<p>SBmom – google breastfeeding and rickets. I was a LaLeche mom for years and had never heard of this, it’s quite a controversy. It appears that some babies are more at risk than others – darker skin (takes more sunlight to produce equivelent vit d), moms who are D deficient during pregnancy. The issue now appears to be supplementation versus sun exposure as a solution. Since the amount of sunlight needed is small, my guess is that the whole “keep kids out of the sun” movement is to blame, not breastfeeding itself.</p>
<p>Thanks my3girls. That makes sense that it would have a connection to the mother’s vitamin deficiency. I saLLLute you!</p>
<p>Two thoughts slightly related to the topic
- Somewhere down the line I remember reading that the chances of a person with an IQ of 130 or above having children with IQs of 130 and above was very, very small, regardless of the IQ of the partner. Given the small numbers I think it was only slightly above random chance, and that gives no leeway for any effect of environment - enrichment, higher income, etc.</p>
<p>2) This reminds me so much of a “tolerance” exercise we had in medical school. One of the professors who ran the clinical genetics service showed us a series of pictures of children, and asked us to pick out the kids with genetic disorders (the idea being that after having spent hours teaching us about specific appearances to look for, we should not rush to conclusions, and stop people in the grocery store saying “has your son been tested for X Syndrome”). Anyway, along with the kids with Down Syndrome and other easier to pick out syndromes, there were the ringers - kids who looked like something was wrong, but wasn’t. The one that sticks out the most in my mind, and fits into this thread, was this vacant-eyed, open mouthed kid in a plaid shirt. The vote by show of hands was almost unanimous - this kid wasn’t making it out of 5th grade, then the next slide was kid and Dad, who happened to be a true rocket scientist (in Huntsville), complete with pocket protector and matching plaid shirt and now big grins replacing the vacant-eyed expression. Maybe they had Asperger’s - who knows? But, don’t judge a book - - oh, you know!</p>
<p>I think that many people are “on the spectrum” and always have been. With more information, more people are finding out about themselves
I haven’t seen ancedotally, that ADD, aspergers or autism have any facial characteristics.
My younger daughter especially has spectrum characteristics, ( tactile disorder and other sensory issues for example) but she is gorgeous if I do say so myself.
Perhaps the boy in the plaid shirt had allergies? I remember lots of kids in preschool going around with their mouth open all the time because they had colds
I dont’ think they have determined a specific cause for autism, but rather than both genetics and environment play a role, although it does seem to occur more frequently in individuals with certain medical condtions like PKU and fragile X syndrome.</p>
<p>Remember this was 20+ years ago, we knew about autism but ADD and Asperger’s were not really on the radar. We were thinking about retardation - Hunter’s, Hurler’s and a half dozen other syndromes- we thought this child had an IQ of 40, when he was perfectly normal, he just looked just like his Dad - the rocket scientist.</p>
<p>I’ve read “The Bell Curve,” much of the literature discussing it “The Mismeasure of Man”, by Stephen Jay Gould, and Jared Diamond’s “Guns, Germs, and Steel.” </p>
<p>Diamond’s book was fascinating, but it’s not really on the same topic. The question he tries to answer is why various societies have experienced different levels of material prosperity; he accepts as a given that it’s not because of national differences in IQ, and focuses on the influence of geography on historical phenomena like the domestication of animals, and the spread of agricultural techniques (easier in continents situated primarily on an east-west axis than a north-south one, for example). His background as a physiologist led him to introduce factors into historical analysis that had been largely overlooked before. It’s a provocative, well-written book, and a promising beginning to several new areas of historical inquiry.</p>
<p>Gould’s book was a disappointing hatchet job on “The Bell Curve” that was effectively demolished by a book review written by John B. Carroll of the University of North Carolina.</p>
<p>“The Bell Curve” was published without any peer review. It covers a lot of ground, some of which is more controversial among the general public than it is among people who study psychometrics. It shows signs on places of having been rushed into print; one of its authors died shortly before it was published.</p>
<p>It’s not entirely clear whether the cognitive sorting through mate selection that it discusses is quite as recent a phenomenon as “The Bell Curve” would have us believe. I suspect some degree of cognitive sorting has been around for a very long time. That seems to be the subject of a fairy tale I read last night from Grimms’: </p>
<p><a href=“http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/grimm156.html[/url]”>http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/grimm156.html</a></p>
<p>In any event, in view of the phenomenon known as reversion to the mean, it’s not clear to what extent cognitive sorting matters in the long run. “Shirtsleeves to shirtsleeves in three generations,” as they used to say.</p>
<p>I read the article in Wired when it came out; its hypothesis is provocative; I suspect, however, that the rise in autism diagnoses has more to do with changing definitions of autism, the legal requirement to offer special services to children with special needs, more consciousness of the phenomenon, and better screening. (The article discussed these possibilities, too, if memory serves.)</p>
<p>I understand- obviously the people who selected the picture did so because of the similarities to individuals who * did have* genetic disorders to illustrate why we shouldn’t jump to conclusions.
