PLT Test Blog

Farewell to Pingu I usually succeed in keeping to the science in this blog and refrain from sharing my other wider opinions.  Today I slipped up. Rather like James Simons, founder of the Simons Foundation, I do not have a high opinion of many supposed experts, particularly when it comes to autism. Autism is often a backwater, where “academics” can still write the occasional quasi-scientific paper on some touchy-feely aspect that they consider important and make a name for themselves.  On the back of this, they can advocate for their perception of autism and often encourage ever-wider diagnosis in people who are less and less severely affected. So far this is fine; we are all entitled to have our own opinions, so no comments on Autism Speaks, Autism One, or the various National Autism Societies. They all have the best intentions. I should highlight the Simons Foundation and the UC Davis MIND Institute as being excellent scientific sources of objective information. The only re...

You may or may not have seen the 2006 comedy film Borat ; it was critically acclaimed in the US, but took a bit of time to become a commercial hit.   It brought to public attention its writer, producer and leading man, Sacha Baron Cohen. Ted, aged 13 and very neurotypical, is a fan of Borat. In the autism research community, Sacha’s brother Simon is equally well known.   He is the Director of the Cambridge University's Autism Research Centre and a Fellow of Trinity College . All very interesting,   Ted’s Grandfather also went to Trinity College Cambridge.   Ted’s brother, Monty aged 10 with ASD, has yet to produce a movie, but he has helped to produce an autism blog.       As you may have noted on this blog, I am rather disappointed with the autism research coming out of the United Kingdom.   90% of the good stuff is from the US. The extreme male brain theory of autism One of the well-known autism theories is from Simon Baron-Cohen, it is called:-...

Today's post is about a new framework to help us all understand what is going on in the world of autism.  If you read a lot, you will have heard of Mindblindness and Mindreading .  It is an interesting idea developed by Borat's big brother, Simon Baron-Cohen. You may recall that Monty's afternoon therapist and pal is called Dule ("Doolay"); well Dule and I agreed a long time ago that at least half of the problem lies not in the mind of the autistic child, but rather in the mind of the "normal" adults. Simon's brother Sacha (Borat) would probably find this amusing, but it is actually true. The Autism Framework of Restricted Vision shows how the adults cannot  see over the long red secret wall.  All they can see is their family doctor, and if they live in the US, their DAN doctor; not to mention quackery found on the internet. Here is what the other characters can see:- Family doctor can see the NICE guidelines DAN Doctor can see the quackery and if...