Autism

Critics' Picks: The comedy of Asperger's

Mary Elizabeth Williams — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 00:06:00 PDT

Even among the misfits of Greendale Community College, Abed stands out. As Danny Pudi plays him on NBC’s blissfully warped “Community,” Abed is overeager, socially awkward and almost always inappropriate. He has, as one character tells him, “a disorder” he might want to look up. More explicitly, it would appear Abed has Asperger’s, a condition better known to smirking denizens of Greendale as “assburgers.”

Why America is flunking science

Chris Mooney and Sheril Kirshenbaum — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 03:20:00 PDT

In the recent Tom Hanks/Ron Howard film "Angels & Demons," science sets the stage for destruction and chaos. A canister of antimatter has been stolen from CERN — the European Organization for Nuclear Research — and hidden in the Vatican, set to explode right as a new pope is about to be selected.

I'm a Harvard grad who can't hold a fast-food job

Cary Tennis — Wed, 06 May 2009 03:19:00 PDT

Dear Cary,

"I am not a puzzle, I am a person"

Elizabeth Svoboda — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 03:18:00 PDT

Long before her son Michelangelo's first birthday, Dana Commandatore began to suspect he was different. The other babies she knew babbled animatedly to everyone in sight. Michelangelo, though, never took much interest in children his age, and by the time he was 18 months old, he still wasn't speaking. Determined to find out what was wrong, Commandatore took her son to the pediatrician. "They sent us for a hearing test. The technicians were trying to put the headphones on and Michelangelo wouldn't let them do it," she recalls. "One tech said to the other, 'It seems more like autism than a hearing problem.' I turned around and said, 'What?'"

The monster inside my son

Ann Bauer — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 03:42:00 PDT

On Feb. 14 I awaken to this headline: "Professor Beaten to Death by Autistic Son."

Judging autism

Rahul K. Parikh, M.D. — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 03:31:00 PST

Health and medicine got a big headline last week: "Vaccines Didn't Cause Autism, Court Rules." The details have been extensively discussed, but here's the gist of the story: Three special federal judges working for the government's Vaccine Injury Compensation Program issued three separate decisions in what's become known as the Autism Omnibus Trial. The trial is a class-action lawsuit in which almost 5,500 families have sued the government, claiming routine childhood vaccines caused their children to develop autism. Last Thursday, each judge, known as a special master, reviewed the claim of one family, and in each case, ruled against it. Physicians praised the decisions, calling it great day for children and science. Anti-vaccination activists declared it unjust, wrong and unfair.

I think my friend's kid is autistic

Cary Tennis — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 03:35:00 PST

Dear Cary,

Beyond rescue

Heather Havrilesky — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 03:30:00 PST

Denis Leary is anything but apologetic. From the hapless machismo of his character on "Rescue Me," the fireman drama he created and writes for FX, to the title of his new book, "Why We Suck: A Feel Good Guide to Staying Fat, Loud, Lazy and Stupid," Leary has a knack for pushing buttons with brash views that sometimes feel like empty provocation. Cast even a cursory glance at the chapter titles of his book -- "I Had Sex With Kathie Lee Gifford (And She Was Amazing)," "Matt Dillon Is a Giant Fag," "Autism Shmautism," "We'd Hate You Even If You Weren't Black" -- and you'd assume that the entire tome is filled with nastiness and ignorant, insensitive opinions.

My brother is brilliant -- and wildly inappropriate!

Cary Tennis — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 02:30:00 PDT

Dear Cary,

Inside the vaccine-and-autism scare

Rahul K. Parikh, M.D. — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 03:50:00 PDT

Early in Dr. Paul A. Offit's new book, "Autism's False Prophets: Bad Science, Risky Medicine, and the Search for a Cure," he describes a threatening letter he received from a man in Seattle. "I will hang you by you neck until you are dead!" it read. The FBI deemed the threat credible, assigning Offit a protective officer who, for the next few months, followed him "to and from lunch, a gun hanging at his side." He then recalls a suspicious phone call from a man who recited the names of Offit's two children and where they went to school: "His implication was clear. He knew where my children went to school. Then he hung up." These days, the hospital he works in regularly screens his mail for suspicious packages.

