interesting read..

 

AWARENESS

A Brain Disorder That Spurs Genius

[By Suraj Saraf in The Tribune of India. Thanks to Paul Verke. Some

readers may object to the concept of "curing autism," and autism

victimhood.]

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2003/20030628/windows/talk.htm

Many celebrities have been diagnosed to 'suffer' from a sickness that

is considered to be a brain disorder. Anyhow, science is still exploring the

exact link between this sickness and their exceptional talent.

This stumping malaise of star performers is known as autism. This has

been seriously attended to during only just over two decades. In fact, it

has been considered as a disease only in recent times.

How interesting it is that by studying their lives, so many luminaries

of history have been dubbed as having been autism patients and among them

are virtually Who's Who of history: boffins like Newton, Einstein, Descartes

and Pascal, philosophers like Wittgenstein and Kant, literary stars like

Tolstoy, Tennyson, Hemingway, Virginia Wolf, Coleridge and Dickens. Besides

these, a host of other big ones were all autistic or had the Asperger

syndrome.

The sickness is characterised by inability to communicate well and

form long-term social relations besides being given to compulsive interest

in some work. But in spite of their bizarre behaviour, they are people who

generally go places in life.

They are usually loners, obsessively given to their work, which

requires attention to details. They are more interested in a relationship

with numbers or abstracts than with people. They have fantastic memories.

They are workaholics and are so lost in their undertaking that they may be

at odds with the world or even with themselves.

No wonder that media reports about them are invariably headed like

"Portraits of autism - evidence of genius", "The method of creativity is

madness", "Asperger syndrome could spur high achievement", et al.

Victims of autism

Charles Dickens had to remain busy or else he felt depressed; Newton

remained so engrossed in his work that he often forgot to eat; Balzac would

deliberately run into debts so that he would be forced to write to pay them.

Left & right of the brain

A theory about the occurrence of autism is that the left half and the

right half of the brain of a patient has insufficient coordination or power

to pull together to observe an overall picture, but it may be beneficial in

devoting undivided attention to the details of a work in hand.

However, a great deal yet remains to be known about the right and left

hemispheres of the brain with the former having a much broader 'searchlight'

than the latter.

According to the professor and director of Brain and Cognition in the

University of California, Dr V.S. Ramachandran, while the left hemisphere is

concerned with speech, language and semantics, the right hemisphere takes

care of the more subtle aspects of language, such as nuances of metaphor,

allegory and ambiguity. Any damage to either of the hemispheres could affect

proper brain coordination. According to another version, an immense bundle

of nerves - the corpus callosum - has been found to bridge the two

hemispheres, enabling man for a balanced view of the world around.

Madness and creativity

Why do persons with psychiatric disorders or maniac depression become

high achievers? Extreme mood swings or mania could provide creative people

with depths of insight and emotional intensity that normal people could

never achieve.

According to Dr Anthony Storr, consultant psychiatrist, Oxford

University, genius tends to be born of 'madness'. "Creativity should be

linked with mental instability," says Dr Storr.

Citing the example of Dickens, Dr Storr maintains, "Dickens had to

keep busy or be depressed. He wrote more than one book at a time. He was a

journalist, actor, social reformer and, in between, he went for 15-mile

walks. He never stopped being busy because if he did, he got extremely

depressed."

About another famous writer Balzac, Dr Storr has this to say: "He was

such a compulsive worker that he would deliberately run into debts, so that

he would be forced to write specifically to pay them back. Dr Storr has

pointed out that many geniuses in diverse fields have committed suicide or

have sometime or the other contemplated so and many have remained celibate,

as they were incapable of forming any emotional bonds.

According to Dr Storr, while severe mental illness normally rules out

creative work, men and women of genius do tend to have a mental disorder.

"Those who are at ease with themselves are just not motivated, so we

should not be surprised that many creative people are disturbed. The most

inventive are at odds with the world and themselves."

Researchers have pointed out that Newton, one of the most renowned

scientists, was a "classic case" of autism. "He hardly spoke, was so

engrossed in his work that he often forgot to eat, and was lukewarm or

bad-tempered with the few friends he had."

A study on workaholics suffering from autism differentiates between

those who are harmoniously passionate about their job and those who are

obsessively passionate about it. "If someone cannot help themselves and they

have to let their passion run its course at any cost, they have obsessive

passion, neglecting the rest of their lives, causing conflict within

themselves and with those around them. Those with harmonious passion are

able to decide when to fulfill their passion and can fit it in with the rest

of their lives. It seems to increase their self-confidence and personal

growth."

Till about two decades back, it was believed that autistic persons had

low IQs and limited language; they behaved bizarrely and were into special

schools and residential homes. Later on, however, it was redefined as a

life-long brain disorder, affecting primarily one's communication skills and

social abilities. And now research also underscores that the disorder is

widespread.

Generally speaking, incidence of autism has been estimated to be about

one in ten thousand among adults and one in seventy among school children.

Two separate illnesses

In recent times some more research has been carried out into the

causes of autism. One of the latest studies presented at the British

Psychological Society Conference in March this year has evoked intense

interest among the researchers. According to it, autism is not a single

psychological condition but really a combination of two separate illnesses.

"In effect we are saying that there is no such thing as autism, but

two separate conditions which - if they occur at the same time in the same

child, give rise to symptoms that we associate with autistic individuals,"

says Prof Robert Plomin, Institute of Psychiatry, London. "That has

tremendous implications for helping these children," he adds.

As such diagnoses depends on two observations. "First, the social

component; autistic children do not understand that other people have minds

of their own. They are tactless and not communicative. Second, is the

non-social aspect. Such children are obsessive about an object and

pre-occupied with details of places or events."

In the past, psychologists assumed these two sets of symptoms had the

same cause. But a major study conducted by Dr Angelica Ronald and Prof

Robert Plomin on 4000 pairs of twins has found this to be incorrect.

Autism's two sets of conditions are actually acquired quite separately.

"The two sets of symptoms are associated with two completely different

sets of genes. Only when a person inherits extreme versions of both do they

exhibit the symptoms of full autism."

However, particularly worrying is that for reasons still uncertain to

scientists, as pointed out in the London Conference of Britain Psychological

Society, the number of autistic children has risen sharply in recent years.

Increased risk

Most recent researches in America have provided new ammunition for

opponents of the combined MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) vaccine for

children by suggesting that there was a significant link between triple jab

and increased reports of brain diseases. According to a report, the relative

risk of autism in a child was five times higher after administration of MMR

vaccine than for DTP (diptheria, tetanus and pertussis or whooping cough).

British groups campaigning for single vaccines say that this study

justified their concerns. But the findings have been dismissed as flawed by

the Department of Health and the government's health protection agency.

In India

Very recently two premier neurological research institutes of the

country, the National Brain Research Centre, Manesar (Gurgaon), and the

National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences, Bangalore, had

signed an agreement to initiate genetic studies on autism.

Dr Puentes, adviser to the World Autism Organisation, who was in India

about four years ago to attend a seminar on autism by Action for Autism had

strongly pleaded for integrated services for autistic people. He had also

updated his Indian counterparts with research in the field.

Conceding that medical science had not been able to find a cure for

autism, he had, however, pointed out that researchers had finally arrived at

an internationally recognised and reliable diagnostic system. Even related

genes had been identified but they could cure only 7 per cent of the

affected children, he had said.

* * *

N J KENNEDY

C/O UEACO

PB 12657,

Sana'a

Republic Of Yemen

 

E mail: kennedy_nj@...

PH Res: 009671 420638

Mobile  : 00967 73 333 230        

 

Thank you very much Kennedy for stimulating discussions on this list. We
could really do with more members (and more activity) on the autism-india
mailing list.

If anyone knows people who might be interested in joining up on this
not-for-profit and volunteer driven list, please recommend them to join by
sending in a blank email to

autism-india-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

Also, feel free to post messages that would be of interest to others on
this list.

I am a Goa-based journalist and was prompted into setting up this list
after attending a seminar organised by Dr Vikram Patel and his Sangat team
in Porvorim (Goa) some months back. There are currently five members
reading this list.

