http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01lyczl

Starts at 9pm.

Autism
Episode 1 of 3

Duration: 1 hour

Autism is a complicated and often misunderstood condition. In this film, child psychologist Laverne Antrobus goes on a quest to discover the different way that the brain works in children with autism and to explore the latest scientific research.

Laverne meets Tony, a severely autistic teenager who requires full-time care from his family, and learns some of the difficult sensory problems that children with autism can have. The autistic brain cannot always process light and sound in the correct way, leading to an overwhelming and exhausting overload of noise and colour. Laverne travels to the University of Cardiff to investigate new research into the link between sensory issues and the autistic brain. She also goes to the University of Nottingham to try and uncover why people like Tony appear to be so socially isolated. She begins to learn the amazing way our brains work when confronted with social situations and how we understand the social cues that we encounter every day - and what happens when this goes wrong.

With a better understanding of Tony's difficulties, Laverne then continues to follow his story as this family go through the difficult and highly emotional transition of putting their son into full-time residential care.

Laverne also meets a family with two young boys, Jake and Zaine. Jake has been diagnosed with high functioning autism - the opposite end of the spectrum to Tony. By spending time with Jake, Laverne sees some of the social difficulties associated with the condition, such as the daily struggle with school and making friends. Jake's younger brother Zaine is also beginning to show autistic traits and in a particularly poignant sequence Laverne attends a diagnosis session with the family. With amazing access to this emotional day, Laverne explores the complicated process of diagnosis and the symptoms that are looked for in order to reach the correct conclusion. Laverne also investigates some exciting and pioneering research being carried out at Birkbeck Babylab, which is offering hope for a simpler and earlier diagnostic procedure.

Michael is a 19-year-old with high functioning autism who is studying physics at the University of Surrey. By meeting Michael we see that an autistic brain can actually learn to deal with mainstream society. How does he comprehend society and what coping systems does he have in place? Laverne carries out a experiment where she takes Michael to view one of her favourite paintings. The different way in which they view the portrait offers a powerful insight into the way someone on the spectrum can think and interact. Laverne also compares how someone with autism deals with idioms and metaphors to those who are not on the spectrum. We come to understand that someone with autism just sees the world in a very different way.

These powerful stories are intermingled with interviews with leading scientists in the field that help to further illuminate this condition.

Our brains are constantly monitoring the social situations we find ourselves in - attempting to mindread the people around us and helping us to respond appropriately. For those on the autistic spectrum this is often not the case. Autism is still an incredibly puzzling disorder of the brain, but over the last 50 years we have started to unlock the meaning of some of its more bizarre behaviours and symptoms. We are now beginning to understand what happens in the brain as we process all the sensory information from the world around us, and to comprehend how it affects the way children think, act and grow into social beings. In this film we learn along with Laverne and we begin to understand the different way in which the brain of someone on the autistic spectrum operates - as well as the heart-wrenching effect this can have on them and their families.  < Show less

Autism is a complicated and often misunderstood condition. In this film, child psychologist Laverne Antrobus goes on a quest to discover the different way that the brain works in children with autism and to explore the latest scientific research.
Laverne meets Tony, a... > Show more

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BBC Four
Today

21:00

Oh man..... I wish someone could make a bootleg of this as they did for the Howson documentary

I've recorded it, and I'll watch it all again with my son.  He was outside when it started so we only watched a bit of it together before he went to bed.  He thought it was very good, and while we were watching it I paused it a few times so he could talk about various aspects of the show and the people in it.

Thats good, not a bad idea to have healthy discussions on what you guys are watching.

Crap I missed it. Might have been for the best though.

It sounds like it would have a good message.

I thought the programme was really well balanced in giving an idea of the breadth of the Spectrum.  

They started with Tony, who is 15 years old, pretty much non-verbal, and has learning disabilities in addition to his autism.  They filmed in their house, so while the presenter was sitting at the table talking with his mother you could see Tony in the background.  He alternated between watching Disney cartoons on the computer, and getting up, jumping and flapping and chanting or shouting very loudly.  His mother communicates with him using very basic visual social stories, pictures, hand signals and single words or simple phrases.  

They also filmed them doing their usual supermarket shop, and talked about how autistic people process sensory information very differently.  In the supermarket Tony was flapping, jumping and making a fair bit of noise from time to time.  It was explained that this is thought to be a way of blocking confusing and distressing sensory information, and is a coping mechanism.  At one point Tony said "waiting" which his mother explained meant that he wouldn't be able to hold it together much longer so they should finish up and leave very soon.  His mother kept him beside her and between her and the shelves.  This was in case he had a melt-down as he has in the past attacked others while in that state.  At another point she said that Tony is a "biter".

