Video game helps autistic kids

Autism is really a spectrum of disorders under the umbrella of Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD) as described in the DSM IV manuals diagnostic criteria, and some conditions in the spectrum are much more debilitating than others. Look up infantile autism to see that the severe end of the spectrum needs treatment to acquire skills and maybe reduce brain inflamation. Asperger's is at the mildest end of the spectrum and often involves enhanced ability to concentrate on an area of interest (sometimes toward obsession) probably due to reduced connectivity in interrupting circuits, and involvles no language delay as a diagnostic criteria. Where's the video game?

Here's some news for you, you're probably a little autistic and/or suffer very mild ADD. Everyone does.

The thing is that everyone is different, the brain is complicated. Many more people are disagnosed with disorders such as Autism, or Aspergers or even ADD/ADHD now than even a mere decade ago. Why? Is it some kind of epidemic? No, it's because the clinicians are better at diagnosis, the knowledge of such disorders is becoming more and more widespread, and as a result more people are evaluated, and unsurprisingly more are diagnosed.

However let's just take a step back from the labels and think about this for a minute.

Do you know someone with a specific interest that they follow to the exclusion of others? How about someone who's awkward in social settings, or has trouble communicating with others. Perhaps they are anxious all the time? Do you know someone who can't keep focus much other time, especially at work, and yet has an incredible ability to focus on what interests them? Perhaps they have a physical tick, or repetitive movement or behavior? Are they resistant to change? Would you consider they have obsessive compulsive disorder? Are they prone to mood swings, or depression?

Everyone does. EVERYONE. We all have some symptoms that would fall into these areas. Having a son who's high functioning autistic and has major league ADD, I have learned a great deal. I have learned to spot the traits in others that I see in my son and his friends and peers. Most people, the vast majority have symptoms so slight that they are never seen. Some have a few mild symptoms and people consider them as just being awkward, or easily distracted. As you encounter people with more of these traits and more sever expression of them, you start finding people who have diagnoses for various disorders, such as ADD, OCD, depression, mood disorders and so forth. Then finally you come to the last group, those who's symptoms are severe enough, or match the appropriate symptom cluster to be classified somewhere on the autism spectrum. 

The point I'm making is that is no cure, everyone is different, people considered to be autistic are just a little more different from the 'mainstream'. The 'cure' is really a combination of lots of love and care, physical and occupational therapy, education, social education, behavioral modification, good nutrition and some medicinal support to aid people in dealing with some of the symptoms, such as anxiety, or concentration, All of this together can make a truly huge difference in peoples lives. I have seen this in my son's case, but also in dozens of other kids who attend therapy classes with him. There is no snake il cure, no massive medical intervention that can cure this. For the autistic, Who and what they are is normal. their brains are wired a little more differently than yours or mine, but my brain is wired differently than yous and everyone else's too. So why turn around and tell a whole group of people that they're sick and need a cure for simply being different? 

I forget which magazine it was(I think Wired, maybe Discover), but if you allow the response method to be chosen by the testee, and you give tests that don´t favor ¨normal¨ people then the autistics (1) tend to score the same, and (2) though they score the same, they respond faster on the parts they get right.

The article showcased a non-verbal autistic woman who could type 120 minutes and, if I remember correctly, was fighting to make people see that not all autistics want to be ¨cured.¨

The guy who invented the Bit Torrent protocol has Asperger´s Syndrome, and geeks are thankful for it. (Though, I guess he would benefit with better business savvy)

We´re not handicapped, we´re just different.

Just about everyone could benefit from this:)