My theory on aspies and BAP parents...

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Anomiel
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08 Jun 2013, 2:36 pm

rdos wrote:
Anomiel wrote:
rdos wrote:
I have a more radical theory. I think the reason for diagnosis is not genetic at all, but grounded in a bad environment with discrimination and social exclusion. Since this is a recent phenomena, our parents didn't fare as bad as us, and our children fare even worse. Thus, one can say that ASD diagnosis is BAP + bad environment.


But many autistics have stranger genes than their parents, with de novo mutations.


That's an articfact of doing research on both ASD and mental retardation. Such research gives no clue if these de novo mutations in fact are the cause of mental retardation or neurodiversity traits.

Anomiel wrote:
I'd wager most autistics experience/d discrimination and social exclusion because they are autistic. So if you don't want to involve time travel...
If all BAPs had as sensitive senses as us, they would have all the issues that comes with that.


I disagree. It is possible for parents to create a safe, Aspie-friendly place at home, and I expect this to create a much better outcome even if these children face discrimination in the rest of society. In fact, my experience with two now adult children that are in the lower functioning region, but have no psychological issues, tells me this is so.

Anomiel wrote:
I do think a few characteristics that are regarded "autistic" come from being so different and/or being mistreated, or being told that being you is unacceptable.


If parents accept children as they are this would be enough for the child to think it is acceptable, even if others disagree.


Ah good point with the de novo mutations, I always forget that aspect. I don't know what you mean by psychological problems, but people can be "low-functioning" but still not very autistic. People long thought intelligence and NTness went hand in hand, on now it turns out they were wrong.
But you are basically arguing that autism is BAP+mistreatment. If autism exists without mistreatment, and before mistreatment, then it is incorrect. Stress do make our differences more noticeable, so I guess if you were in a very stressfree controlled enviorement, then you would not have any of the "suffering" people always accuse autistics of.



rdos
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08 Jun 2013, 2:53 pm

Anomiel wrote:
I don't know what you mean by psychological problems, but people can be "low-functioning" but still not very autistic.


Psychological problems are things like depression, low self-esteem, stereotypical behavior, irrational fears, antisocial behavior, mood swings and aggressive behavior.

Anomiel wrote:
People long thought intelligence and NTness went hand in hand, on now it turns out they were wrong.


This is complex issue. Not only is this wrong, but autistic intelligence is different from NT intelligence, and certain comorbidities (like Dyslexia) might very well place autistic far too low on the IQ scale, especially if timed, verbally based tests are used.

Anomiel wrote:
But you are basically arguing that autism is BAP+mistreatment. If autism exists without mistreatment, and before mistreatment, then it is incorrect. Stress do make our differences more noticeable, so I guess if you were in a very stressfree controlled enviorement, then you would not have any of the "suffering" people always accuse autistics of.


Note that this theory is very different from the "refrigerator mother theory", and that it is not self-evident what contributes to bad or outcomes. For instance, I suspect that most early intervention programs, which always assume the child have issues that must be fixed, will generate a bad outcome because they are not accepting the child as it is. There are ways to teach the required social skills without violating the child's right to be itself.



rdos
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08 Jun 2013, 3:13 pm

Note that the children that I talk about which does not have depression, low self-esteem, stereotypy and generally are considered as nice and well-behaved, have sensory issues, IQ close to 70, Dyslexia and does bad with authority. One of them have co-morbid ADHD while the other is very sensitive to critic. They have both struggled to understand social behavior, and one of them (daugther) today has social relations as a special interest.



Anomiel
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08 Jun 2013, 4:27 pm

rdos wrote:
Anomiel wrote:
I don't know what you mean by psychological problems, but people can be "low-functioning" but still not very autistic.


Psychological problems are things like depression, low self-esteem, stereotypical behavior, irrational fears, antisocial behavior, mood swings and aggressive behavior.

Anomiel wrote:
People long thought intelligence and NTness went hand in hand, on now it turns out they were wrong.


This is complex issue. Not only is this wrong, but autistic intelligence is different from NT intelligence, and certain comorbidities (like Dyslexia) might very well place autistic far too low on the IQ scale, especially if timed, verbally based tests are used.

Anomiel wrote:
But you are basically arguing that autism is BAP+mistreatment. If autism exists without mistreatment, and before mistreatment, then it is incorrect. Stress do make our differences more noticeable, so I guess if you were in a very stressfree controlled enviorement, then you would not have any of the "suffering" people always accuse autistics of.


Note that this theory is very different from the "refrigerator mother theory", and that it is not self-evident what contributes to bad or outcomes. For instance, I suspect that most early intervention programs, which always assume the child have issues that must be fixed, will generate a bad outcome because they are not accepting the child as it is. There are ways to teach the required social skills without violating the child's right to be itself.


