My Son Doesn't Need a Cure

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I've been looking around on Youtube and found this great video:

http://ie.youtube.com/watch?v=wd8Hl0kqMYc&feature=related

Must admit I had a few tears when I was watching it.

From a proud Mum of 2 sons with Asperger's.

Helen

(Speaking purely subjectively here.)

Isn't "intervention" in itself a form of a cure? Albeit, one won't suddenly see social dynamics (I can understand them for example), nor will one give up their interests; but it's there to help one "fit in", which is what a mythical cure will try to do.

Sure, it aids in comfort for the child/adult, but only across the facets that normal people are judged on as we attempt to live to their society and wants/expectations of us, not ours.

I didn't have intervention (well, I had speech therapy which made me this "autie"-turn-"aspie" thingy), and I have every chance I want, to live how I want to (not how others want me to), albeit again, a million people wouldn't like how I live, but that's cool, I don't like how they live.

Helen,

Thanks for posting that, it was beautiful and will come in quite handy as a mythbuster.

I never had intervention either, and I'm doing fine. But then, I'm pretty mildly affected. I don't think intervention is necessarily imperative like the video says, but I do think it can be helpful. People shouldn't try to make us into NTs, but it's useful to know how to function in the NT world. The problem is, the line between the two can get fuzzy, especially when there are so many parents who think the two things are the same.

I think early intervention is imperative. Studies are showing that the more intensive the early intervention, the higher functioning that kids can be. I know that it has made a difference in my son's life and in my godsons' lives as well.

I don't have a problem with people doing some of the things that are considered intervention (some of them, on the other hand, I regard as anything from potentially harmful to abusive).

I do have a problem with the concepts that led to those things being called intervention.

This is what I once wrote about it:

Let’s say a neurotypical (not just non-autistic, but neurologically typical) child is born. Call her Kate.When Kate is born, she can’t walk, talk, understand what is said to her, or feed herself. Being that this is the case, her parents are well-armed with early intervention and treatment strategies. She gets Breastfeeding Intervention, and later immense, unprecedented progress is made and she graduates to being spoon-fed. She gets Speech Therapy every day in the form of talking to her all the time in a particular specialized way designed to elicit interest, understanding, and speech. Her treatment also includes giving her interesting toys to treat her incredible lack of fine motor skills and to hone her perceptual skills and eye-hand coordination, as well as many other interventions.

These early intervention and treatment strategies are successful, and she eventually begins to walk, talk, and feed herself. But there is a lot she does not know about the world that she lives in. Beginning at the age of four, she is sent to a taxpayer-funded institution for several hours a day of intensive therapy designed to teach her about various aspects of the world. This treatment is wildly successful and in a few years she can read, write, add, subtract, and so forth, and is even capable of comprehending some amount of science and history.

When she is not in the institution, she is doing play therapy and music therapy. Play therapy consists of supervised play with other children who are also in play therapy to get their exercise, learn social skills, and learn more about how to function in the world they live in. She is dropped off once a week for one-on-one music therapy in which she is painstakingly taught the rudiments of the piano. She is, of course, highly limited in her ability to play the piano, but it is thought that this will be beneficial to her emotional and intellectual well-being. Sometimes she also goes to a day program called Girl Scouts with lots of other girls her age.

To teach her responsibility and daily living skills, there is an intervention at home called the Chores Method. Her parents delegate certain simple instrumental activities of daily living to her, such as washing the dishes, vacuuming the carpet, and cleaning her room. If she does not do these things, then a privilege such as watching television or going out to play with her friends is taken away from her.

When Kate is seven years old, the doctor discovers that she is lactose intolerant, a relatively common condition. This explains her crankiness and the regression and stomachache she experiences whenever she drinks milk. When this is treated, her behavior improves both at school and at home. Her parents view this treatment just the same as they view all the other treatments they have been through to get their daughter where she is today.

As Kate grows older, the treatments and interventions are changed to reflect her age and increased progress and maturity. As she reaches the transition to adulthood, she is given pre-vocational training and encouraged to think about what kind of job placement she might want.

She is also encouraged to choose between one of several residential placements. She ends up electing to move to a group home with two other adults who share the same apartment and support each other with paying the bills and daily living tasks. They receive extensive assistance at home from plumbers, electricians, and repair people who are all trained to do what is outside of these individuals’ capacity. Farmers grow, raise, harvest, and slaughter the food that the poor limited souls cannot grow for themselves, and truckers take that food to special facilities called Grocery Stores staffed by even more people. While they have undoubtedly made extensive progress since they were born, it clearly takes a lot of support just for these young women to get through their days and they are highly dependent on other people for their survival.

I am describing, of course, the life of a non-disabled middle-class American kid from birth to early adulthood.

