Discvery Health show about family with 6 autistic children

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Anyone see it?

The older child age 14 had AS. In the scene where he was having a conversation with the pychiatrist where the show "Sponge Bob" was a topic he was not able to respond to a simple cue.

How can anyone on this board in their right mind say that there is nothing wrong with that child? He can't even have a simple conversation with another human being.

i saw it.... felt a bit like me!

He probably didn't want to talk to the dude.

he can probably do a damn job communicating on IMs and forums or email, so no.

Oh and social skills/conversations skills have jack s**t to deal with being able to survive. you can get around it.

I saw it and all those kids looked worse than me. But his obsessive cleaning reminded me of me in my teens and he seemed to do okay in the conversation but I know I would have done better because I would have asked back "What is your favorite character?" I also didn't know the difference between friends and acquaintances. Aspies who say they have lot of friends, I am skeptical about that. I wouldn't say they're lying because maybe all the friends they have aren't actually their friends and they are just acquaintances.

And what cues?

Boy you are an Aspie through and through.

The psychiatrist said "I have a favorite character on the show". And there was about 10 seconds of silence. He should have said, "What is your favorite character?"



WAH?

People are hired and fired just on their ability to socialise and likeability. If a person hiring doesn't feel he is able to get along with someone, that person will not be hired.

Ever hear of networking? No social skills means no networking which means less opportunity for employment.

Last edited by KevinLA on 27 Nov 2008, 1:44 pm, edited 3 times in total.

No. They're showing it again on the 29th, but I don't get that channel.

I didn't see it, did it air in UK?

That sounds a lot like me, only difference is I could talk for hours about SpongeBob, which is one of the only topics I'd be good at talking about when I'm struggling to socialise.

I agree with To3To3. Kid might not have wanted to talk. We don't know how the interview was introduced to the young man, either. And, maybe, this kid sensed a condescending air about this guy.

Someone needs to teach the young man the usefulness of responding, "That's nice." of "Good. I'm happy for you." Works for me when phonies try to impress me or blow smoke up my hiney (translate -- lie)

Boy you are an Aspie through and through.

The psychiatrist said "I have a favorite character on the show". And there was about 10 seconds of silence. He should have said, "What is your favorite character?"

[quote="KevinLA"]



Ha ha. Nice try.

Maybe he wasn't interested in what her favorite character is. I wouldn't have asked that either if I didn't care. If I was curious, then I would have.

I saw parts of it and the last 15 minutes. Why were the kids sleeping on bare mattresses? The mattresses were filthy and the mother was wiping them down with bleach? Couldn't she have put a plastic cover around the mattress?

My house is a mess so I don't mean to sound judgmental, but I found the bare mattresses very strange.

The dad seemed aspie IMO.

How so?

I don't get it- how can anyone keep procreating if they know after the first 2 kids that they have some crap DNA...

Maybe they forgot to use protected sex or they just kept hoping their next child will be "normal."

but 6 times? that's just stupid...

Probably because the first two kids are happy and well adjusted... and the whole family tends towards autism without any of the things that could cause early death--you know, seizures, autoimmune disease, severe allergies, Rett syndrome related nervous system problems--so if you're going to have kids who are reasonably happy and won't die early, I don't see what autism has to do with it. We can always use reinforcements.

I mean, I'm the oldest in my family, and I have two younger siblings--one of whom is also Aspie--and what does that tell you? Mind, my mom didn't know I was autistic until I was 11 years old; but I was definitely a difficult child, with the constant tantrums, insomnia, and utter insistence on total fairness... anyway, the littlest one is 11 and a half years younger than me...

OK, considering the 14 year old Aspie--come on, that's a really easy mistake for any of us to make. If somebody makes a statement that only suggests a question, we may easily decide to err on the side of caution and not "answer" it. Lots of Aspies are shy that way, and anyway, the guy was being filmed--even more reason not to embarrass yourself. Silence is a lot less embarrassing than saying the wrong thing. And not noticing that it suggested a question is not unlikely, either; you might simply assume that, as it usually is, a statement like, "I have a favorite character too," will be followed by the answer to the question without the other person having to ask the question at all. If anything, expecting a question is too artificial. That confusion on top of being filmed, and wanting to be cautious anyway, could easily end up with enough delay while trying to figure out what to say and if to say anything at all... that the impression would be "This boy doesn't know that he's meant to ask a question.

I know that's overanalysis--but I betcha that kid was making the same overanalysis I just did, or something similar. (Or he didn't like the shrink. Hey, it's a possibility.)