Basically, a lot of disorders carry genetic linkage, at what point do you draw the line? Many people with autism/ASD suffer from other mental health conditions as a result of their illness including depression, anxiety etc. My uncle has Aspergers (he is a consultant surgeon, also) and has become very depressed as he is unable to interact with people, so he is seeing a counsellor and on ADs, should he have all his support removed?
Dr Sue Leekam
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By the way I am not saying that ASD is strictly a mental health condition, as most certainly it is a developmental disorder. HOWEVER I do disagree that people should be untreated by MH teams if needed, and be ostracised when in need of compassion and help: two things MH teams are *supposed* to offer.
Leekam: Biography
I am interested in the cognitive and social development of children with autism. A major problem for children with autism is their difficulty with social interaction. I am investigating the source of this difficulty and its consequences for symbolic development. Our recent findings suggest that children with autism have impaired ability to orient to social stimuli in contrast to non-social stimuli. This problem is related to the later developing ability to use 'joint attention' acts of gaze-following, pointing etc. In new studies we are investigating the relationship between social orienting and joint attention and the emergence of communicative signals and symbolic skills.
In other work on the diagnosis of autism I am examining the developmental relationship between social impairments and other symptoms of autism. In collaboration with colleagues at the National Autistic Society, we have developed a new diagnostic instrument designed to study developmental change and the dimensional nature of autistic spectrum disorders .
Her book/ book sections and journal articles for you to peruse. Publications Books: sections
Leekam, S.R. & McGregor, E. 2007. Integrating neuro-cognitive, diagnostic and intervention perspectives in autism. In Autism: An Integrated View:Perspectives from Neurocognitive, Clinical and Intervention. Nunez, M., Williams, K., Gomez, Juan-Carlos & Mcgregor, E. Blackwell.
Leekam, S. & Wyver, S. 2005. Beyond 'modalarity' and innateness: Sensory experience, social interaction and symbolic development in children with autism and blindness. In Autism and blindness: Research and reflections. L. Pring. London: Whurr. 26-49.
Leekam, S.R. 2005. Developmental and Behavioral Profiles of Children With Autism. In New Directions in Autism: The Future is Now. J. Martos, P.M. Gonzalez, M. Llorente & C. Nieto Jessica Kingsley Publications /Asociacion de Padres de Personas con Autismo.
Leekam, S.R. 2005. Language comprehension difficulties in children with autistic spectrum disorders. In Cognitive Bases of Children’s Language Comprehension Difficulties. K. Cain & J. Oakhill
Leekam, S.R. 2005. Why do children with autism have a joint attention impairment? In Joint attention: Communication and other minds. N. Eilan, C. Hoerl, T. McCormack & J. Roessler Oxford University Press.
Journal papers: academic
Fletcher-Watson, S. Colli, J.M, Findlay, J. M. & Leekam, S.R. 2009. The development of change blindness: Children's attentional priorities whilst viewing naturalistic scenes. Developmental Science12(3): 438 - 445. (Additional information) (View publication online)
Fletcher-Watson, S., Leekam, S. R., Findlay, J. M. & Stanton, E. C. 2008. Brief Report: Young adults with autism spectrum disorder show normal attention to eye-gaze information—evidence from a new change blindness paradigm. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders38(9): 1785-1790 (Additional information) (View publication online)
Leekam, S. R., Perner, J. L., Healey, L. & Sewell, C. 2008. False signs and the non-specificity of theory of mind: Evidence that preschoolers have general difficulties in understanding representations. British Journal of Developmental Psychology
Fletcher-Watson, S., Findlay, J. M., Leekam, S. R. & Benson, V. 2008. Rapid detection of person information in a naturalistic scene. Perception37(4): 571-583. (Additional information) (View publication online)
Perner, J. & Leekam, S. R. 2008. The curious incident of the photo that was accused of being false: Issues of domain specificity in development, autism and brain imaging. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology61(1): 76-89. (Additional information) (View publication online)
