4 ms·

Gaming the search for autism treatments

31 points by chc2149 8y ago

SubiculumCode 8y ago
Luminosity and the like very well could have failed or had limited effect because brain plasticity is reduced in adulthood. While there are no medical treatments or cures for ASD, the one known effective treatment to improve quality of life outcomes is early behavioral intervention near the age of diagnosis (i.e. 2-4 years of age).
- Nasrudith 8y ago
  I am a higher functioning case admittedly but I find that it seems to auto-correct some in the slow way via learning and workaround development. I suspect that having higher functioning adult autistic tutors could be useful. On another note I have found that ironically my empathy is better than many neurotypical individuals falling way short in both compassion and comprehension of how others would react. Like wondering why their child is acting out when they are literally acting like an antagonist in a young adult dystopian novel (of the overly controlling as opposed to made to fight to the death for fun and profit variant). Hell look at sesame credits - that looks tailored to create a rebellion and lead to a bloody purge of the high credit elites down the road. There was even an apocryphal old story about the Roman Senate considering requiring slaves to wear collars in public at all times until they did the math and realized it would let them know they vastly outnumbered them.
kypro 8y ago
I have autism and dyslexia and I wouldn't change it for the world. That said, I understand autism varies a lot person to person so I can only offer my experience. For me my problems in life have never been a result of my autism or dyslexia, but a result of how people expect or want me to be. I won't go into details, but I know I'm pretty smart and I've achieved more than most people I know largely because of my autistic obsession with anything I'm passionate about. However I've also found my professional life to be extremely hard now I'm at a more senior level in my career. I can't communicate well. I hate social interaction. People often think I'm rude because I don't ask how their weekend was or make eye contact. And on occasion I can come across mean and cold without meaning to do so because find it difficult to empathise. I lost a job a few years back because of my autism and over the course of my career I've been rejected from countless positions because of my poor communication skills or being "a bad culture fit". I'm not bad at all communication though, I'm fine explaining things with text, diagrams and examples. Plus, I'm a really good developer. But non of that ever seems to matter. Sometimes I wonder if it is even me with the problem, or if it's really that people have a problem with me and how I work. Who cares if I'm not overly social? I've never minded it. I quite like being non-verbal and obsessive honestly. But I guess I can understand where neurotypicals are coming from to some extent. Sometimes I wish more people were like me too. Sometimes I wish I could treat people who think talking about their weekend or celebrating the birthday of a colleague they dislike is more important than doing something productive. But you know, I also appreciate not everyone is like me, or needs to be just like me to be worth a damn. Perhaps I'm just venting. I understand some autistic children are completely not functional and need some help. It just upsets me when people think autism needs treating because it's probably the thing I genuinely love the most about myself.
- SubiculumCode 8y ago
  There is a lot to be said for the neuro-diversity argument and movement, the support for which I think has been driven in part by the broadening of the phenotype to those that are less severely affected. For those that are severely affected, ASD can be devastating, including completely disabling anxiety and phobias, extreme sensory sensitivity, low verbal ability and/or IQ, elevated depression and suicide, increased rates of homelessness, and so on. Those are the people that really motivate me in my research.
  - kypro 8y ago
    Yeah, aside from phobias I have all of those. I didn't know anxiety and depression was linked though? I have severe anxiety, much worse than anyone I've ever met. At times dealing with that has been equally as challenging for me. My depression can get pretty bad too although that seems to have eased up a bit over the last couple of years. Sensory sensitivity is something I experience. I feel unbelievably angry whenever I hear loud or tinny noises, but thankfully I can mostly control that. People think I'm strange for always carrying earplugs and wearing them in public, but I've found it really helps to relax me in busy / noisy situations. Could you comment on how is IQ linked, I'd be really interest if you have some more information? Is it normally negatively, because I've heard people on the spectrum often score higher on average? I've had IQ anxiety for a while now because on one hand I know in many way I've been very competent in life, but on the other hand consistently struggled when it comes to the most basic tasks. I took a Mensa IQ test a few months back and scored 132 which I think may actually be on the lower end because of how language heavy Mensa's tests are.
    - SubiculumCode 8y ago
      I'd say that median IQ in ASD is very similar to non-ASD, but the mean is much lower in ASD. That is because a sub-population within the ASD spectrum have very low IQs (e.g., 40-60 being very common). One difficulty with all of this is saple bias. Most studies only deal with higher functioning ASD because low-functioning ASD can be challenging to study. Early on, ASD tended to be only diagnosed in more affluent families, so that could bend IQs upward too in samples. Its a spectrum, and sometimes there is intellectual disability, and sometimes the impact on quality of life minimal or just different. In others no sign of it at all. If you've met one person with autism, you've met one person with autism. Its all very challenging,a nd why there is so much effort being applied to trying to define phenotypes.