My fascination with the new ICTs (information and communication
technologies) is to see how these could be used to spur on development and
people-oriented growth in a country like India.

Thanks very much to Kennedy, who found this list on his own, and has taken
the trouble to post to it... Could the others on the autism-india mailing
list please send in a brief self intro? Thanks, FN
--
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Frederick Noronha (FN)        | http://www.fredericknoronha.net
Freelance Journalist          | http://www.bytesforall.org
http://goalinks.pitas.com     | http://joingoanet.shorturl.com
http://linuxinindia.pitas.com | http://www.livejournal.com/users/goalinks
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
T: 0091.832.2409490 or 2409783 M: 0 9822 122436
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Dear all,

 

The following is the link to the latest "ACTION FOR AUTISM" magazine link. as usual there are great inspirations..

 

http://www.autism-india.org/Apr03.html

Jyoti Kennedy

What Is AD/HD?
http://health.yahoo.com/search/healthnews?lb=s&p=id%3a23641

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KidsHealth.org All KidsHealth.org News What Is AD/HD? May 01, 2003 03:04:19 AM PST, KidsHealth.org   Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD) is a common childhood behavioral disorder, but it can be difficult to diagnose and even harder to understand. What should you do if your child has AD/HD, and how can you help your child deal with this disorder? Symptoms and Signs of AD/HD Children who have AD/HD may know what to do, but they are not always able to complete their tasks because they are unable to focus, are impulsive, or are easily distracted. For example, children with AD/HD often cannot sit still or pay attention in school. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) estimates that AD/HD affects between 4% and 12% of all school-age children. AD/HD can create problems for these children at home, at school, or in their relationships with friends. According to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), two to three times more boys than girls are affected by AD/HD, but the reason for this difference is not clear. But what is AD/HD? You may be more familiar with the term attention deficit disorder, or ADD. This disorder was renamed AD/HD in 1994 by the American Psychiatric Association and includes three subtypes: 1. an inattentive subtype (formerly known as attention deficit disorder, or ADD), with signs that include: inability to pay attention to details or a tendency to make careless errors in schoolwork or other activities difficulty with sustained attention in tasks or play activities apparent listening problems difficulty following instructions problems organizing tasks and activities avoidance or dislike of tasks that require mental effort tendency to lose things like toys, notebooks, or homework distractibility forgetfulness in daily activities 2. a hyperactive-impulsive subtype (formerly known as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD) with signs that include: fidgeting or squirming difficulty remaining seated excessive running or climbing difficulty playing quietly always seeming to be "on the go" excessive talking blurting out answers before hearing the full question difficulty waiting for a turn or in line problems with interrupting or intruding 3. a combined subtype, with behaviors that include those from both of the other subtypes and can be seen with or without hyperactivity To be considered for a diagnosis of AD/HD, a child must display these behaviors before age 7 and the behaviors must last for at least 6 months. The behaviors must also be negatively affecting at least two areas of a child's life (such as school, home, daycare settings, or friendships) for a child to be diagnosed with AD/HD. All children have difficulty paying attention, following directions, or being quiet from time to time, but for children with AD/HD, these behaviors occur more frequently and are more disturbing to the children and those around them. To help your child's doctor and family doctors, the AAP recently released its first guidelines for the diagnosis and evaluation of AD/HD in children ages 6 to 12. What Causes AD/HD? AD/HD has biological origins that are not yet clearly defined. No one cause of AD/HD has been identified, but researchers have been looking at a number of possible genetic and environmental links. Research shows that some children may have a genetic predisposition toward AD/HD; it is most common in children who have close relatives with the disorder. Recent research also links smoking during pregnancy to later AD/HD in a child, and there is a strong possibility that other substance use may have the same effect. Although scientists are not sure whether this is a cause of the disorder, they have also found that certain areas of the brain (in the frontal lobes and basal ganglia) are about 5% to 10% smaller in size and activity in children with AD/HD. Hyperactivity and poor impulse control can also occur in response to significant family stress. Children who have experienced a divorce, a move, a change in school, or other significant life event may display impulsive and overly active behavior, forgetfulness, and absentmindedness, which may be misdiagnosed as AD/HD. It is important to rule out these factors when considering a diagnosis of AD/HD. Does It Coexist With Other Disorders? An added difficulty in diagnosing AD/HD is that it often coexists with other problems. Nearly half of all children with AD/HD also have oppositional defiant disorder, which is characterized by stubbornness, outbursts of temper, and acts of defiance. Mood disorders, such as depression, are commonly seen in children with AD/HD. Some children may have depression as a result of having AD/HD. They feel inept, socially isolated, and frustrated by school failures. A little extra help in social and academic areas can go a long way in helping to alleviate this type of depression. Other children may have a mood disorder that exists independently of AD/HD, which may require additional psychotherapy or medication. Many children with AD/HD also have a specific learning disability, which means that they might have trouble mastering language or other skills, such as math, reading, or handwriting. The most common learning problems are with reading and handwriting. Although AD/HD is not categorized as a learning disability, its interference with concentration and attention can make it even more difficult for a child to perform well in school.   more...   Email this Article | Printer-friendly format Archived Stories by Date: Apr 30, 2003 Apr 29, 2003 Apr 28, 2003 Apr 25, 2003 Apr 24, 2003 Apr 23, 2003 Apr 22, 2003 Apr 21, 2003 Apr 18, 2003 Apr 17, 2003 Apr 16, 2003 Apr 15, 2003 Apr 14, 2003 Apr 11, 2003 Apr 10, 2003 Apr 09, 2003 Apr 08, 2003 Apr 07, 2003 Apr 03, 2003 Apr 02, 2003 Apr 01, 2003 Mar 31, 2003 Mar 28, 2003 Mar 26, 2003 Mar 25, 2003 Mar 24, 2003 Mar 21, 2003 Mar 20, 2003 Mar 19, 2003 Mar 18, 2003 Mar 17, 2003 Mar 14, 2003 Mar 13, 2003 Mar 12, 2003 Mar 11, 2003 Mar 10, 2003 Mar 07, 2003 Mar 06, 2003 Mar 05, 2003 Mar 04, 2003 Mar 03, 2003 Feb 28, 2003 Feb 27, 2003 Feb 26, 2003 Feb 25, 2003 Feb 24, 2003 Feb 21, 2003 Feb 20, 2003 Feb 19, 2003 Feb 18, 2003 Feb 17, 2003 Feb 14, 2003 Feb 13, 2003 Feb 12, 2003 Feb 11, 2003 Feb 10, 2003 Feb 07, 2003 Feb 06, 2003 Feb 05, 2003 Feb 04, 2003 Jan 31, 2003 Jan 30, 2003 Jan 29, 2003 Jan 28, 2003 Jan 27, 2003 Jan 24, 2003 Jan 23, 2003 Jan 22, 2003 Jan 21, 2003 Jan 20, 2003 Jan 17, 2003 Jan 16, 2003 Jan 15, 2003 Jan 14, 2003 Jan 13, 2003 Jan 10, 2003 Jan 09, 2003 Jan 08, 2003 Jan 07, 2003 Jan 06, 2003 Jan 03, 2003 Jan 02, 2003 Jan 01, 2003 Dec 31, 2002 Dec 30, 2002 Dec 27, 2002 Dec 26, 2002 Dec 25, 2002 Dec 24, 2002 Dec 23, 2002 Dec 20, 2002 Dec 19, 2002 Dec 18, 2002 Dec 17, 2002 Dec 16, 2002 Dec 13, 2002 Dec 12, 2002 Dec 11, 2002 Dec 10, 2002 Dec 09, 2002 Dec 06, 2002 Dec 05, 2002 Dec 04, 2002 Dec 03, 2002 Dec 02, 2002 Nov 29, 2002 Nov 25, 2002 Nov 22, 2002 Nov 21, 2002 Nov 20, 2002 Nov 19, 2002 Nov 18, 2002 Nov 14, 2002 Nov 13, 2002 Nov 12, 2002 Nov 11, 2002 Nov 08, 2002 Nov 06, 2002 Nov 05, 2002 Nov 01, 2002 Oct 31, 2002 All Health News All KidsHealth.org News  Sponsored Links

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Copyright © 2003 KidsHealth.org All Rights Reserved. Copyright © 2003 Yahoo! Inc. All Rights Reserved. Terms of Service - Copyright Policy - Privacy Policy - Ad Feedback This site does not provide medical or any other health care advice, diagnosis or treatment. The site and its services, including the information above, are for informational purposes only and are not a substitute for professional medical advice, examination, diagnosis or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health professional before starting any new treatment or making any changes to existing treatment. Do not delay seeking or disregard medical advice based on information on this site. Medical information changes rapidly and while Yahoo! and its content providers make efforts to update the content on the site, some information may be out of date. No health information on Yahoo! , including information about herbal therapies and other dietary supplements, is regulated or evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration and therefore the information should not be used to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease without the supervision of a medical doctor.

