I was doing a consultation with a frustrated mother the other day. Her daughter was recently diagnosed with autism and she has begun the process of getting assessments done from a variety of professionals. One of these assessments was with an occupational therapist.
During the assessment, the therapist was examining the daughter's abililty to use scissors. To hear the Mother's description, the therapist basically forced the scissors into the child's hand and despite reproaches, proceeded to move the child's fingers together and apart to complete the "scissor assessment." The child melted down, the assessment was ended prematurely, and the mother is presently spending weeks with another therapist to re-integrate her daughter to a normal comfort level with scissors.
Such is the frustration in parenting a child with autism, when even the folks who are there to help can become a hindrance.
But let's take a step back and look at the bigger picture for a moment. Though the true cause of autism has yet to be determined, consider what recent research has brought to light:
1) GENETICS AND EPIGENETICS- It is clear that genes and heredity are playing some role in this disorder. The extent to which genes are causing the disorder is as yet unclear. Epigenetics is the study of the idea that while certain genes can cause autistic-like traits, the actual expression of those genes is dependent on the environmental insults affecting them. In the study of epigenetics, the child's environment is considered causal when it comes to the expression of autistic genes.
2) AUTOIMMUNITY - Autoimmunity is a situation where the body's own immune system confuses normal human tissues for invading "bad guys" like a virus or bacteria. The "confused" immune system has been known to attack a nerve's protective sheath (as in Multiple Sclerosis), specific cells in the pancreas (Type II Diabetes), the large intestine (Ulcerative Colitis), our joints (rheumatoid arthritis) and the thyroid (Hashimoto's). The exact causes and mechanisms are still unknown, but what recent research has brought to light is that the immune system can attack nearly any human tissue, and in the case of autism it appears that often the immune system is actually attacking the brain itself, preventing it from developing normally or responding normally to conventional therapies.
Future posts will go into this in more detail, but here are some reasons why the immune system can become autoimmune: food allergy/sensitivity, chronic asymptomatic viral infection, breakdown in the body's natural barrier systems, heavy medal toxicityand imbalance between the system's innate and humoral immunity.
3) IMBALANCED BRAIN FUNCTION - Many studies show anatomical,blood flow and functional imbalances in the brain of autistic children, usually showing a left brain dominance and right brain weakness. Again, the causes of the altered development are unknown, but balanced function can be assessed, and is often remediated using known rehabilitative techniques.
Having considered these big-picture causes, suddenly the ability to use scissors pales in importance when it comes to assessing an autistic child. Why, in our mainstream assessments of autism, aren't these potential causes discussed, considered or examined? It's extremely rare that I hear of a pediatrician who considers causative differentials, nor are most therapists trained to understand current biomedical interventions.
Surely, in the time, effort, expense and frustration of reintegrating the use of scissors in this child's life, a considerably more meaningful advancement in her overall level of health and function could have been achieved.