This is, I think, a great story. At the age of 15, he was able to let his parents know his thinking brain was whole, although other parts were not. He types one letter at a time. There were suspicions that this was like the old scam of facilitated communication, but apparently it is not.
| “My brain, which is much like yours, knows what it wants and how to make that clear,” he wrote in a letter he sent this month to a police officer. “My body, which is much like a drunken, almost six-foot toddler, resists.” |
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In many cases people will move to a state like jersey becsuse this state is better equipped to handle autism in its schools. So when you see autism numbers in jersey higher than in other states it can probably be attributed to this.
Autism has been around forever. It was either mis diagnosed or in some cases ignored. Simply put we have gotten better at identifying and dealing with but we have a long way to go. These kids are growing up. That's the 800 lb gorrllla in the room.
My wife is an OT that's how I know all this stuff..
One theory is that parents are having kids at a later age which is causing the increase.
Also, until I see this replicated with hard research, this isn't terribly different than most other similar exposed communication aides.
I feel a little shy to say that i think this story is a load of horse ish
I never make light of any story of MI without evidence...
Do you have a link for that?
Writing anything would have been impressive, especially for a non-verbal autistic person with his history. But those quotes from his writings are reallyyy well written. Sounds like a writer with yrs and yrs of experience, especially the style. It may be real. Just sounds like a bit of stretch. Maybe dad does a lil 'proof reading'. Or again, maybe totally from him. Would be awesome.
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You are absolutely right in that it is scary, there is an MIT scientist who has projected the numbers which are increasing exponentially to where in 2032 it will be 1 out of 2 boys!!!! Are we going to wait til we approach these numbers or are we going to figure out the cause, why isn't there more of an effort in this area?????
Do you have a link for that?
Here's one from Snopes:
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I realize that may sound crude, insensitive (even offensive to some), but understand -- I have an autistic son born when I was 44 and his mother was 40, so I'm "allowed." (Lest you fear -- he's a GREAT kid and we love him dearly.)
As to the increase in cases, I tend to think it's mostly from higher awareness leading to more diagnoses. I'm not sure if anyone has done this research, but I wonder if the incidence of 'mental retardation' has declined as the incidence of autism has increased.
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"This letter is not a cry for pity, pity is not what I’m looking for,” he wrote. “I love myself just the way I am, drunken toddler body and all. This letter is, however, a cry for attention, recognition and acceptance.”
I feel a little shy to say that i think this story is a load of horse ish
Many people think this method is horse ish. This story does sounds different but the method or technique under discussion is controversial to say the least.
I'm sure they did a little fact finding, in advance..