What Is AD/HD?
http://health.yahoo.com/search/healthnews?lb=s&p=id%3a23641

---

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Save 70% on Life Insurance Get a Free Quote Now!

Yahoo! Health Search  All Yahoo! Health Encyclopedia Drug Index Health News Clinical Trials Alternative Medicine for

Quicklinks:     Health Centers        Encyclopedia        Drug Index

Health > Health News > KidsHealth.org

News by Source   News Main Page   ACS News Center   Acurian   Associated Press   HealthScout News KidsHealth.org   Reuters  Health Resources  *  Find a Doctor  *  Health Assessment Test  *  Ask the Doctor  *  Community  Yahoo! Resources  *  Find A Doctor  *  Health Research  *  Yahooligans!  Yahoo! Community  *  Chat: Health  *  Groups: Health  *  Message Boards: Health

KidsHealth.org All KidsHealth.org News What Is AD/HD? May 01, 2003 03:04:19 AM PST, KidsHealth.org   Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD) is a common childhood behavioral disorder, but it can be difficult to diagnose and even harder to understand. What should you do if your child has AD/HD, and how can you help your child deal with this disorder? Symptoms and Signs of AD/HD Children who have AD/HD may know what to do, but they are not always able to complete their tasks because they are unable to focus, are impulsive, or are easily distracted. For example, children with AD/HD often cannot sit still or pay attention in school. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) estimates that AD/HD affects between 4% and 12% of all school-age children. AD/HD can create problems for these children at home, at school, or in their relationships with friends. According to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), two to three times more boys than girls are affected by AD/HD, but the reason for this difference is not clear. But what is AD/HD? You may be more familiar with the term attention deficit disorder, or ADD. This disorder was renamed AD/HD in 1994 by the American Psychiatric Association and includes three subtypes: 1. an inattentive subtype (formerly known as attention deficit disorder, or ADD), with signs that include: inability to pay attention to details or a tendency to make careless errors in schoolwork or other activities difficulty with sustained attention in tasks or play activities apparent listening problems difficulty following instructions problems organizing tasks and activities avoidance or dislike of tasks that require mental effort tendency to lose things like toys, notebooks, or homework distractibility forgetfulness in daily activities 2. a hyperactive-impulsive subtype (formerly known as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD) with signs that include: fidgeting or squirming difficulty remaining seated excessive running or climbing difficulty playing quietly always seeming to be "on the go" excessive talking blurting out answers before hearing the full question difficulty waiting for a turn or in line problems with interrupting or intruding 3. a combined subtype, with behaviors that include those from both of the other subtypes and can be seen with or without hyperactivity To be considered for a diagnosis of AD/HD, a child must display these behaviors before age 7 and the behaviors must last for at least 6 months. The behaviors must also be negatively affecting at least two areas of a child's life (such as school, home, daycare settings, or friendships) for a child to be diagnosed with AD/HD. All children have difficulty paying attention, following directions, or being quiet from time to time, but for children with AD/HD, these behaviors occur more frequently and are more disturbing to the children and those around them. To help your child's doctor and family doctors, the AAP recently released its first guidelines for the diagnosis and evaluation of AD/HD in children ages 6 to 12. What Causes AD/HD? AD/HD has biological origins that are not yet clearly defined. No one cause of AD/HD has been identified, but researchers have been looking at a number of possible genetic and environmental links. Research shows that some children may have a genetic predisposition toward AD/HD; it is most common in children who have close relatives with the disorder. Recent research also links smoking during pregnancy to later AD/HD in a child, and there is a strong possibility that other substance use may have the same effect. Although scientists are not sure whether this is a cause of the disorder, they have also found that certain areas of the brain (in the frontal lobes and basal ganglia) are about 5% to 10% smaller in size and activity in children with AD/HD. Hyperactivity and poor impulse control can also occur in response to significant family stress. Children who have experienced a divorce, a move, a change in school, or other significant life event may display impulsive and overly active behavior, forgetfulness, and absentmindedness, which may be misdiagnosed as AD/HD. It is important to rule out these factors when considering a diagnosis of AD/HD. Does It Coexist With Other Disorders? An added difficulty in diagnosing AD/HD is that it often coexists with other problems. Nearly half of all children with AD/HD also have oppositional defiant disorder, which is characterized by stubbornness, outbursts of temper, and acts of defiance. Mood disorders, such as depression, are commonly seen in children with AD/HD. Some children may have depression as a result of having AD/HD. They feel inept, socially isolated, and frustrated by school failures. A little extra help in social and academic areas can go a long way in helping to alleviate this type of depression. Other children may have a mood disorder that exists independently of AD/HD, which may require additional psychotherapy or medication. Many children with AD/HD also have a specific learning disability, which means that they might have trouble mastering language or other skills, such as math, reading, or handwriting. The most common learning problems are with reading and handwriting. Although AD/HD is not categorized as a learning disability, its interference with concentration and attention can make it even more difficult for a child to perform well in school.   more...   Email this Article | Printer-friendly format Archived Stories by Date: Apr 30, 2003 Apr 29, 2003 Apr 28, 2003 Apr 25, 2003 Apr 24, 2003 Apr 23, 2003 Apr 22, 2003 Apr 21, 2003 Apr 18, 2003 Apr 17, 2003 Apr 16, 2003 Apr 15, 2003 Apr 14, 2003 Apr 11, 2003 Apr 10, 2003 Apr 09, 2003 Apr 08, 2003 Apr 07, 2003 Apr 03, 2003 Apr 02, 2003 Apr 01, 2003 Mar 31, 2003 Mar 28, 2003 Mar 26, 2003 Mar 25, 2003 Mar 24, 2003 Mar 21, 2003 Mar 20, 2003 Mar 19, 2003 Mar 18, 2003 Mar 17, 2003 Mar 14, 2003 Mar 13, 2003 Mar 12, 2003 Mar 11, 2003 Mar 10, 2003 Mar 07, 2003 Mar 06, 2003 Mar 05, 2003 Mar 04, 2003 Mar 03, 2003 Feb 28, 2003 Feb 27, 2003 Feb 26, 2003 Feb 25, 2003 Feb 24, 2003 Feb 21, 2003 Feb 20, 2003 Feb 19, 2003 Feb 18, 2003 Feb 17, 2003 Feb 14, 2003 Feb 13, 2003 Feb 12, 2003 Feb 11, 2003 Feb 10, 2003 Feb 07, 2003 Feb 06, 2003 Feb 05, 2003 Feb 04, 2003 Jan 31, 2003 Jan 30, 2003 Jan 29, 2003 Jan 28, 2003 Jan 27, 2003 Jan 24, 2003 Jan 23, 2003 Jan 22, 2003 Jan 21, 2003 Jan 20, 2003 Jan 17, 2003 Jan 16, 2003 Jan 15, 2003 Jan 14, 2003 Jan 13, 2003 Jan 10, 2003 Jan 09, 2003 Jan 08, 2003 Jan 07, 2003 Jan 06, 2003 Jan 03, 2003 Jan 02, 2003 Jan 01, 2003 Dec 31, 2002 Dec 30, 2002 Dec 27, 2002 Dec 26, 2002 Dec 25, 2002 Dec 24, 2002 Dec 23, 2002 Dec 20, 2002 Dec 19, 2002 Dec 18, 2002 Dec 17, 2002 Dec 16, 2002 Dec 13, 2002 Dec 12, 2002 Dec 11, 2002 Dec 10, 2002 Dec 09, 2002 Dec 06, 2002 Dec 05, 2002 Dec 04, 2002 Dec 03, 2002 Dec 02, 2002 Nov 29, 2002 Nov 25, 2002 Nov 22, 2002 Nov 21, 2002 Nov 20, 2002 Nov 19, 2002 Nov 18, 2002 Nov 14, 2002 Nov 13, 2002 Nov 12, 2002 Nov 11, 2002 Nov 08, 2002 Nov 06, 2002 Nov 05, 2002 Nov 01, 2002 Oct 31, 2002 All Health News All KidsHealth.org News  Sponsored Links