I remember feeling like there was something 'the matter" with me when I was in school, but only the more extreme sorts of behavior were recognized, not the “shadow syndromes” as John Ratey puts it.
I have really gotten alot out of reading about autism in books like “the incident of the dog in the nighttime” and Temple Grandin’s books, in fact I am reading one of her books now on animal behavior,and really appreciating her insight into how animals see, its fascinating.</p>
<p>I see she also has out a new book on social relationships-looks like a must read- I am not that socially skilled and have been stuck trying to explain to my daughter about relationships. She just doesn’t see things the same way others do, and it has been difficult walking the line of acknowledging that she feels differently, but also trying to get her to understand that others don’t “get” her behavior and that there are some social codes that are important to learn. ( now if I could just get her friends to read Temple Grandins books)</p>
<p>Exactly, Ekitty, it was a tolerance exercise for med students who had just been exposed to 150 slides of children with a whole host of devastating diagnoses - an admonishment to not assume you now knew everything. As a class we did pretty poorly on the test, too.</p>
<p>If autism means that one is less affected by external relationships to people, is there an autism-boosting pill I can take? (There probably is, it’s called video games).</p>
<p>The genetic combination assertion is interesting - but how can you confidently isolate the genetic component from the nurturing/parenting style of two (presumably) geeky introverted parents? </p>
<p>Temperament seems to be inherited to some extent. I really didn’t notice any definite patterns in the horses and ponies I bred, but my mini Aussie litter of eleven had four females that inherited a less-desirable mix of temperamental traits. The dog was calm, dominant, and confident, the (word that means female dog, which was rendered:*****) was affectionate, shy, somewhat fearful, and had excess nervous energy. The female puppies were affectionate, but also wired, fearful, AND dominant - the “shy-sharp” or “fear-aggressive” temperament. (I kept one of them, a brilliant athlete who is amazingly intelligent, but it has taken years of work to socialize her - at seven, she is finally almost “tame.”) </p>
<p>Another random observation - the dog ‘buried bones’ (rawhide chews and soup bones) all over the house while he was with me - in sofas, in closets, etc. My (female dog) and her terrier companion never did. However, the puppy I kept also buries bones - she was never exposed to that behavior, therefore I presume that it is a genetic trait.</p>
<p>My son once asked me if, had it been possible at the time, I would have genetically altered anything about him. I immediately responded “Of Course!” I got a sharp look (it actually pulled him away from the Warcraft screen for two seconds) and he said “What?!?!” I replied “I would fix it so you had a compulsion to share your experiences with your mother.” (Take that, person from whom one must pull teeth to extract snippets of verbal communication!)</p>
<p>I have a personal theory that some symptoms of autism (failure to relate to people) are caused by overexposure (hours and hours) of TV at an early age. I remember some friends whose child was on the way to being declared autistic when they decided to take the TV/video player out of her bedroom. She was TWO years old. Arrgh.</p>
<p>I think two years old is when some children are diagnosed, but are you saying that your friends child, became mroe social when she had the tv removed?
I don’t beleive in having tvs in bedrooms for anyone ( although I do watch movies on my laptop in bed 
) and a child certainly shouldn’t have a tv in their room, but people with sensory differences often do find ways of coping, and having some sort of sound on might help them tune out other irritations</p>
<p>I don’t remember the details but the child would scream if she couldn’t watch videos all the time and they let her. Mostly Disney cartoons. The diagnosis ultimately wasn’t autism but I can’t believe she was helped by being glued to a TV screen practically since birth. No way to know which was cause & which was effect, of course.</p>
<p>I am particulary sensitive to criticism of parenting of young children, because there are some instances of when the parents are doing whatever they can to cope- and sometimes allowing a lot of tv or other self soothing behaviors is the only way they can.
