2021 Autism PollyPill To Do List – Speech ↑ and Misophonia ↓

 

 A few ideas remain to be fine-tuned

Having started to develop my son’s polytherapy for autism back in December 2012, is there anything left to develop in 2021?

As we have seen, the biggest impact from interventions is when you start them very young, but improvement is possible at any age.

I was asked at the recent Synchrony autism conference what is next for the PolyPill?  and I replied that more spontaneous expressive language is my main target.  I have a good idea of what may help.

·        Calcium folinate, increased over 6 weeks to 45mg/day

·        Sulforaphane, with added Myrosinase in the form of Wasabi

I was contacted by a researcher from that Synchrony conference, suggesting that Low Level LED Therapy (LLLT) was worth trying to improve the use of speech.  It does seem to benefit people with many types of brain injury.  I did write a post on LLLT using lasers, not LEDs, in autism and there was a promising trial in Havana, which I shared with the researcher.

 

https://epiphanyasd.blogspot.com/2018/12/low-level-laser-therapy-lllt-for-autism.html

https://epiphanyasd.blogspot.com/2019/07/homeclinic-based-photobiomodulationlase.html

 

Many of the suggested modes of action of LLLT were in this graphic.

Click to enlarge the graphic

Another suggested mode of action for LLLT concerns improved drainage of lymph from the brain.  This is a known problem in some forms of dementia. Among alternative autism practitioners there are all kinds of manual lymphatic draining therapies.

  

PDE4 inhibitors 

Some readers are using PDE4 inhibitors as the anti-inflammatory component of their personal autism polytherapy.

The 3 “common” choices are: -

·        Pentoxifylline, cheap and even trialled a few decades ago in children with autism. It has a short half-life and is a non-selective PDE inhibitor.  It also has an interesting effect on HDAC, that can make chemotherapy work better.

·        Roflumilast, more expensive and normally used to treat exacerbations in COPD, but patented at a lower dose as a cognitive enhancer. It is more selective for PDE4 than Pentoxifylline and has a long half-life.

·      Ibudilast, common in Japan as an asthma therapy and now a potential treatment for MS (multiple sclerosis).  It is available in Germany, imported to order, with a prescription.

 

PDE inhibitors are not very selective and so some people get side effects.  The big one seems to be nausea. Side effects may well fade over time.

I did try Roflumilast at the supposedly cognitively enhancing dose of 100mcg, a couple of years ago, but it did cause nausea. The nausea may well fade away after a few weeks.  Roflumilast may also reduce the sensory gating problem common, in autism, but only at a dose of 100mcg, higher doses lost this effect.  All is in this old post below.

Impaired sensory gating is driven by HCN channels that need to be blocked.  The science shows us various ways this can be achieved, as I explained in the post below. You can target alpha-2A adrenergic receptors, reduce stress or reduce cAMP.

What is cAMP?  Look here: -

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyclic_adenosine_monophosphate

 

Cognitive Loss/Impaired Sensory Gating from HCN Channels - Recovered by PDE4 Inhibition or an α2A Receptor Agonist

… in earlier post we saw that α7 nAChR agonists, like nicotine, improve sensory gating and indeed that people with schizophrenia tend to be smokers. It turns out that nicotine is also an HCN channel blocker.

Stress appears to flood PFC neurons with cAMP, which opens HCN channels, temporarily disconnects networks, and impairs higher cognitive abilities.

This would explain why stress makes people’s sensory gating problems get worse. So, someone with Asperger’s would get more distracted/disturbed at exam time at school for example, or when he goes for a job interview. Reducing stress is another method to improve sensory gating and indeed cognition. 

Alpha-2A adrenergic receptors near the HCN channels, on those dendritic spines, inhibit the production of cAMP and the HCN channels stay closed, allowing the information to pass through into the cell, connecting the network. These Alpha-2A adrenergic receptors are stimulated by a natural brain chemical norepinephrine, or by drugs like Guanfacine.

