Those kids were there all the time. In the past, before they had autism, they were simply labeled as “mentally mentally retarded.” I was old enough that the neurologist who diagnosed me didn't know what autism was initially, just said I had a brain damage. I have clear, severe voice delays. They were there before they had autism. They are just called something different.
You might get some of the additions to the gentle kids, you don't have voice delays. Always identify and mark something children. Completely obvious. Obviously, the child does have problems. Maybe the diagnosis may increase is the kid without speech delay, but he is just a weird and nerd who has no friends when he is 8 or 9 years old. No one has looked at the data to see if there are more children who are not talking. They just said, “Autism has increased.”
Another thing I want to invest in research is how to desensitize the oversensitivity that many people with autism have, where they have a hard time to tolerating noisy environments. There are clear abnormalities in the brain scan that indicate that the fear circuit is turning on. Compared to the average person, loud noise activates circuits in the brain. But what needs treatment.
One thing that makes it difficult for autistic people to be in public is all the noise in the restaurant, as well as the noise in the airport bathroom, the manual dryer and all the automatic flushing things. This is a common problem area for many children with autism. One of the problems with toilet flusher is that everyone has set different problems. You don't know when it will fall off. They don't always react in the same way. One toilet can be done when you wake up and the other toilet is on it. The problem with these flushers is that they are so unpredictable.
We need to study methods of desensitization. We need to figure out the best ways to desensitize certain sound sensitivity. Why? Because that's what makes the airport difficult is the bathroom. Or restaurants, there are two things that can make the restaurant difficult: it’s just people are scattering all the noises, and then when you go to the bathroom, you’ll deal with a hand dryer and rinser.
This is often spread throughout the spectrum. Its severity may vary. Some people who should have been labeled Asperger may have some very serious problems. One thing that seems to work is to let the kids control it, turn on the noisy stuff, the vacuum cleaner, the car horn, whatever it is, let them control it and turn it on. This seems to be helpful.
On the mild side, I think it's all genetics.
Where you find any type of environmental insult, where you are in the return group (they get the words and then lose the words), this is where any environmental insult interacts with genetics.
Then there are kids who are bullied at school because they are different. Then, because their time is so terrible, they tend to be diagnosed in later primary schools. These are inherited. This is what I read in the literature. This is my conclusion. Where there are (environmental) insults, I think most of them will be in regressors. The group needs to be carefully viewed separately.
No comments about politics.
This is all pre-buyed Twitter. That was before Twitter. We'll leave it there.
Some people can't speak, they can type completely independently. For me, independence means not touching the person and the device has to sit on a table without touching it. I have to rule out the prompt. That's the only way to exclude the prompt.
They will just be sent to an institution. A few years ago, they were labeled as “mentally mentally retarded.” I escaped an institution. I was a kid who went to an institution in the 1950s. But luckily, a neurologist took me to a speech therapy clinic where two ladies taught two ladies in their basement.
On the full speech end, I think this is an increase in detection. Over the years, they have expanded the diagnostic criteria. You can find it. In the 1980s, you had to have verbal delays. Then Asperger appeared in the early 1990s, and was very awkward in society and had no verbal delays. Then in 2013, they pieced everything together. They put everything together.
Another thing that is happening, at the very mild end, I've been talking to a lot of people lately, going toward me, they find themselves autistic and got diagnosed, they're on the spectrum. They come to me for every meeting. People in their 1950s and 60s. all is well. Diagnosis helps them build their relationship. There are many of these elderly people, which is a relief. Now, they understand why some of their relationships may not go well.
OK, let's talk about little kids. OK, I've been traveling, and last year, in about four different places in the United States I've been to, you have kids 2 or 3 years old without a speech. This kid has absolutely problems - no speeches. They are on the waitlist for two years. It is underway now. I've talked to those parents: "That's horrible. Let's see where the service is."
Funds have been used up in many places. But now there is a sure big problem that these children with delayed speech have not received early intervention. Some of these children with delayed speeches are returnees. Some of them are not. They did not receive early intervention. I was in the early intervention of 2 1/2.
A 8-year-old with no friends, completely verbal children, that's what the screen affects the kids I don't see on the playground where I live.
I think the screen contributes to this. These kids are completely verbal, usually smart kids in school, which is a subgroup I saw, diagnosed around 8 years old. I've been meeting these subgroups at autism conferences. This is a different group than a 3-year-old.
I don't know how this will help them learn. If I'm going to do research, please find those who are returning. The problem is that you have a lot of subgroups.
The spectrum is indeed very heterogeneous.
Some of these people are very sharp. They add activity before you pick up the keys on the car. They are very sensitive to picking up these tips. You run around the house before you pick up your wallet and leave. They picked it up. ("Telepathy Tapes" is a podcast that once ranked high on Apple podcasts, which has led some extraordinary kids to claim telepathic powers of some non-verbal children.)