autism... deep diving or gentically linked to 'scannism'?

[jenny72]

I'm a very recently self-diagnosed and greatly relieved scanner. I also have an autistic son (and a daughter who I suspect is a scanner). I'm a biological research scientist, turned science educator... communicator... editor... now jewellery artist. I'm married to a multi-disciplinary scientist. Its been shown that scientific couples are more likely to have autistic children. However, people often say to me, you are the opposite of an autistic person... loads of interests and passions, good listening and social skills etc I'm fascinated by the genetics of autism (and now scannism) as my family seems to have a very good mix of both (yes, we're rather odd and there are quite a lot of scientists among us). Would love to know if anyone else has noticed similar links or can put me onto any relevant research. Cheers Jenny

[sgoldie]

I was curious about recent articles I've read that attribute the great increase in autism to the preservatives in childhood innoculations. Any info?

[jenny72]

This guy has done a lot of good research in the area: Dr Eric Fombonne Professor of Child Psychiatry McGill University Montreal Canada There was defeinitely no link between my son's autism and immunisation. His autism, with hindsight, was evident from birth (diagnosed at 2.8 years) and he had no adverse reactions to any of his immunisations. However, I have now met two families whose children clearly did have some sort of reaction to immunisation. Their children developed serious broad ranging disabilities after the 18 month MMR immunisation... their wide ranging symptoms include autistic traits. For a small number of kids obviously something rather serious results from immunisation (and this needs serious investigation) but I do not think this in anyway explains an increased incidence (or diagnosis) of autism. The BBC did a very good documentary on this last year. I lifted the following from: http://www.uoguelph.ca/oaar/fombonne-prevalence.html \"Claims of an association with measles-mumps-rubella immunization have not been borne out by recent studies,17-19 and evidence for causal association with other exposures, such as mercury-containing vaccines, is weak. 20, 21\" 17. Fombonne E, Chakrabarti S. No evidence for a new variant of measles-mumps-rubella-induced autism. Pediatrics. 2001;108:E58. 18. Madsen KM, Hviid A, Vestergaard M, et al. A population-based study of measles, mumps, and rubella vaccination and autism. N Engl J Med. 2002;347:1477-1482. 19. Taylor B, Miller E, Lingam R, Andrews N, Simmons A, Stowe J. Measles, mumps, and rubella vaccination and bowel problems or developmental regression in children with autism: population study. BMJ. 2002;324:393-396. 20. Stratton K, ed, Gable A, ed, McCormick MC, ed. Immunization Safety Review Committee: Thimerosal-Containing Vaccines and Neurodevelopmental Disorders. Washington, DC: National Academies, Institute of Medicine; 2001. 21. Pichichero ME, Cernichiari E, Lopreiato J, Treanor J. Mercury concentrations and metabolism in infants receiving vaccines containing thiomersal: a descriptive study. Lancet. 2002;360:1737-1741.

[Heather Duggan]

I have a son on the autism spectrum (although he's less autistic the older he gets). If he and the other autistic spectrum children I meet are good examples, they are deep, deep divers. When he was younger, and more extreme, he would get completely lost in a single facet - magic cards, or james bond, or whatever - and he would come up for air only months or years later.

[Unity]

My children are autistic. One boy when younger had a couple of main interests - anything military plus shopping catalogues now he's getting non-stop ideas about inventions or ways to set up businesses. Genetics - I had childhood schizophrenia and PTSD. Other son always been non-verbal but very sociable. I put my scanning down to stress as I didn't used to have it, only recent years.

[cathryn]

I have just heard about scannerism. I certainly fit. I have aspergers type symptons without having AS. My brain drives me to constantly be searching for new interests for in depth research.

[cathryn]

Evolution could have selected for a subset of a population to be able to fully focus on problem solving in time of crisis. I feel in a tribal situation under adverse conditions I would be a valuable asset to a community possibly coming up with creative solutions. Even in less challenging times I would probably prefer finding new ways of doing things rather than socialising. Austism could be an unfortunate consequence of having an advantage to having some genes that favour ADD/Aspergers/Scannerism Two of my five children have had IQ tests showing top 2% of the population. These two have not done as well as the other three dropping out of TAFE and UNI. Time management has been a real problem, as has the inability to not let them be themselves be destracted by their passion, early Fords One has been (mis) diagnosed with ADD and been given RITALIN. Thank goodness he no longer takes it. I tried his medicine at a very low dose. All it did was space me out and I was still flitting from one job to another, unable to focus on the mundane tasks I should have been doing.

[SarahC]

This intrigues me. I have, all my life, had deep preoccupations with things. Some lasting, some transitory. Subjects, places, people. Some would call me obsessive. I have learned to cope with this, and I don't find it stops me functioning. I have a huge number of disparate interests, some of them relevant to my goals, some not. I figure this makes me a scanner. I have also, all my life, been not particularly good at relating to people socially. I didn't have any close friends till I was fifteen. I can still be very, very wary of people in social situations. I don't do small-talk very well. I spend a lot of time alone and was always told by my folks that I was 'too serious'. I was put in remedial class at age 6 for being 'hyperactive' (although I was never formally diagnosed with ADHD, as they'd probably call it now). I have also suffered recurrent bouts of depression over the years. Now, I have read up on some Asperger sites and there are various other things about me that make me suspect that I could, possibly, be Aspergers. I haven't been diagnosed, and I don't know if it would make any difference if I was. I just think of myself as eccentric. Ironically, I am the one member of my generation in my family who wasn't pushed into the sciences, on the grounds that it was 'too competitive' for me! (Although I was greeted with horror when I decided I wanted to be an artist, on the grounds that I was too bright and could have done something more academic. Go figure.)