ADVERTISEMENT

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Copyright © 2003 KidsHealth.org All Rights Reserved. Copyright © 2003 Yahoo! Inc. All Rights Reserved. Terms of Service - Copyright Policy - Privacy Policy - Ad Feedback This site does not provide medical or any other health care advice, diagnosis or treatment. The site and its services, including the information above, are for informational purposes only and are not a substitute for professional medical advice, examination, diagnosis or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health professional before starting any new treatment or making any changes to existing treatment. Do not delay seeking or disregard medical advice based on information on this site. Medical information changes rapidly and while Yahoo! and its content providers make efforts to update the content on the site, some information may be out of date. No health information on Yahoo! , including information about herbal therapies and other dietary supplements, is regulated or evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration and therefore the information should not be used to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease without the supervision of a medical doctor.

http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=44258 

pass along.. 

 

kennedy 

autism and adhd seems to be getting related in some of the cases. please find below interesting information on the various supporting groups on autism.

pass it along to your known parents.

also inform this group your findings.

 

Kennedy

 

 

Top  20 Autism  Support  Discussion Groups  on the Internet

      This is a list of the largest, most relevant autism support and discussion lists on the Internet.  We published a similar list six months ago.  Then the number of discussion lists that included the word "autism" in their group description was 650.  There are now 840 such groups.  The individual groups also experienced a swelling of membership.  Parents "vote with their feet" for preferred treatments.  This gives some rough indication of what seems to be helpful and safe. Absent interest from the medical establishment, parents turn to each other in such groups in attempt to pool experiences and make some sense out of the latest scientific, and not-so-scientific treatments.  Behavioral treatment programs and dietary interventions top the list of parent interest. While the GFCF Kids (gluten-free, casein-free) list has the largest membership, there are at least two additional lists for ABA in the top twenty.  There is also another popular diet-oriented discussion group,  autism-FBI, which made the top listing, besides the ME-List in the number 2 position.  
      Missing from the top of the list are discussion groups on secretin and auditory integration therapy.  However, a list tied to Facilitated Communication has over 500 members. 
      This year we did not include newsletter lists, which are not discussion/dialog oriented.  Also left off are moderated and psuedo-unmoderated lists.  "Moderated" here is a euphemism for censored.  The moderator must pre-approve any post.  Unless the theme is of a very sensitive or specialized nature (e.g. autism and sexual abuse), moderated lists tend to be mediocre, boring and should be avoided.  For some reason, yahoogroups allow group owners to falsely list their group as unmoderated, while giving list hosts the tools to do stealth censorship despite the description declaration.
      Yahoogroups has some other strange practices.  They do not list their groups alphabetically, or by size as below.  If you use their supplied search engine, you will not get the return list of hits in either order, but in random order.  For example, if you searched on  "autism diets", the GFCFKids list, the most popular autism diet list, does not show up on the first page of the returned listings.  Why they would intentionally degrade their users search reports is unclear.  

      For the complete listing of groups by size: http://www.freewebz.com/schafer/URL/YGrpSz.htm      

