Toni Braxton’s son was not cured of autism and it’s irresponsible for her to say so

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That's quite an interesting theory. As part of my language development modules on my degree we were taught that there are phases of language children go through. (An example from slightly older children is that children will first copy words with correct verb ends but when they develop the ability to use rules for verb ending, they drop previously learnt irregular endings and over extend regular endings.

It was suggested to us that autistic children may develop typically (or closer to typically) until a certain phase but then follow a different developmental path from then onwards. so, the children would be trimming old pathways (and thus losing words) without creating the new pathways that neurotypical children do.

It would definetly be interesting to research into whether it might be either of those. Or perhaps both in different types of autism.

I think over connectivity could make a lot of sense. I lose words temporarily when I get overwhelmed even though I definetly can use those pathways at other times. I also quite often have the wrong word come out.

The bulk of it is cultural.

I have African American friends who believe mental illness is a punishment from God, that can either be bootstrapped or prayed away. Autism isn't much different. What did you do to cause it? It you caused it, that means you can fix it by increasing your faith and/or submitting your will to God for a total and complete healing.

Braxton makes me stabby. She and her music hasn't been relevant for years. If you can't get fame from your own doing, using your kid's supposed cure works just as well. She's appealing to a decent chunk of the African American community that totally distrusts the medical and educational professions. So a cure is a win win. Your child is now "normal", and you don't have to deal with professionals getting their meat hooks into your business anymore.

The thing about autism, is you do get jumps in development. Just when you are doing well through K-2 grade, it crashes because the rest of the kids make a huge social developmental jump in 3rd grade. Then your ASD kids catches up and it all goes to hell around age 12. Another big social developmental jump for kids. Your kid makes it through high school only to have it go to s**t when he/she tries to make it through college OR makes it through college and faces the world.

My husband passes for NT. But if you get to know him longer than a casual visit, all those ASD cracks appear. Like another poster said, brain smarts and rules from an educational setting only get you so far. It's all those stupid soft skills that cause the problems.

Braxton should have wrote, "My son passes as NT! Huzzah!", because that is probably all that has happened. He got enough therapies to deal with the world. Either Braxton is in denial, ignorant or using the story for her own PR about her child's cure.

I thought about race, too, when I read this. But I don't know what to say on the matter. The truth is that the world of "high functioning" Autistics is very white, as is also true with mild learning disabilities and your more "walking wounded" people with mental illness (meaning people who have depression or similar, but continue to go to work and do most of their daily activities.)

There is more stigma around mental illness and cognitive problems in the Black community. I won't go into why. But I think its an important factor in this case. Its too bad Braxton chose not to be a role model for eliminating this stigma, but that would be different for her than it would for someone who's white. The factors her life are different than mine.

Celebrities. You give 'em a platform to speak, and now they know more than all of us. I'm sure someone has done research on THAT syndrome.

Just wait until he has a meltdown. He will have one. Not because I know or have diagnosed him, but with the pressure of being a celebrity's kid and getting older, well, let's just say that the chances are good.

My PDD-NOS deaf granddaughter used to have meltdowns daily, and would self-injure until her hands were bleeding. She now takes two medications that help. Is she cured? You might think so, because you're not around when she has her two meltdowns a year now. Two a year are mostly manageable.

I would love to be able to brag about her being cured, since I took her to the doctor who prescribed her medications. Reality dictates otherwise, but hey, I'm already a hero. I helped her. I raised her with my wife. I don't need to pad my achievements with dubious claims.

And then there's me. At age 56, all that's left for me is behavior modification brought about by failure, experience, and learning. The successes are huge, but then so are the failures. I have been working in the same type of employment for 37 years continuously. I have some friends. I've finally got my meltdowns under control. Does that mean I've been cured of anything at all? I have horrendous arguments with my wife. I lose my temper when driving sometimes. I miss obvious problems when I'm too focused on another thing.

The only thing I've been cured of is saying that autism can be cured.

Hate to nitpick but she didn't say he was cured.

She said "has no signs of autism" and that's entirely possible.

Thanks for proving my point.

Right.

Trans people for example, on the wrong hormones, mentally debilitated to the point of receiving an autism diagnosis, however, later, after cross-hormone therapy, and support, they can "cure" much of their autism. Possibly, no longer qualifying for an ASD diagnosis.

She does not have to say the exact words "He was cured" to mean she thinks has was cured. She is presumably NT and presimably does not use exacting language. She came as close to saying those exact words without actually saying them. If a person is on the spectrum he or she is autistic. If the person is not on the spectrum anymore he or she is not autistic anymore. If he or she is not autistic because of some action such as therapy then that action "cured" that person. That is what she is claiming happened. What other interpretation of her words can there reasonably be?

I Disagree. Words are of utmost importance.

Its open to interpretation but I tend to think of "cure" as this illusionary concept of change imbibed by some sort if elixer or procedure. Highly unfeasible. I don't know of Ms Braxtons interpretation but I would suspect that whatever it is it is not the same as the alleged change she is talking about in her son. Her words are important. She claims he is no longer on the spectrum, she claims he no longer shows signs of autism.

I would imagine most people here myself included know he is and always will be autistic and Ms Braxton might even think that too for all we know but she wasnt speaking to that she was speaking of what I am almost certain are diagnostic criteria for autism. Different things. The distinction is subtle but important.
In fact she didnt even go so far as to claim he no longer had autism.

Words matter. They are very important as they convey meaning and intent.

It does irk me when people jump to conclusions and blurt our headlines like this that are misleading.

