Dr. Gernsbacher’ 10 basic tenets for every parent of every autistic child to know
Morton Ann Gernsbacher, Professor of Psychology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, president of the Association for Psychological Science, and mother of an autistic son writes in her Presidential Column for the May 7th issue of the Observer about these 10 rudiments of psychological science—–which are also, she notes, “10 basic tenets I wish every parent of every autistic child knew” (I have quoted the list in full and highlighted sections which specifically mention autism):
- Correlation doesn’t equal causality. Just because the number of churches in a city is highly correlated with the number of taverns, or the number of stork nests in a village is highly correlated with the number of births, doesn’t mean that religion drives people to drink or that storks deliver babies.
Are psychology majors the only ones who learn to distinguish correlation from causality? When Cornell economists recently espoused that cable TV caused autism and Yale neurobiologists espoused the same for prenatal ultrasounds, I had to wonder. I’ve heard non-psychological scientists assert that cell phones, Wi-Fi networks, microwave ovens, genetically modified foods, and latex baby bottle nipples cause autism simply because society’s increased use of these modern-day inventions coincides with clinicians’ increased use of modern-day diagnostic criteria (and society’s increased awareness of, and services for, the autism phenotype; Gernsbacher, Dawson, & Goldsmith, 2005).
- Praise the power of N. One implicit benefit of teaching upper, rather than lower, division classes is hearing fewer and fewer anecdotes (“I knew someone who …” or “I once heard that …”) and more and more skepticism (“yeah, but that study had a really small N”). Psychology majors learn that an N of 1 can provide a provocative lead-in to a news story, an evocative exhibit at a Congressional hearing, or a vivificative subject of a case study but cannot provide a basis for scientific generalization. If parents, awash in the sea of decisions regarding so-called autism interventions, learned healthy skepticism for anecdote, they’d be considerably less susceptible to the massive morass of quackery that can envelope them.
- Sampling ain’t simple. Most psychology undergraduates cut their teeth on the polling debacle of the 1948 Dewey-Truman election, and by the end of their sophomore year, they’re poised to ask psychological science’s parallel to journalism’s Five Ws: Who comprised the sample? How, where, and when was the sample collected? And what biases remain uncontrolled?
- Statistical interactions are marvels. Face it; can you even define a statistical interaction in fewer than 10 words? I can, but only by analogy: “I before E, except after C.” The depth of ideas that can be compactly conveyed by saying “there was a two-way interaction,” or — be still my heart — a three-way interaction, defy articulation. What an elegant means for quantifying and visualizing contingency we impart to our students when we teach them about statistical interaction.
- Development is nonlinear. Everything from early childhood vocabulary development to adolescent limb growth progresses in starts and fits, spurts, and apparent stagnation. Learning this fundamental principle of development, along with a healthy skepticism of anecdote, would greatly douse the superstitious wildfire caused by most so-called autism treatments.
- Development is lifelong. A few weeks ago when I heard a masters-level librarian coin the term “maturity strife,” which he defined as “when family and friends tire” of autistic young adults who “cannot develop,” I shook my head in utter disbelief — and turned immediately to hug my kid. I fervently hope my son’s life will be filled with people who realize that development doesn’t halt at age 21.
- Sensation is relative. The use of the term JND in casual conversation is about as close to a societal handshake as our field could ever come.
- Cognition is covert. Attending, encoding, retrieving, rehearsing, comprehending, planning, thinking, reasoning, and imagining are all invisible processes. If they weren’t, the well-worn inquiry “whatcha thinking about?” (and even “whatcha looking at?”) could retire from English discourse. Without Thurber’s narration of Walter Mitty’s secret life and Peanut comic-strip character Snoopy’s thought bubbles, we’d fallaciously assume that both “lacked imagination.”
- Emotion is covert. See #8.
- Interpersonal interaction is a reciprocal function of attitudes, beliefs, and motivation. When neurologist Ramachandran and the parents of autistic six-year-old Steven publicized their opinion that “Steven, the person, simply isn’t there,” my autistic colleague, Michelle Dawson, cautioned: “Does it take electro and magnetoencephalography to discover that interacting or conversing with people who see you as not there or not having personhood … can be difficult, if not impossible?” (Dawson, 2006; see also Gernsbacher, 2006).
Go here to read The Value of Undergraduate Training in Psychological Science and many thanks to Professor Gernsbacher.
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POSTED IN: Neuroscience, Parenting, Psychology
12 opinions for Dr. Gernsbacher’ 10 basic tenets for every parent of every autistic child to know
JanB
May 4, 2007 at 6:51 pm
I feel like I am reading a text book written in a different language.
If Dr. Gernsbacher wants parents to get these concepts, then she needs to learn to write on a level that the average human can read without having to break out the migraine medicine. Prior to reading this, I had thought that I could actually read, but now I’m not sure if I can.
Sorry, I don’t mean to be critical, but am I dense or is she being intentionally highbrow?
Charles B
May 4, 2007 at 7:19 pm
Please see my blog for my response. It was a wee bit long.
bethduckie
May 4, 2007 at 7:22 pm
Thank heavens for Gernsbacher.
It was comprehensible IMO but it wont take long for people to say it in more friendly terms.
Kristina Chew, PhD
May 4, 2007 at 8:49 pm
JanB: In her column for the Observer, Dr. Gernsbacher writes that these “10 tenets” are 10 things she would tell to a college students majoring in psychology who are graduating; the writing is addressed to (I think) an academic audience of psychologists. Regarding the first point on “correlation does equal causation,” I wrote this post which tries to talk about this notion in regard to the MMR/vaccine theory of autism.
