That's not autism it's simply a brainy introverted boy

[Loomis]

A recent article at salon.com describes a boy with classic symptoms of being on the spectrum

"William’s mother, realized that he was a quirky baby within weeks of his birth. When she held him in her arms, he seemed more fascinated by objects in his field of vision than by faces. The whir and motion of a fan, the tick-tock of a clock, or the drip-drip of a coffeemaker grabbed William’s attention even more than smiling faces, melodic voices, or welcoming eyes."

"His odd body movements concerned (his mother.)"

"After being read a book on Pompeii, he talked endlessly for months afterwards about what he had learned...Next he became fascinated with the Titanic, amassing a detailed knowledge of the design of the ship. Facts such as the exact length of the Titanic (882 feet, 9 inches) mattered to him. He also knew that its top speed was 23 knots."

"At preschool... He orchestrated Titanic reenactment scenes, assigning roles and telling his classmates where to stand and what to do and say... The play scenes he devised were too exciting for the other kids to pass up. However, more often than not, the other kids eventually lost interest and wandered off because of William’s need for them to follow his script."

"At home, William’s tantrums were wild and uncontrollable even as he approached age five. When he was asked by his parents to turn the TV off and join the family for dinner, he might scream and yell in protest, writhe around on the floor, and even throw and break things. Invariably, the situation that caused William to fly into a rage involved setting aside what he was doing in the moment to comply with a routine request—such as to get ready for bed or dressed for preschool. He simply hated transitions."

Enrico Gnaulati, a clinical psychologist who specializes in working with children and families, says he is not autistic just a very intelligent introverted boy.

Gnaulati says: " When we mistake a brainy, introverted boy for an autism spectrum disordered one, we devalue his mental gifts. We view his ability to become wholeheartedly engrossed in a topic as a symptom that needs to be stamped out, rather than a form of intellectualism that needs to be cultivated. Boys like William don’t need to be channeled into unwanted and unnecessary social-skills classes to obtain formal instruction on how to start and sustain normal conversations. They don’t need to be prodded to be more sociable with the neighborhood kid whose mind works completely differently from theirs."

In my opinion this "psychologist" is highly uninformed about autism. I believe his theories are completely bogus and I suspect he has a hidden agenda.

Oh, he has a book to sell: Back to Normal: Why Ordinary Childhood Behavior Is Mistaken for ADHD, Bipolar Disorder, and Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Here is the article:

That’s not autism: It’s simply a brainy, introverted boy - Salon.com

 

[GoofKing]

The "psychologist" does sounds bogus and a quack and I wouldn't be surprised if he does have a hidden agenda :/ Does he work for a certain organization ? It sounds like it

 

[Loomis]

The "psychologist" does sounds bogus and a quack and I wouldn't be surprised if he does have a hidden agenda :/ Does he work for a certain organization ? It sounds like it

He lists 19 magazine articles and 4 scholarly articles in his bio on his website. He also lists many public speaking engagements. He is in private practice. Other than his graduate and postdoc posititons, the only academic positions he has held were as adjunct professor and lecturer.

Enrico Gnaulati, Ph.D. - Home Page

 

[wyverary]

So I'll issue a dissenting opinion here: I actually agree with him about the difficulty of accurately diagnosing very young children. However, once he got to gender, he completely lost me, and came across as nothing more than a total crank. He cited one study, without taking into account ANY of the possible cultural factors involved with so-called "masculine" behavior---and talk about oversimplification! And...why the heck does he think a Consumer Report article counts as a valid citation?!

 

[KassieMac]

That's disgusting.

Starting with the premise that autistics can't be intelligent or gifted ... and it just goes downhill from there. I'm glad he recognizes that this child's condition doesn't need to be 'stamped out', but that DOES NOT mean he's not autistic.

If I go on any more, I'll spend the entire night editing & re-editing a novel-length rant ... I'll just say I'm disgusted, and I'm going to vomit now.

 

[Loomis]

So I'll issue a dissenting opinion here: I actually agree with him about the difficulty of accurately diagnosing very young children...

Later in the salon article there are descriptions of behaviors the boy has in high school that are indicative of being on the spectrum but Enrico Gnaulati does not want to label him autistic because his "conceptual, philosophical way of acquiring knowledge tends not to be autism-friendly."

My own methodology for acquiring knowledge is very conceptual and philosophical. I have read philosophy my entire life and am comfortable explaining Jean Paul Sartre's phenomonological ontology or Immanuel Kant's views on synthetic a priori judgements. Philosophy is one of my lifelong special interests but my understanding of these concepts does nothing to negate my autism.

 

[Loomis]

That's disgusting.

Starting with the premise that autistics can't be intelligent or gifted ... and it just goes downhill from there. I'm glad he recognizes that this child's condition doesn't need to be 'stamped out', but that DOES NOT mean he's not autistic.

If I go on any more, I'll spend the entire night editing & re-editing a novel-length rant ... I'll just say I'm disgusted, and I'm going to vomit now.

We, at aspie central, are not ashamed to be on the spectrum. But the premise of nearly all neuroscientists, psychologists and psychiatrists is that autism is a disorder. We are not disordered; we are merely a minority with different neurology. My whole reason for finding this article so disturbing is: So what if this boy is autistic? It should not be a stigma. We should embrace the diagnosis because it helps us understand his psychology.

 

[Ereth]

The definition of disorder is just related to difference from the "standard." I don't think most medical professionals believe we're less human or whatever . . . they're just working with the terminology to which they've become accustomed. Language isn't always pretty, but sometimes there aren't many alternatives to words of this sort.

