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Can Asperger syndrome be cured?

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Reply 80
Original post by Ribbits
If your - or this 'local Asperger syndrome support group's' - theory about education playing a major role in the 'development' of Asperger's in a child is true, then why do my two much less academic brothers have it and I don't? The one that was diagnosed first was much more interested in playing with (or also trying to and failing) other children than any school work. He was slower to learn how to read and write than me and didn't learn to tell the time until he was 10 or something. I preferred being on my own and studying. He was the only one of us that wanted to go outside and make friends with other children all the time (even if he wasn't always or even necessarily usually successful). I was more of a loner than him.

He's now in his 20s and still just as autistic in his social abilities/difficulties, mannerisms, ways of expressing himself, proneness to stress etc. He was never pushed very hard; it was a struggle for my parents to get him to do any homework and they only really tried when his teachers complained a lot. He liked video games and socialising more than any of us did. I liked schoolwork and similar activities.

Most of this thread is anecdotal, including my post, so it doesn't really prove anything... But still.


People with Asperger syndrome are not necessarily good scholars nor are they interested in doing schoolwork and homework even if they have high ability for their age in reading and maths. Sometimes they just want to gravitate to their area of interests which are not subjects what school teaches or they find the schoolwork too trivial so feel that there is no incentive to do it because they are not learning anything they don’t already know. It’s quite a well known fact that kids with Asperger syndrome can be ‘lazy’ at school and are reluctant to produce written work. They can also be mischievous and annoying individuals.One person I have met with Asperger syndrome who has a PhD in engineering told me that his favourite subject in Year 7 was drama because it enabled him to lark around in class. His school report for drama was bad but it didn’t worry him. He also got bad reports for maths and science making references to irritating behaviour. He hardly put any effort into these subjects because the curriculum was beneath his potential and he wasn’t learning anything. He did not take drama to GCSE but ended up with A grades in maths and science.

Some kids with Asperger syndrome can be naturally extroverted with a desire to socialise but their inability to pick up social cues then respond appropriately inevitably results in them being ostracised and bullied which often turns them into introverts later on. A common view of video games amongst adults is that they are a solitary activity but as they are popular then a facility exists to use them as subject to bond with other kids. If kids with Asperger syndrome have no interest in popular culture but instead have a weird interest shared by few children like burglar alarms or railway bridges - then it is likely to make them introverted as nobody wants to talk about or listen to their interests. Another bonding subject teenagers with Asperger syndrome are known to embrace is drugs and alcohol.Read the OP “What is interesting is that neither of them were high academic achievers at school or had particularly good GCSE grades”.

A person who starts out with a high academic ability at an early age does not necessarily succeed later on and they can screw up badly with schoolwork and GCSE grades. Conversely, people with a low academic ability at an early age, or slow learners in primary school, can flourish at secondary school and achieve high GCSE grades. Success in GCSEs does not require high levels of raw intelligence. What it does require is good exam technique. A tutor told me this and how he spends more time going over exam technique than the curriculum itself. It is not unknown for teenagers with high academic ability to get lacklustre GCSE grades because of poor exam technique.
Reply 81
Some new research on this:

"Brain scans spot early signs of autism in high-risk babies

By scanning the brains of babies whose siblings have autism, researchers say they have been able to make reasonably accurate forecasts about which of these high-risk infants will later develop autism themselves. The findings raise the prospect of diagnosing autism spectrum disorder (ASD) months before children develop symptoms, a goal that has proved elusive. Nature looks at the new study and its implications."

http://www.nature.com/news/brain-scans-spot-early-signs-of-autism-in-high-risk-babies-1.21484

And BBC http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-38955872
Original post by jneill
Some new research on this:

"Brain scans spot early signs of autism in high-risk babies

By scanning the brains of babies whose siblings have autism, researchers say they have been able to make reasonably accurate forecasts about which of these high-risk infants will later develop autism themselves. The findings raise the prospect of diagnosing autism spectrum disorder (ASD) months before children develop symptoms, a goal that has proved elusive. Nature looks at the new study and its implications."

http://www.nature.com/news/brain-scans-spot-early-signs-of-autism-in-high-risk-babies-1.21484

And BBC http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-38955872


Sigh means more children will be written off
Reply 83
Original post by Luke7456
Sigh means more children will be written off


From the BBC article:

"If it can be diagnosed early, then behavioural therapies such as those that train parents in new ways of interacting with an autistic child can be introduced earlier when they should be more effective.

Prof Joseph Piven, another researcher on the project, told the BBC: "Now we have the possibility that we can identify those who are most likely to go on to to get autism.