The mother said puberty had brought additional challenges, which she wasn't able to manage herself, so Tony had been making a planned transition to residential care.  He was attending for visits, and in the show she explained, using the visual social story that he would go there the next day and stay for 8 sleeps, and come home on the Sunday.  We saw Tony going to the residential centre, where he would share a bungalow with 3 or 4 others about his age, and attend a learning centre on site.  There was a large and secluded outside area, where he could jump and flap.

In light of recent discussions here, I should point out that the phrase "low functioning" was not used.

The show also featured Michael, who is 19 and studying Physics at University.  My son said that he was more like Michael, but not exactly like him.  Michael struggled with English at school, and has had published a book about English idioms which he wrote and illustrated.  He's now working on a second book.  I'm not sure, but I think they said Michael has Asperger's.  They did say, when they went from Tony to Michael that he was at the other end of the Spectrum.  They mentioned that his verbal and cognitive abilities were strong but that he had struggled and continued to struggle with social understanding and communication.  I am paraphrasing here!

The presenter went with Michael to look at a portrait that she likes and asked him to describe what she saw.  It was a painting of a little girl, looking at the viewer, and the presenter, a child psychologist, said that she likes portraits and seeing in them the emotions of the people depicted.  Neither Michael, nor my son and I, could see any emotions in the portrait.  Just a girl looking straight out, with a blank face.  I did think it was well painted, but a bit creepy to be honest.  I prefer landscapes.

My son has appeared, should be in his bed, so I'll just post this now.

Why's that?

Son is back in his bedroom.  He doesn't go to sleep till about 3am just now, and it's not yet 11.30pm so I'll see him a few more times tonight!

Back to the show!

They also interviewed a family with one boy, now about 7 years old, who was diagnosed at age 3.  The parents suspected that their younger son was also on the Spectrum, although he was very different from his brother in many ways.  They showed the two boys, and focussed particularly on the younger boy, and the presenter and the film crew sat in on the assessment and when the parents were told that he had Asperger's.  My son thought that this boy was like a boy who used to be at school with him, then moved to a school for children for autism, but still attends Out of School Care at my son's school.  Both the boys were shown kicking and hitting their mother, and being particularly out of control after school.  The presenter made the point that for children with autism, school is a very difficult and stressful environment, and although they may be able to hold it together at school, they explode the minute they get home.

The presenter also met with neurologists and others who are conducting research into autism, particularly looking at tracking and attention issues.  I missed a lot of this stuff as my son was talking and moving about a lot and I'd forgotten that I can pause the TV.

Throughout, it was explicitly stated that autism is a different way of thinking and interacting with the world and people.  It was emphasised that it isn't something that is "wrong" with someone, but something that is "different".

Why don't they ever show balanced, even-handed programs about autism on American television? Whenever we get anything about autism on TV in the USA, it will almost always portray autistic people as awkward, disappointing, hopeless perpetual children, and their family members, caretakers, and friends as saint-like figures with infinite patience and tolerance. Ugh.

The programme was very matter of fact, as were the parents, and Michael, the student with Autism.

The parents of the two young boys had taken the attitude with their older son that they looked to the future and moved on, and they were taking the same approach with their younger son and his diagnosis.  They were a little emotional after the assessment and diagnosis, which is understandable as it is a very intense experience and the nature of it means that you are focussed on your child's struggles and problems, which can be a little dispiriting.  

Tony's mother said that she had known since her son was 3 years old that he would have to go into residential care at some point, when she was no longer able to have him at home, and that now that time had come.  

No drama, no melodrama.

Well normally documentaries like this would offend me take "extreme love" and "my child's not perfect" on ITV.

But considering comments posted by you guys I think I'll give this one a shot, see if it's still on BBC Iplayer or something.

+1,000% concur

it was better than most, but I still didn't like it.

Michael (the student) was clearly just repeating what he'd been told about his "issues". he kept saying things like "I have trouble understanding X" where "X" is one of many things NTs like to tell themselves they understand, but that no one can know if they understand it or not (I wrote a long blogpost on this called empathy: the great social delusion).

it also didn't show a single girl/woman on the spectrum and michael was the only adult shown. a female autistic adult would have been very positive (both as a role model for young autistic girls and to counteract the myth that it's a boy thing). an actual adult in a job (as oposed to a student)would also have shown that we can be productive adults.

but Tonys mum was awesome. it really shouldn't be so unusual to see a parent talking about sesory issues so calmly, without blaming anything on her son.

The only thing I've seen on American TV about autism was an autsqueaks commercial