[urbanpioneer]

Some recent studies have shown that kids in the autistic range have high concentrations of heavy metals in their system, (lead, mercury) but no one is sure if that is the cause of the autistic tendancies or the effect that goes along with some autism "gene". Maybe someday they'll figure this out and find a gnetic propensity to "hoard" meavy metals in your body that other people would flush out. This and the timing of immunizations that occur at the same time as autism is usually diagnosed is where the mercury in immunizations debate started. Here in Iowa, it is now possible to have your child immunized with metal-free vaccines, but you have to request it and I believe pay more for it. A lot of parents are doing just that. Better to be safe than sorry, I suppose. But there is also a growing number of parents who refuse to get their children vaccinated at all for that reason! I think they'll be very sorry when their kid dies or ends up blind or deaf because of a case of measles or some other disease that could have been easily prevented. I am just old enough to remember the terror of polio in the '50's. I think it's very selfish of these parents to think that there won't be an epidemic because every body ELSE'S kids are vaccinated, keeping the disease from their door. So enough of my soapbox for today. Just remember that scanners, Asberger's and even Autistics can be helped and lead meaningful lives.

[chriss]

Some recent studies have shown that kids in the autistic range have high concentrations of heavy metals in their system, (lead, mercury) but no one is sure if that is the cause of the autistic tendancies or the effect that goes along with some autism "gene". Maybe someday they'll figure this out and find a gnetic propensity to "hoard" meavy metals in your body that other people would flush out. <snip> But there is also a growing number of parents who refuse to get their children vaccinated at all for that reason! I think they'll be very sorry when their kid dies or ends up blind or deaf because of a case of measles or some other disease that could have been easily prevented. I am just old enough to remember the terror of polio in the '50's. I think it's very selfish of these parents to think that there won't be an epidemic because every body ELSE'S kids are vaccinated, keeping the disease from their door. So enough of my soapbox for today. Just remember that scanners, Asberger's and even Autistics can be helped and lead meaningful lives.

I do not have an autistic child, but I know several people who do. The frustration and the sadness that they experience at "losing" their children to autism is very troubling. When they think that it could have been prevented, it is even worse. Those who I know who have delayed or declined certain vaccinations have not done it with any epidemics in mind. Just because there is not an epidemic, does not mean that an un-vaccinnated will not get a disease. They made a choice, based on the genetics of their own families, as to which risk would be greater for their kids. It is odd that it is not the disease in the vaccine that causes problems, but rather the preservatives and other additives in it. You are always told about the risks of the disease, but not the other stuff the vaccines contain. That said, I also know of kids who were diagnosed with Autism who were able to detoxify and heal their brains. With all of the information out there, it seems that there is so much missing. It is difficult to weigh the risks, and as a parent, that is pretty disconcerting. Chris

[Kelliess]

Since autism is a spectrum disorder, any one of us could have charactaristics of autism. I am a behavior analyst and although I only worked briefly with young children with autism, it seems that the array is so dramatic it could be impossible to tell where it begins and ends sometimes. Some kids I worked with had barely detectable autism. Others were quite disabled. Some people associate ADHD with autism. I think we would be hard pressed to find a clear delineation! I find it useful to look for specific goals and set about finding ways to achieve them ... whether the person has autism or not! But it can certainly be comforting to find similarities between ourselves and our kids. Kellie

[happykat]

I have ASD and am definitely a "scanner" and many other ASD people likewise have more than one passion in their lifetime, but perhaps there are also many ASD people who are "divers".

I have always thought of myself as a person with diverse interests and who is not afraid of trying new things, and who sometimes finds it hard to "stick to" things, but interestingly (in relation to Barbara's descriptions of scanners, which seems to fit me to a T) it does seem to be the reverse of the "stereotype" of ASD, even for those with ASD who have a variety of "obsessions", or for whom their special interests change dramatically over time. But then, as people say, in reality ASD has NO stereotype!!

[happykat]

Here's what I wrote on Barbara's old separate board for scanners, in 2011:

"I have Aspergers (undiagnosed). The stereotype of Aspergers, whether accurate or not, seems to be "narrow" interests, which certainly doesn't describe me! Perhaps part of it is that a lot of Aspies go from one interest to another and that their current interest tends to exclude all else. I have had my times of going intensely into things, but no idea whether in my case that's Aspergers or just being a scanner . One thing though, I've gathered from what I've read about Aspergers is that, as you've said, Aspies love to learn, and go deeply into things, which seems identical to the traits of scanners "

[SquarePeg]

My daughter was diagnosed with "mild autism" and then later with Asperger Syndrome. She strikes me as a scanner.