First it was iPods, now it’s TV: Blaming autism on electronic appliances
October 16, 2006 by Kristina Chew, PhD
Filed under Health
Today’s Slate magazine: TV might cause autism. A research paper by Michael Waldman of the Johnson Graduate School of Management of Cornell University, Does Television Cause Autism?, is cited as a potential bombshell in the autism debate.”
Prof. Waldman is a professor in Cornell’s Johnson School of Business. Not in the sciences, in pscychology, or education, or in any medical field.
Hours of television watched per day by Charlie, my autistic son (my “classically” autistic son) throughout his life: 0-1/2 hour. Right now, the amount is simply 0.
If TV causes autism, the “cure” would be too simple—turn it off!—just like this explanation for what causes autism is.
I actually felt that the paper was refreshingly original and interesting. Plus, with our current lack of knowledge on the causation of autism we must keep an open mind about such things.
Though suggesting that TV watching causes autism does not seem too different from saying that cell phones or iPods do!
If only it were that simple. If I could flip a switch…of course, then Amigo wouldn’t be Amigo.
Have you guys actually read the paper? It covers far more than what the title implies. You shouldn’t judge a book by it’s cover.
Someone, do you have an autistic child? A paper ought not, of course, be judged by its title, but for parents of autistic children (perhaps including yourself, of course), speculation on causes is fascinating, but learning how to help one’s child learn and be educated is even more so.
notmercury has an interesting “take” on this article here. In my experience with statistical analysis, having been a researcher in my past life, you can pretty much prove anything using statistics, depending on how you look at the data. I’d be a lot more comfortable if this study had some actual medical data behind it…
Lisa, thanks for your (and notmercury’s) perspective on this—-
While Waldman’s study gathers together and compares the results of a number of studies on autism, media, the effects of those media on children, and so forth, the study does not take into account some of the particularities, or peculiarities if one prefers to phrase it that way, of autistic children “watching” television. TV “watching” for some autistic children is a perhaps a sort of sensory experience in which children interface with a machine producing sound and numerous visual stimuli. Autistic children may have a hard time sitting down and sitting still to watch a TV show; in the case of my son, he gets up frequently and often ends up pacing the room while occasionally glancing (through the corners of his eyes) at a TV set.
Watching TV for an autistic child may be a neurologically different experience than it is for those of us who are not autistic, and (as far as I can tell) this sort of “non-NT” experience of watching TV does not seem to be in Waldman’s article. It would be interesting to learn about any observations he and his research team have regarding the actual experience of an autistic child watching TV.
Business Professor. Uh-HUH. That ’splains it all. What BUSINESS paid him to do his “research” – a drug company, perhaps?
This is the most ridiculous study ever. As I said on the aboutautism.com site, the diagnosis of mental retardation declned since the 1980’s — does this mean watching TV prevents mental retardation? Of course not, anymore than watching TV causes autism. I have three typically developing children who watched TV more than my youngest who is diagnosed with mental retardation and autism. In particular, he watched very little TV when he was under three. I knew he had problems before he was a year old when he was already diagnosed with developmental delay before he got the subsequent diagnoses. And no, I’ve never watched much TV myself.
I know many kids who are severely affected. The idea that their symptoms were caused just by watching TV is insulting to our intelligence to say the least. These researchers need to spend more real time with kids with autism and their parents — they’d realize how far out on a limb they really are.
Welcome to the new version of the refrigerator mom — now we have TV mom.
Cynthia
Hi Cynthia—-yes, first Refrigerator Mother, now TV mom—–appliances are all to blame—–
i don’t care what causes it… my kids are both beatutiful people, autism and all and i wouldn’t change them for anything! besides…it is all my mother in law’s fault!