Autism Every Day - 7 minute version

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDMMwG7RrFQ

Comments? Since Aspergers will soon be eliminated, and we will be left with Autism,
should I use the above video as a teaching tool for Autism?

Keep in mind that Asperger's might not be eliminated from the DSM, its just something that's being discussed. I feel that it probably will remain in the DSM.

I don't feel I can discuss Asperger's with its future in limbo.

Since Autism will be around, do you think these youtube videos are good teaching tools to a lay audience?

Autism Speaks created it, showing autistic kids and their parents.

I doubt anything produced by those scare mongers is a good teaching tool frankly.

Well did you see the video? It has real parents and real kids with autism.

I went and watched the video, trying to keep an open mind because I am Not Fond of Autism Speaks.

I certainly felt for the moms in the video. (Why just moms, I suddenly wonder?) I have experienced some of what they talk about and it is undeniably very hard and painful.

The movie is an awfully one-sided, one-dimensional view of autism, however. Many of the children shown were very young; nothing is said about the fact that things may well improve as they get older. The children were all shown at their absolute worst--even NT children have absolute worsts that are pretty damn bad. And there was nothing about good times.

If they had picked, say me, to be in that video, I could have found plenty of terrible things to talk about. But I also could have talked about the adorable things my son says, his fascinating ways of looking at the world, the amazing things he did before he could really speak. He is admittedly much "higher-functioning" than the children shown. But that's doesn't make him any less a legitimate face of autism.

I saw children trying to communicate and participate in that video. I don't blame the parents for ignoring them at the moment while they concentrated on something else; that doesn't mean they do it all the time. But it tells me there was more to the story than the film was telling. I don't know if those parent were even *asked* if their child ever did anything to make them smile or feel proud.

Would it be fair to say those moms of autistic children are truthfully and honestly expressing their opinions re: autism?

I don't suspect anything about shown in the video was a lie; I would think you could reasonably use it as one teaching tool. But it wouldn't be fair or honest to use *only* it, without representation of other points of view. It would need to be balanced.

What would be a good youtube video showing this otherside of classic autism?

I am unconvinced that "being honest" makes a statement or opinion worthy of dissemination or endorsement. Are the honestly racist opinions of racists something we should endorse and use as a general teaching tool about race and the characteristics of various races? Should the honest opinion of various parents who murdered their Autistic offspring be disseminated and used as a teaching tool about the traits and characteristics of Autism? Are all opinions characterized by honesty equal in terms of morality and desirability as a teaching tool? I suggest not.

fair enough, what would be a good youtube video that shows autistic behavior in a clinically useful way.

I avoid u-tube so I am probably not the best person to ask. I understand that there is a lot of material on u-tube though, so I expect if you really want to, you can locate a resource that is balanced and utilitarian for your purpose, and not produced by an organization that is offensive to a significant proportion of people on the spectrum. I personally would look more for private (rather than organization) up-loaded u-tubes, as these are likely to show Autistic people not only in natural and varied settings, but also to be framed from varied perspectives. I expect a group of u-tubes made by a disparate pool of authors rather than a single organization, is likely to result in a more balanced over-view.