"That allows us to consider intervening before the behaviours of autism appear, I think there's wide consensus that that's likely to have more impact at a time when the brain is most malleable and before the symptoms have consolidated. "So we find it very promising."

The researchers fed the brain scan images into an artificial intelligence. It was able to predict which children would develop autism with 80% accuracy.

Carol Povey, director of the National Autistic Society's Centre for Autism, said: "It's possible that MRI scanning of this type could be developed to help families who already have an autistic child to access earlier diagnosis for subsequent children.

"This would mean those children could receive the right support as early as possible."
Original post by Arran90
People with Asperger syndrome are not necessarily good scholars nor are they interested in doing schoolwork and homework even if they have high ability for their age in reading and maths. Sometimes they just want to gravitate to their area of interests which are not subjects what school teaches or they find the schoolwork too trivial so feel that there is no incentive to do it because they are not learning anything they don’t already know. It’s quite a well known fact that kids with Asperger syndrome can be ‘lazy’ at school and are reluctant to produce written work. They can also be mischievous and annoying individuals.One person I have met with Asperger syndrome who has a PhD in engineering told me that his favourite subject in Year 7 was drama because it enabled him to lark around in class. His school report for drama was bad but it didn’t worry him. He also got bad reports for maths and science making references to irritating behaviour. He hardly put any effort into these subjects because the curriculum was beneath his potential and he wasn’t learning anything. He did not take drama to GCSE but ended up with A grades in maths and science.

Some kids with Asperger syndrome can be naturally extroverted with a desire to socialise but their inability to pick up social cues then respond appropriately inevitably results in them being ostracised and bullied which often turns them into introverts later on. A common view of video games amongst adults is that they are a solitary activity but as they are popular then a facility exists to use them as subject to bond with other kids. If kids with Asperger syndrome have no interest in popular culture but instead have a weird interest shared by few children like burglar alarms or railway bridges - then it is likely to make them introverted as nobody wants to talk about or listen to their interests. Another bonding subject teenagers with Asperger syndrome are known to embrace is drugs and alcohol.Read the OP “What is interesting is that neither of them were high academic achievers at school or had particularly good GCSE grades”.

A person who starts out with a high academic ability at an early age does not necessarily succeed later on and they can screw up badly with schoolwork and GCSE grades. Conversely, people with a low academic ability at an early age, or slow learners in primary school, can flourish at secondary school and achieve high GCSE grades. Success in GCSEs does not require high levels of raw intelligence. What it does require is good exam technique. A tutor told me this and how he spends more time going over exam technique than the curriculum itself. It is not unknown for teenagers with high academic ability to get lacklustre GCSE grades because of poor exam technique.


The real question is why you are asking people on TSR when you can ask this question on science related forums in reddit.
Reply 85
Original post by stoyfan
The real question is why you are asking people on TSR when you can ask this question on science related forums in reddit.


I question the intelligence of people on TSR and whether they are able to think deeply about a subject then raise the right questions because it's primarily a community of people first and foremost interested in pieces of paper with a high grade on them. In fact, I wonder if most of the intelligent people on TSR are not students.

It goes back to the point I made about good scholars. Over the years I have found many high achievers at school to be blinkered people who have little knowledge of anything outside of the subjects they study, and they only study subjects for the qualification at the end rather than for the knowledge.

I was never much interested in school myself with the possible exception of mathematics. I had my own books and videos about things that I was interested in.
Reply 86
(edited 7 years ago)
What's the point of this thread?

Autism / Aspergers Syndrome are developmental disorders. You can't cure the way someone's brain have developed. It's not like with certain forms of childhood epilepsy which you can outgrow. (which happened to me)
These sorts of conditions do tend to be over-embellished and are in many ways a symptom of a decadent western society (much like that LGBT nonsense). Plus governments are actually encouraging it to hook people under the thumb of the state and control their lives like they do with single mothers. Rather than throwing benefits and all this stuff at a (largely manufactured) problem it would be better to instill values of family and hard academic discipline. Poor social skills are not something that need to be medicated or have money thrown at, instead it would be better if whites just steered autists towards hard academic study and used gang networks to help protect them from harm rather than always running to the state for drugs, cash, housing.
(edited 7 years ago)
Original post by AngloIndiaUmmah
These sorts of conditions do tend to be over-embellished and are in many ways a symptom of a decadent western society (much like that LGBT nonsense). Plus governments are actually encouraging it to hook people under the thumb of the state and control their lives like they do with single mothers. Rather than throwing benefits and all this stuff at a (largely manufactured) problem it would be better to instill values of family and hard academic discipline. Poor social skills are not something that need to be medicated or have money thrown at, instead it would be better if whites just steered autists towards hard academic study and used gang networks to help protect them from harm rather than always running to the state for drugs, cash, housing.


