autism specifically... this is something that I think has become much more prevalent. I think there's a few things:

1 - It's being identified more commonly, and even people with very mild autism are being identified.
2 - My opinion... there's got to be something going on in either the food we eat, or chemicals we're being exposed to.


Autism can range from being totally incapable of socializing, to the point where you don't speak, can barely manage yourself... to having evidence of Asperger's syndrome. There are a few people on here that have Asperger's syndrome. For some, it's very mild, but for others, it can be as extremely as not even being able to distinguish faces.


The past few years of my career, I've worked with a lot of researchers. Many of them have Asperger's syndrome. I'd have to say that while Asperger's syndrome does not mean you're intelligent, there are a lot of intelligent people that HAVE Asperger's syndrome. For most, this is an issue of being able to identify people's inferences... which most of us glean from looking at people's behavior. Like, if I'm rambling on about something, and the people I'm talking to have absolutely no interest... I'd be able to tell this because they would look distracted and uncaring. For many with Asperger's, they'd not be able to see this, and would keep on talking. For a lot of the researchers I work with, their studies from the time they were younger, largely kept them from interacting in social crowds, so it prevented them from building the "tools" to learn to adapt. Just like how a totally blind person can "hear" buildings with a heightened sense of hearing and awareness... people with Asperger's can teach themselves to learn what to look for to adapt behaviorally.


But maybe to your point... Autism, along with things like peanut allergies and all these other things... this was not anything I ever remember people having when I was younger. There was no one dying in the lunchroom because they were exposed to a peanut. What's happened in the past 25-30 years to make all of this so much more prevalent?

2.5 SEP 02, 01:15 PM

quote
Originally posted by 82-T/A [At Work]:


But maybe to your point... Autism, along with things like peanut allergies and all these other things... this was not anything I ever remember people having when I was younger. There was no one dying in the lunchroom because they were exposed to a peanut. What's happened in the past 25-30 years to make all of this so much more prevalent?



Some peanut type allergy (etc) could be kids raised on almost no natural food. Hybridized and genetically modified stuff? Not sure if that causes autism in any way. I'm sure its considered at least a theory if a wild one.

Heres a stat though, it isn't that common. "Peanut allergies affect nearly 2.5 percent of children in the United States, and a 2017 study reported a 27 percent increase in the prevalence of peanut allergies since 2010."
https://getcleared.com/blog...-allergic-to-peanuts

[This message has been edited by 2.5 (edited 09-02-2022).]

Jake_Dragon SEP 02, 01:47 PM
I would hate for some functioning person, even if they do need some assistance to be labeled as autistic. Its not a label you will ever shake and the stigma is if you have it you can not function.
Imagine if you were diagnosed and they just put you in the room with the "derpy" kids (my school also put trouble makers in there). It would be up to your parents to find a doctor. The same parents that are working 40+ hours as well as keeping up with the house and your young dumb ass.
A friend has been told all her life she has ADHD. She does and its challenging, but the school system just labeled her and her family had to deal with it. Its also very difficult for an adult without a job to get treatment, I have watched the way people treat her when she is picking up her medication.

I am pretty sure I had adhd when I was young but learned how to deal with it. Mostly, sometimes I just need to turn the lights off or change the channel.

As Tod said ADHD is not autism, lets hope the trend isn't one of labels and passing the buck.