 

[ExplosiveTMT]

I tend to ignore these kinds of articles.

 

[invisible]

Unfortunately that is the article that my mother has been using repeatedly for the past few months to reject my suggestion that I could have Asperger's Syndrome. I hadn't known until yesterday that it was this one; she had just been telling me "that I read this article about this boy who..." but yesterday I caught her printing a copy to post to my very-likely Autistic friend! I was horrified that she was spreading this to my friend and even more horrified when today I googled the title of the article.

Obviously I didn't read the whole article - it being rather long in length - but I disagree with the parts that I did read. The article is basically implying that all Autistics need mental care and are incapable of leading normal lives. Of course that is not true, and I don't see how that boy having an Autism diagnoses would have been a hindrance to him in any way - especially seeing as his symptoms seem very Autistic to me. I somehow think that if someone is that close to being Autistic then they very likely are. It is quite annoying

The other annoying thing in my situation is that my mother keeps highlighting the fact that the boy "shared his interests" (as she keeps putting it). What the article is actually saying is that the boy engaged others with his interests. Of course, she keeps making reference to the way that I talk non-stop about my interests and forgets that that is an Autistic trait; I don't engage others unless they are also interested in the same things as me (and I seriously doubt that the boy in the article would have either).

It also seems that this has become a bit of a hype based on the fact that I didn't have to type more then the letters "that's not au" before the entire article title came up at the top Google's search suggestions list.

 

[invisible]

In its milder form, especially among preschool- and kindergarten-age boys, it is tough to distinguish between early signs of autism spectrum disorder and indications that we have on our hands a young boy who is a budding intellectual, is more interested in studying objects than hanging out with friends, overvalues logic, is socially awkward unless interacting with others who share identical interests or is in a leadership role, learns best when obsessed with a topic, and is overly businesslike and serious in how he socializes.

Considering that the second half of that sentence is essentially a list of symptoms of Autism, that is basically like saying that "it is touch to distinguish between early signs of autism and a young boy who has autism". It also bothers me that this article came from one of those lifestyle news/magazine websites well-known for their hyped-up content with little factual basis.

EDIT: My mother may disagree but I would sooner trust an aspie's blog than an article on a lifestyle website when trying to get an idea of the more subtle aspects of what Autism is.

 

[AsheSkyler]

"We view his ability to become wholeheartedly engrossed in a topic as a symptom that needs to be stamped out, rather than a form of intellectualism that needs to be cultivated. Boys like William don’t need to be channeled into unwanted and unnecessary social-skills classes to obtain formal instruction on how to start and sustain normal conversations. They don’t need to be prodded to be more sociable with the neighborhood kid whose mind works completely differently from theirs." Well I can't necessary disagree with this part. I would have been a lot more social in my younger years if random teachers and folk had accepted me for me like I accepted them and for them, rather than keep pushing me to do like how they thought I should. You like dresses, I hate dresses, agree to disagree and go on our merry way with the things we both enjoy, like cookies!

But the gifted allistic vs. gifted autistic has been running through my mind a lot and what specific little details makes them different. I've known plenty of shy, nerdy people with a passionate obsession about something or a few somethings, but they were on the allistic side of the coin. I just keep going back to my own make-or-break criteria involving sensory issues, because a lot of the time I don't find "subpar" social skills or obsessions or frustration with being interrupted all that abnormal, and I've seen some allistic folk have a few good meltdowns when harassed enough.

 

[invisible]

I just keep going back to my own make-or-break criteria involving sensory issues...

...of which both I and the boy in this article have got plenty.

 

[invisible]

Many boys feel compelled to be logical and exact in their use of language. They withdraw and shut down around people who use language more loosely. A glaring example of this was shown to me recently by a fourteen-year-old client named Jordan. His parents brought him in for therapy because he was racking up school detentions for being rude to teachers. Jordan secretly confessed to me that his English teacher must be dumb because she referred to certain assignments as “homework” when she allowed them to be completed in class. She should have renamed them “schoolwork,” he said, because they were being completed at school. In twenty-five years of therapy practice, I’ve never known a girl to make such a comment.

Considering that the first sentence of this quote if a gross generalisation that is completely untrue, I seriously doubt that the author has much room to comment on what Autistic boys are like if he doesn't even have a correct idea of what non-Autistic boys are like. More likely this "Jordan" mentioned in the quoted paragraph was Autistic himself - thus it would be incorrect to use him as an example of any supposed "exact use of language" in non-Autistic boys.

 

[photoaddict]

That guy should have me in therapy for 5 minutes. I would have said the same thing about home/school work. I was homeschooled and called everything homework because I was doing it at HOME. He must work with a very limited range of children and not many girls.

 

[Ste11aeres]

Gnaulati says: " When we mistake a brainy, introverted boy for an autism spectrum disordered one, we devalue his mental gifts.

What got to me was this line, above. It could be interpreted in several ways, but it seemed to me as if he was saying that the mental gifts of someone on the autism spectrum are not valuable.

 

[invisible]

What got to me was this line, above. It could be interpreted in several ways, but it seemed to me as if he was saying that the mental gifts of someone on the autism spectrum are not valuable.

I think that what he's trying to say is that the mental gifts of an Autistic boy wouldn't be appreciated by most people because supposedly in the general public's idea Autistic boys cannot have mental gifts. That, of course, is untrue because not only can Autistic boys have mental gifts (a fact which is not being questioned by the quote) but the general public tend to expect Autistic people to be highly intelligent (whereas the article implies that the general public would regard the boy as unintelligent because he is Autistic).