Groups

Members

07-02  02-03 Archive

GFCFKids¶	This list is unmoderated and unrestricted. The principle aim of this list is to provide a discussion forum for parents of children on the autism spectrum who are avoiding gluten and casein and other substances in their children's diets. We hope that the discussions will include practical information and tips on following a GFCF(etc) diet; scientific research and opinion; the latest developments in understanding GFCF(etc) diet-related health problems; your personal stories and experiences with ... more	2802	3192	For Members
The ME-LIST*	This is an email list centered around discussion of issues related to provision of high-quality, intensive, discrete-trial-based* intervention for children with autism. [*Discrete-trial-based intervention is also often referred to as ABA (applied behavior analysis), behavioral intervention or "Lovaas" therapy.] *Not a Yahoogroup list.	3100	3109	For Members
Autism-Mercury¶	To discuss current issues related to the increasing incidence of autism & the potential link between excessive mercury exposure via thimerosal in infant vaccines. Topics include mercury detoxification ("chelation")~ mercury-related issues/news~ and vaccination-related issues/news. Most members are parents of children with autism~ aspergers~ ADD~ ADHD~ PDD~ PDD-NOS~ SID~ oppositional defiance disorder~ apraxia~ speech disorders~ and/or other related symptoms. There are many labels you are welcome ... more	1600	2081 ¶	Public
DTT-NET¶	One of the most complex tasks both parents and professionals face is developing and implementing an effective language intervention for children with autism. Parents and professionals are finding that BOTH Discrete Trial Training (DTT) and Natural Environment Training (NET)~ together with the help of Skinner's (1957) Functional Analysis of Verbal Behavior to be very effective for children with autism. This is commonly referred to as Applied Verbal Behavior (AVB)which is a specialty within the ... more	1676	1832	For Members
VerbalBehavior¶	The focus of this list is teaching verbal behavior (VB) within a program of applied behavior analysis (ABA). B.F. Skinner's 1957 analysis of verbal behavior looked at the functions of language over its forms~ and described numerous verbal operants~ or units of language. ABA/VB addresses difficulties in the development of communication seen in most individuals with autism and other related disabilities~ in part by emphasizing functional language and tying it to motivational variables. ... more	1011	1302	For Members
abmd¶	The Autism Biomedical Discussion group has been created for the discussion of research and biomedical interventions as they apply to the investigation and treatment of autistic spectrum disorders. Topics of discussion include immunology~ endocrinology~ gastrointestinal issues~ allergies~ metabolic and mitochondrial issues~ exposure to neurotoxins~ vaccine injury~ dietary and nutritional protocols~ medications~ and other areas pertinent to diagnostics and treatment protocols for individuals with ... more	876	1079	For Members
autism-awareness-action¶	This list is an Autism informational list to share and receive information and support on Autism. Members on this list are from all across the United States and Worldwide. All issues of Autism are explored- from diet~ supplements~ interventions~ legislation~ treatments~ and educational and vocational strategies~ and even some off topic humor. The purpose of this list is to be a well rounded resource for Autism and all it encompasses. As the name implies~ this list is about Autism~ sharing ... more	866	961	For Members
NIDS¶	The NIDS list is an information and support forum for families affected by Neuro Immune Dysfunction Syndromes~ including Autism~ Aspergers~ ADD/ADHD~ CFS/CFIDS~ MDD~ PDD~ and others~ and who are using or considering the NIDS protocol. Bashing~ flaming~ flame-baiting or personal attacks have no place here and will not be tolerated. Infractions may result in immediate removal from the list.	615	820	For Members
Latetalkers¶	To discuss developmental speech delays caused by apraxia (dyspraxia)~ phonological disorders~ autism spectrum disorders~ learning disabilies~ or other causes. The list is varied but our common thread is helping those children attain intelligible speech. A welcome is extended to family~ speech language pathologists~ medical professionals~ students~ & educators who wish to participate in discussions. If anyone has concerns about a child's development~ please consult a registered speech language ... more	701	763	For Members
RecoveredKids¶	This list is parents of kids recovered or on the road to recovery from autism. Others~ however~ are welcome to join.	621	743	Public
Autism-Software¶	Children with speech and language delays and difficulties such as Autism/PDD are usually highly visual and can benefit enormously from a home computer. However~ there is a lot of over-priced and over-rated software out there with very little reinforcement and limited educational value. The best software allows you to edit information and enter new teaching material and reinforcement. Reinforcement is vital (and severely lacking in most learning software packages) to keep up the child's interest ... more	729	701 ¶	Public
AspergersSupport¶	A support list for parents of children with Asperger's Syndrome or High Functioning Autism.	459	554	For Members
autismlist¶	Welcome to the Autismlist. We have been in existence since September '98 with 550 members and some of the best professionals and parents on the net. Feel free to join and ask any questions about autism or just to learn about the condition. Posting is unmoderated for members~ but either I or other volunteers monitor the list closely. I have thirty years of experience in the field and have advocated for Autism and Facilitated Communication since '95 on the internet. We average about 5 posts a day~ ... more	536	546 ¶	Public
autism_alabama¶	News and announcements about autism~ activities in Alabama~ and legislative alerts.	514	526 ¶	Public
ReedMartinSPEDlaw¶	Reed Martin~ J.D.~ Special Education Strategies And Resources. Assisting parents and advocates in special education advocacy for children with disabilities. Welcome to the ReedMartinSPEDlaw listserv. Everyone is welcome in the discussion of special education laws and advocacy techniques. The chat room is always open http //www.reedmartin.com/specialeducationchat.htm Reed Martin attends the regularly scheduled parent chats each Thursday evening~ 9-10 30PM~ EST. We look forward to hearing from ... more	421	508	For Members
autismaba¶	The Autism and ABA list is an open forum for discussing anything related to autism. Much of our discussion centers around Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA)~ including specializations of ABA~ such as Applied Verbal Behavior (AVB) and Natural Environment Training (NET). However~ any and every topic related to autism is welcome! We're a quiet list~ but we have a healthy mix of parents~ professionals~ and others involved with autism in some way. Welcome! Group Moderator autismaba-owner@egroups.com To ... more	412	498	For Members
Autism_in_Girls¶	Restricted membership! This list is for all parents and professionals who wish to exchange information regarding treatment of autism in girls~ how autism effect females in the family~ and any other issues dealing with autism and females and/or the comparison of males and females with autism. Other than the restricted membership... The list will not be censored in any way so as to promote the free flow of information between its members. The list forum is not intended for inflammatory remarks ... more	442	489	For Members
AUTISM-FBI¶	"FIGHTING BACK with dietary INTERVENTION" is a list for the experienced parent using dietary intervention in the treatment of their child afflicted with autism. The focus of this group will be to give support to fellow parents who already have their child on a gluten-free~ casein-free~ yeast-free~ sugar-free~ chemical-free~ allergy-free and hydrogenized oil-free diet. This list is for intermediate through advanced dieters~ not for beginners.	~300	486 ¶	Public
autism-aspergers¶	This list is for parents and caregivers of kids with autism and aspergers~ and any other duisability. I am the mother of 4 special needs boys~ and I created this list to share stories~ ideas~ treatments~ therapies~ advice and support. It's a list where we can all make friends and have fun. There will be no flaming tolerated.	349	477	For Members
Texas-Autism-Advocacy¶	This list is for people wanting to share information or get information about interventions for autism and related disabilities in Texas. Professionals~ parents~ and students are welcome; as well as disability/advocacy related organizations. The list may be used for Networking to find services for a child; Discussion of various intervention strategies educational~ medical~ therapeutical~ and others relating to the needs of a child with autism; Announcement of upcoming conferences or meetings~ ... more	351	446	For Members
Autism-Michigan¶	Welcome to Autism-Michigan! This list is for anyone on the Autism Spectrum or with a loved one~ student or patient with an Autism Spectrum Disorder. The list is to provide resource information & support. Posts are not limited to any type of therapy or subject. This is for people to share their experiences and ask/answer questions about Autism. The majority of information may be specific to Michigan but is not limited to Michigan. Thank you for your interest in our list and we look forward to ... more	384	407	For Members
pfeifferautispatients¶	This group is for patients and parents of patients who are being treated using the autism treatment protocol at the Pfeiffer Treatment Center. It is also for anyone who is interested in this treatment protocol. Examples of discussion topics are innovative methods to get kids to take their supplements~ MT Promoter as Chelation Therapy~ lessons learned during treatment~ effectiveness of the other supplements (CLO~etc) Parents/patients should feel free to discuss their perceptions of their Pfeiffer ... more		395	For Members