Charles B, thanks for the response and glad to read your blog!
bethduckie, hope others join in with any “translating”…. I really value Dr. Gernsbacher’s work and thought it best to present the list “as is.”
Zaecus
May 4, 2007 at 9:43 pm
That was highbrow?
*wince*
I think I’m an elitist. My apologies.
Kristina Chew, PhD
May 4, 2007 at 10:08 pm
At the risk of over-simplication, I try to rephrase each point in my own language and with all apologies to Dr. Gernsbacher! I’m a classicist and therefore de facto elitist
1) “Correlation doesn’t equal causality.” This is also rendered as “correlation does not equal causation”: Just because one thing (a child develops a lot of gastrointestinal and behavior problems) happens shortly along with or after another (a child receives a vaccine) does not mean that the one thing (the vaccine) caused the other (the child developing said issues and “becoming” autistic.) The two things may indeed be connected, but one needs to look at more variables.
2) “Praise the power of N.” I took from this that one ought to beware of anecdotal accounts to provide “evidence” for a theory. If one child has shown some remarkable improvement from some treatment (as an example, taking certain herbal remedies), this means that that treatment has benefited one child, and the treatment has to be tried on a larger group of children before determining its efficacy.
3) “Sampling ain’t simple.” Look into how the “sample”—the control group in an experiment—-has been composed: How have the test subjects been found? What if it is found out that (for instance) some parents who have entered their children in an research study (regarding a certain biomedical treatment such as chelation, for instance), are also parties in an anti-vaccine lawsuit?
4) “Statistical interventions are marvels.” Take statistics in college—what you learn in such a class goes beyond answering a problem set! (I did not and I could have used that background.) (This is a vast over-simplification.)
5) “Development is nonlinear.” There is no fixed schedule or course of development that a child “has” to follow; a child might reach various developmental milestones out of the “usual” “order,” but the point is that a child attains them, at whatever age.
6) “Development is lifelong.” I think this one speaks for itself……
7) “Sensation is relative. What feels like a light and gentle tap to one person might seem very intrusive to another—high-pitched human voices seems to upset my son Charlie, but not me.
Eight) “Cognition is covert.” How much another person understands is hidden to us—my own son does not have a lot of language and it is not always readily evident to tell how much of what we have said to him is understood. I tend to “presume competence”—to presume as if he knows so much more than might be apparent to the eye. Thus, we are always careful not to speak of Charlie in his presence, and to proceed as if he understands everything said to him.
9) “Emotion is covert.” Just as he does not explain what he understands in the “usual” ways, so does my son not indicate his feelings (his being sad or angry, for instance) verbally, but that does not at all mean that he does not have those feelings. He expresses his emotions in other ways.
10) “Interpersonal interaction is a reciprocal function of attitudes, beliefs, and motivation.” Just because a child does not display the usual behaviors of social interaction (eye contact) does not mean that that child is not aware of what is going on around him; we need to watch out for our preconceptions of what “normal” social interactions are in regard to autistic persons, and seek to interact with them on their own terms, and be wary of our predetermined beliefs.
Again, these are my over-simplified versions of Dr. Gernsbacher’s fine list and corrections are more than welcomed.
Ms Clark
May 4, 2007 at 10:54 pm
Dr. Gernsbacher’s letter is meant for scientists who belong to the APS. It was so easy for me to understand, having one of those coveted undergrad degrees in psych she’s talking about, that I forgot how much jargon there is in it. It’s not that hard, though, a simple google search should turn up definitions. I linked to the definition for ‘jnd’ from my blog because it’s so jargonny, which is why Dr. G used it as a symbol of insider terminology (like a secret handshake only some people know).
andrea
May 4, 2007 at 11:36 pm
Oh! I know the jnd as the limen. Funny how different terms are used, even in different areas of behavioural sciences.
Another Voice
May 5, 2007 at 12:51 am
I am very glad to see people in the field of behavioral science speaking up. She makes many excellent points. Her point # 5, development is nonlinear, I feel is especially relevant. We are so pre-occupied with measuring progress along some path that we forget that we are dealing with people.
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Lolasmom
May 6, 2007 at 11:16 am
I loved this, esp. #9 (emotion is covert). Having just come from a memorial service for Lola’s great-uncle, where his widow and children shed not a tear and seemed completely unaffected, I can assure you this is the case. Why is it that some people can so easily accept differing emotional styles in NT adults, but see the same stoicism in our kids and assume there is nothing there?
Sara Cosse
Jun 8, 2007 at 4:41 pm
Hi,
My name is Sara Cosse and I am a student at Emporia State University. I came across your blog talking about your friend’s child. I have an online class this summer and was wondering if you could help me. I need to interview a parent of an autistic student. I appreciate your time, I hope you can help me. Thank you for your time, Sara Cosse
Questions for Interviewing Parents
of Children with Disabilities
1. Introduce yourself.
2. How did you learn that _______ has a disability? (Who was present? When did this happen?) If you were giving advice to professionals who need to explain to parents that their child has a special need, what would that advice be?
3. What have been the positive aspects of having a child in the family with a disability?
4. What have been the problems or challenges you’ve experienced having a child with a disability?
5. How did your other children react to learning their brother/sister had a disability? What impact has ______ had on them? (if appropriate)
6. What kinds of supports have been most helpful to you? (family members, parent groups, neighbors, other?)
7. What have been your experiences in working with school personnel? What have they done that has been most helpful? What have they done that was least helpful or was even harmful?
8. If I were to be ________’s teacher next year, what advice would you want to give me so that he/she had an optimum learning experience?
9. What would you want me to do/not do in terms of my interactions with you if I were ________’s teacher?
10. I am just learning about students with disabilities and how to work effectively with them in my classroom. What other information would you like me–and my classmates–to know about working with children with special needs?
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