TIME magazine cover story on ASD
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TIME magazine cover story on ASD
| Mon, 05-08-2006 - 3:57pm |
I thought you all might be interested. I felt the cover story was actually very well done. There are also a few other relevant articles. If you are not a subscriber, you can view a short ad and still read the cover story:
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1191462,00.html
Katherine

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I did think it was a good article, but you can read the whole thing online without buying the mag or subscribing to TIME. When you get to the end of the cover story on the home page, it asks "read the rest of the story for free" and you watch a short ad for TIME magazine, then they pop up the rest of the story and you can read the rest of it. At that time, you can also click on the other autism stories that are listed to the right of the cover story and read them too.
Hope that makes sense! If you do buy it, it's the May 15 edition.
Katherine
This was a GREAT article!
Well, ummmm, I have problems with the article. Honest I have problems with Facilitated communication. One of which being that it was scientifically proven as a bunch of hogwash years ago.
I started to be involved in autism about 15 years ago (prekids) when I worked with severe autistics in a residential setting. At the time FC was all the rage or on the tail end of the rage. At first everyone thought it was this great thing. Then soon some people were being accused of molestation and such through FC. Families were torn apart. Dads couldn't see thier children despite tons of character references and such. Not long after that a university (I believe Syracuse where FC started) decided to do a blind study on FC. The facilitators couldn't see what the person with autism could. The person with autism was asked to type what they saw. When the facilitator couldn't see they got it wrong. When the facilitator could see they got it right. It was a horrible blow to FC and quite condemming proof that it was hogwash.
They haven't changed FC at all. I recently heard that a local researcher who is well known and respected in the field of autism was mortified at this article. Angry because FC was completely disproven nearly 20 years ago and yet here it is back again.
One question FC and even rapid prompting has always raised with me. I want to know why children and adults with severe autism can suddenly do things that HFA/AS people cannot simply by being given a method of communication. One thing for instance is theory of mind. They are able to describe things and feelings often that involve ToM as well as abstract concepts. If all they needed was a method of communication why are autistics who are verbal not able to have these skills in many cases?
Now I have recently met a girl who does rapid prompting. I want to believe it is all her doing it. She is a lovely young lady. Her mom is a lovely person too, but even after meeting her I can't help but doubt it still. I have heard RPM is different and more independent but I don't know enough about it yet.
Well, that is well more than my 2 cents on the matter, lol.
Renee
Well, I tend to agree about the facilitated communication part, but what I liked is that they were very comprehensive and that their description of autism was easy for someone like, say, my mom to understand. I also liked the inclusion of RDI juxtaposed to ABA and the mention of all the various areas of research. To me they really showed just how complex autism is.
But I have heard all the things you describe about FC and it is troubling. Still, the story of the girl profiled was moving and I do know at least one ASD adult who can communicate through typing but not speaking (he does not use a facilitator). But he is HF in every other way but speech.
But you are right, I wouldn't view FC as a "first line of defense" and maybe by starting the article with it, it seemed that way.
Katherine
oops, I meant DIR not RDI. Also, I liked the photo essay showing the children at school.
Katherine
Well see, I have had a horrible busy week and I read the first say 5 or so paragraphs. When it was all FC I quit. Just didn't feel it was worth my time. I never got to the part with descriptions of autism or other treatments. That is my fault so maybe it was good.
However, I will say in general with news articles, unless it is something that is important to me I tend to read the beginning and the last paragraph. So if I was not involved in autism so much I would likely have not seen the descriptions or anything else anyway.
Renee
HI,
I knew I had something to post here. SOrry, I forgot to mention about this article. I am down with flu for the last 5 days. The article was great. I cried when I read that the girl had bottled up all her knowledge thus far and couldn't find a let out for the world to understand her. This is a major eye opener for all parents who get the diagnosis "severely autistic". If anyone want a copy, I can make copies and mail. My email address is anan0401@yahoo.com
- Anandhi
Katherine,
Thanks for posting this. I would never have known about it otherwise. I'll pick up the mag the next time I'm out.
-Paula
visit my blog at www.onesickmother.com
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