31 points by chc2149 8y ago

Luminosity and the like very well could have failed or had limited effect because brain plasticity is reduced in adulthood. While there are no medical treatments or cures for ASD, the one known effective treatment to improve quality of life outcomes is early behavioral intervention near the age of diagnosis (i.e. 2-4 years of age).

Nasrudith 8y ago
I am a higher functioning case admittedly but I find that it seems to auto-correct some in the slow way via learning and workaround development. I suspect that having higher functioning adult autistic tutors could be useful. On another note I have found that ironically my empathy is better than many neurotypical individuals falling way short in both compassion and comprehension of how others would react. Like wondering why their child is acting out when they are literally acting like an antagonist in a young adult dystopian novel (of the overly controlling as opposed to made to fight to the death for fun and profit variant). Hell look at sesame credits - that looks tailored to create a rebellion and lead to a bloody purge of the high credit elites down the road. There was even an apocryphal old story about the Roman Senate considering requiring slaves to wear collars in public at all times until they did the math and realized it would let them know they vastly outnumbered them.

kypro 8y ago

I have autism and dyslexia and I wouldn't change it for the world. That said, I understand autism varies a lot person to person so I can only offer my experience. For me my problems in life have never been a result of my autism or dyslexia, but a result of how people expect or want me to be. I won't go into details, but I know I'm pretty smart and I've achieved more than most people I know largely because of my autistic obsession with anything I'm passionate about. However I've also found my professional life to be extremely hard now I'm at a more senior level in my career. I can't communicate well. I hate social interaction. People often think I'm rude because I don't ask how their weekend was or make eye contact. And on occasion I can come across mean and cold without meaning to do so because find it difficult to empathise. I lost a job a few years back because of my autism and over the course of my career I've been rejected from countless positions because of my poor communication skills or being "a bad culture fit". I'm not bad at all communication though, I'm fine explaining things with text, diagrams and examples. Plus, I'm a really good developer. But non of that ever seems to matter. Sometimes I wonder if it is even me with the problem, or if it's really that people have a problem with me and how I work. Who cares if I'm not overly social? I've never minded it. I quite like being non-verbal and obsessive honestly. But I guess I can understand where neurotypicals are coming from to some extent. Sometimes I wish more people were like me too. Sometimes I wish I could treat people who think talking about their weekend or celebrating the birthday of a colleague they dislike is more important than doing something productive. But you know, I also appreciate not everyone is like me, or needs to be just like me to be worth a damn. Perhaps I'm just venting. I understand some autistic children are completely not functional and need some help. It just upsets me when people think autism needs treating because it's probably the thing I genuinely love the most about myself.

SubiculumCode 8y ago
There is a lot to be said for the neuro-diversity argument and movement, the support for which I think has been driven in part by the broadening of the phenotype to those that are less severely affected. For those that are severely affected, ASD can be devastating, including completely disabling anxiety and phobias, extreme sensory sensitivity, low verbal ability and/or IQ, elevated depression and suicide, increased rates of homelessness, and so on. Those are the people that really motivate me in my research.
- kypro 8y ago
  Yeah, aside from phobias I have all of those. I didn't know anxiety and depression was linked though? I have severe anxiety, much worse than anyone I've ever met. At times dealing with that has been equally as challenging for me. My depression can get pretty bad too although that seems to have eased up a bit over the last couple of years. Sensory sensitivity is something I experience. I feel unbelievably angry whenever I hear loud or tinny noises, but thankfully I can mostly control that. People think I'm strange for always carrying earplugs and wearing them in public, but I've found it really helps to relax me in busy / noisy situations. Could you comment on how is IQ linked, I'd be really interest if you have some more information? Is it normally negatively, because I've heard people on the spectrum often score higher on average? I've had IQ anxiety for a while now because on one hand I know in many way I've been very competent in life, but on the other hand consistently struggled when it comes to the most basic tasks. I took a Mensa IQ test a few months back and scored 132 which I think may actually be on the lower end because of how language heavy Mensa's tests are.
  - SubiculumCode 8y ago
    I'd say that median IQ in ASD is very similar to non-ASD, but the mean is much lower in ASD. That is because a sub-population within the ASD spectrum have very low IQs (e.g., 40-60 being very common). One difficulty with all of this is saple bias. Most studies only deal with higher functioning ASD because low-functioning ASD can be challenging to study. Early on, ASD tended to be only diagnosed in more affluent families, so that could bend IQs upward too in samples. Its a spectrum, and sometimes there is intellectual disability, and sometimes the impact on quality of life minimal or just different. In others no sign of it at all. If you've met one person with autism, you've met one person with autism. Its all very challenging,a nd why there is so much effort being applied to trying to define phenotypes.