While the researchers at Yale patented the idea of HCN blockers to improve cognition, we can see how other existing ideas to improve cognition may indeed have the same mechanism, most notably PDE4 inhibitors.

One effect of a PDE4 inhibitor is that it reduces cAMP. So, a PDE4 inhibitor acts indirectly like an HCN blocker.

Not surprisingly recent research showed that low doses of Roflumilast improves sensory gating in those affected by this issue.

So rather than waiting for a brain selective HCN blocker, the potential exists to use a one fifth dose of Roflumilast today.

 

HCN channels play a role in many neurological conditions.  It does get rather complicated, but if you successfully target these ion channels you are definitely at the cutting edge of science. 

Hyperpolarization-Activated Cyclic Nucleotide-Gated Channels: An Emerging Role in Neurodegenerative Diseases 

The low dose Roflumilast might be a good choice for Aspies who get bothered by noises like clocks ticking and people chewing gum.

Pentoxifylline is very cheap, but the short half-life means you might need to take it three times a day.

100mcg of Roflumilast is 1/5^th of a standard Daxas pill for COPD, which means crushing it and dividing in 5 parts.  This does also make it much cheaper, one pack would last you 5 months.

I will retry Roflumilast and also give Pentoxifylline a try. 

Based on the science, I think 100mcg of Roflumilast really should have a benefit in much autism.

I know other readers are using Pentoxifylline or Ibudilast.

All these PDE inhibitor drugs are normally used in adults. 

 

Misophonia

https://www.webmd.com/mental-health/what-is-misophonia#1

 

Misophonia is a disorder in which certain sounds trigger emotional or physiological responses that some might perceive as unreasonable given the circumstance. Those who have Misophonia might describe it as when a sound “drives you crazy.” Their reactions can range from anger and annoyance to panic and the need to flee.  The disorder is sometimes called selective sound sensitivity syndrome.

Individuals with Misophonia often report they are triggered by oral sounds  -- the noise someone makes when they eat, breathe, or even chew. Other adverse sounds include. keyboard or finger tapping or the sound of windshield wipers. Sometimes a small repetitive motion is the cause -- someone fidgets, jostles you, or wiggles their foot.

 

Impaired P50 gating

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P50_(neuroscience)

 

In electroencephalography, the P50 is an event related potential occurring approximately 50 ms after the presentation of a stimulus, usually an auditory click.The P50 response is used to measure sensory gating, or the reduced neurophysiological response to redundant stimuli.

Research has found an abnormal P50 suppression in people with schizophrenia, making it an example of a biological marker for the disorder. Besides schizophrenia, abnormal P50 suppression has been found in patients with traumatic brain injury, recreational drug use, and post-traumatic stress disorder.

 

It looks to me that:-

 

Misophonia = Impaired P50 gating  = Impaired sensory gating

 

Recent clinical trials using Roflumilast: -

 

Cognitive Effects of Roflumilast in MCI Patients (ROMEMA)

dose 50 mcg   100 mcg

 

Roflumilast and Cognition (EEGrofl) 

dose 100mcg, 300mcg, 1,000 mcg

 

Roflumilast: A potential drug for the treatment of cognitive impairment?

 Roflumilast is the one and perhaps the only drug which shows a dose dependent occupancy of PED-4 in primate models and at doses proven to be very safe in humans, has shown its efficacy in enhancing memory and cognition.

 

An experimental medicine study of the phosphodiesterase-4 inhibitor, roflumilast, on working memory-related brain activity and episodic memory in schizophrenia patients

This study consisted of a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover design involving 15 schizophrenia patients. In 3 treatment periods, patients were given 8 days of placebo or one of the two doses of roflumilast (100 and 250 μg daily) with 14 days of washout between treatments.

Results

Verbal memory was significantly improved under 250 μg roflumilast (effect size (ES) = 0.77) compared to placebo. fMRI analyses revealed that increasing dose of roflumilast was associated with reduction of bilateral DLPFC activation during working memory compared to placebo, although this was not statistically significant (ES = 0.31 for the higher dose). Working memory was not improved (ES = 0.03).

