Some Autism traits environmentally created?
Do you think some of the problems autistic people have are environmental created and not genetic ? For example when I was a child I was told I was horrible at math but told I needed to do for school this created a vast amount of unneeded anxiety which inhibited learning. I find math simple now it was just the fact I was in a public school lol but for the longest time I thought I couldn't do math and would mentally freeze up of someone put a math problem in front of me. I thought I had trouble with because I was being told I would have trouble with it. Another example I frequently see "autistic individuals can't thinking abstractly" however I'm able to think abstractly and I notice there are plenty of autistic individual that think abstractly also. It's not uncommon for licensed health professional to not entirely lnow what they are taking about they are generally just regurgitating information they read out of books which are sometimes obsolete. I here of some giving misinformation to clients that are Austic. So do you think that some of the are some of the problems associated with autism socially created, for example the original medical definition of what autism was basically comparing them to socio paths from my understanding and know it's commonly understand that is completely wrong, do you think there are false assumptions about ausitism that are commonly held by some health professions that are unintentionally creating problems in austisic children because of the lack of understandings,then labeling the problem part of ausitism for example austtic children are commonly said to lack imagination so they create highly structured environment into "teach" them to play "normal" but it's so highly structured that it would inhibit the development of an imagination. Do you think some autistic people that cant think abstract not because of a native neurological reason but because they were brought up being told they can't, so it's simply not developed or they simply think they can't. The reason I'm asking is because temple grandin says she can't think abstractly but describes her thinking as a search engine were she types in words and concrete imagines she thinks in is pulled up. For example she takes the abstract concept of a car and uses that to pull up multiple imagines of different concrete examples of cars wouldn't that require a sub conscious understaning of an abstraction? I can think in abstracts but I wouldn't consider myself as someone that thinks verbally. An abstraction is a concept without phisical manifestion like a generalization a car =anything that as a steering wheel an engine and 4 wheels. Wouldn't at least a sub conscious understanding of a generalization be required to pull up multiple images of seperate concrete concepts that belong to the same abstract grouping?
A stressful environment can definitely lead to even normal people exhibiting some autism traits. Another environmental cause is exposure to toxic chemicals, including drugs, both legal, and illegal, and chemicals used around the house, or in industries. It's best to avoid toxic chemicals, and stressful environments. Unfortunately, it's not always possible to avoid them. ![]()
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If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer.
Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured, or far away.--Henry David Thoreau
Some Autism Traits Environmentally Created?
I've been thinking and wondering about this lately, concerning Theory of Mind,
which is controversial, to say the least. I feel the more you associate with others,
the more you learn about other's minds and how they operate. Especially when
you're young.
In the '40s and '50s people considered it impolite to speak of another's illness
in front of them....it happened in a kind of "hush hush" manner so as not to
make the ill one fully aware of their condition. It was called "polite" and people
still do the same thing today.
In my case this "secrecy" extended to almost anything so my parents, for example,
fell into the habit of not communicating with me or my brother, in any meaningful
way. An example: We moved to a rural area, from Chicago, in Feb. of 1st grade
for me. My parents never bothered to mention it until less than a week before.
Going to school, even my first kindergarten, I seemed to have little in common with
the other kids and never fit in. My "difference" was immediately obvious to the other
kids when this stranger showed up in their midst, and you know the outline of the
rest of that story.
What I'm pushing here is the idea that, if you have little or no contact/engagement
with others you will never be able to gain the interpersonal ability to understand
them....especially at the speed and casualness of NT kids.
This separateness continued with the only growth in my Theory of Mind ability being
that which was created in my own mind to "fill the gaps" as it were. Not too successfully
I'm afraid.
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