The beauty of the geek

Eryn Loeb — Tue, 20 May 2008 03:48:00 PDT

The information age has been good to nerds. No longer are they relegated to getting sand kicked in their faces by that other familiar archetype, the jock. We've gotten used to watching Steve Jobs grin awkwardly as he announces the latest hot techie toy, and when it comes to pop culture, nerds like "Superbad" writer/star Seth Rogen are increasingly in control of their own image. But even with the cultural cachet that comes with having your achievements validated by the masses, nerds are still high school losers.

"God talked to me today"

Ann Bauer — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 04:58:00 PDT

The first time it happened, he was sitting in the kitchen behind me.

I'm a busy single mom and I just don't want to date

Cary Tennis — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 03:05:00 PST

Hi Cary,

Autism debate, Take 5,832

Carol Lloyd — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 15:40:00 PDT

A familiar chorus of cacophony is rising up in response to the new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study of thimerosal, the mercury-based preservative and neurotoxin used in some vaccines. Published in the New England Journal of Medicine, the study of more than 1,000 7-to-10-year-old children who received dosages of thimerosal as part of their infant vaccinations conducted a series of neuropsychological tests looking at things like attention span, fine-motor skills and IQ. Although the researchers found little or no effects of the chemical on the children's neurological health (the statistically significant effects were evenly split between positive and negative traits), the study has become another lightning rod for the debate surrounding autism and vaccinations.

Roundup: Autism in girls, "manny" mania and more

Tracy Clark-Flory — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 17:15:00 PDT

"Manny 911." If you haven't already heard, there's a crazy trend sweeping the nation: Men taking care of babies. Apparently, for many, it's unsatisfying to conclude that these "mannies" plain enjoy childcare -- some have taken to calling them "boy toys" or "affair magnets." Or, as one "manny" told the San Francisco Chronicle: "I'm apparently the hot new accessory." (Next to multiple children, of course.)

The body electric

Ann Bauer — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 03:48:00 PDT

At the age of 3, my older son withdrew, becoming sullen and cross-eyed overnight. He stopped speaking and lost the ability to follow directions, vanishing inside a body that only rocked and swayed and arched away from human touch.

Should I invite my difficult friends to the in-laws' lake house?

Cary Tennis — Mon, 21 May 2007 04:07:00 PDT

Dear Cary,

What else we're reading

Tracy Clark-Flory — Wed, 17 Jan 2007 16:40:00 PST

Slate: Anthropologist Roy Richard Grinker makes an argument that's likely of interest to all parents-to-be; he believes that the dramatic growth in reported rates of autism -- which has been called an epidemic by some -- is the result of a rise in diagnoses, rather than actual occurrences. "I am not sure why people are so resistant to the idea that true autism rates may have remained stable," he says. "Perhaps they don't want to give up on the hope that, if only we could find the cause of the 'epidemic' we could help these children. We could eliminate the toxins, hold big corporations accountable, do something to reverse the trend. If there is no real epidemic, we might just have to admit that no one is to blame."

Older dads and autism

Lynn Harris — Tue, 05 Sep 2006 19:57:00 PDT

According to Tuesday's Washington Post, Israeli researchers -- in the "most rigorous" such analysis to date -- have found "a significant relationship" between rates of autism disorders among children and the age of their fathers: "When fathers are in their thirties, children have about 1 1/2 times the risk of developing autism of children of fathers in their teens and twenties. Compared with the offspring of the youngest fathers, children of fathers in their forties have more than five times the risk of developing autism, and children of fathers in their fifties have more than nine times the risk." That's controlling for other variables such as the mother's age and socioeconomic status; as another pertinent leveling factor, Israel has universal health insurance and access to care, prenatal and otherwise. (You can read a brief abstract of the article in the latest issue of the Archives of General Psychiatry.)

It looks like my niece is autistic

Cary Tennis — Wed, 15 Mar 2006 03:08:00 PST

Dear Cary,