9 posts · 4,401 views
An evolving definition of the blog's purpose: 1. Woo-fighting, as well as occasional dumbass hunting (Thelma and Louise say they are cooperative activities and often go hand in hand). 2. Countering misinformation regarding autism. 3. Discussing neurodiversity and rebutting the worst distortions of it. 4. Promoting adaptive coping for both parents of children with special needs and adults on the spectrum. 5. Promoting dialogue between autistic individuals and parents and family members. 6. Fostering dialogue between all members in the autistic culture. 7. Having laughs where we can get them. 8. Finding joy where we can. 9. Research based blogging on psychological topics and autism.
KWombles
9 posts
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- June 15, 2010
- 07:46 PM
- 2,041 views
Facilitated Communication: A Review of the Literature (with a new introduction)
by KWombles in Countering...
Three months ago, I ran the post that appears below. This post got lots of comments, and there were a fair number of misunderstandings, so let me up-front here make clear what I mean by facilitated communication in the hopes these misunderstandings do not occur again. We teach our children many skills by using hand-over-hand techniques. I'm not talking about teaching your child how to type, how to hold a pencil, how to do things. I'm talking specifically about the facilitated communication as Bi........ Read more »
Finn, P. (2005) Science and Pseudoscience in Communication Disorders: Criteria and Applications. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 14(3), 172-186. DOI: 10.1044/1058-0360(2005/018)
Wegner, D., Fuller, V., & Sparrow, B. (2003) Clever hands: Uncontrolled intelligence in facilitated communication. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 85(1), 5-19. DOI: 10.1037/0022-3514.85.1.5
Ziring, P., Brazdziunas, D., Cooley, W., Kastner, T., Kummer, M., De Pijem, L., & et al. (1998) Auditory integration training and facilitated communication for autism. American Academy of Pediatrics. Committee on Children with Disabilities. Pediatrics, 102(2 Pt 1), 431-3. PMID: 9685446
- June 16, 2010
- 07:43 PM
- 396 views
The Use of Terms When Discussing Autism, Intelligence, Impairment, and Disability
by KWombles in Countering...
The terms we use, how we define them, are important things. Often times, we use similar terminology interchangeably. We're discussing nebulously defined disorders (autism and intellectual disability) that change over time and depending on the criteria being used. What do I mean about interchangeability and criteria? The official umbrella in the DSM-IV is not autism spectrum disorders, but is instead pervasive developmental disorders. However, the NIH uses autism spectrum disorders, as do m........ Read more »
Marrie, R., Chelune, G., Miller, D., & Cohen, J. (2005) Subjective cognitive complaints relate to mild impairment of cognition in multiple sclerosis. Multiple Sclerosis, 11(1), 69-75. DOI: 10.1191/1352458505ms1110oa
Winblad B, Palmer K, Kivipelto M, Jelic V, Fratiglioni L, Wahlund LO, Nordberg A, Bäckman L, Albert M, Almkvist O.... (2004) Mild cognitive impairment--beyond controversies, towards a consensus: report of the International Working Group on Mild Cognitive Impairment. Journal of internal medicine, 256(3), 240-6. PMID: 15324367
- July 22, 2010
- 04:49 PM
- 308 views
When Parents Kill: Filicide Usually Accompanied by mental illness
by KWombles in Countering...
There are some commonalities that almost everyone in the autism community can get solidly behind and that is the issue of filicide. Too many children in this country are killed by their parents. One such murder alone is too many. Of course, our attention is brought to bear when we hear autism in conjunction with a child murder.A Dallas woman murdered her two young children because, according to her 911 call, they were autistic. While our attention is focused on this case, as parents in the onlin........ Read more »
Farooque R, & Ernst FA. (2003) Filicide: a review of eight years of clinical experience. Journal of the National Medical Association, 95(1), 90-4. PMID: 12656455
Hatters Friedman S, Hrouda DR, Holden CE, Noffsinger SG, & Resnick PJ. (2005) Filicide-suicide: common factors in parents who kill their children and themselves. The journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, 33(4), 496-504. PMID: 16394226
Pottie, C., & Ingram, K. (2008) Daily stress, coping, and well-being in parents of children with autism: A multilevel modeling approach. Journal of Family Psychology, 22(6), 855-864. DOI: 10.1037/a0013604
- June 14, 2010
- 08:22 PM
- 305 views
So if Facilitated Communication has been shown to be Pseudoscience, What's a Parent to Do with a Nonverbal Child?
by KWombles in Countering...
Repost from March 26, 2010.I recently wrote a research-based blog on facilitated communication. It was a rather long article, I'll admit, but I thought it important to provide as much information about facilitated communication and what the overwhelming majority of studies and meta-analyses showed regarding it. It has, despite its popularity in some sectors of the autism community and its fervent supporters, been shown that the communication comes not from the individual who is nonverbal but fro........ Read more »
Schlosser, R., & Wendt, O. (2008) Effects of Augmentative and Alternative Communication Intervention on Speech Production in Children With Autism: A Systematic Review. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 17(3), 212-230. DOI: 10.1044/1058-0360(2008/021)
- August 11, 2010
- 01:10 PM
- 301 views
Playing the Blame Game: People Don't Kill Their Children Because of Autism
by KWombles in Countering...