Several people have told me that terms like ‘treatment’, ‘therapy’, ‘intervention’, and ’symptoms’ are neutral terms when describing their autistic children’s traits and education. Or that these words are justified (for all aspects of their children’s lives, mind you) on the basis that their children have something on the order of lactose intolerance (which, when it happens to non-disabled people, never-gets called a ‘co-morbidity’ either). Or that these words are basically no big deal. If so, I would really like to know if they describe their non-disabled children in anything approaching this manner, or if they would appreciate being seriously described in most of these ways for every aspect of their own lives. Because I’ve rarely seen anyone do it.

Frankly, I think that if they MANDATED early(like 6 week, 6 month, 12month, 24month, 36month) checks, and provided help in meeting significant milestones that were significantly missed, it could go a LONG way. The rest could be handled by PROGRAMMED instruction, like I have been saying for over 3 DECADES! Maybe they could also include some relevant social classes.

I didn't need any early intervention, but the programmed instruction would have made me HAPPY with school, I would have had more fun, and I would have LEARNED MORE! It is good whether you are an idiot or a genius. It is a pity that they strive just towards mediocre. Some social information would have been good also.

They could ALSO try to take all the newcomers, and put them together. That would facilitate friendships, as they would ALL be in pretty much the same boat.

Before my sons were diagnosed, they had poor self esteem and had bot discussed suicide from age 6.

They cried/screamed many hours a day (even at ages 6 and

Since 'intervention' - therapy at an autism/asperger's specialist clinic, IEP at school - they are now happy and like themselves. The crying/screaming is almost non-existant (only comes back on special occasions like Christmas )

I also consider WP as therapy for them and don't limit their time.

Helen

When I was real young like that, I had everything going for me, except REAL friends at school. STILL, I had a kind of foreboding feeling, like I had something I REALLY had to do, and it made me VERY depressed. I can only imagine how your kids could have felt if they didn't have a great friend that seemed to be rich with lots of friends taking them places, or had more trouble in school, etc... Of course, I don't have to imagine TOO much, because that is more like what my life was like 4-5 years later when I DID contemplate suicide.

Still, that kind of thing could happen to ANYONE! The theme song to the popular series MASH here had its lyrics played only on the PILOT! The themesong and lyrics were also in the movie. Perhaps they were removed because they spoke of suicide. In fact, HERE is the song:

http://www.mash4077.co.uk/theme.html

So, it obviously isn't isolated to people with AS. The IEPs sound nice, but are partly because school isn't run as it should be.

Smelena said:

It's funny how many "perfect parents" would freak out at this. They feel the need to restrict TV times, TV programmes, Computer Time, Computer Game time and Titles. They'd never let their children near forums... especially not at the ages yours are.

But I think you're right. I've seen enough evidence on WP to suggest that you're right and that your kids are happy. There was also a series of posts by shaggydaddy about computer games.

It makes you wonder about the "perfect parents" and whether there's any justification for the limits they impose or whether it's just hysteria.

I would think it depends on what the kids watch or do on the net. I think sites like this are great, especially since it has a designated place for kids to talk to one another, and no predators will bother them.

I also think it depends on the personality of the kid. I was pretty much addicted to the tv as a kid, but I read and played a lot as well. When I got older, my life became TV, and I dont necessarily think that is a good thing because I feel like I missed out on a lot, including being used to what it feels like to be around people.

But with helpful sites like these, and things that help children interact and learn and even laugh, I dont see the problem.

That's a great analogy, anbuend. Every child gets "behavioral therapy" and "intervention". But those terms aren't used because they pathologize something most people don't consider abnormal.

It's only when abnormality rears its head that the terms switch to pathology and instead of being called "learning" it's now "therapy".

I for one think learning/therapy is good for auties (it's good for anyone), especially when it's tailored. But when it's abusive (e.g., chelation) or when the teaching experience takes up so much of the child's time that they have longer work weeks than they're parents, then I think too much emphasis is being placed on making that child as "normal" as possible.

I think were the focus instead to shift to helping auties be as happy as we can be and to help us learn the tools which let us achieve that, then the "intervention" is good. But it's silly to focus on making us less autistic. We will always be autistic, that doesn't change.

Every site has the potential to hose predators but WP is safer than many of them.

I've never tried, but surely an adult could get into the kids forum, pretend to be a kid and arrange a meeting without the moderators noticing.

I've also noticed that a lot of people when they hear about wanting autistic people to be happy... for some reason they interpret it different than when they hear about wanting non-autistic kids to be happy. They seem to think it means turning the kid into a self-centered hedonist rather than a more everyday standard definition of happy.

True Kinda scary. But I think this site is more understanding of kids who may deal with things other kids dont, than say, a Cartoon Network forum.

I went into at least one kids forum through the search feature. Still, strangers have less knowledge of what to expect, and HOPEFULLY the people here are more careful because they KNOW they have a tendency to be more naive, etc...

Wouldn't it be great if they tried to kidnap a kid that had touch sensitivity, was agressive, had an eidetic memory, and had a relative near by? Could you just imagine! The kid could get upset, squeal, leave, go to a relatives, and lead the police to their door!

A halfway smart stranger would consider that possibility before trying to take advantage here.