Leekam, S.R., Nieto, C. Libby, S., Wing, L. & Gould, J. 2006. Describing the sensory abnormalities of individuals with autism. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders (Additional information)
Fletcher-Watson, S., Leekam, S.R., Turner, M. & Moxon, L. 2006. Do people with autism spectrum disorders have normal scope and content of attention? British Journal of Psychology97(4): 537-554. (Additional information)
Leekam, S. R. & Ramsden, C. A. 2006. Dyadic orienting and joint attention in preschool children with autism. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders36(2): 185-197. (Additional information) (View publication online)
Honey, E. Leekam, S.R., McConachie, H.R. & Turner, M. 2006. Repetitive behaviour and play in typically developing children and children with autism. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders
Tandos, J., Leekam, S., McConachie, H., Meins, E., Parkinson, K., Wright, C., Turner, M., Arnott, B., Vittorini, L. & Le Couter, A. 2006. Repetitive behaviours in typically developing 2-year-olds. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry
Coull, G, Leekam, S. & Bennett, M. 2006. Simplifying second-order belief attribution: What facilitates children performance on measures of conceptual understanding. Social Development15(2): 260-275. (Additional information)
Lopez, B., Leekam, S.R. & Arts, G. 2005. How central is Central Coherence? Autism
Lopez, B., Hadwin, J., Donnelly, N. & Leekam, S. R. 2004. Face processing in high-functioning adolescents with autism: Evidence for weak central coherence? Visual Cognition11(6): 673-688. (Additional information)
Leekam, S.R. 2004. Reconstructing children's understanding of the mind: Reflections. Social Development27(1): 113-114. (Additional information)
Hughes, C. & Leekam, S.R. 2004. What are the links between theory of mind and social relations? Review, reflections and new directions for studies of typical and atypical development. Social Development13(4): 590-619. (Additional information)
Lopez, B. & Leekam, S. R. 2003. Do children with autism fail to process information in context? Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry44(2): 285-300. (Additional information) (View publication online)
Leekam, S. R., Libby, S., Wing, L., Gould, J. & Taylor, C. 2002. The Diagnostic Interview for Social and Communication Disorders: Algorithms for ICD-10 Childhood Autism and Wing & Gould Autistic Spectrum Disorder. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry43(3): 327-342. (Additional information) (View publication online)
Wing, L., Leekam, S. R., Libby, S., Gould, J. & Larcombe, M. 2002. The Diagnostic Interview for Social and Communication Disorders: Background, inter-rater reliability and clinical use. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry43(3): 307-325. (Additional information) (View publication online)
Leekam, S.R., Lopez, B. & Moore, C. 2000. Attention and joint attention in preschool children with autism. Developmental Psychology36(2): 261-273. (Additional information)
Leekam, S., Libby, S., Wing, L., Gould, J. & Gillberg, C. 2000. Comparison of ICD-10 and Gillberg criteria for Asperger syndrome. Autism4(1): 11-28. (Additional information)
Prior, M., Eisenmajer, R., Leekam, S.R., Wing, L., Gould, J. & Ong, B. 1998. Are there subgroups within the autistic spectrum? A cluster analysis of a group of children with autistic spectrum disorders. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry39(6): 893-902. (Additional information)
Leekam, S.R., Hunnisett, E. & Moore, C. 1998. Targets and cues: Gaze-following in children with autism. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry39(7): 951-962. (Additional information)
Leekam S., Baron-Cohen, S., Perrett, D. & Milders, M. 1997. Eye-direction detection: A dissociation between geometric and joint attention skills in autism. British Journal of Developmental Psychology15(1): 77-95. (Additional information)
Journal papers: online
Leekam, S., Tandos, J., McConachie, H., Meins, E., Parkinson, K., Wright, C., Turner, M., Arnott, B., Vittorini, L. & Le Couteur, A. 2007. Repetitive behaviours in typically developing 2-year-olds. Journal of Child Psychology and PsychiatryAdvance online publication. (Additional information) (View publication online)
I just don't understand the logic, to be nice to people you have to be nasty to them? You don't think there are specialised autism services but then when I say there are this is offensive?
