Some Forms of Autism

[MomWithOCDSon]

I stumbled upon a repeat of a 2007 segment of the MTV series "True Life." This one is called "I've got autism."

 

The show is focussing on 3 teenagers, from age 16 to age 19, who have varying "degrees" of autism.

 

One is quite severe and is non-verbal; however, he's finally communicating with his classmates at school with a device called a "Litewriter." He types on it, and it electronically articulates his thoughts; turns out his thinking, even socially, is quite sophisticated, but he just can't speak it via his mouth. He's 18.

 

Another is a 19-year-old "autistic savant" who is an established artist, but his life is currently being disrupted by the increasing frequency of tantrums/meltdowns. He says he feels angry and confused, but he doesn't know why or what to do about it. I'm shouting, "Inflammation! Inflammation!" at the TV. He frequently wears sound-deafening headphones because standard noises, especially in public places, can be overwhelming to him.

 

The third kid is a 16-year-old diagnosed with Aspberger's Syndrome. He's developing himself as a stand-up comic with a very dry delivery, though he struggles socially in terms of peer interaction. He gets some advice from a professional stand-up comedian with regard to "outing" his Autism in his comedy routine. The suggestion: "Hi, my name is Jeremy. My parents tell me I have autism. I tell them they have an attitude problem."

 

I'm finding it interesting. I see some mild similarities to some of my DS's behaviors, particularly during the tougher, exacerbation periods, but I'm also seeing some things that look familiar among other kids in DS's peer group. The Universe giving me continuing affirmation that inflammation is wreaking havoc among the population in ways that most people don't even recognize?

 

Or I'm just traumatized and seeing the Bogeyman everywhere!

[Kiera]

Indeed in the alternative world of autism research, inflammation and infections are part of the big picture, or contributing factors at least. I'm sure many of our kids on this forum have been given an autism diagnosis or PDDNOS or aspergers and also many have lost the diagnosis after being treated sucessfully for PANDAS! So, I believe it's all interconnected and only time will tell with all the current research being done. One thing's for sure, autism is not just a simple genetic defect some kids are born with (maybe a predisposition) but something more is going on in our envoirnment to cause the alarming rise in autism in recent years and all the co-morbidities that go along with it.