Just released - a new paper from Cornell University - "Does TV cause autism?". Interesting 'real-world' work here, with a sound methodology, and from non-medical researchers.
http://www.johnson.cornell.edu/faculty/p...paper.html
However, it needs to be said (again) that autism is a spectrum and it varies from person to person - therefore any 'cause' will almost certainly be eventually found to actually be 'multiple causes' that combine differently and uniquely to produce unique outcomes in each person.
I think that they got it the wrong way around, and that Autistic people are more inclined to whach TV to understand the world, and that there has been a massive increace in the amount of people aware of Autism because of the rise in TV whaching.
There are some comments against this study on
http://www.autism-hub.co.uk/ this week. I am not good enough at science to judge whether this is bad science.
Bizarre and miserable junk science, worthy of any number of ambulance-chasers. They PRESUMED that precipitation and TV time go hand-in-hand. Then they measured precipitation and autism rates.
And from THAT they conclude television causes autism?
I guess it never occurred to them that precipitation could be reflected in other conditions, such as available sunlight (let's bake those kids!), time spent cooped up, having to deal with THOSE DAMNED OTHER PEOPLE ALL DAY LONG, so those of us who don't have conventional monkey brains get forced into adopting "autistic" coping mechanisms instead of being allowed to explore our innate, natural, and normal solitary inclinations, or even having to deal, day after day, after day, with "Hey, lousy weather we're having here, dontchaknow"?
There's a reason why idiots like that end up in "management" or "labor relations" schools. They can't handle doing real science.
I watch zero television. Therefore, I am unaware of what might be in fashion, and that is common amoung us aspies.
Personally, I think the idea that TV watching causes autism is ludicrous!
Two words about this theory
BULLS**T!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !
Second, there is typically a deficiency in interpreting subtle social cues such as smiles, winks, and grimaces. Third, autistic individuals frequently exhibit what is referred to as mind blindness, i.e., they lack a conceptual understanding of what other individuals are thinking.
this insular concept again.
Social relations and concepts of human communication aren't taught in school at any level, unless perhaps there are college courses which look from the top down. deficiency regarding social cues? dodging for the sake of a succint study perhaps, potentially, that not all individuals are vulnerable to a specific set of influences. this should be obvious. tv in fact is a strange thing for them to treat as a plain variable.....that is if they were objective and considered that tv without the context of the equipment (That is, just the image) is a mirage and nothing more.
Is it common for Aspies to be able to understand some non-verbal cues from others but not to be able to give out those same kinds of non-verbal cues eg. having a neutral expression most of the time and talking in a fairly uninflected voice?