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Understanding Autism
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KidsHealth.org All KidsHealth.org News Understanding Autism January 23, 2003 03:00:10 AM PST, KidsHealth.org   Autism is a developmental disability that usually shows symptoms between 18 and 36 months. Autism affects children in many different ways and, as a result, is medically referred to as a "spectrum disorder." More than 500,000 people in the United States have been diagnosed with autism; it may occur in as many as one in 500 individuals and is four times more prevalent in boys than girls. In the last 5 years, autism has become the third most common form of developmental delay, and now occurs more commonly than Down syndrome. Because there is nothing abnormal about the child's physical appearance, this disorder can be difficult to recognize. Causes There is no one specific cause of autism. Current research focuses on biological and neurological differences in the brain, including biochemical imbalances, genetic influences, and immunologic problems. Food allergies, excessive amounts of yeast in the digestive tract, and exposure to environmental toxins have all been implicated. Symptoms Children exhibit mild to severe symptoms of delay, in many combinations and varying degrees of severity, although in all cases, the ability to communicate and social interaction are the most impaired functions. About half of all children with autism have slowed development, especially in language and social skills. The other half develop fairly typically until 18 to 36 months and then begin to regress in speech patterns and social skills. Speaking is often limited to a few repeated or "echoed" words or phrases; some children stop speaking altogether. Some children with autism withdraw from physical contact with other people and do not make eye contact. Children with autistic characteristics prefer to play alone and seldom play fantasy/imaginary games. Many autistic children engage in repetitive movements like rocking or hand flapping, and they sometimes have tantrums with self- inflicted injuries. There is also marked resistance to change in daily routines and unusual responses to many sensory experiences, especially to some auditory stimuli like sudden, loud noises or high-pitched sounds. They may be obsessed with predictable rituals and sometimes play with only one part of a toy. But some children with autism have just a few of these symptoms and appear to be developing within typical expectations, although somewhat slowly. Diagnosing Autism Autism cannot currently be detected at birth or through any prenatal screening. There does appear to be a genetic link, however; parents of a child with autism have an 8% to 10% chance of having another child with the same disorder or a similar disorder. Because autism is difficult to recognize and diagnose, it is important that families seek an evaluation by a medical professional experienced in diagnosing and treating the disorder. "Seek an evaluation as soon as possible. There is a lot of evidence that if something is wrong, early intervention gets the best results. If your child is nearing 18 months or 2 years old and is not gesturing, it may indicate a breakdown in communication development," says Robert Naseef, PhD, the father of a son with autism and a family psychologist who specializes in working with families of children with disabilities. Susan Stine, MD, a developmental pediatrician, advises parents to "closely document your observations and report them to your pediatrician, who can then advise you regarding further referrals." Physicians will order any indicated medical tests and will prescribe appropriate medications if needed. You may be referred to a developmental pediatrician, a pediatric psychiatrist, or a pediatric neurologist for the diagnosis. A multidisciplinary team composed of a specialist physician, a pediatric psychologist, a speech/language pathologist, an occupational therapist, and a special education teacher or early childhood educator may all work with you to assess your child's development and behavior and plan a treatment program. Helping Your Child You play an extremely important role in helping your child develop. Like other children, children with autism learn primarily through play. "Join your child where he is, in play that is mutually enjoyable," Dr. Naseef says. "With autism, the trick is to pull kids through their repetitive behaviors and rituals, and guide them to activity with more variety. For example, you can pace around the room with them, but then lead them into another room. You need to enter their world to help guide them into yours." Verbal praise for work well done is sometimes meaningless for children with autism. Find other ways to reinforce good behaviors and promote self-esteem. After your child has successfully completed a task, for example, give him extra time to play with a favorite toy. Children and adults with autism learn better when information is presented visually as well as verbally. Incorporate "augmentative communication" into your daily routines by combining the spoken word with the presentation of photographs, symbols, or gestures to help your child make his needs, feelings, and ideas known. "Our goal for every child is for them to speak," says Jean Ruttenberg, executive director of the Center for Autistic Children in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. "But part of autism is that they don't play well, and all children learn vocabulary through play. We always speak to the children, but we use all means of communication with them - gesture, pictures, symbols, sign language, technology." Daily schedules, favorite foods and activities, and friends and family members can be part of the picture system, assisting children to communicate with the world around them.   more...   Email this Article | Printer-friendly format Archived Stories by Date: Jan 24, 2003 Jan 23, 2003 Jan 22, 2003 Jan 21, 2003 Jan 20, 2003 Jan 17, 2003 Jan 16, 2003 Jan 15, 2003 Jan 14, 2003 Jan 13, 2003 Jan 10, 2003 Jan 09, 2003 Jan 08, 2003 Jan 07, 2003 Jan 06, 2003 Jan 03, 2003 Jan 02, 2003 Jan 01, 2003 Dec 31, 2002 Dec 30, 2002 Dec 27, 2002 Dec 26, 2002 Dec 25, 2002 Dec 24, 2002 Dec 23, 2002 Dec 20, 2002 Dec 19, 2002 Dec 18, 2002 Dec 17, 2002 Dec 16, 2002 Dec 13, 2002 Dec 12, 2002 Dec 11, 2002 Dec 10, 2002 Dec 09, 2002 Dec 06, 2002 Dec 05, 2002 Dec 04, 2002 Dec 03, 2002 Dec 02, 2002 Nov 29, 2002 Nov 28, 2002 Nov 27, 2002 Nov 26, 2002 Nov 25, 2002 Nov 22, 2002 Nov 21, 2002 Nov 20, 2002 Nov 19, 2002 Nov 18, 2002 Nov 15, 2002 Nov 14, 2002 Nov 13, 2002 Nov 12, 2002 Nov 11, 2002 Nov 08, 2002 Nov 07, 2002 Nov 06, 2002 Nov 05, 2002 Nov 04, 2002 Nov 01, 2002 Oct 31, 2002 Oct 30, 2002 Oct 29, 2002 Oct 28, 2002 Oct 25, 2002 Oct 24, 2002 Oct 23, 2002 Oct 22, 2002 Oct 21, 2002 Oct 18, 2002 Oct 17, 2002 Oct 16, 2002 Oct 15, 2002 Oct 14, 2002 Oct 11, 2002 Oct 10, 2002 Oct 09, 2002 Oct 08, 2002 Oct 07, 2002 Oct 04, 2002 Oct 03, 2002 Oct 02, 2002 Oct 01, 2002 Sep 30, 2002 Sep 27, 2002 Sep 26, 2002 Sep 25, 2002 Sep 24, 2002 Sep 23, 2002 Sep 20, 2002 Sep 19, 2002 Sep 18, 2002 Sep 17, 2002 Sep 16, 2002 Sep 13, 2002 Sep 12, 2002 Sep 11, 2002 Sep 10, 2002 Sep 06, 2002 Sep 05, 2002 Sep 04, 2002 Sep 03, 2002 Sep 02, 2002 Aug 30, 2002 Aug 29, 2002 Aug 28, 2002 Aug 27, 2002 Aug 26, 2002 Aug 23, 2002 Aug 21, 2002 Aug 20, 2002 Aug 19, 2002 Aug 16, 2002 Aug 15, 2002 Aug 14, 2002 Aug 13, 2002 Aug 12, 2002 Aug 07, 2002 Aug 06, 2002 Aug 05, 2002 Aug 02, 2002 All Health News All KidsHealth.org News

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q uite an interesting article of a succesful autistic boy - thanks to  his mother !!!
 

three pages - follows.

 

N J Kennedy 

 

 

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		November 19, 2002

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		Welcome, kennedy_nj Today's NewsPast WeekPast 30 DaysPast 90 DaysPast YearSince 1996 A Boy, a Mother and a Rare Map of Autism's World By SANDRA BLAKESLEE OS ANGELES - Tito Mukhopadhyay sits in a darkened laboratory, pointing at flashes of light on a computer screen. On his right is a neuroscientist, one of several who are testing Tito's ability to see, hear and feel touch. At his left, Tito's mother, Soma, watches quietly. Tito, who is 14, often stops the testing with bursts of activity. His body rocks rhythmically. He stands and spins. He makes loud smacking noises. His arms fly in the air as if yanked by a puppeteer. His fingers flutter. Advertisement Everyone waits. Tito reaches for a yellow pad and writes to explain his behavior: "I am calming myself. My senses are so disconnected, I lose my body. So I flap. If I don't do this, I feel scattered and anxious." Tito has severe autism, a disorder that occurs when the brain mysteriously fails to develop normally in infancy and early childhood. Born and raised in India, Tito speaks English with a huge vocabulary. His articulation is poor, and he is often hard to understand. But he writes eloquently and independently, on pads or his laptop, about what it feels like to be locked inside an autistic body and mind. "Tito is a window into autism such as the world has never seen," said Portia Iversen, a co-founder of Cure Autism Now, a Los Angeles research foundation that brought Tito and Soma to the United States in July 2001 and continues to support them. Autism experts are studying him, amazed to discover, for what they say is the first time, a severely autistic person who can explain his disorder. "Tito is for real," said Dr. Michael Merzenich, a neuroscientist at the University of California at San Francisco Medical School, who has run extensive tests on Tito. "He unhesitatingly responds to factual questions about books that he has read or about experiences that he has had in detail and in high fidelity." "I've seen Tito sit in front of an audience of scientists and take questions from the floor," said Dr. Matthew Belmonte, a neuroscientist and an autism expert at Cambridge University. "He taps out intelligent, witty answers on a laptop with a voice synthesizer. No one is touching him. He communicates on his own." Nor is Tito a savant, an autistic person with a single extraordinary talent like the mathematically gifted character in the movie "Rain Man." "Tito thinks and feels and has opinions like all the rest of us," said Dr. Samuel Smithyman, a psychologist in Los Angeles who is Tito's personal analyst. "He defies the assumptions we have about autism." Tito was assessed with well-validated diagnostic tests and meets all the criteria for autism, said Dr. Sarah Spence, a pediatric neurologist at the University of California at Los Angeles. Like many autistic children, Tito appeared to develop normally. He learned to sit and walk like other babies. But by the time he was 18 months old, he was showing signs that he was not like other toddlers, especially in the way he distanced himself from social settings and did not talk. After his severe autism was diagnosed at age 3, Soma decided to educate him anyway, using methods she would make up as she went along. "I saw that Tito had very good memory with roads, position of objects in the room, and also he would make complex patterns with match sticks," said Soma, as she prefers to be called. "I just wanted to divert his interests toward communication and learning." For 10 years, she and Tito lived in small apartments in Mysore and Bangalore, where she taught him, day and night. Although Tito wanted to hide in a corner and watch a ceiling fan, Soma took him for daily walks amid the colors, smells and sounds of local markets. Tito's father, who lived and worked in a distant city, visited occasionally. Soma first taught Tito to recognize letters and sounds on an alphabet board, choosing English over more difficult Indian dialects. Then she tied a pencil in his hand and showed him how to make each letter, often refusing to let him eat until he could do so. Continued 1 | 2 | 3 | Next>> VITAL SIGNS: BEHAVIOR; Exploring Antisocial Aspects of Autism  (April 25, 2000)  $ New Theories Help Explain Mysteries of Autism  (December 28, 1999)  $ Find more results for Autism and Brain . Doing research? Search the archive for more than 500,000 articles: Today's NewsPast WeekPast 30 DaysPast 90 DaysPast YearSince 1996 Start the day informed with home delivery of The New York Times newspaper. Click Here for 50% off. Home | Back to Health | Search | Corrections | Help | Back to Top Copyright The New York Times Company | Permissions | Privacy Policy Ann Johansson for The New York Times Tito Mukhopadhyay, who is autistic, in a therapy game with Arnel Gregorio. The Mind Tree (Poem by Tito) (November 19, 2002) Aspen (Poem by Tito) (November 19, 2002) Mad Bruno (Poem by Tito) (November 19, 2002) The Broken Mirror (Prose by Tito) (November 19, 2002) Web Sites To learn more about Autism and the search for treatments, visit the Cure Autism Now Foundation Web site. To learn more about Tito and his writing, visit his page on the Cure Autism Now's site: Inside Tito Topics  Alerts Autism Brain Medicine and Health Writing and Writers Create Your Own | Manage Alerts Take a Tour Sign Up for Newsletters Ann Johansson for The New York Times Tito writing poetry at his home in Los Angeles with his mother, Soma. NYT Guide to Alternative Health: A Consumer Reference Price: $16. Learn More.

