No, this doesn’t refer to global warming.
I’m talking about two recent speculative reports on ‘causes of autism’ I picked up on line.
The first is that there might be a link between low levels of Vitamin D and autism. Apparently there is a relationship between Vitamin D and brain development. They’re definitely getting warmer with this one and it isn’t complicated to reason it through.
Since sunshine is a ready source of Vitamin D just think how many hours a day your infant or toddler spends in their daycare – 10 or more? And they go outside how often in that time? — probably not at all.
Even children with ‘stay at home’ mums don’t go outside very much – when did you last see a mother walking her young children during the day in your neighbourhood?
You might see an occasional jogging pushchair at the end of the day and you’ll certainly see dog walkers, you just don’t see ‘baby walkers’!
The second report I read said that although children with autism don’t do well on IQ tests someone has at last discovered the type of test on which they can show their intelligence.
That’s amazing because I have long recognized that children with developmental delays seem to have high intelligence and also learn quite quickly once you find the right avenue to teach them.
Some children are diagnosed as ‘high functioning autistic’. A friend’s diagnosed 5‑year-old grandson is a remarkable soul – a gifted pianist already, not to mention his other talents and abilities.
Spark their curiosity and all young children bring a considerable enthusiasm and intensity to whatever they are learning but may burn out quite quickly after a short period of time. However, their level of intensity when involved with a new or familiar subject can often be way beyond what you might expect for their age. They need to learn in spurts with sufficient down time built into their days.
Thus the boring nature of so called ‘normal’ teaching makes it hard for such children to learn by conventional methods. They don’t do well on rote memorization and parroting back when asked to ‘perform’ (which is what most parents and grandparents love them to do) but they do very well in real world situations — and I don’t mean at daycare!
So we need to be very inventive when ‘teaching’ (and I’m using the term very loosely here) infants and toddlers well before there’s any possibility of delays and a diagnosis of autism. Let’s not assume we all learn in the same manner.
Perhaps if we all start to be inventive and imaginative in the ways we consciously ‘teach’ the youngest members of our society about their world AND we take them outside in the sunshine we will be taking as many steps as we can in the simplest of ways to finally put autism ‘out in the cold’.
It’s the environment stupid! – it’s finally getting warmer in the best possible way.