The Geek Syndrome and Autism Talk TV

Recently, I discovered a great series called "Autism Talk TV" on the website "Wrong Planet", a name that I love! One of the producers, who calls himself an "Aspergian" is the son of John Elder Robinson, the author of the book "Look Me in the Eye", about his struggle with Asperger's while growing up. Just recently, he has a new book called "be different" (starting with lower case letters in the title!). John's son, Jack Robinson, and his co-producer Alex, along with others do a series of interviews with people in the field of autism. The episode of "Autism Talk TV" that really intrigued me was an interview with Steve Silberman, the author of "The Geek Syndrome" published 10 years ago for Wired Magazine. http://www.wrongplanet.net/postt133968.html.

It was that article that inspired the theme of our first autism conference, also 10 years ago. It has sparked many lively conversations and even arguments about the genesis of autism. When teaching the autism seminar for Santa Clara University and even a recent seminar at Stanford University, I always referenced that article for its clarity in describing what has become a widespread, though unproven theory. But regardless of the theory, it still has relevance years later, intriguing and thought-provoking.

Steve Silberman was our keynote speaker at our first conference. Amazingly enough, our autism conference was one of the first in the bay area, and certainly the first to focus on the increase in incidence in both Silicon Valley and California. Steve spoke eloquently about his journey into the world of autism, which was accidental. (He describes why he became fascinated with autism in the aforementioned interview). Also speaking at that conference were Jon Shestack, one of the co-founders of what was then Cure Autism Now (now Autism Speaks), Rick Rollens, parent advocate, and Dr. Robert Hendren of the newly founded UC Davis MIND Institute.

As we are planning for our 10th Annual Autism Conference, again at Santa Clara University, the incidence of autism continues to increase and though there is much research going on, not much has happened to clarify what the causes may be, let alone a clear definition of what the constellation of symptoms, which are so different among people with autism, actually may mean. The wheels of research turn excruciatingly slowly!

In the meantime, quirky people are here to stay and walk among us, so we all have to figure out how to live together in ways that benefit everyone.

Genes and the environment

Two new studies whose findings have just been released have shed more culpability on environmental factors especially during pregnancy, and combined with the assumption of a genetic predisposition. As noted this morning in the New York Times, the environment, including the prenatal development period may be as important as the genes in causing autism. This seems quite logical, for certainly our genes cannot be changing as quickly as the rate of autism is increasing. (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/05/health/research/05autism.html?_r=1&emc=eta1)

In the study of twins, both fraternal and identical, it has been found that the rate of autism occurring in siblings is much lower than the rate found in twins. The suggestion is that it is the conditions the twins shared in the womb, rather than what happened after birth that contributed to their autism.

In the second study, mothers who had taken certain anti-depressants had an increased risk of their child developing autism. This follows a recent study from Epidemiologist Rebecca Schmidt of the UC Davis MIND Institute released in May on the use of prenatal vitamins. In this case, mothers who took prenatal vitamins or the vitamins during the first month of pregnancy were only half as likely to have a child with autism as those who didn't. If the mother waited until the second month of pregnancy, there was no effect.

Is this going to make parents feel like they are being blamed once again? Parents don't need suggestions of their possible complicity in causing the autism of their child, so the more clear information that can be ascertained, the better.