This and Last’s Weeks Top Posts

Google and genius; the meaning of MR and the meaning of intelligence; a new name for autism from David Kirby; an online town meeting for the NYU Child Study Center; a little presidential candidate politicking…….

• Parents Don’t Cause Autism
  And neither do vaccines or something in vaccines.
• Myth, Science, and Autism: A Message from the AAP
  Well aware of the amount of misinformation about vaccines and autism circulating in the public sphere, the AAP has sent out a request to hear from parents who have an autistic child and who are in support of immunizations, or parents whose child has a vaccine-preventable illness; parents who might wish to speak on behalf of the AAP in either capacity can email the AAP.
• Nate Tseglin Removed From His Home and Institutionalized: Why?
  Should Child Protective Services of San Diego have removed 17-year-old Nate Tseglin from his parents, Ilya and Riva Tseglin, after a teacher reported seeing self-inflicted scratches on Nate’s body and complaining about the doctor-approved arm restraints that his parents used?
• On Lockdown
  Saint Peter’s College, where I teach, is on lockdown on February 20th after a suspicious letter is found: Things turn out all right, and I make it home to meet Charlie’s bus.
• I Think Therefore I Google?
  Science fiction blog io9 considers what it would be like to have a Google brain implant.
• So Albert, Wolfgang, and Immanuel Had Autism: Does It Matter?
  Michael Fitzgerald, a professor of psychiatry at Trinity College in Dublin, recently argued that the genes for creativity and for autism and autism spectrum disorders are “‘essentially the same.’”
• “”We label them as retarded because they can’t express what they know”
  Wired’s article, “The Truth About Autism: Scientists Reconsider What They Think They Know” closely profiles Amanda Baggs—-who notes that “‘I don’t fit the stereotype of autism. But who does?’”— and Michelle Dawson—-who says “‘There’s such a variety of human behavior. Why is my kind wrong?”‘.
• Too Many Questions from David Kirby and one from Charlie
  Journalist David Kirby asks a lot of questions—-nine in boldface, and many more besides—in a recent Huffington Post piece on a vaccine-autism case in the Court of Federal Claims. US Assistant Attorney General Peter Keisler and other Justice Department officials conceded on November 9 that a child “had a pre-existing mitochondrial disorder that was ‘aggravated’ by her shots, and which ultimately resulted in an ASD diagnosis” or, more specifically, in a diagnosis of “regressive encephalopathy (brain disease) with features consistent with autistic spectrum disorder, following normal development”—-no surprise that Kirby keeps on making up elaborate names for some disease “mimicking” autism.
• Register for NYU Child Study Center Online Town Hall at 9am TODAY
  The NYU Child Study Center holds an Online Town Hall on Children’s Mental Health: Go here for a transcript.
• Hillary and Autism
  Barbara Ehrenreich suggests that Hillary Rodham Clinton’s platform style puts her on the spectrum.
• Smart and Smarter
  Anyone who’s spent any time with Charlie knows that—-while he is very limited in his speech and while it often takes a long time (minutes, hours, days) for him to understand things that are said to him—-he doesn’t just look smart, but he is.
• Who’s Trapped in Whose World?
  “Are people with autism trapped in their own world? Or are the rest of us just trapped in ours?” asks Tara Parker-Pope on the New York Times.
• Making a Little Big Difference
  When I think of college students doing work to make a difference, it’s the many young women (mostly) and young men who have chosen to spend time with Charlie and autistic kids who I think about first.
• Sen. John McCain Links Rise in Autism Cases to Thimerosal
  At a town meeting in Texas today, McCain said that “‘there’s strong evidence’” that thimerosal, the mercury-based preservative, is responsible for the rising numbers of autistic children in the US.