My head is far too frazzled at this.
I think I am right, you should be kind to people, you should offer them the opportunity to get whatever help they might feel they want. People with autism are all individuals, a 60 year old consultant anaethetist is not a 14 year old scared girl in supported housing. People should not be denied support because they have a condition therefore it would be no use, if they feel it might be then they should.
If that is so bad and terrible, then there is something wrong with the world.
"to be nice to people you have to be nasty to them?" .. what?
"You don't think there are specialised autism services but then when I say there are this is offensive?" .. what?
"I think I am right, you should be kind to people, you should offer them the opportunity to get whatever help they might feel they want. People with autism are all individuals, a 60 year old consultant anaethetist is not a 14 year old scared girl in supported housing. People should not be denied support because they have a condition therefore it would be no use, if they feel it might be then they should." .. what?
Where are you getting all of this from?! Can you please re-read everything we've said?!
I want autistic specific services to liaise better with MH so people can be swapped out of MH and into professional services that deal with people who have autism and know how best to help them, rather than making them feel worse by asking questions they cannot answer. I never said anything about being nasty to people.. why would I want people being nasty to people? You aren't going to understand what autistic people see as "nice" because you aren't one. You might think asking "how do you feel about that?" is nice, but to someone with autism it can make them really anxious, shut down, and not know how to respond, which is exactly the point I was making about services who understand autism dealing with autistics, rather than MH. I know they exist! I just know people get put into the wrong services.
ah also... Rosie, Sarah and Roby, you guys said right at the beginning that you didnt feel this topic should be in mental health support.. can i ask.. just for future moderating reasons which area of the forums you feel threads of this topic would be better suited? If anywhere.
ah also... Rosie, Sarah and Roby, you guys said right at the beginning that you didnt feel this topic should be in mental health support.. can i ask.. just for future moderating reasons which area of the forums you feel threads of this topic would be better suited? If anywhere.
I'm not really sure.. perhaps in General Support? I think that's where I'd put it. It is of course down to the Mods.
"to be nice to people you have to be nasty" I don't mean autistic people are nice (the way you took it) I meant, to help a person with autism (i.e. to be nice) you have to be nasty (i.e. refuse support).
I'm sorry, I honestly just believe(d) if someone (anyone) feels like they would benefit from a certain type of counselling/therapy, then it should be avilable to them, regardless of age/race/gender/disorder.
"to be nice to people you have to be nasty" I don't mean autistic people are nice (the way you took it) I meant, to help a person with autism (i.e. to be nice) you have to be nasty (i.e. refuse support).
I'm sorry, I honestly just believe(d) if someone (anyone) feels like they would benefit from a certain type of counselling/therapy, then it should be avilable to them, regardless of age/race/gender/disorder.
I'm sorry you and squirrel squit disagree.
Youre saying that to help people that need support... you should refuse them that support????
and then in your next sentance you said you believe everyone deserves therapy etc.
im confused!
and who is disagreeing with me and why are you sorry? what???
like you think, not like you dont get any treatment.
People with aspergers should be allowed to treat others like sh*t, people with a mental health disorder who do something whilst ill should not be subject to any kind of compassion or understanding.
You are all completely right in thinking the above points, and i bow out.
well.. in the real world it doesnt work like that.
On the internet.. although sometimes people way not realise how they come accross... there is never any excuse for out and out rudeness, not when you can think about what youve tyoped before you press send.
Patchwork - the reason I didnt' read your reply was because you were assuming my earlier post was addressed to you, which it wasn't. Right now I am addressing you, so it would be pointless if someone else commented on this. When I tell a friend I don't like their hat, it doesn't mean I don't like another persons hat, I mean *their* hat. Your reply to me was therefore redundant, becuse you were answering points that were not directed at you.