Conclusions

Results support the mechanistic validation of potential novel strategies for improving cognitive dysfunction in schizophrenia and suggest that PDE4 inhibition may be beneficial for cognitive dysfunction in schizophrenia.

 

Improvisation

I did recently write about Desmopressin nasal spray as a possible alternative to specially compounded vasopressin nasal spray.  I did actually order some, but what arrived was the tablet form of Desmopressin.

The advantage of Desmopressin over Vasopressin is that there already exists a nasal spray in your pharmacy. There is currently a worldwide availability issue. 

Fine tuning Social Behavior in Autism with an existing pediatric drug, Desmopressin?

Having recently been making Christmas Pudding and sweet mincemeat for mince pies, from raw ingredients and improvising for those not available, I think I can safely make my own Desmopressin nasal spray, and with the correct excipients. 

Due to Covid, we did not go to England at Christmas; setting Christmas Pudding on fire is something that Monty looks forward to.

Christmas pudding takes days to make and 8 hours to cook, then you leave it to mature.  You re-heat for Christmas lunch.

 

Sweet mincemeat is something that came to England with the returning crusaders.  Nowadays it is just made with dried fruit.  When the English established colonies in New England, they took the older version with them, which included actual meat.  Today in the US you have store-bought sweet mincemeat with ground beef in it, in the UK it has been meat-free for many decades. 

The fat in sweet mincemeat is suet.  In the UK and US, pre-packaged suet sold in supermarkets is dehydrated suet.

I had no idea what suet was, but I know it is not in my supermarket.  Suet is actually raw, hard fat of beef or mutton, found around the loins and kidneys.  Jewish people are not supposed to eat suet, but Muslim people apparently seek it out.  These days I think most is actually a vegetable substitute.  To follow the recipe, a friend helped out with some of this fat; I put a chunk of it in the freezer for a couple of hours and then grated it. You are supposed to coat with rice flour, if you want to store it for later use.

The recipe said 300g (10 oz) of suet but having grated half, I decided it was pretty disgusting and substituted butter for the remainder.

In the recipe are raisins, currants and sultanas, they are actually all slightly different.  In effect they are all dried grapes

 

Raisins, sultanas and currants

 

In the US, the term raisin is applied to both raisins and sultanas. To distinguish the two, sultanas are referred to as “golden” raisins.

Where we live, they are all just “dried grapes”.  The different types exist, but are called the same thing.

Candied peel and glace cherries were also a struggle to find, by this time I had decided to add dried blueberries and cranberries.

One day after the mincemeat jars were already full and maturing in the garage, candied peel and glace cherries turned up and got added.  There is a lot of brandy in the recipe and this is why you leave the jars to mature.

 

It was a lot of bother to make, but the resulting mince pies were really good.  The brandy carries the spices making it very fragrant, not at all like store-bought mince pies.

The Christmas pudding was set alight, in fact twice for good measure.

Compared to all that, how hard can it be to make desmopressin nasal spray?  It only has a handful of ingredients, after all. 

Sulforaphane

I first wrote about Sulforaphane from broccoli, back in 2014. Johns Hopkins have been researching this substance for decades.

What has happened to Sulforaphane for autism? Stuck as Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) therapy forever?  Apparently so.

Sulforaphane has anti-cancer effects and is suggested for common cancers like that of the prostate.  A stable man-made version (an analog) was developed in the UK as drug to treat prostate cancer.  In France a modified broccoli-based OTC product is sold as another prostate therapy.

 

When it comes to autism, there have been a series of positive clinical trials.

Sulforaphane treatment for autism spectrum disorder: A systematic review

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is defined as a neurodevelopmental condition characterized by social communication impairment, delayed development, social function deficit, and repetitive behaviors. The Center for Disease Control reports an increase in ASD diagnosis rates every year. This systematic review evaluated the use of sulforaphane (SFN) therapy as a potential treatment option for individuals with ASD. PubMed.gov, PubMed Central, Natural Medicines, BoardVitals, Google Scholar and Medline were searched for studies measuring the effects of SFN on behavior and cognitive function. All five clinical trials included in this systematic review showed a significant positive correlation between SFN use and ASD behavior and cognitive function. The current evidence shows with minimal side effects observed, SFN appears to be a safe and effective treatment option for treating ASD.

