Puzzling information
The Rate of Autism, a feature on WYTV news in the Mahoning Valley, Ohio, contains some puzzling information.
- Autism is “….particularly painful for parents, because symptoms usually don’t show until around the time the child turns two. Then they witness all the charm and personality of their little one, slowly fade away.”
- Autism is “especially prevalent in northeast Ohio.”
- “……when [autism] strikes girls, it’s more severe.”
References for #2 and #3?
As for “all the charm and personality” of my “little one slowly [fading] away,” I have seen quite the opposite happen in Charlie—he is one charmer of a boy.
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POSTED IN: Media, Stereotypes
6 opinions for Puzzling information
Penny
May 31, 2006 at 7:49 pm
Source for #3 appears to be WIKIPEDIA, where the Autism entry says
“Although autism is about 3 to 4 times more common in boys, girls with the disorder tend to have more severe symptoms and greater cognitive impairment.”
But then the questions become:
a. Where is the Wikipedia entry’s source for this?
b. Is the TV news writer really using Wikipedia as a source?
Kristina Chew, PhD
May 31, 2006 at 8:06 pm
And if she is………….
I used to teach Freshman Composition and Wikipedia is not on the list of accepted “sources” (for college students).
Ballastexistenz
Jun 1, 2006 at 2:23 am
I’ve heard #3 a lot, especially in the older literature. It basically went something like, “Autism is more common in boys than girls, but affected girls tend to be more severe, including having more severe neurological problems.”
Sharon
Jun 1, 2006 at 3:36 am
“they witness all the charm and personality of their little one, slowly fade away”
What nonsense! They’ve obviously never met my boy.
In fact, I’m sure we could gather a posse of exceedingly charming autistics with great personalities to prove that wrong!
Kristina Chew, PhD
Jun 1, 2006 at 4:24 am
I’ve heard the same about “for those fewer girls who have autism, they are more severe.”
As for personality, Mom-NOS says it well.
Ettina
Sep 5, 2006 at 10:57 am
I’ve heard that among ‘classically’ autistics 1 out of 4 are girl but among aspies it’s 1 out of 7 or even 1 out of 10. But then I read about one study that checked a pile of kids for aspieness and among the aspies they found, 1 out of 4 were girls but the girls were less often diagnosed. It’s possible that girls are less likely to be diagnosed because of people thinking autistics are usually boys, but if they are more obviously autistic they’re more likely to be diagnosed.
And it all depends what you define as ‘charm’.
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