Isn't She Talking Yet? - Times Online - WBLG

More on Thomas the Tank Engine and autism

I've posted about autism and trains before, but am indebted to Moondog from the excellent special needs board of Mumsnet (which I was following re. Julia Hollander) for posting this link, from the National Austistic Society, about why kids with autism love Thomas. I rather vaguely thought it was all to do with systems, but the page in question is much more specific about Thomas's appeal, and why it occurs. It's extremely interesting.

Needless to say, zillions of little boys love Thomas devotedly, and it doesn't mean they're on the spectrum - I don't want anyone to read this and worry needlessly. But a health professional once told me they used Thomas as a non-official diagnostic tool, and I've been interested in this ever since, especially since it bore out what I'd observed myself a couple of times. (Picture is of Thomas at Tenterden station last year - alas, he was only visiting).

MMR and autism

Autism - and the supposed link with MMR - was back in the news last week, following an alarming report in the Observer which was subsequently picked up by most of the broadsheets.  Doctor and professional debunker Ben Goldacre writes brilliantly about this in today's Guardian. The article is here. See also Bad Science, Goldacre's own site.

For what it's worth, all three of my children have had the triple jab. I am not of the opinion that doctors are part of a sinister conspiracy to deliberately make our children autistic, forcing triple vaccines onto a bewildered public for their own mysterious reasons. I have to say, I slightly question the sanity of anybody who thinks this (more people than you'd think, in my neck of the woods - bad news if you have a child who is more vulnerable to infection that most). 

Autism and trains

Charlotte Moore, who wrote an excellent book about her two (out of three) autistic sons, George and Sam, writes in today's Guardian about 'what is believed to be the first animation series aimed specifically at the very young autistic child'. It's called The Transporters  and is newly launched on DVD. In the course of her article, which you can read here, she wonders why autistic children seem to love vehicles so much. "I sometimes think a fanatical devotion to [Thomas the Tank Engine] could almost be treated as a diagnostic symptom," she writes.

It's interesting she should say this - I was once told the exact same thing by a consultant at Great Ormond Street, who explained that a number of her colleagues privately shared the theory. Read what Professor Simon Baron-Cohen has to say about trains and autistic children in Charlotte Moore's article - apparently it's all to do with "systems", rather fascinatingly. 

Symptoms of autism 'can be reversed'

This startling claim - with particular reference to Rett syndrome - is reported in the Daily Telegraph. Scientists at Edinburgh managed to make symptoms disappear in mice by activating a specific gene. Amazing, isn't it? Do have a read, it's absolutely fascinating, even though I can barely bring myself to believe it.

Shock horror: journalist does admirable thing!

Thanks to Anne for sending me this article from the Daily Telegraph. It's by Andrew Sparrow, who worked as one of the paper's political correspondents and packed it all in when he and his wife discovered that their daughter, Yvette, was autistic.

A doctor writes:

"As the mother of a special needs child, I can relate to everything you've written about. My son is 12 years old and is autistic. I am a doctor and probably in the worst possible position to have a special needs child. Everybody thinks you know all about the condition already, and that you know exactly what to do and where to get help... Well, actually, I don't. When in medical school, you learn about all the different medical conditions in a very clinical way - and it's totally different when it comes in your own front door. People - and relatives are the worst for this-  assume that because you're highly educated, you'll be able to cope well... Wrong again. I'm no better - and probably a hell of a lot worse  - at coping with my son's condition than anybody else.

Negotiating the SEN maze

Much more on this in due course. Meanwhile, a saintly-sounding woman called Sandy Row - she has four adopted children, all on the autistic spectrum - writes to tell me she's written a book about, inter alia, taking on her LEA. The book's website is here; you can also order it from Amazon. I haven't  read it (yet) myself, but if the Amazon feedback is anything to go by, it's money well spent.