Thanks for showing how clueless you are. It's not a manufactured problem. Unless things like little or no speech and severe social difficulties are manufactured?

Very few are put on medication. Unless it's for things like depression.
Original post by Tiger Rag
Thanks for showing how clueless you are. It's not a manufactured problem. Unless things like little or no speech and severe social difficulties are manufactured?

Very few are put on medication. Unless it's for things like depression.


Why is benefits and all the the other interference always the answer though? Is it even desirable given the track record the zionist state has on vaccination, chemtrails, organ theft, cultural marxism etc..
Original post by AngloIndiaUmmah
Why is benefits and all the the other interference always the answer though? Is it even desirable given the track record the zionist state has on vaccination, chemtrails, organ theft, cultural marxism etc..


Not everyone gets benefits.
Reply 92
Original post by Tiger Rag
Autism / Aspergers Syndrome are developmental disorders. You can't cure the way someone's brain have developed. It's not like with certain forms of childhood epilepsy which you can outgrow. (which happened to me)


Is there any scientific proof that Autism or Asperger syndrome are incurable or is it just an assumption made by the medical profession?

The closed mind approach is that these conditions cannot be cured so don't even bother trying to find a cure because it doesn't exist.

The growth mind approach is that there is no scientific proof that these conditions are incurable so a cure for them may exist out there.
Original post by Arran90
Is there any scientific proof that Autism or Asperger syndrome are incurable or is it just an assumption made by the medical profession?

The closed mind approach is that these conditions cannot be cured so don't even bother trying to find a cure because it doesn't exist.

The growth mind approach is that there is no scientific proof that these conditions are incurable so a cure for them may exist out there.


We have no idea what a cure will do to people. And why do others who don't have the condition want to cure those of us with it? Fine, I can understand it if it was something like blindness.

They tried to cure me of my migraines. I've now been left with mild deafness in one ear, it's possibly made my existing sight problems worse and has made me quite seriously ill.
Reply 95
Original post by Tiger Rag
We have no idea what a cure will do to people. And why do others who don't have the condition want to cure those of us with it? Fine, I can understand it if it was something like blindness.


Perhaps you should ask people with Asperger syndrome or autistic spectrum disorders, or the parents of children with these conditions, if they want to be cured. You will almost certainly find a high proportion of them want to be cured because of all the problems and heartache that these conditions cause.

I suppose it's vaguely related to how a high proportion of introverts would rather be extroverts because they tend to be happier, more successful in life, and make more money.
Original post by AngloIndiaUmmah
These sorts of conditions do tend to be over-embellished and are in many ways a symptom of a decadent western society (much like that LGBT nonsense). Plus governments are actually encouraging it to hook people under the thumb of the state and control their lives like they do with single mothers. Rather than throwing benefits and all this stuff at a (largely manufactured) problem it would be better to instill values of family and hard academic discipline. Poor social skills are not something that need to be medicated or have money thrown at, instead it would be better if whites just steered autists towards hard academic study and used gang networks to help protect them from harm rather than always running to the state for drugs, cash, housing.


The government does not offer any diagnosis or benefits without a huge fight for them. Large numbers of autistic people and pretty much all high functioning autists have little to no benefits/support. The people who do receive benefits are those whose autism prevents them learning properly in school, holding down a job, or who are unable to live alone (e.g. can't control bladder, speak etc). That isn't excessive, it's necessary to allow those people to live a reasonable life. Academic study doesn't solve poor social understanding, even academic careers require some inter personal communication.

Original post by Arran90
Perhaps you should ask people with Asperger syndrome or autistic spectrum disorders, or the parents of children with these conditions, if they want to be cured. You will almost certainly find a high proportion of them want to be cured because of all the problems and heartache that these conditions cause.

I suppose it's vaguely related to how a high proportion of introverts would rather be extroverts because they tend to be happier, more successful in life, and make more money.


A cure for autism is much more complicated than for epilepsy or something. Social skills are learnt early on so you'd only really be able to 'cure' very young children... or learning the correct social skills will still be very very hard. Developmental conditions are not something we have the understanding to 'cure' right now - that doesn't mean no one is thinking about it.

