[AAACE-NLA] Autism

Tue May 18 02:48:58 EDT 2010

Hi Susan,

Your claim that  autism, in the case you have cited, ...is due to the fact that [a]mother did not produce enough amniotic fluid for [her son] to move while in utero. 

Does this claim border on irrefutable scientific certainty (which I've been taught does not exist)? 

I'm truly interested given that the causes of autism (whatever it may be) appear largely unknown from what I have read.

Michael

Michael A. Gyori
Maui International Language School
www.mauilanguage.com

________________________________
From: "McGilloway, Susan S." <smcgilloway at ccbcmd.edu>
To: National Literacy Advocacy List sponsored by AAACE <aaace-nla at lists.literacytent.org>
Sent: Mon, May 17, 2010 10:06:59 AM
Subject: Re: [AAACE-NLA] Fight, flight, Angst, and/or pain

"So how would the system deal with this situation?  Change the entire 
delivery system to accommodate the oddities ?  Or continue on as 
designed because it's still effective for almost 50%  ? "

I don't see it as black or white, either/or. I see it being inclusive to
all and meeting each student where he or she is. That is what
accommodations provide - assistance for those who need it. The goal of
scientific exploration of LDs is to learn something of how they develop,
and, hopefully, to find better therapies to assist students.  I think it
is simplistic to say that all disorders are related to fight or flight.
I mentioned a 15 year old boy who has multiple learning disabilities and
mild autism that is due to the fact that his mother did not produce
enough amniotic fluid for him to move while in utero.  That certainly
does not indicate a fight or flight response.

Susan McGilloway

-----Original Message-----
From: aaace-nla-bounces at lists.literacytent.org
[mailto:aaace-nla-bounces at lists.literacytent.org] On Behalf Of Art
LaChance
Sent: Monday, May 17, 2010 11:07 AM
To: National Literacy Advocacy List sponsored by AAACE
Subject: Re: [AAACE-NLA] Fight, flight, Angst, and/or pain

" After all,  such medicalized diagnoses ended up serving as elixirs to 
some individuals. "

Michael,

Unfortunately for all concerned, this applies to every system involved; 
education, pharmaceutical, medical, psychological etc.  I don't think it

began this way but it for sure ended up here.  Historical cumulative 
Ree-search has identified several, as in many, physical attributes of 
behavior in response to varying situations, but they are all tied to the

same source.  Fight/Flight comes in different strengths.  Example: as a 
child - about two days after you smoked your finger in the candle fire 
and raised a black blister, some idiot grabs your hand and moves toward 
the fire again, what would your response be at that point?  Compare that

with the adult version if today somebody grabbed your hand and moved 
toward the fire.  Sure - the response would be there but not as 
out-of-control as the child version.  And yes - the MRI's would 
certainly show a rather elaborate response pattern to certain stimuli - 
IF - the child had previously developed the 'innate' response to what it

interpreted as a 'threat'.  And then gage the child's response to sour 
ice-cream and see the difference in affect.

I've arrived at my understanding, wherever that is, not by reading books

or listening to professionals blabber but by over 20 years of hands-on 
experience with multitudes of people, children and adults, who had been 
physically brain injured via car accidents etc, and/or emotionally 
destroyed via subtle experiences connected directly to home or school. 

The system has told me many many times that the child 'just cannot learn

math' therefore we have diagnosed him/her as having a learning 
disability/ math.  Then, an alternative source restores the 
child/adult's self-efficacy and the child learns math at a normal rate 
via normal methodology.......???  Don't get me wrong here, sometimes 
it's far more extensive than just providing a comfortable and 
understanding atmosphere - sometimes it will take session after session 
for months to unseat the angst and restore the 'trust' factor before the

child will allow the exposure to the fire.  As long as it doesn't 
'burn' again.  If it burns?  Back to square one.

So how would the system deal with this situation?  Change the entire 
delivery system to accommodate the oddities ?  Or continue on as 
designed because it's still effective for almost 50%  ?      

Art

Michael Gyori wrote:
> Greetings Art, Hugo, George, and all,
>  
> I'd like to share some thoughts about pre- & post-NIFL a.k.a. fight or

> flight, and now the newest nomenclature, Angst and pain.  I believe it

> all started with the notion of "noncognitive" or "soft skills," both 
> of which sound so antiquated by now...
>  
> Rather recently, discussions were underway on NIFL's LD list 
> surrounding ADD, ADHD, dyslexia, fMRIs, and the like.  Some, Hugo and 
> myself included, expressed skepticism about these alleged conditions 
> and claims that brain scans appeared to confirm their existence. Not 
> surprisingly, I was led to understand that the discussions didn't sit 
> well with at least a few subscribers. After all,  such medicalized 
> diagnoses ended up serving as elixirs to some individuals.  They were 
> led to believe that in fact there /was /something innately wrong with 
> them and that it /wasn't /their fault.  It comes as no surprise that 
> any perceived challenges to those very "diagnoses" had a 
> threatening quality. It's difficult, after all, to question a sense 
> of relief (even if it might just be learned helplessness).  
>  
> Hugo and I agree completely that the role of affect in learning is 
> paramount (based on previous on-list and off-list interactions).  
> Art's and George's reasoning would lead me to believe that they 
> do, too.  Discussions about the primacy of affect on the LD list was 
> met with considerable affirmation from other subscribers, but the 
> discussions appeared to wane around the chicken or egg question - 
> i.e., do innate conditions engender negative affect, or does negative 
> affect engender acquired conditions (good old nature vs. nurture).
>  
> /Fight/ and /flight/ do indeed conjure images of a cornered rabid 
> wolf. The adopted German and Yiddish term /Angst/, say among WW II 
> Holocaust survivors, can also denote a very powerful feeling. /Pain/ 
> feels a trifle gentler, accompanied by feelings of sadness and 
> resignation. 
>  
> Whatever terms we may choose, and often we simply don't have just the 
> right words in some languages, the discussion unfolding on the NLA 
> list is a very important one, in my opinion.  It has the makings of a 
> paradigm shift in how we view and inform the very acts of teaching and

> learning.  Granted, making a new paradigm operationally meaningful and

> transparent can be a source of frustration for practioners who are 
> looking for better ways to approach challenges in education here and 
> now rather than there and then.
>  
>  
> Michael
>  
>
> Michael A. Gyori
>
> Maui International Language School
>
> www.mauilanguage.com <http://www.mauilanguage.com/>
>
>
>
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