What a bogus argument. That's like a woman telling the police "help! He forced me to have sex with him against my will" and them not doing anything because "Words are important! She never used the word rape so she didn't say she was raped! "

The word cure is not illusionary. It's a clearly defined word that you should look up in the dictionary if you're confused by its meaning.

In case you're too lazy, I'll paste the first few lines of the definition for you:
1. relieve (a person or animal) of the symptoms of a disease or condition.
* "eliminate (a disease, condition, or injury) with medical treatment."
* solve (a problem).
2. preserve (meat, fish, tobacco, or an animal skin) by various methods such as salting, drying, or smoking.
* harden (rubber, plastic, concrete, etc.) after manufacture by a chemical process such as vulcanization.
* undergo curing by a chemical process.

In the context of autism the word cure becomes unclear because there are different opinions on what the word autism defines and therefore there isn't agreement on what there is to "solve or eliminate".

But if I am to try and understand, then are you saying the actual statements she made which are as follows:

"He [has] no signs of autism.”
and
He "is off the spectrum.”

Must be false?

Actually, I think it is an interesting argument.

I do not know Toni Braxton, nor her son, and I tend not to follow "celebrity" stories, but, if one looked back at my previous post, I can imagine myself saying my daughter "shows no signs of autism" (if I was talking about time periods because she can go days in which this statement is entirely true. And weeks in which it is largely true), but I do not think she is cured. I am not autistic, so I guess I can't use precise speech , but it would be a conscious choice of words for me. And I do believe my daughter has at least one foot "off the spectrum" in a diagnostic sense, so I might also say that. But I do not think she is cured.

NT people can use language thoughtfully and with intent. It is errant to assume that because someone is *presumably* NT that they are haphazard and imprecise with their choice of words. Nostromos' argument is worth consideration. She may have deliberately chosen the words she chose because they are the best way she can think of to explain her reality (and her son's).

I must also point out, again, that I do NOT think my daughter has been cured, and I am 100% certain that at the time of diagnosis, she was 100% autistic. But I also do not think she would be able to be properly diagnosed at this point based on her presentation today. You are making things much more black and white than they actually are. I also think it is presumptuous for anyone on this board to think they know her son better than she does just because they share a neurology with him. I do not walk around telling parents of kids with ADHD that I know their kids better than they do. I may understand certain realities of their experience better than they do, because I know firsthand what it is like to have an uncooperative brain and executive dysfunction, but I do not know their kid better than they do. If she says her kid no longer demonstrates signs of autism, without *evidence* to the contrary, we must accept the possibility that her statement is accurate. Our speculations are not evidence.

It is Ms. Braxton who made the black and white statement about her sons condition. What I meant by NT's not using exacting language is not that NT's do not think before they speak. What
I meant is spelled out clearly by Alex's example. The vast majority people would interpret somebody made me have sex against my will as somebody raped me. Autistics would have have greater tendency to not interprete rape because the word rape was not specifically used or not understand that a person saying somebody made me have sex agsinst me against my will is another way of that person saying they were raped.

A little backgound about her claim may be needed.
TONI BRAXTON SAYS SON IS NO LONGER AUTISTIC

if you believe "off the spectrum bieng autistic" because of intervention means anything else but cured we have absolutely no common ground in which to continue this discussion. I have a hard time believing even the most autistics would not interpret that as a claim of cured.

Do you realise that the phrase "forcing someone else to have sex against their will" encompasses any type of uninvited sexual act of which there are quite a number? Do you then understand that rape defines a specific type of sexual activity, and if you equated any type sexual assault specifically to the act of rape you could be wrong. So in contrast to what you are suggesting, what Alex has actually done is illustrated my point that you need to be careful with words and use the correct ones!

And if you are talking about using "exacting language" that doesn't stand scrutiny either because Alex is the one who has started off with what he thinks she meant rather than what she literally actually said.


The quote in caps was NOT what she said either, it was the websites interpretation of what she said similar to what Alex has done.
She did not say "he is no longer autistic" at ANY point.

She said "he has no signs of autism". That does NOT mean the same thing as "he is no longer autistic", unless in your opinion a person who has autism must show signs?
She said he is "off the spectrum", the interpretation of that depends on your understanding of what being on the spectrum means. I'll discuss that below.


Let me point to the handiest definition of Autism Spectrum, the very first hit on google:

"Autism spectrum or autistic spectrum describes a range of conditions classified as neurodevelopmental disorders in the fifth and most recent revision of the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) published in 2013".

So the first definition of Autism Spectrum is one that refers to diagnosis. In my opinion a person can be autistic (i.e. their neurology) and either not have an autism diagnosis (i.e. how their neurology is classified by a third party) or similarly would not receive a diagnosis if examined. Because there is a threshold for such things, right?

I think she did choose her words carefully. It sounds like she has been around so called professionals long enough to know a fair amount about Autism, and to know these things.

I think she was using the term in that diagnostic context as in he would no longer receive an autism diagnosis.
But - I cannot be sure, it's just what I suspect.
Equally possible is that she did mean to say he is cured in her opinion, but we can also only suspect that because that is not what she actually said.

Alex needs to either quote the lady and say what she actually said and criticise her on that, or if he is going to interpret and use different words then at least say "this is what I think" she said.

I think he needs to alter the title because as is indisputable and I can only reiterate - because its staring you in the face - she never said her son was cured.

I showed that article at a ASD support group, and everyone said their interpretation of it was Braxton's kid is NT now.

Toni can get her next 15 minutes of extended fame by back pedaling on her statement, "Well, I never said he was cured." and play the wronged warrior mommy card.

*insert near fatal eye roll here*

ASPOM, I'm with you on this one.