I also suspect that plenty of people on the spectrum would keep their disorder. It's a fundamental difference in the way a person's brain works - so 'curing' them would turn them into a different person, lots of people wouldn't want that. I'm an introvert and would have no interest in being an extrovert.
Reply 97
Original post by doodle_333
A cure for autism is much more complicated than for epilepsy or something. Social skills are learnt early on so you'd only really be able to 'cure' very young children... or learning the correct social skills will still be very very hard.

I disagree with that. Neurotypical people who move to foreign countries with completely different cultures as adults learn the social skills for that particular country. Learning social skills through observation requires the ability to read people which neurotypical people possess for life but is diminished in people with Asperger syndrome.

There is an unproven theory that popular children at school will be just as popular if they moved to a school in a country with a completely different language and culture. Popularity is heavily influenced by being able to read people then adjusting one's behaviour appropriately for the situation. A feedback loop. A diminished ability to read people will result in regularly exhibiting undesirable or inappropriate behaviour with the result of damaging one's popularity

If only young children are able to learn social skills then explain why there are hundreds of book and websites about social skills for adults?

Developmental conditions are not something we have the understanding to 'cure' right now - that doesn't mean no one is thinking about it.


I remember my science teacher saying that he was not optimistic about a cure being found for AIDS unless it was a chance find. The reason is due to the small number of people with the condition and the wealth that they possess is incapable of covering the cost of researching and developing a cure. Pharmaceutical companies would rather sell cold relievers at high profit margins instead.

Is there a similar parallel between this and Asperger syndrome or autistic spectrum disorders? All a matter of economics?
Original post by AngloIndiaUmmah
These sorts of conditions do tend to be over-embellished and are in many ways a symptom of a decadent western society (much like that LGBT nonsense). Plus governments are actually encouraging it to hook people under the thumb of the state and control their lives like they do with single mothers. Rather than throwing benefits and all this stuff at a (largely manufactured) problem it would be better to instill values of family and hard academic discipline. Poor social skills are not something that need to be medicated or have money thrown at, instead it would be better if whites just steered autists towards hard academic study and used gang networks to help protect them from harm rather than always running to the state for drugs, cash, housing.


⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽
Original post by Arran90
I disagree with that. Neurotypical people who move to foreign countries with completely different cultures as adults learn the social skills for that particular country. Learning social skills through observation requires the ability to read people which neurotypical people possess for life but is diminished in people with Asperger syndrome.

There is an unproven theory that popular children at school will be just as popular if they moved to a school in a country with a completely different language and culture. Popularity is heavily influenced by being able to read people then adjusting one's behaviour appropriately for the situation. A feedback loop. A diminished ability to read people will result in regularly exhibiting undesirable or inappropriate behaviour with the result of damaging one's popularity

If only young children are able to learn social skills then explain why there are hundreds of book and websites about social skills for adults?


Of course people CAN learn social skills. But as children our brains are far more malleable and we pick these things up without even thinking about it in an environment where it's acceptable that we will make mistakes. Doing it as an adult involves much more thought and effort and people will be less forgiving of mistakes. I live in another country and while the culture is not insanely different to the UK it's still taking a lot of effort to adjust.


I remember my science teacher saying that he was not optimistic about a cure being found for AIDS unless it was a chance find. The reason is due to the small number of people with the condition and the wealth that they possess is incapable of covering the cost of researching and developing a cure. Pharmaceutical companies would rather sell cold relievers at high profit margins instead.

Is there a similar parallel between this and Asperger syndrome or autistic spectrum disorders? All a matter of economics?


Well that would depend if a cure was a one off injection they could give to young kids or whether it was an ongoing treatment. An ongoing treatment would still make them lots of money - the way to increase that is to relax the boundaries on diagnosis (as we see now in depression) and push for better diagnosis which they're perfectly happy to try and do. It's very different to AIDS because drug companies currently make a lot of money selling medication to keep HIV/AIDS under control so something which would cure it fast would prevent them gaining more money - whereas autism doesn't require medication so they wouldn't 'lose' anything by curing it.

I think the bigger issue with any 'cure' is that we still have such poor understanding of autism and how it works. We have one diagnostic label for a huge group of people who present in very different ways and we are still catching up with gender differences and cultural differences. We have only got as far as calling it a developmental disorder... we don't know where to find the 'difference' and until then any attempt at 'curing' it will be stumbling around in the dark. That's easier to do for some things... e.g. anxiety we knew there were drugs people could take which made them feel calm so without knowing the cause of anxiety we can produce a pill for the symptoms - that approach doesn't work with autism.

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