My youngest came out of the womb practically, having a hard time- she couldn’t tolerate clothing- we couldn’t use cloth diapers, I couldn’t even hold her to nurse her- I had to lay her on a bed without touching her.( she has sensory disorder- low touch high pain tolerance- she has little sense of smell- but hearing like a dogs- Temple Grandins books have been so interesting- because while she doesn’t have autism or even asperger syndrome- there are many similarities)
When she was a baby the only way she would go to sleep was if I put her in an infant seat and jiggled it, as soon as I stopped she would wake up screaming for hours, believe me, we tried other ways to help her go to sleep, but when you have a high needs child, you do what you have to for your own sanity- not having more than a couple hours sleep at a time for years, made my own sanity pretty precarious believe me .</p>
<p>She also when she was older went through a time when she watched a lot of videos- the same one over and over usually- all dogs go to heaven was a favorite for some unknown reason. She got so she would listen to stories, but didn’t like music- which I found very interesting, her sister had loved music as did I. She didn’t like singing, didn’t like music, but would listen to story tapes- again the same one over and over again. I think I could recite Really Rosie verbatim ( at least she had good taste!)
So I guess I am trying to do my part, to educate people, that the kid screaming in the grocery isnt’ necessarily a spoiled brat. It could just be that the lights and the sounds and the people is too much for him, I can’t even tell you how many times I had to leave my groceries at the counter because my daughter just couldn’t take it anymore.
OMG, I am crying because her childhood was so difficult for both of us, that we were miserable so much of the time, and no one really could understand.
I think in some ways it is more difficult when you are just “on the spectrum” because it isn’t obvious enough to get a diagnosis, but it is plenty to shake your world.</p>
<p>I could tell more stories but anecdotal evidence is worse than no evidence and I don’t want to appear any more unscientific than I may have already. And no offense intended to parents in situations they can’t help. It’s just that whenever I see a kid in front of a tv all day, every day (it happens) I want to tell the parent “read to your child!” End of rant. Except to say these are not children of engineers.</p>
<p>And oh my, your sensitive child reminds me to some degree of my 2nd child–highly gifted but excitable. I can’t believe I just came across something this week that would have been so helpful 20 years ago! Do you know Dobrowski’s Over-excitabilities? Ways some children have over-sensitive nervous systems. Here is a link to a “layman’s” explanation. </p>
<p><a href=“http://www.giftedacademy.org/dabrowski_oe.html[/url]”>http://www.giftedacademy.org/dabrowski_oe.html</a></p>
<p>Maybe everyone else knows about this but my pediatrician sure never mentioned it. All I knew is 1st child was everyone’s dream, a polite small person, and #2 was the baby and toddler from heck. Fortunately, he got better as he got older, and turned into a most interesting person who is sorely missed when he is at college!</p>
<p>EmeraldK–I am having flashbacks now. The early years were so difficult with #2. I went through many of the same things. Don’t want to go into detail online. He’s doing great now (19 yrs old) and has been doing fine for awhile, or at least he doesn’t start screaming when the sun is in his eyes anymore! I ran into a woman whose daughter went to kindergarten with him (oh the stories I could tell about those days). Such an eerie feeling. We moved, and also changed schools, so I rarely run across people that knew him “back in the day.” So, when I realized that she she knew him back then all I could do was blurt out “He’s BETTER now!!” She just laughed and said “It’s okay!” She understood difficult times. Apparently her daughter (though not a screamer or anything like that) had undiagnosed dyslexia for years and now her youngest has the same thing. She has gone through a lot too. I had no idea.</p>
<p>Speaking of autistic… did everyone see this? It was all over the news, so I must be the only person that didn’t see it until now. Executive summary: Short, autistic kid is basketball team manager (ie, waterboy) for the entire year. Last game of the season coach has him suit up and puts him in the game just to get him on the court. Kid scores 20 points, including 6 for 10 from 3 point range. If this video doesn’t bring tears to your eyes, nothing will!! </p>
<p><a href=“LIVE Transfer Talk: Madrid to let Vinicius go if Mbappé signs - ESPN”>http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/news/story?id=2348397</a></p>
<p>I did see that. Isn’t it great? Reminded me of “Rudy.”</p>
<p>I saw the film of the waterboy, too. By the end eferyone was cheering him - even the other team.</p>
<p>NJres–thanks for that! I hadn’t seen it before either. That was incredibly moving. And what a wonderful, supportive community!</p>