Article in Daily Mirror today

[007paul007]

I don't know if anyone has read the Daily Mirror today, 9th September, titled THAT'S SO UNFAIR.

TEENAGERS SUFFER 'TEMPORARY AUTISM' AS THEY REACH PUBERTY

Children turn into horrid Kevin the teenager because puberty makes them autistic for a while, experts said yesterday.

Previously sweet natured 12 and 13 year olds become like Harry Enfield's stroppy adolescent because their brains get rewired as they enter adulthood.

And in the scramble they los the ability to understand the feelings of others - especially their parents.

Researchers found the children were particulary poor at recognising facial expressions of anger or sadness.

Expert Professor David Skuse said " I believe that this might explain the Kevin phenomenon and the social in-eptitude of adolescents."

They were probing the theory that all men are partially autistic, dulling their emotions so they can focus on complex tasks.

They found no evidence of this but discovered that both boys and girls went through a dramatic change at puberty which caused their ability to read emotions to dip sharply.

Prof Skuse told the BA Festival of Science at Trinity College, Dublin: " You can imagine what it's like for parents trying to manage unruly adolescents. One wonders if they're understanding anything you're saying. It would appear this is a function of the development of their brains."

" The good news is that they recover by the age of 16 or 17."

 

So what do you think about that any ideas or thoughts ?

[KarenM]

Yes i saw this in the Metro its really interesting. My daughters AS seems to have got much worse with puberty, so hopefully it will ease off a lot as she gets older. She is very like Kevin the teenager.

[Zemanski]

I've come across this before several years ago - not expressed in quite the same way but there has been research done that indicates that during puberty the hormones cause changes in the brain that set back social communication skills and the reading of emotion and expression and also decrease the child's ability to assess risk.

 

interesting

 

but I do wish they wouldn't sensationalise it by sticking inappropriate labels all over the place - I can just hear that parent in the playground - 'Well, all teenagers are a little bit autistic, aren't they?'

 

 

Zemanski

[Tez]

I'm sorry but whilst I accept that all teenagers go through difficult phases there is a vast difference between the problems faced by children on the autistic spectrum and the difficulties that they are describing here.

 

I also accept that many autistic teenagers find life particularly difficult and that these problems may lessen for some once they leave school. But I think research like this will be misused by LEAs to justify not assessing autistic teenagers or giving them statements.

 

Probably just feeling a bit paranoid at the moment and this is just my opinion so please don't all jump onme.

[lynyona]

i think i agree with you on that one tez. Before kieran was dx i was expressing my concerns about him to his head teacher and she said its nothing he s just a teenager.Prime example i think and considering he went to a special school as well which has a special autistic unit but that wasnt any good to kieran as he was not dx untill after he left school just before his 18th birthday.My mum always has this observation, im sure my uncle as ocd although never assessed for it and she says im sure theres ocd in all of us. A valid point maybe.lynn

[Brook]

I haven't read it, but I dont much like the sound of using 'autism' as basically a description for stroppy teenagers. This gives the general public reading this the idea that, that is how to recognise autism.

 

In my own opinion it actually trivialises the struggles our kids have to face well before teenage years and has actually made me feel quite cross

 

Brook

[Zemanski]

Com is just 13 and all I seem to hear just now is that puberty must be affecting him - er, no, he's always done that, it's called autism!!!!

 

I agree, linking an ordinary stage in a child's development to autism like this is dangerous - yes, hormonal changes at puberty may affect the development of the brain causing difficulties in some of the same areas as those associated with autism but these NT kids are going through a temporary setback at a relatively low level alongside all their peers while our children have a lifelong disability which is much more severe, singles them out for the whole of their lives and is not going to go away.

 

Z

[Flora]

Tez I totally agree with you (if you're paranoid then so am I!!!)

 

My reaction to this article was 'oh here we go again, something else to trivialise the very real problems our children (and us, the parents) have to deal with for ever and a day). And like you, it made me think that this will give LEAs yet another reason to down play problems and avoid assessing our children; I can just see it now.

