Wampum

Another Autism Open Thread

The last Autism Open Thread is about to fall off the front page, so here is another. Just to provide a little grist for us to grind, please allow me to note the following:

Natasha at Pacific Views links to and discusses an article about new neurologial research on autism and face perception. Natasha writes:

In autistic children, an overactive amygdala causes them to perceive all faces as somewhat threatening, leading them to want to look away. The March issue of National Geographic is out, and research cited in its leading article on the mind indicates that even in adults, brain regions can shrink or grow their active connections within weeks of uncharacteristic use or disuse. Persistent disuse of the region responsible for face recognition seems to cause it to atrophy, but the lack of a fundamental problem with this area is a great source of hope for future therapy for autistics of all ages.

Over at Bloggg, Moi links to new research into a genetic cause of autism. On a lighter note, Moi recounts a most mortifying (but very funny) moment. Click that link, for sure.

I will withhold comment on a report (thanks Moi) that Merck continued selling infant vaccines containing thimerosal until 2001, two years after the risks were known. I have a rule against writing about such things when I am this angry.

In Chicago, a Special Ed teacher has been removed from the classroom and reassigned to administrative duty after she bit a nine-year-old autistic student on the stomach during the boy's tantrum. I think she got off pretty easy. There are plenty of ways to handle autistic tantrums by a nine-year-old without biting. And, believe me, I should know.

A lawsuit in Oregon caught my eye.

Max Lehman is a 46-year-old autistic man. He, apparently, is rather large, as his lawyer has described him as a “gentle giant”. Lehman has no language and communicates only through grunts and gestures. He has a “measured” IQ of 20.

Lehman wandered away from the group home where he lives and was walking down the middle of a busy street, blocking traffic when found by a police officer.

The officer tried to talk to him without success. Allegedly, the police officer then tried to physically stop Lehman. Lehman’s lawyer contends that Lehman does not like to be touched, recoiled from the officer, and kept moving away.

"He made no aggressive movements," Engle said of Lehman's actions. "But Max is autistic. . . . And autistic people don't like to be touched."

The officer then tried to use a “pain compliance” hold on Lehman to prevent him from leaving. When that didn’t work (presumably because of the "giant" part of being a “gentle giant”), the officer pepper strayed him. When the pepper spray failed to stop Lehman, who was trying to return to the group home, the officer called for backup.

Once the backup arrived, three officers subdued Lehman through physical force. Lehman’s arm was broken in the struggle.

The officer contends that his actions were completely appropriate.

Wagner, the defense attorney, argued that Snider's actions were appropriate to the situation.

"He can't tell what's wrong with him," Wagner said. "Traffic is backed up. Lehman is walking down the middle of Main Street. He can tell something is wrong with him. . . . He could be on drugs, or a mental patient."

Wagner said that Lehman carried no identification, that he continued to pull violently away from Snider and that he was uncooperative. All his training, Wagner said, told Snider that he couldn't let Lehman get away from him and get into the house he was heading for…

The blame for what happened that day, Wagner argued again and again, lies squarely with the employees of the group home, who were never supposed to let Lehman out of their sight.

"The group home was not supposed to let him off the property," Wagner said. "There is no amount of training that would have helped the officers in this situation."

He added that Lehman's attorney would have the officers know not only how to deal with developmentally disabled people but also "diagnose them, too."

The autistics I know do not act like they are on drugs. They act like they are autistic. It is easy to see the difference once one gains experience in observing autistic behaviors.

And yes, I think police officers should be trained to recognize autistic behavior and be trained in how to deal with autistics.

I am not sure how much, if any, blame should be placed on the officer. He was confronted with a difficult situaltion and he had not received the training needed to handle it. I do blame the police department for not providing the proper training.

That is a lot of grist to grind. Please choose one or more of those to discuss, or if you prefer, some other autism related topic. The floor is open.

Posted by Dwight Meredith at March 8, 2005 10:00 PM | TrackBack