 

The Johns Hopkins' researchers did spin off the idea to commercially exploit their findings.  The result is “True broc” from Brassica Protection Products.

 

https://truebroc.com/what-is-truebroc/ 

 

https://brassica.com/

 

Here you will find Avmacol and Thorne Crucera-SGS, among the products than include “True broc”.  

These products, along with Prostamol from France, are actually used in clinical trials.

The UK company Evgen is developing its stable analog of Sulforaphane for autism and other conditions.

https://evgen.com/technology/

I spoke to Evgen a few years ago and suggested their prostate drug might be used for autism.  You still cannot buy it, but there is a clinical trial for autism planned.

 

Do you need expensive broccoli supplements?

There are numerous cheap broccoli supplements and some moderately priced ones.

We know from the research that supplements generally are not reliable, because they often do not contain what is on the label.  This matters more with some products than others.  With broccoli products the big question is whether they really contain active myrosinase.  This is an enzyme that you need to make Sulforaphane when you eat broccoli.

Several years ago, when I started with Sulforaphane, I bought large tubs of Australian broccoli powder and one pack of Daikon radish powder.  Daikon radishes are rich in myrosinase and it is relative stable, so it can survive processing.  My idea was to start with just the broccoli powder and then, if not effective, add some Daikon radish powder for the extra myrosinase.  In the end I did not need to even open the Daikon radish powder.  A small scoop of this broccoli powder produced a profound effect, euphoria after minutes and then much more “speech”. Back then “speech” was more like babbling single words – but it was some kind of speech at least. 

Many people report broccoli powder improved speech, even parents of young Aspies report it. 

Some people found the effect on mood to be remarkable.

Long term users report that over time they have to increase the dose to maintain the effect.

It is important to note that for some people the benefit may not be from Sulforaphane, but rather from indole-3-carbinol (I3C).

 

Here I am quoting myself …

 

“PTEN is best known as a tumor suppressor affecting RAS-dependent cancer, like much prostate cancer. Activating PTEN is good for slowing cancer growth. As I mentioned in a recent comment to Roger, many substances are known to activate PTEN; a good example being I3C (indole-3-carbindol) which is found in those cruciferous vegetables (broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage etc) that many people choose not to eat. PTEN is a well-known autism gene.” 

The research has now caught up: - 

Study hints at dietary chemical as therapy for type of autism

A compound derived from cruciferous vegetables, such as broccoli and kale, might limit the impact of certain mutations in a top autism gene, a new study suggests.

The compound, called indole-3-carbinol, or I3C, acts on the gene PTEN, a tumor suppressor. 

This does raise questions about the prostate cancer research.  A sulforaphane analog drug contains no indole-3-carbinol (I3C).

  

Does Broccomax “work” 

The easy to buy product is Broccomax.  In the research they do not seem to like it, but it does not include the True Broc product from the Johns Hopkins spin-off.

Anecdotally, Broccomax does “work” for autism, but less so than some expensive products.

My Australian broccoli powder is no longer made, but it was not expensive and it did “work”.

 

Spice up Broccoli with Wasabi?

In the original research from decades ago, the Johns Hopkins researchers combined Daikon radish sprouts with broccoli sprouts, the Daikon radish sprouts where there to provide myrosinase.  The product had to kept deep frozen.

Daikon radish is widely available and is a good source of myrosinase.

I was re-reading old research and noted one researcher advocating putting Wasabi on your broccoli – the spicier the better apparently. Wasabi is Japanese horseradish and is widely available.  If it comes on a large bottle is likely fake wasabi - yes like they fake saffron, they fake wasabi.

Is it crazy to add wasabi to your broccoli capsules?

Look at what is in the expensive Avmacol supplement that they only sell in North America.