 

I can feel another thread coming on (or knowing me it's probably been done before!). How many of us, with AS or high function ASD children are constantly being told by teachers, family, etc etc that there is nothing really wrong with our child? That their problems are no worse (or not as bad as) some of the problems that other children encounter etc etc. I swear, if I have to listen to something like this one more time, I really do pity the person who says it! It's tantamount to saying it comes down to the personality of the parent, that we ARE paranoid and worrying over nothing. (I've had that said before when I first suggested there was something up with my son when he was 2).

 

On the one hand the whole business wears me out and makes me want to curl up in a corner, on the other hand though it fires me up and inspires me to act and speak up.

 

I have a teenage NT daughter; and yes, she is showing traits of ASD, but that's only because I recognise them as such and know for a fact that it IS NOT ASD but the normal reaction to hormones and growing up. Doesn't make me think for one minute that she is autistic. She also has abilities and strengths that are getting more pronounced as she matures, which NO ASD child will ever develop without being classified as 'cured' .

 

All these so called professionals are doing is pontificating. Pontificating the fact that if we look long and hard enough we can find traits of autism in almost everyone. However, if they just carried on looking and continued their pontifications further they would also observe that these 'temporary autistics' are also very functional and able to socialise with their temporarily autistic peers. Something our ASD children will also never do.

 

Waffle waffle, Rant, Rant,

 

Lauren I

[TuX]

I agree with you Tez.

I read the article this morning and thought it was ridiculous but it's typical tabloid stuff,coming from the same paper that reviewed legally sold 15/18 rated computer games -wrongly; for children in their bid to class gamers as murderers.

 

 

I think it's a piece of nasty sensationalist journalism,this article is mocking the difficulties of genuine autistics,if they believe NT teenagers are temperarily autistic (to paraphrase the mirror)then why don't they spend a day with someone who is genuinely autistic so they can see what autism actually is.

This kind of trash is akin to saying all people who have headaches have brain tumors.

 

I also do not like the fact they are comparing 'Kevin the teenager' to autism,a steriotype that doesn't believe in boundaries/rules,is always drunk,immature,socialises in big groups and so on.

[KarenM]

Tha article actually cheared me up and gave me reason to belive my daughters behaviour might improve.

[KarenM]

Oh by the way i don't mean to offend anyone by saying that but being called a f***ING B*** EVERY DAY SUCKS.

[baddad]

You know, one thing that really annoys me is that daft soundbites like this always emphasise the (sterotypical/supposed) 'negatives' of autism...

If you look at our society, you see all sorts of negative trends: Lack of compassion/empathy, lack of respect for the basic wants and needs of others, rigid patterns of 'acceptable' behaviour, selfishness...

If you look at the stereotypes of autism, we are living in an AUTISTIC SOCIETY!!

The funny thing is, my autistic son doesn't fit in to that society, 'cos while certain aspects of his behaviour are certainly self-motivated, and he does have difficulties seeing other people's POV sometimes he doesn't make JUDGEMENTS based on those motivations and he certainly doesn't intentionally punish or disenfranchise those who live their lives differently to him. My son accepts people for who they are, not what they are, and in that context he is far less rigid, selfish, unsympathetic, inconsiderate than the general population, despite 'their' insistance that these are traits inherent to his condition rather than their own!

Would i rather spend my time with a room full of obviously sulky, but blatantly straightforward Kevin's, or a bunch of phoney, back-stabbing, two-faced, judgmental snobs who'd sell their own grandmother's for a set of cattle bars on the front of their Mitsubishi Shoguns? Answers on a postcard, please...

L&P

BD

[Kathryn]

Oh great. This is just what my LEA is trying to tell me - that my daughter has now recovered from her autism which was just temporary.

 

There is NO comparison between the average teenager and the child I have been living with for the past twelve months.

 

Haven't read the article but I'd formulate a response if I didn't have so much else to do. Anyone else fancy dropping a line to the NAS?

 

K

[Zemanski]

And it gets better - BBC News channel has picked up the story with a jokey Kevin clip.

I only caught the last half of the report, but thankfully autism wasn't mentioned.

