I read this book review on an online media website and my thoughts, as they so often do, turned to implications for ASD and the impact of our environment on children and their development. Continue reading →

The CBC radio show Quirks and Quarks ran a show some time ago on autism. It is available for download as a podcast here with some additional links to other resources. I have downloaded it and added it to our podcast repository in case the link goes cold or the content is removed.

Here is the information on their page regarding the show:

In the big dictionary of mental disorders known as the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, or DSM for short, autism is listed as a mental illness. According to the psychiatric manual, people with autism don’t communicate well, have trouble interacting with others, and often have some unusual and repetitive behaviours. Scientists have been very interested in understanding what causes autism — mostly with an eye to curing it.

Now, two autism researchers in Montreal are arguing that maybe autism isn’t something that needs to be cured. Maybe it isn’t even a mental disorder.

The two researchers make an unlikely team. One is Dr. Laurent Mottron, a psychiatrist and cognitive neuroscientist at the Riviere-des-Prairies Hospital. He has been studying autism for 25 years. The other is Michelle Dawson, who is autistic. Ms. Dawson has never been to university, but is working at the level of someone with a PhD. For the last couple of years, these two have been collaborating on research into autism. They argue that autism should be recognized as a different way of being human, rather than as a disease or series of defects to be eradicated.

We sent freelance science journalist Alison Motluk to Montreal recently, to speak to the two researchers.

I haven’t had a chance to listen to it yet but the preamble seems to be very interesting and captures what is a very divisive issue within the autism community- how autism should be viewed and what, if anything, should be done about it. I look forward to listening to it, I hope that it is a balanced review with some input from both sides of the debate.

I will comment further once I find the time to listen to the podcast in its entirety and have had some time to digest it. If anyone has invented a day with more than 24 hours I would love to be a beta tester!!

CBC radio ran a 2 part series on autism. I have not had the chance to listen to the broadcast but I hope to have the time soon. I will post the link here for my future reference and for anyone else that may be interested in finding and listening to the program.

Anyone that has listened to it and has some thoughts I would love to hear what you think.

Update:
I checked the CBC’s podcasts and found the first part of the series that I have downloaded and stored here for sharing in case the streaming version goes off-line.

Update #2:
I found the second portion of the broadcast and have added it to the podcast section of our repository as well and can be found here.

The National on CBC ran an interview with the founder of The brain repair institute of Canada , a supposed treatment center for kids with autism and other neurologically based conditions like cerebral palsy. To say that I found the whole thing disturbing would be a GROSS understatement. Though she bases some of her claims on good science, she then makes outrageous claims that are totally unfounded and denied by the original researchers. A quick review of her website even shows many names of well known researchers that, in the interview, denied even knowing her or her work and would not endorse what she is doing.

I could rant extensively about many issues raised in the interview and their impact on families and their children, but I will let the reader decide for themselves.

You can watch the video online on the cbc website, or read a print version of the same program here .