 

 

In the research they found that adding just 0.25% Daikon to frozen broccoli “brought it back to life” and sulforaphane was found in the person eating it. 

If you are using gelatine capsules with broccoli powder you can open them and, using a pointed knife, add a small amount of wasabi, re-seal and then swallow.  There is no taste or smell of wasabi.

It is bit fiddly to do this, but you soon master doing it.

 

Calcium Folinate (Leucovorin)

 

There is a lot in this blog already about Calcium Folinate.  It should give some benefit to the 75% of autism who have a problem with folate transport across the blood brain barrier. 

One of the most prominent effects in responders is improved speech. Just look at the tittle of the clinical trial

 

Leucovorin for the Treatment of Language Impairment in Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder

The only issue with Calcium Folinate (Leucovorin) are the side effects, but Professor Ramaekers assures me that if you gradually increase the dose over several weeks, there should not be any.

The summer before Covid, at 45mg a day of Calcium Folinate, my son had much more expressive language and it was also more complex language.  The problem was aggression.

 

Conclusion

As you can see the 2021 to do list is mainly tying up the loose ends remaining from previous ideas, so I anticipate success.

Broccoli powder does still have an effect, but much milder than a few years ago.  Does wasabi increase the effect?  This is very subjective, having bought the little jar of Wasabi, I will continue to adding it to two capsules of Broccomax before breakfast.

Calcium Folinate did increase speech significantly at the large dose (3 x 15mg a day) in my original trial.  At the lower dose of 15mg the effect is present, but is mild, and short-lived for the first few days.   I will very gradually increase from a starting dose of 15 mg a day and see if it possible to avoid the negative effects.

I do like the idea of the tiny dose of Roflumilast.  It has multiple potential benefits:-

1.     Improve sensory gating and reduce Misophonia

2.     Improve cognition

3.     Potentially reduce NKCC1/KCC2 expression and so make bumetanide more effective.

Can this be achieved without nausea? I think it is likely a matter of perseverance.  In COPD the starting dose of roflumilast is half the maintenance dose, but the likely “autism dose” of 100mcg in an adult is less than half the COPD starting dose of 250mcg. 

The research already tells us the effective dosage (for 1 & 2), 100mcg in an adult, and importantly that the effect is lost at higher dosage; indeed, the recent trial in Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) included a dose as low as 50mcg.

You would have to find the therapeutic window.  You are changing the intracellular level of cAMP, which will have numerous effects, not just on HCN channels, but also on things like pCREB and BDNF.

I think 80mcg will be a good place to start.

There may, or may not be, an equivalent dose of Pentoxifylline/Ibudilast that gives a similar effect.  Ideally you would want all 3 effects.

A dose higher than 100mcg might have a beneficial anti-inflammatory effect and so help reduce NKCC1/KCC2 expression which increases (3) but at the loss of (1) and (2).

It would be interesting to know if Maja’s daughter has/had Misophonia and what has been the effect of her Pentoxifylline use.

The next question is how to reliably measure such small doses of Roflumilast.  This drug does not dissolve in water, but is highly soluble in ethanol.  You have the choice of cutting a pill containing 500mcg into 5-6 pieces (fortunately, it is a large pill), or just crushing the pill and then using microscales to fill new capsules, or make a tincture.  The tincture should be the most accurate.  Tinctures are widely used for OTC remedies like propolis.  A tincture has the advantage that you can easily vary the dose. In phase 1, where I just try it on myself, I have opted for the tincture. One tablet dissolves in 2ml of vodka (dilute ethanol) to make a paste, but was much more fluid in 3 ml (the 3rd ml added probably could be just water).  One half of an old propolis pipette contains 100 mcg duly dissolved in 0.6 ml of vodka. It tastes exactly like the original propolis tincture, because all you really notice is the ethanol. Most commercial propolis tincture is made with alcohol and uses a much more concentrated ethanol than you will find in vodka. 

