Customer Reviews

Autistic Children: New Hope for a Cure

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Too bad there isn't a way to rate this one in the negative numbers. This book is full of empty promises and is very misleading.

Suggesting that autistic behavior is akin to bird behavior and the book's equally ridiculous theory of enforced hugging for people with autism is truly for the birds. There are enough holes in the theories presented herein to drive a fleet of trucks through. Enforced hugging is just an emotional elixir in some cases. Donna Williams addresses this issue and rightfully so in her book, "Autism: An Inside-Out Approach" wherein she says that for many people with autism, enforced hugging meets the hugger's need only. Hugging/holding then becomes a self-serving method that teaches force and compliance. The rights of those who neither like nor want hugs deserve respect. Williams has written several excellent books that address this issue, which has also been addressed in other recent works on autism. Those forced to endure this outwardly comply, hoping it will end. It becomes yet another indignity people with autism are forced to endure.

The Tinbergens compare people with autism to birds. The main thrust of their argument is the negative and destructive "blame the mother" routine for failing to bond with the child with autism during the child's first year of life. Baloney! The book also claims that people with autism refuse to speak. That is not true in most case. There are some cases where there are physical limitations that preclude speech; some people with autism find it difficult to synthesize sensory stimuli and sort out sounds of speech into meaningful units; still others find just ordinary speaking tones too loud and confusing. There are also many people with autism who are verbal and conversant. Communication is an inherent part of life; suggesting that anyone chooses to be autistic or makes their child(ren) autistic is to do a grave disservice to all. It also isn't true.

I really didn't like the grandiose claim that enforced hugging was a panacea for all behavioral and communication difficulties. If that were the case, everybody directly involved with someone with autism would be doing this and basking in the 100% claim rate. The sheer illogic and utter audacity of the entire premise is shocking. Autism is NOT psychological, although the behaviors and responses to same often result in pyschological issues. Autism IS a neurobiological condition that affects sensory processing/integration and communication to varying degrees. Not all people with autism are nonverbal and not all people with autism fail to thrive. The same could be said of the neurotypical population.

The topper for me was when mothers were told to vent anger at their children for not responding to them. It sounds so cruel to turn what is supposed to be loving into something punitive and unpleasant. I was thoroughly disgusted with people being told to yell at their children, level accusations at them and, in effect demand their children patch up their wounded egos. That is not the responsibility of any child. It is only natural for the children involved to view this type of hugging as a punishment replete with blame and restraint. It is impossible to justify this as being "loving" when the outward behavior is anything but. That literally made me recoil!

The other thing that bothered me is that while mothers are being blamed for their child(ren) having autism, a similar burden is being lain across their shoulders. The enforced hugging routine is purported to be a "magic bullet" cure and so by "embracing" this approach, mothers can miraculously "cure" their children. In short, subject one's children to this method or they will remain autistic. Tommyrot! Just look at the title of this book!

This smugly written book touting enforced hugging is indeed for the birds. In fact, the expression "for the birds" comes from horses passing seeds through their manure. Birds would peck at the seeds, and so the term "for the birds" has come to mean of minimal value and usually from a very questionable source. Perhaps it would be best for all if the Tinbergens stick with ornithology.

This book makes a great many logical errors and makes gross generalizations across species. Other reviews have pointed this out quite eloquently. As an additional note, a simple question must be raised. "Where is the evidence?" A book that describes what can be a highly intrusive and unpleasant treatment for the person being "treated" is required to provide very strong data-based support for its proposals. The evidence is not presented, because it does not exist. The goal of any therapy should be to increase the autonomy of the person being treated, their ability to make decisions for their own lives. There is no evidence that this treatment accomplishes this goal.

To add to the other review, from another person mulitply diagnosed (now up to Autism, Elective Mutism with Austistic Features (High-Functioning Autism didn't exist when I was a child), Asperger's and Nonverbal Learning Disorder.

Hugging is, and was, more than punitive to me when I was a child, and even now, as an adult, can be painful.

Physically painful. Skin-on-skin touch, with humans or any other creature, literally feels like it is scalding if I haven't braced myself in advance. (Mind you, I've found ways to cope with it as an adult, since I have the misfortune to not be an asexual type.)

For a moment, imagine pouring boiling water over your autistic child. This is precisely what your "affection" might feel like to that child. For goodness' sake, if a child is rejecting touch, s/he may have a good reason! And enforcing your hugging is only going to make the child start to avoid you.

This book challenges the conventional wisdom on autism and is written by a nobel laureate in the area of animal behaviour. It suggests that autism may be cured by a method that is very emotionally challenging. Perhaps especially challenging to those people who have autistic children. It backs up its theory with a section by a psychiatrist Martha Welch who has successfully helped many mothers rescue children from autism.

It backs up what many people have observed that distressed people are often helped by being held by people they trust.

I have tried holding with my autistic son. During it John responded to me once with his personal pronouns correct, which he has never otherwise done (he always refers to himself as "you" or by his name). When distressed he will often ask me "like me to hold you" (he is asking me to hold him).

Unfortunately divisions within the family over this method prevented it being fully implemented with John.

At the least this book floats some uncomfortable ideas about the causes and possible cures for autism. Given that the causes are not proved, it is an important contribution to the debate.

The strong negative responses from some to its ideas tends to reinforce to me that holding is an important part of the answer to autism, but just too distressing for many parents to carry out.

If you want to understand the spectrum of theories about possible causes of autism you need to read this book.

This book has received harsh criticism for its comparisons drawn from the animal realm, its suggestion that parental behavior may in some way cause autism, and that forced holding can cure autistic symptoms. I have to agree with some of these arguements. However, this book has some information that is invaluable to persons interested in the autism problem. The concepts on approach avoidance behavior and anxiety are truly important. Look at these. Scrape off some of the dross and you'll find some cutting edge thinking that has been submerged in, and indeed erased from, the literature on autism.