b5media.com

Advertise with us

Enjoying this blog? Check out the rest of the Health & Wellness Channel

Autism Vox

Autism Shot, Autism Whisperer, Autism What?

by Kristina Chew, PhD on September 25th, 2007

The MMR vaccine is the “autism shot“?

There is such a person (this would be comedien Jim Carrey) as an “autism whisperer“?

New terms from autism mother Jenny McCarthy. (I guess Carrey is then an “autism boyfriend.”)

But I think I’ll wait a bit before adding these to my vocabulary.

Share This

mommy~dearest
Sep 25, 2007 at 12:39 pm

OMG- I was given a copy Jenny McCarthy’s book over the weekend.

I don’t have much spare time to read, so i’m only halfway through it- let me say I am currently saddened and disgusted. That may change by the time I finish it, but I seriously doubt it.

I’m going to blog on it when I’m done. Should be late this week or early next week?

Notice to the public: Don’t waste your money.
Kristina Chew, PhD
Sep 25, 2007 at 1:00 pm

I have something planned for later this week……a student gave me the People magazine and for a while my class on Greek history got a little sidetracked.
Leila
Sep 25, 2007 at 1:53 pm

I reject the idea of the “autism shot”, but I don’t mind the “autism whisperer”. There’s no doubt that some people have a special talent to play with children and to motivate them to engage and communicate. I’d LOVE to have a hilarious guy like Jim Carrey to come and play with my son. My boy has many tutors and therapists, and even though they have some great techniques, I don’t see in most of them that natural charisma that attracts kids and makes them work harder to impress that person.

My son really changes when his favorite role models or play partners are around. He does everything they tell him to do, he’ll say more spontaneous sentences, he shows off.
Tanya
Sep 25, 2007 at 2:17 pm

Hmmm…Jenny is on the View today and I’m watching right now. There are lots of great questions. Overall, I feel this short segment covered the topic way more efficiently than the Oprah show on this topic. Guess it helps to have five interviewers!
FXSmom
Sep 25, 2007 at 2:18 pm

i do love the term autism whisperer. i couldn’t help but wonder why i hadn’t thought of that first.
Chuck
Sep 25, 2007 at 3:01 pm

As of 9/25 her book was #12 on Amazon
Amanda
Sep 25, 2007 at 3:03 pm

I’ve never liked the autism/horse/whatever whisperer terminology, it’s too romanticized for my tastes about what is just being observant in a particular way and communicating well with a certain kind of person or certain species.
Kristina Chew, PhD
Sep 25, 2007 at 3:22 pm

I think it was #10 a day or two ago.
mike stanton
Sep 25, 2007 at 4:07 pm

does this mean that DAN! doctors are all bowel whisperers?
long day's journey into acceptance
Sep 25, 2007 at 4:11 pm

ha!

and that would make the “neuroimmune dr” the ‘herpes whisperer’.
bullet
Sep 25, 2007 at 5:31 pm

Not quite the same thing, but a couple of days ago this other mum on a parenting forum told me that I had a lovely voice, very soft and gentle and that when a group of us were at a meet and one of my lads had fallen off a tree stump she thought I handled it brilliantly and that she wished she could have been cuddled and sung to like that. I was feeling very happy and very positive and then it dawned on me. I couldn’t remember which of my lads it was.
Bad, bad mummy! :D.
Kassiane
Sep 25, 2007 at 8:37 pm

Doesn’t an anything whisperer have to know HOW to whisper?
Recent Comment Roundup
Sep 25, 2007 at 10:49 pm

[…] Kassiane on Autism Shot, Autism Whisperer, Autism What? […]
Jen
Sep 25, 2007 at 11:02 pm

My dad got me the book, I’m not quite sure why though. I was going to send it back, but seeing as how I couldn’t find the return slip from the box from Amazon, I figured I would attempt to read it, and that perhaps I would later put it to it’s death when it’s cold enough for the fireplace.
It was perhaps one of the quickest reads for me. I think I spent about an hour total on it, and part of that was during the commercials during Dancing With The Stars. At least she does in part attribute her son’s success to the actual therapies he received. She does say that the ABA works. However, she sort of glosses over that in comparison to what she devotes to the biomedical stuff that I can’t honestly call treatment. There were parts that to me proved how easily she got caught up in silliness. There were also parts that seemed contradictory to me. Sometimes, it seemed like she felt the autistic behaviors were the enemy, yet others it clearly seemed as though she did not. She was ok with him doing these things, but was just curious to know why.
I hope I’ve done well not to spoil the book for anyone who might obtain a copy by some method other than giving any more money to this lunacy.
Leanne
Sep 26, 2007 at 9:22 am

I agree with Amanada…autism whisperer is not a term I like. Jim Carey is simply playing a father role in this child’s life and is probably very attentive and good with communication of a certain sort.

I keep waiting for someone to ask Jenny McCarthy the harder questions. The interviewers just seem to take her crap as truth and it’s driving me crazy. She did say on the View that her son is cured and they did seem taken aback by that at least. Hmmm, he couldn’t possibly be an autistic boy who’s functioning well because he’s growing older now could he??
Moi ;)
Sep 26, 2007 at 10:37 am

Does that mean she is the Autism Wacko? @@
Cliff
Sep 26, 2007 at 12:14 pm

I agree that “autism whisperer” rather romanticized terminology, but though it’s funny in some ways it’s harmless and nice sounding enough, and if she thinks her husband has a special connection to her autistic son, I think that’s fine to use. “Autism shot”… a little different, but more for the dubious science behind the statement rather than the phrasing itself.

Cliff
The Word Is Already Out: No Causal Association Between Early Exposure to Mercury and Neuropsychological Outcomes
Sep 26, 2007 at 7:52 pm

[…] seems to be referring to a specific vaccine—she has referred to the MMR vaccine as the “autism shot“; Dachel, and many others, have stated that it is thimerasol, a mercury-based preservative, […]