Comments on: Dear Professor Waldman, re: TV and autism

By: Kristina Chew, PhD

Kristina Chew, PhD — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 02:21:28 +0000

There do seem to be connections, and perhaps we might keep asking ourselves why we keep seeking such……….

By: lady pat

lady pat — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 21:53:48 +0000

I’ve worked with autism and seen normal nieces and nephews (good eye contact, reacting to stimuli, etc.) get their vaccines, run a fever and “become” autistic. I’m a licensed psychologist with video tape of the children before their vaccines and after. It is heartbreaking. As for this research study which shows a statistical relationship between rain, damp weather and autism….it could also be the temperature in the trucks that transport the vaccines. There are so many variables. As the government says, it may not be the vaccines but some other factor which effects the vaccines or the person receiving the vaccine. There are lots of hormones and antiobiotics in milk, could the combination of those with the vaccines be one of the factors? Of course, but so could a lot of other factors. I’m praying for an answer to this question.

By: Regan

Regan — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 19:26:24 +0000

I think Prof. Waldman’s research was specifically about his son and a very few other children?

It was large data sets from different states. It was the indirectness and assumptions made that made this particular manuscript as it stands less than compelling.

Perhaps they will do the direct studies that they discuss in the manuscript and better make their case…or not (a negative or null result is also a possibility).

By: J Doe

J Doe — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 16:52:42 +0000

I believe that there is most definitely some link between autism and television. The paper’s authors suggest it could be a TRIGGER, and I think this is an accurate description.

My autistic son watched many Baby Einstein videos as a toddler. There are some of these videos (as well as Brainy Baby, etc.) that include animated sequences that would appear to affect epileptic children, as well (flashing, moving objects, etc.) My son’s fascination with these, I fear, acted as a catalyst, a trigger, if you will, into autism.

Is this the only cause? Probably not. It could very well be vaccines PLUS television PLUS other environmental factors.

But I think to totally dismiss television as a possible trigger is irresponsible, just as it would be irresponsible to say it is the ONLY cause.

By: Regan

Regan — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 08:39:39 +0000

Kristina,
I don’t know the personal motivations behind this report or anyone’s personal background–it just seems in my opinion that as it stands there are a lot of ifs statistically massaged and some funky data (Oregon’s broader criteria for autism category is not the same as California and Washington as noted by Jim Laidler in Pediatrics/not cited in this paper; a sidebar that speculates that Dan Olmsted’s observations on the Amish serves as some kind of child count parameter, when perhaps the Orthodox or Hassidic Jewish communities, as someone noted, might serve as a more appropriate control for the hypothesis with more accurate counts).

On p.43.
“For example, one could monitor the viewing habits of a large number of children from the ages of zero to three and see whether the children who are eventually diagnosed with autism on average watched more television before the age of three. The finding that those diagnosed with autism had indeed watched more television would be subject to the criticism that maybe those prone to autism are more drawn to television viewing”

That is a reasonable study that with proper controls could be done anywhere and would be a much straighter line from A to B. It could be the case that this was in aid of a grant proposal for such. I might suggest that these guys get a professional epidemiologist or public health specialist with autism experience involved to set up such an study should they obtain a grant.

Just my opinion.

By: Kristina Chew, PhD

Kristina Chew, PhD — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 03:22:08 +0000

@Regan,

I think your husband may be on to something—–I think Prof. Waldman’s research was specifically about his son and a very few other children?

By: Regan

Regan — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 02:38:05 +0000

“The link certainly suggests causality”
———————
Does it?
I’ve read the paper (non peer-reviewed direct to the press release), and my opinion is that while the hypothesis may have had some appeal, the analysis is limited by selective inclusion/exclusion of data and is based on cobbling different preexisting data sets together without a direct test. Based on the parameters, one might suggest receiving the cable bill is the trigger for autism.

My husband, who also analyzes data as part of his professional bread and butter, read it, and said he thought maybe the real goal is to test the critical analysis skills of the press, ala Sokol.

Excerpt: p. 40–”Because we do not provide a direct test of the effects of televison watching on autism, we do not consider our results to be definitive evidence in favor of the television viewing as trigger hypothesis…”

They also noted (twice) that autism does not cause precipitation.

It is not “trashing” a preprint to suggest that some of the variables make assumptions that may not bear up under direct test. FWIW, my opinion is subject to change should they present more convincing data of that nature–documenting that the children actually were watching TV or that some other variable related to the family members actually watching TV would be a good start.
(For a real thrashing, see some of the other commentary out there on the web).

By: Paula

Paula — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 02:16:38 +0000

We didn’t get a TV until I was 5. My dad had to teach me how to discern the foreground (people) from the background (other stuff). It was a black and white TV. I rarely watched TV and watch it even more rarely now. Same for videos, movies, and anything else that makes me feel woozy. What I did instead of watching TV was read read read read. Hyperlexia, years before we ever had a TV.

By: jmad

jmad — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 23:23:32 +0000

As a side note – I know people who did not even own TV’s when their child developed autism. There are members of the orthodox jewish community who eschew TV and pop media, including movies – and autism seems to be as prevalent as it is in the general populace.

By: Kristina Chew, PhD

Kristina Chew, PhD — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 22:16:51 +0000

@Joseph Guse,

I have not reviewed Prof. Waldman’s paper recently (I read it when he posted it on the internet and also exchanged some emails with him). There are a number of posts here about the paper. Thank you for commenting.