OK, well I understand what you're trying to say.. don't talk to me like I'm stupid, cause then I really will be pissed off.
I was well aware you weren't aiming your post specifically at me, which is why I used the phrase "wether aimed at me or not", read back. Also I explained why I felt compelled to let you know my opinion on the matter.. Perhaps if you didn't want my opinion you should have addressed your post to a person in particular, or used the Private messaging system?
Also the conversations you mentioned in that very same post, was a conversation between myself and Nil, so I have every right to comment.
Quote:
Fine, I'm wrong. I hope people with autism never get any treatment like you do.
And you said our posts were rude and nasty?
Hypocrite.
Last edited by Red Rain : 12-08-2009 at 06:16 PM.
"you're telling me I'm stuck here with you?"
"No.. I'm stuck here with you."
Gosh, I find it difficult to understand how my post noting that I now have a better understanding of the tone of another member's posts can cause such a debate. I did not mean to cause such a reaction from Daffodil and am concerned that this thread is becoming rather nasty. However, I stand by my post that it is useful for me to bear in mind that Rosie's posts may seem to me at first glance one thing when actually she may not at all have intended to seem abrupt/rude/pointed.
"Everything is possible through Christ, who gives me strength". Phillipians 4:13
like you think, not like you dont get any treatment.
People with aspergers should be allowed to treat others like sh*t, people with a mental health disorder who do something whilst ill should not be subject to any kind of compassion or understanding.
That is not what we think! You seem to think we deserve no compassion whatsoever because we're different to you. I give people with MH problems plenty of compassion actually, which you'd know if you read the posts I make in the help forums, this is your prejudice. Do not reflect it onto us.
You know what. I give up. Obviously you don't understand Daffodil, and most likely you never will. I often wonder wether it's worth the time and energy I spend trying to explain myself to others. You've answered that question for me nicely.
Yes, I'm taking this personally, because aimed at me or not, if you're talking about AS, you're talking about the way I am. I have enough things to deal with in my life without trying to educate ignorant people such as yourself. I was enjoying the conversation I was having with Nil until ignorant, uneducated and close-minded people decided to start an argument about something they know little about.
I rarely talk to anybody, my life is an isolated one because of my problems, so thank you for destroying the first engaging conversation I've had with anyone on this matter for a long time. I hope you've achieved what you set out to do by turning this thread into an argument.
"you're telling me I'm stuck here with you?"
"No.. I'm stuck here with you."
I think this thread is probably over now but I enjoyed our conversation.
So did I, until it became a "whosaidwhat" argument. Really, I don't come here to be insulted or offended. It would be good to chat some time though, perhaps a little more privately, save any ignorant individuals ruining a perfectly good conversation.
"you're telling me I'm stuck here with you?"
"No.. I'm stuck here with you."
Nah, I'm not a hypocrit, because I was upset at the time I said whatever I said, therefore I can't be held responsible for what I said. If you believe otherwise then you're the hypocrit.
I think you'll find, if you read back over, you're the ones preaching very rude, unhelpful and nasty posts. I was initially enjoying a very interesting and thought provoking thread, until insults started being thrown in the mix for what I could see no reason at all.
Nil - when have I said people with autism don't need compassion?! If you read my posts, I'm actually saying the opposite - people with autism need, no that's the wrong word, have a right, to whatever compassion, support and empathy they can get. Whether that be drawing, days out, talking to somebody, whatever. Every human being does.
Oh and Patchwork - my post *up there* was actually sarcastic, so again, you've got the wrong end of the stick.
I'm sorry I find your behaviour incredibly awful Daffodil.
Can we move on from this anyhow? What was the documentary like? There's a film on at the cinema - Adam - about someone with Aspergers, anyone seen it? I wonder if it's any good, from a film perspective and from a real life experience perspective.
