SteveK wrote:
That's ridiculous! Just look at little kids at play. So you think they are TAUGHT to do that? I still remember what it was like. NOPE! And WHO says the silicon valley is the biggest area? Still, such a finding DEFEATS your arguement! The fact is that it is NO easier to get tied into technology and the internet in silicone valley than it is in Fort Wayne Indiana, or little rock arkansas!
HOW could they teach social interaction in Japan? HOW! I THINK you mean social graces! They teach that in the US ALSO! NOT to everyone as a normal course, but they did with ME! NOPE, that is DIFFERENT! and the US style is similar to europe but NOT japan! So WHAT, you think people in the US should learn pickup lines, and be aggressive? GUESS WHAT!! !! It's been TRIED! Women HATE IT, and if a man approaches a new woman, it is almost like Email. There are some laws that could be broken, and he could get in trouble. SORRY, it won't work!
BTW with regard to it being so low in Japan? YEAH, Caucasionism is ALSO! What's your
point?
BTW there ARE some classes here trying to teach social skills, YEAH RIGHT! Almost
all the teachers seem to be bitter divorced women, that don't understand men AT ALL!
I have taken about 5 such "courses", and was APPALLED at how bad they were.
BTW HOW do you cause such big changes BEFORE 3? Are you saying that EDUCATION is changing the amygdalas, corpus callosum, verbal skills, etc....? RIDICULOUS! And WHY does it affect boys more than girls?
Steve
I was homeschooled for the first twelve years of my life because of my need for intense social training. Professionals visited every week and I made very good progress. When I was young my fiends all played with dolls (hunks of plastic that vaguely resembled humans as I recall). I had no clue how to play with these dolls but I thought some were nice to look at whe they were all dressed up. I lacked in social play. But I did play in my own way. I played with ideas. I would sit for hours playing in my head. No one taught me how to play with my worlds and theories and how to watch movies and listen to records in my head, no, but I did have to be taught social play.
Finally, when I was 15 I was able to join the mainstream and I was reassessed as having AS. It is a fact that those who receive intense social training earlier in life (which can be done well before the age three btw and is quite common when autism is suspected) do better as adults. Even Temple Gradin has been reassessed to have AS because of her improvement. While social graces are a part of social interaction, sometimes just talking, finding the motivation to interact must also be trained. Social interaction, like asking for help or noticing when when one is hurt or requires medical attention or otherwise needs someone else to assist them, is important too. Knowing when a response to a question is expected, knowing how to look someone in the eye, knowing when to speak and when to listen, knowing when to ask questions and when to sit still. Are these what you mean by social graces? But these are still actively taught in Japan where here they are simply expected to be learned without having to be taught directly. As for pick up lines and aggressiveness... well, you lost me there.
Silicon Valley is in fact one of the biggest areas for the increased incidence of autism. Other areas include Austin Texas and Boston’s Route 128 technology ring. One thing they have in common: huge populations of engineers. AS tends to breed engineers because, generally speaking, people with AS tend to enjoy that type of work. It also breeds more severely impared autistics, as is increasingly observed when two people with AS have children. Japan also has its own engineers and while Autism and AS may not be observed there that does not necessarily mean that it doesn't exist, only that it is unreported. Statistically, researchers have found that AS and Autism should be present everywhere and in every race but, depending on the culture these people are brought up in, they may not stand out as severly lacking in social skills. It depends on the social requirements of the culture.
Education is the key to success for anyone. If we look at those who have been locked in closets or basements for their early lives, without social interaction and proper care, we see that -due to lack of opportunity- they are socially deficient. But with intensive training (for social education) and youth, they can recover to some extent. The earlier it is caught, the better the results. Do you really think professionals would rather wait until after a child is three to start social therapy? Do you think a child is not old enough to learn before he or she is that old? Formal social education starts when a parent first talks or sings to their child... in the womb. But after a while we tend to think that children will pick things up on their own. That's where autism comes in. Those on the spectrum have disabilities in that respect to where they require more direct, proactive education.
Also, research suggests that the ratio of boys to girls is growing closer to an equilibrium with each study. The imbalance is thought to occur because girls do receive more intense social training in the culture than do boys and thus they do better and stand out less. Furthermore, girls are more directly taught better coping skills which in turn tend to masque any social disabilities. It is also a widely accepted idea in the academic world that girls are discouraged by the culture from being "too smart" at a time when one of the flags for requesting psychological assessment is displaying a much higher ability than average. Thus, boys are refered for evaluation more often than girls and therefore are more likely to receive a diagnosis of AS or Autism.
And needless to say, education does expand and improve verbal skills, as well as math skills, processing skills, performance skills, and even dexterity skills when the education is designed to improve those areas. While education does not actually "cure" the abnormally developed brain, it does cause the nuron pathways themselves to change. Just look at Kim Peek who was born without a functional corpus collosum (and btw he does not have autism but is a savant). Education was his salvation. Had he been institutionalized rather than had the opportunity for home-education, he would be much worse off. Since the Rain Man movie came out, he has developed his social skills dramatically where before he had a very limited few to even experiment with.
So forgive me if I missed your point of view but I do not see how my original observation (that much of the symptoms and side effects of AS and Autism that we struggle with might be attributable to a lack of social education in our society) is necessarily rediculous. How likely is it that it is really all nature and completely separate from nurture?
05 Dec 2006, 1:45 pm
