What is this world coming to?!:
http://www.slate.com/id/2149002/?GT1=8506
My response on slate:
This is by far the most irresponsible slate I have ever read. As a journalist, you are responsible for your reader's source of information. You make blanketed statements that have no scientific backing, and then allude to science by quoting from sources that have nothing to do with your argument. Yes, you admit that there have been no studies done to support your theory, and yes this is an opinion article, but it should be an educated opinion. As a psychology grad student who works with children with autism, no literature or studies that I have ever read or completed backed your theory. Do you even know anyone who is autistic, or has an autistic child? You would know, if you did, how much they search for answers and how much your statements today are providing them with false hope.
The first thing they teach us in psychology programs at universities is that correlation does not imply causation. Your conclusion that the rise in autism since 1980, and the rise in television viewing is simply a correlation statistic. If you had done any research, you would know that autism was not officially defined in the DSM until the 1980s after O. Ivar Lovaas made his pivotal study (see Lovaas, 1987). Until that point, clinicians and doctors had no idea what to call or diagnose autism. It has nothing to do with the rise of television. It has everything to do with the fact that doctors began to be trained in the diagnosis of autism in the 1980s.
Another thing is that autism is a spectrum disorder, meaning that it takes on many forms. Some of these forms as you noted (such as Fragile X syndrome, and tuberous sclerosis) have been linked to genetics. However, due to the spectrum, there is no known definitive umbrella cause, and there probably never will be one. For you to say so, is irresponsible. Maybe this is why no scientist has done a study to date to link television to autism.
To all those who read this response, if you want to know more about autism, go to http://www.autism-society.org
As a side note:
On my aim away message, I stated that this author should have someone shoot his hands off so he never writes again. Incidentally, another person on this slate said that every parent that has a kid with autism should get in line and slap this man. At least there are some intelligent people in this world.
http://www.slate.com/id/2149002/?GT1=8506
My response on slate:
This is by far the most irresponsible slate I have ever read. As a journalist, you are responsible for your reader's source of information. You make blanketed statements that have no scientific backing, and then allude to science by quoting from sources that have nothing to do with your argument. Yes, you admit that there have been no studies done to support your theory, and yes this is an opinion article, but it should be an educated opinion. As a psychology grad student who works with children with autism, no literature or studies that I have ever read or completed backed your theory. Do you even know anyone who is autistic, or has an autistic child? You would know, if you did, how much they search for answers and how much your statements today are providing them with false hope.
The first thing they teach us in psychology programs at universities is that correlation does not imply causation. Your conclusion that the rise in autism since 1980, and the rise in television viewing is simply a correlation statistic. If you had done any research, you would know that autism was not officially defined in the DSM until the 1980s after O. Ivar Lovaas made his pivotal study (see Lovaas, 1987). Until that point, clinicians and doctors had no idea what to call or diagnose autism. It has nothing to do with the rise of television. It has everything to do with the fact that doctors began to be trained in the diagnosis of autism in the 1980s.
Another thing is that autism is a spectrum disorder, meaning that it takes on many forms. Some of these forms as you noted (such as Fragile X syndrome, and tuberous sclerosis) have been linked to genetics. However, due to the spectrum, there is no known definitive umbrella cause, and there probably never will be one. For you to say so, is irresponsible. Maybe this is why no scientist has done a study to date to link television to autism.
To all those who read this response, if you want to know more about autism, go to http://www.autism-society.org
As a side note:
On my aim away message, I stated that this author should have someone shoot his hands off so he never writes again. Incidentally, another person on this slate said that every parent that has a kid with autism should get in line and slap this man. At least there are some intelligent people in this world.