Given the reports of another murder of an autistic child, and the angry place's unbelievable need to suggest, both through an article and a tweet, that it is the lack of support causing parents to kill their children, I'm revamping my filicide post from last month and adding additional information. The reality is that filicide is far more common than people would like to admit ("7.31 in female and 6.54 in male children younger than 1 year per 100,000 live births" in Finland, according ........ Read more »
Hatters Friedman S, Hrouda DR, Holden CE, Noffsinger SG, & Resnick PJ. (2005) Filicide-suicide: common factors in parents who kill their children and themselves. The journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, 33(4), 496-504. PMID: 16394226
Kauppi A, Kumpulainen K, Karkola K, Vanamo T, & Merikanto J. (2010) Maternal and paternal filicides: a retrospective review of filicides in Finland. The journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, 38(2), 229-38. PMID: 20542944
Pottie, C., & Ingram, K. (2008) Daily stress, coping, and well-being in parents of children with autism: A multilevel modeling approach. Journal of Family Psychology, 22(6), 855-864. DOI: 10.1037/a0013604
- June 16, 2010
- 10:17 AM
- 285 views
Once More into the Breach of Autism and Intellectual Disability (tweaked)
by KWombles in Countering...
Written before the important Nature study by Pinto et al. (2010), this post takes several posts I've done in the past on autism and intellectual disability, as well as responses to an individual who is positing an 80% rate of ID in autistic disorder, and synthesizes them into one large post while hopefully streamlining it some slight bit.Citing Berkel et al. (2010) as proof that ID is present in autistic disorder 80% of the time is not an accurate use of the research by bloggers. Researcher........ Read more »
Dawson, M., Soulieres, I., Ann Gernsbacher, M., & Mottron, L. (2007) The Level and Nature of Autistic Intelligence. Psychological Science, 18(8), 657-662. DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9280.2007.01954.x
Fombonne, E. (2002) Epidemiological trends in rates of autism. Molecular Psychiatry, 7(s2). DOI: 10.1038/sj.mp.4001162
Yeargin-Allsopp, M. (2003) Prevalence of Autism in a US Metropolitan Area. JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association, 289(1), 49-55. DOI: 10.1001/jama.289.1.49
- August 16, 2010
- 09:32 AM
- 280 views
Musical Accompaniment
by KWombles in Countering...
I have a soundtrack playing in my head, nearly 24/7. It beats the hell out of my tinnitus, but it can be distracting at times. I wake up in the middle of the night to the music playing in my head. I have conversations while it phantom plays; I type and it's there, playing in the background. Call it the ultimate in multitasking and totally easier than walking around with an MP3 player and earbuds. It's exclusively in my head, though; thankfully it hasn't branched out to musical hallucination........ Read more »
Mocellin, R., Walterfang, M., & Velakoulis, D. (2008) Musical hallucinosis: case reports and possible neurobiological models. Acta Neuropsychiatrica, 20(2), 91-95. DOI: 10.1111/j.1601-5215.2007.00255.x
Praharaj, S., Goyal, N., Sarkar, S., Bagati, D., Sinha, P., & Sinha, V. (2009) Musical obsession or pseudohallucination: Electrophysiological standpoint. Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences, 63(2), 230-234. DOI: 10.1111/j.1440-1819.2009.01926.x
- July 6, 2010
- 02:54 PM
- 252 views
Mercola: Truer Words Were Never Written?
by KWombles in Countering...
Mercola, webster of woo, he of the get your vitamin D through our tanning bed fame, has a new post up at Huffington Post. I tell you, I find it endlessly comforting to know that these medically-related articles are reviewed by Ornish, you know? Okay, not.Can Huffington Post put up a health related piece that isn't woo? I mean, can they?Mercola's latest is on aspartame. I won't go into all the details relating to his assertion that aspartame is more evil than the devil. Aspartame has received a f........ Read more »
Whitehouse, C., Boullata, J., & Mccauley, L. (2008) The Potential Toxicity of Artificial Sweeteners. AAOHN Journal, 56(6), 251-259. DOI: 10.3928/08910162-20080601-02
- June 27, 2010
- 12:35 PM
- 233 views
Monkeys and Mice: A Literature Review the Anti-Vaccine Folks Should Embrace But Won't
by KWombles in Countering...
Aschner and Ceccatelli (2010) review the relevant data for thimerosal as a cause of autism. They conclude there is "no reliable data indicating that administration of vaccines containing thimerosal is a primary cause ofautism. However, one cannot rule out the possibility that the individual gene profile and/or gene–environmentinteractions may play a role in modulating the response to acquired risk by modifying the individual susceptibility."Aschner and Ceccatelli first discuss a........ Read more »
Aschner, M., & Ceccatelli, S. (2009) Are Neuropathological Conditions Relevant to Ethylmercury Exposure?. Neurotoxicity Research, 18(1), 59-68. DOI: 10.1007/s12640-009-9113-2
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