Are people with autism faking it?

Re: Are people with autism are faking it?

So which is it? You're not overly knowledgeable in the subject area, or you have as much knowledge as anyone else in the arena?

If it's the latter, where did you study?

 

Re: Are people with autism are faking it?

Savage said that "99 percent" of autism cases are some brat who hasn't been told to cut the act out. That means in his mind -- and yours, you're saying -- 1 percent of cases are legit. I think we can all agree that makes him a dope.

Is it overly diagnosed? Yes, because it's an imperfect process, much like many, many disorders. Is the actual disorder a bigger issue than the misdiagnosis in some cases? Umm, yeah.

 

Re: Are people with autism are faking it?

You are correct. OCD manifests itself as very specific behaviors and is much, much easier to diagnose.

 

Re: Are people with autism are faking it?

My 5-year-old son is a high-functioning autistic. He can communicate -- he's below other kids his age, but is capable of eventually catching up -- he has high anxiety about his routine and transitioning. He does "stimming" constantly.

If something comes up that he isn't expecting or breaks the routine, he goes off -- similar to, but not exactly like, Dustin Hoffman's Rain Man character. And it sometimes takes him quite a while to get him back on track. It can be very, very draining, especially when you add a 2-year-old brother to the mix.

The last divorce rate that I saw for parents with at least one autistic child was above 70 percent, but the reason is, in many cases, not bad parenting. After being there for the child all day -- and my wife has quit her job to do this -- there's nothing left to give to the spouse. That's a battle that Mrs. Joe and I fight every day.

We appreciate the decorum lecture. We really do.

While we're on the subject of making a proper argument and all, do you have any empirical evidence to back this statement up? Thanks. I'll wait.

 

Re: Are people with autism are faking it?

SigR can kiss my f-ing butt. (And I generally HATE when people reply on SportsJournalists.com with that sort of tone.) If his/her ignorant post was meant to get a rise out of somebody, it worked. If it was meant to show that he/she doesn't know anything about the subject, it worked. I don't know if I've ever been more pissed off about a post on this board.

As you may have guessed, I have a son with autism. And IJAG is absolutely correct that it varies in degree. My son has Asperger's Syndrome (which is high-functioning autistic).

Yeah, SigR, it's a product of his environment that he can tell you every Stanley Cup winner year-by-year and only gets tripped up when he gets to the 1930s. Yeah, it's his environment that led to his fascination with maps and geography that led him to win his school's geography bee. Yeah, it must have been my piss-poor parenting that led to him to talk late. Yeah, we brought him up to have difficulty communicating with others and to have a tough time making friends. Yeah, his environment is the reason that he is sensitive to certain fabrics.

But like SigR says, I must be off the hook now. That's his "common-sense argument."

Luckily with services he was able to get in elementary school, he's doing well and has made honor roll in high school. I guess if I had been a better parent, I would have just yelled at him and kept him from getting services in school, huh?

There are other kids with autism who never do all that well despite treatment and therapy. I'm sure that's the fault of their parents.

Savage said:

Obviously Savage didn't listen to his father.

 

Re: Are people with autism are faking it?

Hang in there Joe. I'm sure it's draining. Being aware of the potential problems for you and Mrs. Joe is half the battle. Just keep remembering that you're a husband and a father, never just one.

 

Re: Are people with autism are faking it?

My girlfriend's (much) younger brother was recently diagnosed with asperger's syndrome. He's a normal kid who has really shitty parents who just got divorced over the past year. The father moved across the country and the mother remarried on the turn of a dime. The mother is a piece of work, as was the father, and through all that when I met him, he was just a nomal kid. I guess he's about 10 now, and the mother is one of the types who likes to blame everything on an illness or do whatever she can to milk the system. Whatever it takes so that a) she doesn't have to work and that b) she doesn't shoulder any blame. She's had him on ritalin for years, and autism was the next step in that viciuos circle of picking the flavor that might fit and running with it. Forget that she pays him no attention, has drug him around the state like luggage for the past two years, in and out of school--and then wonder why he acts up or has trouble fitting in at school. It really makes me angry that she will never be accountable for the poor parenting, though, I suppose there's really no court or jury to hear that case. So yes, I had anecdotal evidence of misdiagnosis and poor parenting.

for the record, I'm a medium-strong disbeliever in most psycho-social disorders--ocd, social anxiety, bipolar, etc. Autism fits in that group, though I will fully acknowledge that there are those who, through no fault of their own or their parents, suffer from autism. Common sense suggests to me, though, that psychiatry is doing a vast disservice to the many, many who should not wear any label. We're getting to the point that if we don't act in one narrowly prescribed manner, we have some sort of disorder. Doesn't anyone else see something wrong with that?

 

Re: Are people with autism are faking it?

Sig, when you find yourself in a hole, quit digging.

 

Re: Are people with autism are faking it?

Many feel that the explosion of vaccines could be a cause in the autism spike.

Look at the CDC vaccination schedule from 20 years ago, and one today. It's striking.

That's a lot of shots for the immune system to get over. And there's still mercury in that stuff.

 

Re: Are people with autism are faking it?

You are looking at a pebble of sand and thinking it's the whole beach.