[Zemanski]

Baddad, check this link for countries with AS just to get your blood really on the boil

 

http://www.opinion.telegraph.co.uk/opinion...5/25/do2502.xml

 

seem to remember we didn't like this one much either!

 

Zemanski

 

PS the last post was by Nemo hijacking my controls - I think you need to judge him right now

[KarenM]

Maybe i should of put my dds bad behavior rather than as has got a lot worse with pubety. I in no way think her as is caused by pubety. My dd has behavioural problems that were not there before puberty so i hope they are going to end when it is finished. I do think she is more autistic now and it would be nice to thimk this would soften off. She hit me and told me to f**k off before because i said she was acting over the top. I realise this was wrong thing to say to an as child but i can't always rember to speak clearly.

[KarenM]

Sorry about my rubbish spelling.

[oracle]

One of my very best friends, male AS, has spent the afternoon writing to the press and also ringing the NAS asking them to issue a statement about this article in todays papers.

 

He and I both feel that this is once again down grading the impact of the diasbility on the families who live with austim. If your stero-typical male becomes autistic once they hit puberty, what do they think our kids turn into.

 

I also have to agree with Baddad. I have felt for some years now that we are living in an ASD society, where rules made by the system were made never to be broken, agenda's have been set in stone, with rigid timetables, targets and expectations, but with no place for anyone with an ASD. It is seriously silly

 

Carole

Edited September 9, 2005 by carole

[baddad]

Baddad, check this link for countries with AS just to get your blood really on the boil

 

http://www.opinion.telegraph.co.uk/opinion...5/25/do2502.xml

 

seem to remember we didn't like this one much either!

 

Zemanski

 

PS the last post was by Nemo hijacking my controls - I think you need to judge him right now

Ohhhh, there's so much there I'm not even gonna start... Suffice to say there's a funny bubbling sound coming from my arteries, and steam comin' out of my ears...

Nemo - Stop It!

see, Z - One word from me and he does as he likes! Guess you've got used to it though, haven't you?

[Kathryn]

Karen,

 

I do know what you're saying. My daughter's behaviour changed dramatically over the last two years and autistic traits emerged which had not been there before, or had been very well hidden. I think puberty is definitely one of the factors, along with school stress.

 

If NT teenagers suffer an identity crisis it this time it must be far worse for our teenagers who have to fathom the complex rules of youth culture and behaviour just at the time when school is making maximum demands on them in the classroom.

 

I'm sorry you are having such a tough time with your daughter. <'> My daughter (16) is now beginning to accept who she is, she is calmer and able to consider other people's feelings more than she used to. I knew things had changed for the better when I interrupted her on the computer and she told me politely to "please go out of the room now" rather than shrieking at me as she would have done a year ago. So take heart, adverse behaviour can improve with time.

[KarenM]

Thanks kathryn, i hope so .

[007paul007]

A bit of an update here regarding this article , and i don't know if anyone else heard it but I heard an interview on FIVE LIVe with some psycologist or something like that and the interviewer asked her if she thought that the parents of child with Autism would be insulted in any way by this finding ? " Oh No , I think it is terribly exciting "

So I don't know what you think of that , but I can guess

[Lucas]

I read the same article in the Daily Mail and David Skuse is both a behaviourist and an 'Autism expert', both of which I think contradict each other.

 

You can expect to hear a lot more offensive comparisons with Autistics and all sorts of things over the next few years as behavioural psychology in the field of Autism is promoted in the UK from American and Canada. Everytime you read something like this, try doing some digging to see if the person making the remarks is a behaviourist.

 

Both bioethicists and behaviourist are callous, ignorant and insensitive when dealing with Autism. This isn't a generalisation either; it's ###### true!

 

The problem with this particular study is the same problem which occurs in the facial recognition studies in Autism: they don't use real faces, they use pictures of faces. I'll explain more another time about what is wrong with this.

[streamdreams]

I am sorry but this belongs in the same barrel as the idea the autism is extreme maleness

 

There are too many Dr?s out there trying to achieve notoriety