I was asked by an autism Grandad at the 2019 Thinking Autism conference how his Grandson could be helped.  The young man is highly intelligent, but has a severe problem with sound sensitivity.  His family paid extra money for him to sit his final school exams in a room with no other students, but the invigilator was opening up candy to chew all through the exams and so the boy flunked the exams.   This young man has Misophonia and I bet would exhibit impaired P50 gating if given an EEG. Before exam time, he needs to block some of the HCN channels in his brain and reduce stress/anxiety.  He might well benefit from Roflumilast 100 mcg and Propranolol 20mg and then sail through his exams. 

I actually think that many people reading this post likely have Misophonia, that is if they are a relative of someone with polygenic autism.  In the literature Misophonia is claimed to affect more women than men, but I doubt that is actually true.  If you have autism, your doctor is highly unlikely to add a diagnosis of Misophonia. 

Is Desmopressin going to be helpful?  I had put Vasopressin down as a potential therapy more for Aspies, but our reader whose young child was prescribed Desmopressin nasal spray by her neurologist, noted a broad range of substantial improvements. Desmopressin is water soluble, so no vodka required.

Inappropriate Behavior in Autism

Green choices and red choices.  You get to decide.

 

I was recently asked by a friend, who teaches social skills to young people with autism, how we have dealt with inappropriate behavior in our son Monty, now aged 17.  The short answer was “we have not had to”.  The longer answer is more complex.

First of all, you have to figure out what kind of “Inappropriate Behavior” is in question.  I consider lots of natural behavior in autism to be inappropriate - stimming, flapping, scripting, the obsessive desire for sameness and repetition and an apparent aversion to following rules and instructions, for some people.

Of course, I guessed what the immediate question was actually about - sexually inappropriate behavior, this time in a 12-year-old boy. These issues have been raised in the comments section of this blog on many occasions.

The underlying problem is not something that developed at puberty, it is just a consequence of what has happened (or rather, not happened) in the years since the child was a toddler.

Typical children learn by being taught by their parents and teachers, but significantly also by observing others and how they behave.

Even very severely autistic people can be taught basic things, but when it comes to learning by observation and picking up unspoken rules, they can be completely lost.  They need to be taught basic rules and those rules have to become instinctive, over 18 years of childhood.

The most basic inappropriate autistic behavior referred to is undressing in public.  When Monty was 3 years old, we were asked to provide an Assistant in the kindergarten, because he was taking his clothes off.  The teacher did not want the other kids to use their built-in imitation skills and following suit – we do not live in Denmark.  The idea of stripping off in public was nipped in the bud, so to speak.

If you go to the beach in many countries you will see many kids running around naked.  If you go to a park in a big German city you will see office workers, half-naked working on their sun tans, during their lunch break.  The rules of what is acceptable vary widely, depending on where you live.

You can teach a person with severe autism from early childhood that you can only remove your clothes in certain “safe” places.  If you do not do this, then do not be surprised when you, and your teenage son, get into trouble at school because he took his clothes off in the classroom and started playing with himself.  This was what happened with the 12-year-old in question.

The worse thing is that some parents then want to use drugs to halt these “inappropriate behaviors”, that they have allowed to develop.

 

Medical Therapy for Inappropriate Sexual Behaviors in a Teen With Autism Spectrum Disorder

Teens with autism spectrum disorder often exhibit sexual behaviors in public that are disturbing to parents, teachers, and peers. Some have proposed that such behaviors can be curtailed with hormonal suppression. There is information on the Internet suggesting that such medications work, and some reports in the peer-reviewed medical literature support these claims. Such medications can have serious side effects. In this paper, we present a case in which parents requested such treatment of their teenage son with autism spectrum disorder.

 

The most basic skill that needs to be taught to a person with severe autism is to follow the instructions of the supervising adult.  The child is not the boss.

When I take my son to the dentist, he has to follow her instructions.  If he does not follow my instructions, how can he ever follow those of the dentist?

Our friend, figuring out what to do about the problematic 12-year-old, can see that there is plenty written about the subject, like this presentation from Australia. 