The Following is a success story of a kid and his devoted mother to help her
son live a life that he is eligible to live.

please pass on

Thanks to Newyork times..

Kennedy


A Boy, a Mother and a Rare Map of Autism's World

November 19, 2002
By SANDRA BLAKESLEE






LOS ANGELES - Tito Mukhopadhyay sits in a darkened
laboratory, pointing at flashes of light on a computer
screen. On his right is a neuroscientist, one of several
who are testing Tito's ability to see, hear and feel touch.
At his left, Tito's mother, Soma, watches quietly.

Tito, who is 14, often stops the testing with bursts of
activity. His body rocks rhythmically. He stands and spins.
He makes loud smacking noises. His arms fly in the air as
if yanked by a puppeteer. His fingers flutter.

Everyone waits.

Tito reaches for a yellow pad and writes
to explain his behavior: "I am calming myself. My senses
are so disconnected, I lose my body. So I flap. If I don't
do this, I feel scattered and anxious."

Tito has severe autism, a disorder that occurs when the
brain mysteriously fails to develop normally in infancy and
early childhood.

Born and raised in India, Tito speaks English with a huge
vocabulary. His articulation is poor, and he is often hard
to understand. But he writes eloquently and independently,
on pads or his laptop, about what it feels like to be
locked inside an autistic body and mind.

"Tito is a window into autism such as the world has never
seen," said Portia Iversen, a co-founder of Cure Autism
Now, a Los Angeles research foundation that brought Tito
and Soma to the United States in July 2001 and continues to
support them.

Autism experts are studying him, amazed to discover, for
what they say is the first time, a severely autistic person
who can explain his disorder. "Tito is for real," said Dr.
Michael Merzenich, a neuroscientist at the University of
California at San Francisco Medical School, who has run
extensive tests on Tito. "He unhesitatingly responds to
factual questions about books that he has read or about
experiences that he has had in detail and in high
fidelity."

"I've seen Tito sit in front of an audience of scientists
and take questions from the floor," said Dr. Matthew
Belmonte, a neuroscientist and an autism expert at
Cambridge University. "He taps out intelligent, witty
answers on a laptop with a voice synthesizer. No one is
touching him. He communicates on his own."

Nor is Tito a savant, an autistic person with a single
extraordinary talent like the mathematically gifted
character in the movie "Rain Man."

"Tito thinks and feels and has opinions like all the rest
of us," said Dr. Samuel Smithyman, a psychologist in Los
Angeles who is Tito's personal analyst. "He defies the
assumptions we have about autism."

Tito was assessed with well-validated diagnostic tests and
meets all the criteria for autism, said Dr. Sarah Spence, a
pediatric neurologist at the University of California at
Los Angeles.

Like many autistic children, Tito appeared to develop
normally. He learned to sit and walk like other babies. But
by the time he was 18 months old, he was showing signs that
he was not like other toddlers, especially in the way he
distanced himself from social settings and did not talk.

After his severe autism was diagnosed at age 3, Soma
decided to educate him anyway, using methods she would make
up as she went along.

"I saw that Tito had very good memory with roads, position
of objects in the room, and also he would make complex
patterns with match sticks," said Soma, as she prefers to
be called. "I just wanted to divert his interests toward
communication and learning."

For 10 years, she and Tito lived in small apartments in
Mysore and Bangalore, where she taught him, day and night.
Although Tito wanted to hide in a corner and watch a
ceiling fan, Soma took him for daily walks amid the colors,
smells and sounds of local markets.

Tito's father, who lived and worked in a distant city,
visited occasionally.

Soma first taught Tito to recognize letters and sounds on
an alphabet board, choosing English over more difficult
Indian dialects. Then she tied a pencil in his hand and
showed him how to make each letter, often refusing to let
him eat until he could do so.

Around then, a method called facilitated communication, in
which a parent or teacher holds the wrist of an autistic
person as he or she taps messages on computer keys, had
been widely discredited. Critics said teachers were
prompting autistic people to respond through a kind of
Ouija board effect.

"I was desperate to show people that Tito's poems came from
him and not me," Soma said. "I put myself in other people's
shoes and knew we needed genuine proof that he could write
independently."

The mother also read Tito stories and books - Aesop's
fables, Thomas Hardy novels and the complete works of
Dickens and Shakespeare - and demanded that he write his
own stories in return. Tito continues to write poetry and
essays every day. His first book, "Beyond the Silence," was
published two years ago in Britain by the National Autistic
Society.

"I need to write," he said recently, scrawling the words on
a yellow pad. "It has become part of me. I am waiting to
get famous."

Since traveling to the United States, Tito has visited six
laboratories for neurological testing. Because he cannot
hold still long enough for brain imaging, he cannot offer
researchers pictures of his mind in action. Instead, he
gives them clues about his mental states in poems and
essays that can then be explored in specially created
tests.

"When I was 4 or 5 years old," he wrote while living in
India, "I hardly realized that I had a body except when I
was hungry or when I realized that I was standing under the
shower and my body got wet. I needed constant movement,
which made me get the feeling of my body. The movement can
be of a rotating type or just flapping of my hands. Every
movement is a proof that I exist. I exist because I can
move."

Tito seems to lack a sense of his own body, the kind of
internal map, Dr. Merzenich said, that normal children
develop in their first few years. The maps involve brain
regions that specialize in the sense of touch and movement
and are widely connected to other areas, and they are
highly dynamic throughout life, changing in response to
everyday experience.

By imaging the brains of higher functioning autistic people
who can stay still in scanners, researchers in the
laboratory of Dr. Eric Courchesne at the University of
California at San Diego found that autistic people had
mixed-up brain maps.

Although a normal person, for example, has a well-defined
brain area that specializes in face recognition, some
autistic people have face-recognition areas in parts of the
brain like the frontal lobes, where no one had dreamed they
could be laid down. The same is true of maps that help plan
movements. This means body maps are formed in autistic
children, but they may be scrambled differently in each
person.

In imaging experiments starting at the University of
California at San Francisco, Dr. David McGonigle, a
radiologist, is exploring the hypothesis that some autistic
children may have scrambled body maps. Many cannot identify
parts of their bodies in a mirror. Even if they know
"nose," for example, when asked to point at the nose they
may put a finger to an ear. They also tend to be clumsy.
With eyes closed while standing, they wobble and stagger.

Ms. Iversen, whose 10-year-old son, Dov, is severely
autistic, notes that maps for face recognition form early.
"I smile, you smile, and maps are formed," she said. But if
you do not have a faithful mental map of your own face and
body, she said, you cannot read the expression on someone
else's face.

The inability to interact socially is a core problem in
autism. People who lack normal body maps may not be able to
build consistent mental models of the world, Dr. Belmonte
said. They may not be able to integrate sights, sounds,
smells, touches and tastes. This is what Tito is talking
about when he writes that he cannot perceive the world with
more than one sense at a time.

"I can concentrate either at what I am seeing or what I am
hearing or what I am smelling," he wrote, not long after he
began meeting neurologists. "It felt nothing unnatural to
me until I realized that others could simultaneously see
and hear and smell."

