Thursday, January 13, 2005
Achilles, Autsim and the Novel
I note with amusement the "Wierd Peep’s” comments relayed on the Chatelain’s website. Obviously, the person has read Behind the Blue Canvas once too often, given the bondage, s/m references. He or she also must live in St. Helena, because this person has certainly seen Ms. Tabios and her beloved pooch interact. I can attest that the Chatelaine actually peels grapes for her beloved Achilles. And hand feeds him wet dog food. Such is the benefit of adoration . . . woof.
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Spent last night at a seminar on autism hosted by the Foothill Autism Alliance. The speaker was the head of the U.C. Davis M.I.N.D. Institute, Doctor Robert L. Hendren. The institute focuses exclusively on neurodevelopmental disorders, including autism. Unfortunately, the news he relayed was not good.
Autism continues to be on the rise. M.I.N.D. has examined the increase in light of claims that the increase was due to an influx of autistic children into California from other states and that the increase is due to a change in the DSM IV definition of autism. They have found that neither of these factors explains the increase. What we have is an epidemic, both in California and in the United States.
Autism continues to be a condition measured by behavior rather than by any identifiable genetic difference or organic factor. As the speaker mentioned, there are 30,000 or so genes and we’ve identified 130 that are different in people diagnosed with autism. This only confirms my lay theory that what we describe as autism is in fact multiple differences that show similar behavioral traits.
Autism continues to be non-treatable by drugs for the most part. The speaker went through a pharmacologist's dictionary of drugs – from SSRIs to Dexidrine and Ritalin, to Resperdal to Risperidone, to Lithim to Topomax, none of them show significant improvement in the overall symptoms, though they do help certain individuals with some symptoms.
Interestingly, however, there is some promise being shown by a non-drug therapy. Injections of Methyl B12 seem to decrease many of the negative behaviors in autistic children according to anecdotal accounts. The institute is going to study this one more thoroughly. But, so many therapies have started out with great anecdotal evidence, such as secretin, that most remain skeptical.
Another problem is the near impossibility of doing double blind testing on children or isolating one treatment method. How does a scientist tell a parent to stop all therapies for a year so that said scientist can test the effectiveness of a drug?
Fortunately, the M.I.N.D. Institute continues its research and remains well funded.
#
I have not mentioned the novel in a while. Frankly, it had not been going well. I found editing to be about as pleasurable as sticking needles under my fingernails. Until yesterday. And suddenly, every thing clicked. My characters started to talk to me. Frankly, I no longer even saw my fingers on the keyboard. I saw the action taking place between the characters and somehow the descriptions made it into the computer. Was a very exciting time. Getting into that zone is one of the most pleasurable feelings I've ever had.
#
Spent last night at a seminar on autism hosted by the Foothill Autism Alliance. The speaker was the head of the U.C. Davis M.I.N.D. Institute, Doctor Robert L. Hendren. The institute focuses exclusively on neurodevelopmental disorders, including autism. Unfortunately, the news he relayed was not good.
Autism continues to be on the rise. M.I.N.D. has examined the increase in light of claims that the increase was due to an influx of autistic children into California from other states and that the increase is due to a change in the DSM IV definition of autism. They have found that neither of these factors explains the increase. What we have is an epidemic, both in California and in the United States.
Autism continues to be a condition measured by behavior rather than by any identifiable genetic difference or organic factor. As the speaker mentioned, there are 30,000 or so genes and we’ve identified 130 that are different in people diagnosed with autism. This only confirms my lay theory that what we describe as autism is in fact multiple differences that show similar behavioral traits.
Autism continues to be non-treatable by drugs for the most part. The speaker went through a pharmacologist's dictionary of drugs – from SSRIs to Dexidrine and Ritalin, to Resperdal to Risperidone, to Lithim to Topomax, none of them show significant improvement in the overall symptoms, though they do help certain individuals with some symptoms.
Interestingly, however, there is some promise being shown by a non-drug therapy. Injections of Methyl B12 seem to decrease many of the negative behaviors in autistic children according to anecdotal accounts. The institute is going to study this one more thoroughly. But, so many therapies have started out with great anecdotal evidence, such as secretin, that most remain skeptical.
Another problem is the near impossibility of doing double blind testing on children or isolating one treatment method. How does a scientist tell a parent to stop all therapies for a year so that said scientist can test the effectiveness of a drug?
Fortunately, the M.I.N.D. Institute continues its research and remains well funded.
#
I have not mentioned the novel in a while. Frankly, it had not been going well. I found editing to be about as pleasurable as sticking needles under my fingernails. Until yesterday. And suddenly, every thing clicked. My characters started to talk to me. Frankly, I no longer even saw my fingers on the keyboard. I saw the action taking place between the characters and somehow the descriptions made it into the computer. Was a very exciting time. Getting into that zone is one of the most pleasurable feelings I've ever had.
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