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Are Humans Evolving Towards Autism?
IronRabbit
Veteran
Could the emerging shift of human consciousness be making an evolutionary transformation from what we now know as normal to what we diagnose as disorder? Would it be simpler to "detach" in a Buddhist sense if that were the case?
http://shine.yahoo.com/healthy-living/cdc-autism-rate-now-1-88-171300743.html
http://ceciliabeltran.hubpages.com/hub/Are-Humans-Evolving-Towards-Autism
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/discoblog/2007/11/06/could-autism-be-the-next-stage-of-human-evolution/
http://shine.yahoo.com/healthy-living/cdc-autism-rate-now-1-88-171300743.html
http://ceciliabeltran.hubpages.com/hub/Are-Humans-Evolving-Towards-Autism
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/discoblog/2007/11/06/could-autism-be-the-next-stage-of-human-evolution/
0
Comments
If, as a human, one of us was forced to live in a society created by chimpanzees we would be the odd one out and the others may have trouble communicating with us even though humans are considered more advanced than primates.
Most children develop internal reinforcement mechanisms called "imitative reinforcers" that arise naturally out the match between the behavior of the imitator (the child) and behavior of the model (parent/adult/sibling/etc.) The reason these arise is other children is because they are indirectly paired with other tangible reinforcers at a young age.
No praise -- Baby makes babbling noise after mother speaks --> Praise
Not only is the baby reinforced for making language-like behavior, but the fact that it imitated the mother is reinforced as well. So the act of imitating will increase in frequency because it has been reinforced.
But lets say a baby is in its crib and the mother is cleaning the room. Then the mother stubs her toe and yells. The baby makes a shrieking sound, not because it is scared but because it is imitating the mother. But the mother, in pain either ignores the noise (thus extinguishing the response) or she may make an aversive grunt or angry face momentarily at the child because she is in pain (thus punishing the response). It's a small thing, but punishment in particular is extremely effective at reducing response frequency in young children. So in this case, the baby may not imitate the mother again for some time, and unless in that case it is well reinforced, the baby may never develop the tiny skills necessary for proper behavioral development.
Without language, or imitative reinforcers, the child will show extremely lacking skills very early in development.
Autism is NOT some special mental state. The children who are autistic do not see things differently than other humans. Children who are autistic are simply lacking the skills necessary for interacting with and maipulating their environment in an effective way. In my opinion, neurologists and psyhiatrists and talk therapists can try everything they want to find some "root cause" to the condition, but I can almost gaurentee THERE ISN"T A ROOT CAUSE.
The common autistic medical model uses circular logic that leads to no conclusions at all on how autism arises or how it may be treated.
-How do you know my son is autistic?
-Because he displays autistic symptoms
-Why does my son display autistic symptoms?
-Because he is autistic
That's like saying, "your son is autistic because he is autistic." BUT WHAT IS AUTISTIC?! This is why so many parents, teachers, and psychologists are so frustrated and confused by the condition. Their looking at the finger ... not the moon.
Getting lectured on this forum over what autism is, is ludicrous to me, and insulting. There is always another pet theory about what is really going on ..
as if everything isn't being exhaustively explored by people who have great experience, skill, and are extremely well informed.
I hope that children with autism have it diagnosed early, and get the best intervention, so they do not need to deal with more than they will have to.
My opinion comes from the perspective of applied behavior analysis, which is, admittedly, a controversial approach to treatment since it is a departure from tradition treatment theory and methods. I don't think it's appropriate to assume that all inappropriate behavior is caused by some underlying mental condition, particulalry autism, for which applied behavior analysis has had the most influencial and effective methods of treatment. I just think that it is wrong to assume that autism is some grand evolutionary step, especially when I interact with autistic children on a weekly basis and all I see are kids who just need help learning.
I'm not saying that anyone on HERE is assanine. I'm saying that the articles are assanine. Sorry if I sound imposing or rude, I'm passionate about this topic.
That's awesome, so what is it that I said that is off base?
so wait ... am I off base for saying that autism is not an evolutionary advantage or am I off base for saying autism is not caused by a biological or mental disorder?
I believe that an increase in the prevelance in autism may be due to other factors (earlier diagnosis, better diagnosis, etc.), but may be an actual increase.
I believe that autism is not an evolutionary step.
I believe that autism is not simply a learned behavior.
im withdrawing from this conversation
There is autism, whatever the causal factors may be, and there are a lot of great people, including people with autism, working to understand and help those with autism have full and happy lives... That includes the hold range, from people who are unable to live independently, to those who just have a different way of being in the world..
http://www.wretchesandjabberers.org/
(includes a scene where they meet a Buddhist monk)
However like another person said, the real life interacting with a person who is low functioning autistic with self harm behaviors is not what people think.
People who adhere to a strcitly medical model would say that the part of the brain that controls the acquisition, memory, and adherance to rule-governed behavior is "not wired correctly" or has been damaged or not developed properly due to biological factors.
In my opinion, the autistic person has not developed language-based behavior and cannot understand, repeat, or adhere to rules and so his/her behavior is not governed by rules like it is for functioning individuals with normally developed language-based behavior. Of COURSE, there may be cases where a biolical factor is a variable, but I do NOT think that it is the case with all or even most of the cases such as these.
Sometimes a teacher slacks, the kid is having a hard day, or the classroom environment is simply not reinforcing or mentally engaging enough to control the childs behavior.
When a "normal" kid acts out, they don't say "Oh it must have been a hiccup in his brain." They say "He is acting out because it's fun to act out" and then they punish it and control the behavior.
Wikipedia has a pretty good summary of theories about autism.
A very astute, intelligent mother, with 3 fully functional and intelligent children, can still have one autistic daughter simply because through some course of early development, a key behavioral contingency went unreinforced.
In that case, you intervene and work to correct the inappropriate behaviors and develop the responses necessary for improving the chances at having a functional and happy life.
Your statement from above, "A very astute, intelligent mother, with 3 fully functional and intelligent children, can still have one autistic daughter simply because through some course of early development, a key behavioral contingency went unreinforced.", falls back into the "blame-the-parent" model talked about above and does a real dis-service to those parents with children with disabilities who are already feeling a great deal of guilt about their children's disability.
When my son was quite young he demonstrated symptoms of Asperger syndrome through poor social skills and what seemed to be a slow learning process. Later on he began to demonstrate math skills by performing complex calculations quickly and accurately in his head. When I asked him about it he told me that he sees everything in patterns.
On Monday he will be presenting his theseus at University where he tutors fellow student on pure mathematics. His theseus is based on inverse square roots which, again, is something he can do in his head.
When he was younger, we were very concerned that he may not be able to function, let alone thrive, in social and educational environments.
A few weeks ago when she was too sick to stop throwing up for a week and no one in her family came to help she felt guilty about his behavior. She feels guilt for being abused, guilt over getting immunizations, guilt for buying the wrong type of milk. It seems to me the best move is to express deep compassion for the parent who is willing to keep working at it instead of putting the child in an institution so that the autistic person will have the love of family and reach their best potential, whatever that may be is not ours to judge.
I absolutely agree
Berthajane Vandegrift
A Few Autistic Questions about Freud , Marx and Darwin
http:30145.myauthorsite.com/
It's only now that with the rising population and advancements in medical science, that we are discovering just how many people out there are who autistic.
We have to remember that autistic people, until recent decades, were considered "retarded" and lumped into said category. There was no such thing as autism that was known.
So I don't think we are "moving towards" it, but I do think we are expanding our awareness on it.
Just my two cents.