Kanner's "lack of warmth" parents seeing 9th doctor in row?

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I think pretty much any person, whether Spectrum, Spectrum-lite, or not Spectrum at all, may show a "lack of warmth" when seeing their 9th doctor in a row. Especially if some of the previous eight have not exactly been all that helpful.

To me, this is a pretty obvious point. I wondering if it's been pointed out in the professional literature? It should be.

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Kanner's old theory of from the 1950s and 60s was the "refrigerator mother." He didn't quite used that phrase but he almost did. And is there any logical reason to blame mothers only, and not fathers? No, of course there isn't. Around 1970 in speech, Kanner finally, belatedly, said he was no longer blaming parents.

Of course, we now know that autism almost certainly has a biological cause.

The guy who really popularized the damaging claim of "refrigerator" parent was Bruno Bettelheim, who has basically been exposed as a fraud and a flim flam artist. He used a PhD in art history, a passing acquaintance with psychoanalysis, a Viennese accent, and a grand total of three introductory classes in psychology -- yes, three -- as well as the disruption of World War II which made it impossible to check credentials in order to leverage himself to a position as head of a school for emotionally disturbed children at the University of Chicago.

Bettelheim is a dragon we will need to slay from time to time. Yes, figuratively speaking, get out my horse, get out my armor, get out my lance, slay the dragon, put back my lance, take off armor, put back horse, all very matter-of-factly done.

Bettelheim has been the most damaging person to autistics and their families ever in my opinion. His theory is still used in France and South Korea. While elsewhere the "refrigerator mother" idea is mostly dead Bettelheim's idea that there is a cute normal child that has been "kidnapped" by autism and thus needs to be "rescued" continues to cause damage in a variety of ways.

I agree with the indictment of Bruno Bettelheim, but I had a thought which may reconcile historical observations of autism.

Since there is a fairly large genetic component to autism, it's possible that many mothers of autistics also have some traits themselves. So it could be a valid observation that these moms may have seemed cold, "refrigerator" like, distant, and so on, to neurotypical observers.

It's the classic mistake of correlation and causation being separate. i.e. "correlation does not imply causation." (I wish they would teach this concept throughout elementary school, maybe our public would be more critical thinkers.)

In other words, I'm saying moms may have shared the autistic predisposition with their offspring, but I'm not saying the moms caused their kids' autism. A mom and child may both be diabetic, but that doesn't mean the mom caused the child's diabetes.

I won't repeat the analysis with regard to dads, but it's basically along the same lines. Traditionally (mid-century) moms were more likely to spend a lot of time with children, so that's where analysts looked.

I think doctors, nurse practitioners, social workers, etc, just need to tell people, your child has patchy skills and abilities, good and promising in some areas, not so much in others.

To me, it's so sensible to take the approach, play to strength, be matter-of-fact about deficiencies. But since this is the opposite of the 'medical model,' I guess it's well worth pointing this alternate approach.

For example, Carly Fleischmann, I don't think she's learned how to talk, but she has learned how to type on a keyboard very well. And it helped that it was a laptop, and not a desktop which can have a strobing light issue much like a fluorescent light. And I think some families hesitate to teach their child on the spectrum sign language, believing it will slow down verbal language. Actually, I think studies have shown the opposite, that sign language has positive transfer and will actually help verbal language if and when it's going to come.

Last edited by AardvarkGoodSwimmer on 22 Nov 2016, 2:15 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I can believe in a genetic predisposition and an epigenetic trigger.

Are the caregivers stressful, in their words, tone, and body language, if not forceful.

Does epigenetic mean chemicals or radiation during pregnancy, this type of thing?

It means that your environment can have a physical effect on your body.

My genetic tests highlight lots of possible genes, and I have a mother with some psychiatric issues.

Without being an expert on the work of Kanner or Fleischmann, nature, or nurture, or both seem plausible, to me.

Agree with this in the abstract. Chemicals, nutrition, viruses, etc, certainly can affect what genes can express themselves. without making the pregnant woman paranoid because we're all in favor of her!

"Nurture" too much connotes the way the child is raised and treated, at least it does for me.

Certainly in the whole "heyday" of Freudian psychoanalysis in the (?) 1950s or 60s, if something was different with the child, it was considered ipso facto evidence that the mother had done something wrong. They weren't very good at genetics and biologic causes, so they viewed it as small potatoes. That was the mistake, to dismiss something they weren't good at.

Now, the way the spectrum child is raised can certainly have a big effect on how and whether they do well or do poorly. For example, if ABA is used in a loosey-goosey way, it's probably one helpful method among many. If it's used in a rigid, doctrinaire way, it's probably going to be hurtful because a person's going to miss patently obvious things right in front of their own eyes because they're overly committed to the ideology.

Before realizing that she was pregnant, she claims to have hallucinated on diet pills. Besides taking Bendectin, before it was so controversial, I was also nearly suffocated, on accident, and subjected to different kinds of psychological abuse. It was oftentimes easiest to isolate myself. It's highly possible that my mother triggered this.

I'm very sorry you experienced abuse.

I also experienced abuse of different types. I hope for a world where abuse happens less often, and a world where just the average person is not so quick to find excuses for it.

My father is a tricky man, a bullying man, and a violent man. My slightly younger sister makes excuses for his behavior, including to this day.

When I was 17, I was seeing a PhD psychologist guy to help me with school and OCD struggles. This so-called psychologist did not take my father's violence seriously.