SEXUAL BEHAVIOURS OF CONCERN IN YOUNG PEOPLE WITH AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDERS

My own opinion is that if you treat your child with severe autism in a similar way to his/her siblings you will not go far wrong.  Do not soften those rules/expectations.  You set very simple rules and apply them consistently.

When it comes to neurotypical children, different parents apply completely different rules.  This also has consequences, but neurotypical children are much more resilient to the mistakes of their parents.  You can make mistakes and be forgiven later!

With autism, it is very much a case of you reap what you sow.

There was a case recently in the US of an autism advocate mother.  She wrote how she could not take her adult-sized son swimming, because her friends with pools no longer want him to visit.  Her son had a habit of removing his clothes and also peeing in people’s gardens.  That might be funny if it was a 3-year-old, but people do not like it in an adult sized person – that clearly does count as inappropriate behavior.  OK, the boy is autistic and so he gets to do things the way he wants; the mother is not in control of her son’s behavior and the consequence is no pool parties – no big deal, you might think.  Recently, the family’s house caught fire and the whole family escaped the two-storey building, except for the boy.  The mother then goes back into the house and tries to negotiate with the boy to leave his bedroom and come outside.  Unfortunately, what was reportedly heard outside was the boy shouting “No! No! No!”. The boy, autistic or not, should have instinctively followed the parent’s instruction, instead the boy and his mother died in the fire.

In females with autism, aggressive behavior and indeed seizures can be triggered by cyclical hormonal changes that do not affect boys.  Treating boys to supress their hormones to minimize inappropriate behavior looks pretty desperate.  

It is fashionable to indulge people with autism and let them express/develop all kinds of behaviors.  It is unfashionable to take the other path and promote doing your best to fit in with what society considers as normal.  If you look at the nature that surrounds us, it is driven by evolution and evolution is driven by adapting to your surroundings.  Sulking about how you do not like your surroundings might get you likes and retweets, but sets you on a path to extinction.  

      

Inappropriate Behavior in Autism, or is it Misguided Parenting?

Parents do need help and that is why my friend is helping to teach their children social skills.  Autistic children do not yet come with an instruction manual. “Mistakes”, though made with the best of intentions, will have life-long consequences.

 

Touching Others

I was surprised how many children, even with mild autism, like touching other people’s hair.  A girl in my elder son’s class used to get very upset by an Aspie boy who kept touching her hair; she felt she had a stalker. The concept of “personal space” is something you have to teach, even to some Aspies.

Monty also likes nice hair – pigtails and ponytails in particular. But he was taught that you have to ask, if you want to touch.  The girls in Monty’s class at school actually seem to like the fact that he notices and appreciates their hair. 

When it comes to hugging, kissing and hand shaking, conventions are so different among different nationalities/cultures things get confusing. Some greetings, common in countries like France, would not go down well in Anglo-Saxon countries. 

 

Be as normal as possible and avoid cocooning

One reason people with autism have strange behaviors is they live very protected lives, often overly protective.  If you don’t get out much, you will not learn how to behave, or navigate the world.

I got asked can Monty go to the arcade and play on the virtual reality games, the ones with headsets.  I then say yes, why not?  Then I get told some parents do not allow it, because they think it will make their child with autism have seizures.

Monty’s big brother does competitive shooting.  He wanted to teach Monty how to shoot Grandad’s old army pistol.  So, they went to an outdoor range and Monty showed he could very responsibly shoot the pistol.  You wear ear protectors, but it is still quite a sensory experience.  He behaved totally responsibly and also hit the targets. Monty later told his classmates at school and they did not believe him.

When Monty turns 18 next year, big brother will be taking him to his favourite Irish Pub.  My elder son did ask me and I said that I have no objections - there will be no reason to treat him differently to any other 18-year-old. It is a rite of passage and fraternal bonding opportunity.

Clearly if you have untreated severe autism, you are unlikely to be safe at a shooting range and you may not want a drink at the Irish Pub.

 

What do the “Experts” in the US tell us? 

