Michelle Dawson's Many Mistakes - Mistake #1

Michelle Dawson is a well known "autistic" who expresses her views on a number of autism issues and individuals involved with autism advocacy. She has consistently advocated against ABA for autistic children, notwithstanding ABA's endorsement by such agencies as the American Academy of Pediatrics, the MADSEC Autism Task Force, New York and California health and education departments, the Association for Science in Autism Treatment and the office of the US Surgeon General to name the better known. She also indulges in personal criticisms of anyone who dares disagree with her "wisdom" on autism issues. But Ms Dawson doesn't alway get her facts straight. In the following post, copied from a blog site run by neurodiversity hub blogger Steve D, Ms Dawson wrongly claims that I hold the view that "some autistics just naturally are write offs":

Also, there is no doubt that a lot of autistics are written off. But I disagree with Bill and with Mr Doherty that some autistics just naturally are write-offs.

The problem with Ms Dawson's cavalier comment is that it is not true. I have never used the expression write off to describe any autistic person and have not at any time advocated the view that ANY "autistics", or persons with autism, are write-offs, "just naturally" or otherwise.

My son, unlike Ms Dawson, was diagnosed with an Autism Disorder at age 2. His diagnosis is Autism Disorder with profound developmental delays. In 9 days Conor will turn 12 years of age. I have spent much of the past 10 years actively advocating, along with other parents, for autism specific pre-school intervention and school instruction, along with accommodation in their learning environments here in New Brunswick, Canada. I have also worked for improvements in residential care and treatment for autistic adults. My actions have been those of one who does NOT write autistic persons off. I do not write off my son who is much more severely autistic than Ms Dawson.

I am assuming that Ms Dawson did not intentionally misstate my views on autistic persons. I am assuming that her comments were simply a mistake, the result of hostility to those persons, like me, who fight for ABA help for autistic children in Canada and who do not accept her as an authority of any weight on autism or autism interventions.


Ms. Dawson's full "commentary" follows.

February 8, 2008 12:10 PM

Michelle Dawson said...

In a well-designed multi-site RCT, Tryer et al. (2008) showed that placebos were dramatically effective in reducing "aggressive challenging behavior" in developmentally disabled adults. Some of the adults were autistic; there was no difference in the dramatic effectiveness of the placebo in autistics vs other developmentally disabled people.

The dramatic effect of the placebo was rapid and sustained for 6 months (the intended follow-up period).

This is why good experimental design exists, and the authors of Tryer et al. (2008) take the trouble to argue that developmentally disabled people deserve to benefit from and be protected by recognized standards of science.

This is one of the major things I go on about.

So that would be at least part of my response to Dr LaVigna (who is unsurprisingly enthusiastic about the services he provides).

Also, there is no doubt that a lot of autistics are written off. But I disagree with Bill and with Mr Doherty that some autistics just naturally are write-offs. More plausibly, autistics who are written off have very difficult outcomes, but this would be true of all human beings who are written off.

autism