Bluelens

On his radio show Wednesday Michael Savage talked about autism. Seems Mr.Savage is an expert in the field, let me share with you his researched facts on the subject:

Now, the illness du jour is autism. You know what autism is? I’ll tell you what autism is. In 99 percent of the cases, it’s a brat who hasn’t been told to cut the act out. That’s what autism is.

What do you mean they scream and they’re silent? They don’t have a father around to tell them, “Don’t act like a moron. You’ll get nowhere in life. Stop acting like a putz. Straighten up. Act like a man. Don’t sit there crying and screaming, idiot.”

So the majority (at least 99% according to him) of autistic cases is the result of a child growing up in a single-parent household. Sure.  I suppose we should ignore the widely accepted idea that brain scans show differences in the shape and structure of the brain in children with autism versus neuro-typical children.  Unless he can correlate his ideas with the scan results …no didn’t think so.   And it also appears that Savage seems to think that just by taking your child to your pediatrician you will end up with the slam-bam diagnosis of autism on a regular visit.  Funny, I could have sworn there was a list of requirements needed to be fulfilled in order to match said diagnosis - oh wait, maybe something like this from the DSM-IV:

299.00 Autistic Disorder

1. A total of six (or more) items from (1), (2), and (3), with at least two from (1), and one each from (2) and (3):
   1. qualitative impairment in social interaction, as manifested by at least two of the following:
      1. marked impairment in the use of multiple nonverbal behaviors, such as eye-to- eye gaze, facial expression, body postures, and gestures to regulate social interaction
      2. failure to develop peer relationships appropriate to developmental level
      3. a lack of spontaneous seeking to share enjoyment, interests, or achievements with other people (e.g., by a lack of showing, bringing, or pointing out objects of interest)
      4. lack of social or emotional reciprocity
   2. qualitative impairments in communication, as manifested by at least one of the following:
      1. delay in, or total lack of, the development of spoken language (not accompanied by an attempt to compensate through alternative modes of communication such as gesture or mime)
      2. in individuals with adequate speech, marked impairment in the ability to initiate or sustain a conversation with others
      3. stereotyped and repetitive use of language or idiosyncratic language
      4. lack of varied, spontaneous make-believe play or social imitative play appropriate to developmental level
   3. restricted, repetitive, and stereotyped patterns of behavior, interests, and activities as manifested by at least one of the following:
      1. encompassing preoccupation with one or more stereotyped and restricted patterns of interest that is abnormal either in intensity or focus
      2. apparently inflexible adherence to specific, nonfunctional routines or rituals
      3. stereotyped and repetitive motor mannerisms (e.g., hand or finger flapping or twisting or complex whole-body movements)
      4. persistent precoccupation with parts of objects
2. Delays or abnormal functioning in at least one of the following areas, with onset prior to age 3 years: (1) social interaction, (2) language as used in social communication, or (3) symbolic or imaginative play.
3. The disturbance is not better accounted for by Rett’s disorder or childhood disintegrative disorder.

Yes in the past there have been concerns raised, and rightly so, about over diagnosis/prescribing medication for children - especially slapping on the ADD/ADHD label.  That problem, as I see it, is the faulty action of the parents taking their children to the wrong type of doctor (ie their pediatrician/GP) and said doctor not properly referring the parents to the necessary doctor but instead writing an Rx to take care of the problem.  Side note - is this a result of tougher insurance/HMO controls - possibly a debatable topic for another time. However, this is about more than a rowdy kid that isn’t paying attention in school and autism is not a ‘take the pill and everything will be ok’ type of problem.

Why might it be the illness du jour?

Research indicates that other factors besides the genetic component are contributing to the rise in increasing occurrences of ASD, such as environmental toxins (e.g., heavy metals such as mercury), which are more prevalent in our current environment than in the past.

-Autism Society of America

Combine increased knowledge, genetic and environmental factors, and a more aware society and what do you end up with?  Aside from the positives of people finding support, becoming more well-informed, and advances in treatments, you end up with people such as Savage making the erroneous statements that disabilities such as autism are fake and what people need is just a good swift kick in the pants.  Guess you have to take the good with the bad.

One thing that keeps bouncing in my head is something else Savage said on this particular broadcast:

“Don’t behave like a fool. Don’t be anybody’s dummy. Don’t sound like an idiot. Don’t act like a girl. Don’t cry.”

Guess he didn’t follow those orders 100% because he did a wonderful job, in my opinion, of sounding like an idiot.  As this post was centered on his remarks on autism I’m not going to approach the unnecessary gender-biased nature of the parts of the statement.  That is for a different post.

I found this story on Media Matters

DSM-IV info was pulled from Autism Research Institute

Additional info pulled from Autism Society of America