Spanking and Asperger Syndrome

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i was only hit twice, once for crying at age 5 and once for being mouthy (no bad laguage involved) as a teenager. i remember both incidents vivdly. the only thing i learned from them was that my mother could behave atavistically. two of my sisters were hit more. one has a mean streak a mile wide. the other is disabled by borderline personality disorder, a direct result of the abuse.

I will try to put this as respectfully as I can manage:

After spending some time studying statistics and research in college I learned some rather alarming things concerning research studies and statistical analysis.

1) There are a great deal of errors in the way many studies are constructed.
2) There are a lot more researchers who are not properly trained in how to construct studies that will not result in skewed results than we would like to believe.
3) Politics plays a much larger role in skewing study constructions and their results then we'd like to believe.
4) Researchers can be less well trained in statistical analysis than we'd like to believe, and often are not well trained at all.
5) Very few people in general have clue one how to analyze studies, the statistics gathered, or whether or not the conclusions drawn at the end of the study are actually supported by the data.
6) What the "margin of error" really means is very often misrepresented. Sometimes that "margin of error" can mean there can be no reasonable confidence in the study's statistics themselves (let alone any conclusions), yet it will be taken seriously anyway. *

All of the above occur far more frequently than anyone would like to believe.

I have little to no confidence in most studies after the plethora of alarming things I've learned.

Lets not forget that back in the middle part of the twentieth century, there were a slew of studies "proving" smoking cigarrettes was good for people and didn't cause cancer. That may have been a long time ago, and it may be easy to dismiss all that as an exception, but the sad fact is, it wasn't an exception, and there are just as many unfortunate errors happening now as there were then. If not more. Considering everything I learned during my studies, and the fact that far more studies than ever are being done today than back then, I have very little confidence in the overall accuracy of research being done today.

It's not a matter of not having done my "homework." It's a matter of not putting much faith in studies, for good reason, and seeing for myself how disrespect among children and adolescents has skyrocketed since the days that spanking was considered not just okay, but normal. I don't need a study to see that for myself.

I respect the effort you put into earning your degree Doctor, but I also respectfully disagree that spanking done correctly causes harm.

* In order to understand the margin of error and what it really means you have to first understand level of confidence, and that is what trips up even some statisticians.

I don't have any studies to submit, but I find the above to be an over-simplification. I don't think hitting children is the way to deal with their ASD. You seem to be suggesting that we beat the autism out of children. I find this disturbing.

This

After my meltdowns got severe at school, the staff and other people kept telling my parents that I just needed more discipline. I was already being spanked. This made my parents abusive. The abuse made me angrier and I had more meltdowns which let to more abuse, and so on. It destroyed me emotionally. me. My AS got so much worse because of the way I was treated.

So to the OP, your opinions are wrong and disgusting to me.

I don't know why, but I feel like I ought to clarify this, 'cause it may look like I'm split on this, but i'm not really.

While I do not feel there is anything wrong at all with spanking done correctly for the right reasons, I do feel the OP's stated reasons for it are very wrong.

On a side note, whilst we are all on fire over this, we might want to take note of the fact that the OP has not replied once yet to this thread. Now, let's not be crying troll please, but just keep it in mind.

This could be nothing more than a hit and run. I don't know about the rest of you, but I'd rather not be the entertainment if that's the case.

So long and thanks for all the fish.

same here

part of medical training is interpretation of studies. medicine is based more and more on science and less on tradition. the vast preponderance of published (in reputable journals) studies are valid. why do you think life spans have increased so much? studies show better and better ways of keeping people healthy. demonizing all studies as an argument for spanking doesn't make sense.

i have nieces and nephews on my side and my husband's side. those on his side were never hit and are professionals. those on my side were hit and are struggling. i'm aware that anecdotal evidence is not a good argument, but if you don't believe the studies, it's what you leave me with.

So you have done all this studying and thinking, then you decide that you can "see for yourself," that children are just aren't nice like they used to be, and surely it because they aren't getting spanked?

“I see no hope for the future of our people if they are dependent on the frivolous youth of today, for certainly all youth are reckless beyond words. When I was a boy, we were taught to be discrete and respectful of elders, but the present youth are exceedingly wise and impatient of restraint.” ~Hesiod~ 700 bc

I used to work in an office, with about 6 girls. The only one who wasn't smacked was the most obnoxious, irritating and spoilt brat you can possibly every imagine. And she would proudly tout the fact that she wasn't smacked ever. Read into that what you will.

http://www.askachildtherapist.com/smack-children/



So in other words, if the child is naughty and makes the parent cross, they understand why they are smacked and accept it.

http://www.lawontheweb.co.uk/Family_Law ... w/Smacking



The only thing I would say about that, is that it's pretty worthless really because a child has more delicate skin than an adult and therefore even lightly pressing such skin would 'leave a pink mark' so how they expect even a small smack not to leave a mark is beyond me. Smacking brings the blood vessels closer to the skin surface - think about when doctors smack your arm to raise a vein for injections or blood taking - so it cannot anything but leave a mark. If it doesn't then it's not a smack and a miniscule tap won't achieve anything in the way of disciplining a child. Even if a child has only ever had one smack, just the threat of a smack can make them think twice about their misbehaviour as they won't want to get another one.

I think the problem is that some parents go over the line and it becomes more than a smack. I don't agree that governments should take away decent parent's rights to know the best way of disciplining their child. Society is breaking down enough as it is. When we had the recent riots in the UK, parents were complaining to politicians that they are scared to discipline their children because their rights to smack have been taken away. Children these days can "divorce" their parents and sue their parents. What is the world coming to. There needs to be training for those people who believe violence is the answer, however, a reasonable chastisement type of smack should be allowed.

I think people need to be aware of where the line would be crossed that it would no longer be considered reasonable chastisement.

In my childhood I learned the difference between smacking and being mistreated.

Last edited by whirlingmind on 21 Nov 2012, 9:34 am, edited 1 time in total.

...with regards to children with an ASD, I don't think any of the usual punishments work, whether it be smacking, time out, removal of privileges or trying the opposite methods of rewards, gold stars etc. because the behaviour isn't 'normal' to begin with, it comes from a disorder.

''Lack empathy'', ha, that's good.....

Spanking tells kids at a young age that a good way to deal with things is to use violence.

But of course, I cannot drive, cook all because i was not smacked enough?!?!? What hogwash. My mother was fed this rubbish when I was 5 - it insulted her then and it insults me now. If I have some fundamental problem understanding people's PoV it isnt because I have not been beaten enough to fully comprehend. My childhood was already so upsetting and confusing that I have to be told how I was because I have suppressed everything before 11 - Add regular physical punishment which I would also not have understood most of the time and I would have possibly become much more troubled that I already was.

I have been beaten quite badly as a kid and still occasionally get beaten, now that I'm a teen. I don't think it has made me into a better person.

this,

some of the most obnoxious kids i meet are from idiot parents, giving them the chance to take out their frustration on their kids wont help ever.

it is illegal here as it should be.

@mrxxx in essence you are saying that there are situations where corporal punishment works, but even then it will have consequences, so in every case on would have to judge all of that and the transgression as well,
and you actually expect people to be able to do this, most people barely think if they can help it (we are lazy by design, for many the easy and familiar solution wins over the effective and unfamiliar, no matter logic)

so with inherent bias and the propensity for people to fall into habbits, in the long run i think there is a far higher chance of damaging kids with corporeal punishment than helping anything

and it certainly isnt required for discipline, so why bother with something that is only usable in a minimum of cases and still carries far higher risk?

So you're suggesting that spanking cures Autism?

Ridiculous as this sounds, I'm willing to give it a try.