I did stumble upon a site in the US giving advice on teaching appropriate greetings to people with autism.

https://www.infiniteach.com/resources/appropriate-vs-inappropriate-greetings-visual-support/ 

I actually thought it was very bad advice.

People with autism tend to be very literal.  The advice pretty clearly says emotions are bad, do not express them.

This free autism resource focuses on how to make an appropriate greeting. Oftentimes students with autism learn a routine and stick with it. When the routine is good - everything is great. But in the case of greetings, a lot of young kids are met with hugs, kisses, and hand holding. This may be great and nurturing at 2 or 3 years of age, but at 12 and 13 it is not so appropriate anymore.

 

I thought this was rather sad advice.

I asked my elder son, aged 20, how he greets his friends - he has them from Azerbaijan to Zimbabwe and, yes, even some from the US.  At University in Italy, girls expect 2 kisses and if you give just one, they will feel cheated.  Where we live, girls technically get 3 kisses, but this takes time and 2 is more common.

A boy refusing to greet a girl with a kiss would be seen as rude.

Hugs are very common, as a key part of the boy-girl greeting.  Monty’s female assistants all hug him. My elder son experiences everything from a mini-hug to a bear hug, depending on nationality, Russians being the coldest and Czechs, apparently, the warmest.

Boy-boy greetings often include a pat on the back, “boy hug”.

At weddings where we live, you would expect the boy-boy kiss, which I find pretty odd.  But you have to bend to the local convention.

With French people, everyone gets a kiss; children even kiss adult guests they do not know, which can look a bit strange.

When it comes to holding hands, all that matters is whether both parties are willing.  Banning hand-holding looks like a sure-fire way to repress emotions and create all kinds of future problems.  

 

Inappropriate Behavior in Aspies

Inappropriate behavior in people with severe autism, or those with intellectual disability (MR/ID), is normally just a public nuisance or embarrassment.  In fully verbal people with normal IQ and some autistic traits, there is much more potential for harm to others.  People with severe autism or MR/ID do not have the capacity to carry out revenge plots on the public. 

Most Aspies do not carry out such actions, but most non-terrorist mass attacks on the public are, it seems, carried out by people of normal IQ with an autism diagnosis.  If you doubt this, just read the news.

The young Aspie who is bullied at school, and has no friends, may dream about setting fire to the school, but does not actually do it.  Due the internet, small groups with strange ideas can nowadays get together and self-reinforce their views. These groups range from the slightly deluded but relatively harmless, like ASAN (Autistic Self Advocacy Network) to the severely deluded and potentially criminal.

As was stated in one very insightful comment in this blog, it is only during early childhood that you can address the behavioral issues and beliefs in people with mild autism.  Once they are older, they have fixed their perception of the world and their place in it.  The time for social skills training for Aspies is when they are very young, before they endure years of bullying/teasing/exclusion during high school.  They may not instinctively have the capacity to find and make friends, but they are perfectly capable of be taught most of these skills.  This is not masking, this is learning.  These are actually survival skills for life.  If your formative years are miserable, that does not set you on a good path to adulthood. 

 

Conclusion

It looks like parents need to invest time consciously teaching their child with severe autism what behaviors are desirable, including the when and where part.

If your house is on fire, you follow your parent’s instructions and get out of the house. Your sensory sensitivities do not matter, you have to tough it out, like going to the dentist without full sedation. Not a bad idea to have a fire drill at home, by the way.

If you spend your whole life in one small town you will need only one set of social rules; if you are a bit more cosmopolitan, you will have to understand that different cultures have very different social rules and expectations.

It looks to me that some “experts” in social skills for severe autism, or MR/ID, are giving some very bad advice.  It is worth checking what your child is being taught, to see if you actually agree with it.

I actually think Aspies have the most to benefit from social skills workshops outside school and coaching inside school, to find their niche in society.  If you get diagnosed with mild autism, you should automatically be enrolled.  Such workshops should be fun and not some kind of conversion therapy. 

Most children with autism want friends, they just don’t always know how to make them.  These are lifelong skills that you do not forget.