In Dr. Merzenich's lab, Tito has had extensive testing to
explore his unusual perception. Sitting in a darkened room,
he listens to beeps followed by flashes of light on a
computer screen.

Most people can sense the sound and the light, even when
they are separated by only a fraction of a second. But
unless the light follows the sound by a full three seconds
- an eternity for most brains - Tito never sees it. "I need
time to prepare my ears," he told Dr. Merzenich. "I need
time to prepare my eyes. Otherwise the world is chaos."

Tito says that people with autism, at least those who are
like him, choose one sensory channel. He chose hearing.
Most of the time, Tito attends to the sounds of language
and to oral information, which may help explain his gift
for poetry. Vision, Tito said, is painful. He scans the
world with his peripheral vision and rarely looks directly
at anything.

Other autistic people like Dr. Temple Grandin, a professor
at Colorado State who earned a doctorate in animal science,
specializes in vision. "When I talk about anything new, I
have to look at the picture in my mind, and then language
narrates it like a slide show." Dr. Grandin said when she
met Tito in Dr. Merzenich's lab, where they were tested
side by side in September.

For Tito, willing his body to do things is a particular
problem, Soma said. "If he's sitting on the couch and I ask
him to go to the kitchen, he cannot do it," she added. "But
if he hears me open a bag of cookies, he moves like a
gazelle on pure impulse."

That is another sign that Tito's brain is disconnected, Dr.
Merzenich said. Children gradually develop higher circuits
to control their impulses as the frontal lobes mature and
connect to circuits that developed earlier. Each stage
rests on earlier circuitry; if that is abnormal,
later-to-develop regions may never be organized correctly.

Still, Tito's behavior and writings dispel a popular
notion that autistic children do not feel empathy, Ms.
Iversen said. Tito has feelings and notices emotions, she
said, but he can be stoic about his disorder. When a mother
at a large autism meeting asked Tito for his advice to
parents, Tito replied simply, "Believe in your children."

Most experts say they believe that abnormalities in several
genes contribute to developing autism, along with
environmental factors that have yet to be fully identified.
Many parents say the first symptoms, like the lack of eye
contact, as in Tito's case, do not appear for about 18
months.

This accident of timing has led some to associate vaccines
given at that age with the onset of autism. But it is
equally plausible, many experts say, that the symptoms
appear at that time because that is when the brain
naturally reaches new levels of complexity. If primary
sensory regions like the auditory cortex have prenatal
defects, entire pathways of subsequent brain organization
would not form properly.

Researchers have measured swarms of electrical discharges
in the primary hearing regions of autistic children while
they sleep. Such epilepsy-like activity may affect the way
the brain organizes its circuitry in childhood.

Others note that the brains of autistic children are larger
than average and that the brain's basic building blocks,
called cortical columns, contain many more cells than
normal and make excess connections to other cells.

Such hyperconnectivity may cause autistic children to
become overwhelmed by details because their minds are never
free to integrate the whole picture. Moreover, their brains
are wired in such a way that they are prone to associate
things that do not normally go together.

Tito says that at 4, he was looking at a cloud when he
heard someone talking about bananas. It took him years to
realize that bananas and clouds were different.

As researchers continue to study Tito, Soma works with a
small number of children in Los Angeles to see whether her
teaching methods can help others.

Unlike many educators who try to slow things for autistic
children, Soma demands rapid responses, which she says
prevent the child's brain from being distracted.

It is too soon to tell whether she will succeed. But
parents like Ms. Iversen have been impressed. When her son
first used the spelling board, Dov broke his muteness,
asking for a navy blue blazer and algebra lessons. When she
asked him what he had been doing all those years when he
couldn't communicate, he pointed out letters to spell
"listening."

http://www.nytimes.com/2002/11/19/health/19TITO.html?ex=1043798399&ei=1&en=4
ab40cd5fd39d844



Copyright 2002 The New York Times Company

Study Confirms Marked Rise in Autism
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/hsn/20030102/hl_hsn/study_confirms_marked_rise_in_autism

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Health - HealthScoutNews Study Confirms Marked Rise in Autism 50 minutes ago Add Health - HealthScoutNews to My Yahoo! By Ed Edelson HealthScoutNews Reporter THURSDAY, Jan. 2 (HealthScoutNews) -- A new federal study confirms there has been a marked increase in autism and related conditions in American children. And epidemiologists are pressing ahead with studies designed to identify the cause. The new research, by epidemiologists at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (news - web sites), found an incidence of 3.4 cases per 1,000 among children aged 3 to 10 in the Atlanta area. "This overall rate is 10 times higher than rates from three other U.S. studies that used similar, specific criteria to identify children with autism and pervasive developmental disorders in the 1980s and early 1990s," the report says. Pervasive developmental disorders are milder versions of autism, in which children have difficulty communicating and interacting socially. Dr. Marshalyn Yeargin-Allsopp, the CDC epidemiologist who is lead author of the new report, says the study, and others under way, are being done "because clinical colleagues began calling us to say they were seeing a lot of children with autism and developmental disorders." The incidence found in the Atlanta study is similar to one reported in a recent New Jersey study and to those of several European studies, the report says. And California investigators released a report in October showing a sharp increase in rates of autism and related disorders in that state. Autism has become a high-profile condition in recent years. Pressured by parents and advocacy groups, Congress provided funds to conduct studies about the condition in 2001 and 2002. A number of studies designed to find a cause are going on, Yeargin-Allsopp says. They are "case-control" studies, in which a number of factors that might contribute to the condition are compared in children with and without autism. The results of one of those studies, also being done in Atlanta, could be published as early as this year, Yeargin-Allsopp adds. Yeargin-Allsopp's new research, which appears in this week's issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (news - web sites), lists several factors that might contribute to the increased incidence of autism and related disorders. They include greater pubic awareness of autism, changes in diagnostic criteria that have expanded the number of children listed as having a problem, and increased media coverage of affected children. Yeargin-Allsopp's study does not mention one controversial hypothesis that has gained widespread publicity -- that the increase in cases is caused by the mercury-based preservative used in the vaccine for measles, mumps and rubella. "This study was not designed to look at the causes of autism," Yeargin-Allsopp says. "There will be eight areas of the country where we look at prevalence and five areas where we examine the causes of autism." A study released in October by researchers at the University of California, Davis reported that cases of autism in that state had tripled between 1987 and 1998. The authors of that study said the increase could not be explained by genetics, birth injuries, or changes in diagnostic criteria. It also found no evidence linking the vaccine to the condition. The Atlanta study found that 40 percent of the children with autism and related problems were not diagnosed until they began school. Early diagnosis is important, particularly for pervasive developmental disorder, Yeargin-Allsopp says, because intensive therapy can enable those children to lead normal or near-normal lives. Vanessa Collier, a spokeswoman for the Autism Society of America, says, "There is an alarming geographic growth in the incidence of autism in the United States and around the world. At these rates of growth, the cost of autism to the U. S. economy will be more than $300 billion through the next decade, constituting a national health crisis." The cause of autism is still unknown "despite more than 50 years of study," Collier adds. There is "a split in the middle" among parents on the vaccine hypothesis, she says, noting, "Studies have not supported a link, and more research is needed." What To Do You can learn more about autism from the National Institute of Mental Health, and about pervasive developmental disorders from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.  Email Story   Post/Read Msgs   Print Story Ratings: Would you recommend this story? Not at all 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 Highly Next Story: Cocaine Damages the Brain's Pleasure Cells (HealthSCOUT) More Health Stories · W. 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Copyright © 2002 HealthScoutNews. All rights reserved. The information contained above is intended for general reference purposes only. It is not a substitute for professional medical advice or a medical exam. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health professional before starting any new treatment. Medical information changes rapidly and while Yahoo and its content providers make efforts to update the content on the site, some information may be out of date. No health information on Yahoo, including information about herbal therapies and other dietary supplements, is regulated or evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration and therefore the information should not be used to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease without the supervision of a medical doctor. Copyright © 2003 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved. Questions or Comments Privacy Policy -Terms of Service