I used intelligence as shorthand for without mental retardation, which I shouldn't have - I just dislike that term even if it is correct but it was the wrong word to use... I also think that the concept of IQ-testing (not the concept of intelligence in itself, though for most they are considered the same) is very flawed. It is made for NTs, which is why autistics can have results that are all over the place.
What I was talking about was that apparently people can have mental retardation and be considered low-functioning, even if they aren't as autistic. Vice versa, an autistic without mental retardation can be more autistic than a low-functioning. For some low-functioning means "more autistic".
I fully agree that many of those problems are triggered by the environment! Except for those that have neurological basis, which antisocial behavior and moodswings can have. Even then of course a stressful environment would affect things. But I do not believe these problems are what defines autism. Do you propose that an autistic is really just a BAP with behavioral problems caused by the environment - did I understand you correctly? Or are you just saying we would appear more "normal" if we had stressfree environments (avoiding triggers to meltdowns, overloads etc), if so I agree. But we have many other differences which aren't all problems.
Our innate autisticness do come from how we perceive the world in the first place, as they have not found the same sensory differences in NTs (or to the same degree in BAPs).



Ettina
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08 Jun 2013, 5:05 pm

Quote:
That's an articfact of doing research on both ASD and mental retardation. Such research gives no clue if these de novo mutations in fact are the cause of mental retardation or neurodiversity traits.


Not really.

It used to be that most autistics with identified de novo genetic conditions were MR as well, simply because the more severe genetic conditions are easier to detect. Particularly when it comes to chromosome disorders as opposed to single gene conditions - the larger a segment of chromosome affected, the more severe the phenotype, and the lower the resolution needed to detect it. But with more advanced genetics technology, we're learning that smaller chromosome disorder (often called 'copy number variants') are common in many mild neurodevelopmental conditions, such as high functioning autism, dyslexia, or other specific learning disabilities. And although these are more often inherited than the more severe chromosome disorders, there are still plenty of de novo cases as well.



btbnnyr
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09 Jun 2013, 2:31 pm

My parents and relatives are mostly BAP. My father has full range of autistic traits and is BAP/HFA scientist. Socially, he is like a milder, wiser version of me. My mother is socially normal, but has lots of RRB traits, obsessive, detail-oriented, good with numbers, works in accounting. Both sides of family have many autistic traits. Growing up in BAP family was big benefit to me, as my traits were normal and good, and what my parents did fit me naturally without them even thinking about it. I read in a review paper about BAP being found more frequently in families of HFASD children than LFASD children.

One thing that I noticed about my BAP parents was that they don't care too much about my feelings or have too much empathy for me, just like I am not a big empathizer myself and don't care much about other people's feelings either. As a result, they didn't overprotect me when I was growing up and made me do things that I was not happy or comfortable doing but that helped me develop the skills that I needed for adult life. A big part of developing skills is doing the things that require the skills that you don't have yet in order to get the skills through doing the things.


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1000Knives
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09 Jun 2013, 8:51 pm

My mom is rather cold and shy. Her brother has almost definite Aspergers (extremely severe) and has a fully autistic son. My dad is pretty "NT" but into conspiracy theories and stuff, and also has some amount of social anxiety. No problems with the ladies (gets all kinds of girls numbers...,) though :?

I'm probably more similar to my dad. I think I'm probably a combination of my uncle and my dad. My uncle's an engineer. My dad was a machinist. My dad lifted weights for fun, but I don't think he ever put the amount of sheer nerdy thought process I put into lifting, for example, things like percentagized training plans and stuff. My dad was pretty alpha, imo. He even rode a Harley. So not a "nice guy" more "outlaw biker bad boy."

I guess it's OK to have one set of DNA offset the other.



Cash__
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09 Jun 2013, 9:14 pm

My paternal side is BAP. My maternal side has schizophrenia running in it.



DemocraticSocialistHun
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15 Jun 2013, 10:19 am

rdos wrote:

Anomiel wrote:
I do think a few characteristics that are regarded "autistic" come from being so different and/or being mistreated, or being told that being you is unacceptable.


If parents accept children as they are this would be enough for the child to think it is acceptable, even if others disagree.


Could attempts to "normalize" neurodiverse children increase stress levels, thereby causing exaggerated, and perhaps abnormal stims and other autistic behaviors? Could it be the autism researchers and those that listen to them actually be engaging in self-defeating behaviors and creating mountains out of what otherwise would be mole hills?

PS any comments on Cheap oil, globalization, etc & the Neanderthal Theory?
http://www.wrongplanet.net/postp5430418.html


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