Thursday, October 13, 2011

Return of the Bad Parents Cause Autism Nightmare Monster




AMY GOODMAN: Say what you mean by autism.











Claire said...

Wow...unbelievable. You have to wonder why all kids born say, in war zones or born into extreme poverty, aren't all autistic from their stressed out parents. Then you gotta love the line, "Well, autism is a whole spectrum of disorders, but the essential quality of it is an emotional disconnect." Nice easy summation of autism there, eh, Harold? Good heavens that's idiotic.

usethebrainsgodgiveyou said...

Funny you should say that, Claire, because I know his story. His own mother was alone, his father a victim of the Nazi's; she had to make the difficult decision to send him away to save his life.

Dr. Mate also has a lot of guilt because of the way he treated his own children, who came up with the same ADHD he had, and he had not treated them lovingly.

He's trying to make parents see that their children's development is the most important thing, not micro-managing their behaviors or drugging them into compliance.

The thing is, the people who are true monsters as parents will never see themselves in his descriptions, while those with gentle hearts will beat themselves up about it.

Another example of someone working out their own stuff, and seeing it as truth to justify their own choices. He blames himself, so everyone must be guilty.

He is correct, I think, in one view that he has that there is an innate sensitivity to the environment. Our children's emotions/senses are easily triggered. The world is too intense for them.

trainspotter said...

If any of that theory is true than, logically, it should be my younger child that has autism and not my older one.

When my oldest was born, I lived every second of the day for her- happily and stress free. I felt bonded to her from the first minute I held her.

My second child was born two months before my oldest daughter's autism diagnosis- I was super stressed, had PPD, and spent most of the day pushing her aside while I addressed her sister's self injurious behaviours. I didn't feel that I bonded with my second child until she was almost 3 (which I do feel guilty about). She's now 7 years old, wonderfully social, well adjusted, and very smart for her age.

Someone needs to stop these 'intellectuals' from thinking before they decide that overworked, poorly paid, daycare staff are the only ones qualified to properly bond with a child (no offense to daycare).

Claire said...

Dear usethebrains...I agree completely that parents need to attend to their children in personal ways, that balanced, happy parents have a better chance of producing psychologically healthy children. I am a teacher of small children and I know that what happens to them at a young age is very formative of how they will behave the rest of their lives. These behaviours, this psychology, however, can always be changed with will and desire for betterment. This is not the truth for those on the autism spectrum...because autism, ADD and such, I hold to be neurological disorders, brain damage, bad wiring... Some of it can be addressed via diet, and certain forms of direct training...which is repetitive in nature and creates new neural pathways. It's physiological...not psychological...big difference. Understand that many other forms of disability...not just autism...cause hypersensitivty. My daughter, a victim of stroke, is one such person. She is also barely able to handle strong emotions of her own. This is due to brain damage...not parenting.

The Fauxtist said...

I don't know who this guy is, but his name is French. So, for arguments sake I'll assume he is French. The French are still stuck in Freudian Psychoanalysis. They are an island in the western world. You can see this in much of their "research" and much of their therapies such as packing:

No one outside of France, with the exception of a quack here and there, still subscribe to their psychoanalysis. Much of the world research community views France as 50 years behind in its understanding of neurological disorders.

Forgive me if I'm wrong on this doctor, but I'm assuming he is approaching autism from a psychoanalyst position which has been thoroughly destroyed by modern science.

Anonymous said...

fauxtist - he is actually hungarian... a few seconds on google could make a big difference to the 5 minutes of theory you came up with!