I'm not familiar with Michael Savage but I assume he is the same kind of person who thinks depressed people should be told to just cut it out and cheer up. The myth that we are in control of our brains, instead of our brains being in control of us, seems to be the fundamental myth around which an entire worldview is constructed, internally consistant but contrary to fact.

Has anyone looked for a connection between television and autism. I know a lot of parents use the tv set as a babysitter for very young children -- children who are learning how people react when they coo or when they bawl. A lot of very subtle lessons are learned during those years, by watching the facial expressions of other people.

The people on tv never react to anything the child does. What does the child learn from that?

My wife and I don't allow our 7 month old to watch TV. We do think there is a connection between Austism and watching TV. I mean, what else can it be?

Cell phones? Vaccines? Power lines?

What we need is scientific evidence. My understanding is that after years of searching, no hard evidence has been found.

But if my kids were little, I'd turn off the tv until they were older.

"My wife and I don't allow our 7 month old to watch TV. We do think there is a connection between Austism and watching TV. I mean, what else can it be?" Genetics. Autism is an organic disorder. I think what will be found is that wether or not a child develops a disorder from the genes they've inherited is impacted by outside forces, so it will be a combination of factors. If a child has inherited the gene and is plunked in front of a TV all day, it will likely exacerbate the condition. Perhaps getting the vaccine with a protein in it that the child is sensitive to can act as a trigger at a critical point in their brain development? Nobody knows yet, but your approach of avoiding the idiot box at this important time can only help your child.

"Avoiding the idiot box"? WIthout ANY scientific data, you choose to indict a TV (something ALL of us grew up on for the last 50 years or so) as the main reason for autism...brilliant. Maybe someone should diagnose you, since YOU OBVIOUSLY HAVE NO CLUE! Most likely it's a genetic factor that's triggered by the environment (inability to process mercury out of the body, building up in the brain and short-circuiting the connections), but CERTAINLY not from TV exposure. You've been watching too much TV if you believe that images cause less brain stimulation and result in autism. My brother-in-law is truly autistic, and if Michael Savage talked to him just for 1 minute, he'd see that it's not just a "brat" with no parental supervision. This disorder CLEARLY has a genetic component, and I believe it is environmental triggers that stir up the condition's symptoms. But to blame the TV for the condition is just plain LUDICROUS!!!

While TV watching does not cause autism, the stimulation kids get from TV is so different from the stimulation of interaction with real people that it can only be harmful. Also, I think most of us had access to TV growing up but I certainly spent a limited amount of time watching. As technology increases kids are having less direct and face to face interaction with people and it shows.

Autism may have some genetic components but nothing specifically proven yet. Lots of hypotheses out there and ongoing research. There is no proof so far that vaccines cause autism or the associated spectrum of disease.

"the stimulation kids get from TV is so different from the stimulation of interaction with real people that it can only be harmful."

I think the people at Sesame Street, Blue's Clues, Little Einstein, etc. would COMPLETELY DISAGREE with you. Shows like this teach kids patterns, social concepts (not to go with strangers, wash your hands, etc.), and other social interactions and responses (read Malcolm Gladwell's "The Tipping Point" for reasons why shows like Sesame Street and Blue's Clues catch on...a show like Blue's Clues is not about flashing images, it's about teaching kids to look for "clues" to infer and predict what's about to happen).

I'm not telling you that some TV programs are harmful (violent shows should obviously not be viewed by toddlers, etc.), but to indict TV as a catch-all evil is just wrong. Stimulation is stimulation, plain and simple. It would be great if parents interacted with their children every waking moment. But that's not to say that TV cannot be used as a learning device, and it's DEFINITELY not the cause of autism (otherwise, wouldn't you think a lot more kids would be diagnosed? How many kids don't watch TV? Not many.). Sure, Mikey TeeVee or whatever his name was from the old Willy Wonka movie had some social vacancies, but he certainly wasn't autistic.

The cause for autism isn't TV. You don't develop these behaviors by watching SpongeBob or Hannah Montana every day. It is a dysfunction within the brain, caused by neurons not firing properly and not making the proper connections. What causes that to develop? Probably genes that are triggered by certain chemicals in the environment. But to blame TV because you don't like certain programs is just ignorant. Do your homework. I love my autistic brother-in-law, and I hate that I can't completely connect with him, but I certainly won't blame TV, especially since I know he hardly watched ANY TV before being diagnosed at age 2.

My autistic nephew has been glued to a TV set and/or video game since infancy. Whether a cause or not, it certainly can't be (or have been) good for him.

I think nobody is certain yet to identify one single cause of autism, and most likely nobody will. Like many behavoral disorders, there may be various causes of autism. We can't rule our vaccines yet, we can't rule out genetics yet, and certainly we can't rule out TV yet. But, in my opinion TV is a big part of this mystery. It doesn't mean that a child watching a show or two a day is going to become autistic, but too much TV isn't good for anybody. I'm not sure if there is a study on this, but I believe more and more people plug their kids to the TV or protable DVD player because they can't watch or interact with them all the time.

If your nephew has been "glued" to the TV, you might be inclined to think that the TV is the cause for the autism...you ever tried to think the other way? Like, the autism is the reason he's glued to the TV? I think you might have your cause and effect mixed up...autistic children have repetitive habits, such as listening to music in a certain order, watching the same TV shows, doing the same activities, etc. over and over. The TV watching is probably another of these idiosyncracies. In essence, his autism is the reason he watches TV, not the other way around.

My brother-in-law listens to certain sets of music (in order, out loud) on certain days of the week. It's comforting to him, and it throws him off if things aren't done a certain way. Your nephew might be the same with the TV...disoriented if the patterns are disrupted.

Then again, it could just be that he likes to do those activities (how many little boys don't like playing video games?). But associating TV as the CAUSE and not the EFFECT of his autism is a bit irresponsible. You can't just issue a blanket statement like "tv results in autism" because the evidence just doesn't support that. Idiosyncracies like this are PART of the disorder, not the CAUSE of it.

Please note two things. First, in my original post I was asking a question, not suggesting that I knew the answer. Second, my worry about tv is not that tv is bad, but that tv does not respond to what a baby does, ever. Interact with a baby, any baby, for one minute, and you notice how intently the baby responds to what you do, and how intently the baby watches your responce to what she or he does. In that give and take, the baby is learning how to act around other people. Lacking that give and take, whether it causes autism or not, can't be good.

Fifty years ago, most people had a tv set (one tv set) in their home. In the evening, they would gather in front of it, discuss what to watch, throw a tantrum if their parents wanted to watch Walter Cronkite instead of Superman, and after the show, they turned the tv off.

Something very different is going on today. In many homes, every individual has their own tv, they watch it alone, and it is on all the time. It is hard to believe that doesn't have any effect at all on the individual and on society.

Most parents of autistic children, such as myself, will emphatically tell you that autisim is NOT caused by TV. Our story in not unlike many you have read about. Our 16 month old was developmentally on-track and then suddenly withdrew. Whatever language development he had (da-da, ma-ma) was gone. No more eye contact. Flapping. Meltdowns due to over-stimulation. These traits suddenly appeared because of TV?

Our son is now 7 and because we had him diagnosed early and worked with him closely and continously, he has come a long way. His language skills are probably up to a 5 year old. Lots of eye contact. No more flapping. Meltdowns are easier to predict and control.

He does watch a lot of TV, but I now understand many of the reasons why. For one thing, it helps him understand how to interact with people without the awkwardness and uncomfortable feeling he gets when you try to get him to communicate one-on-one. The TV doesn't ask him to respond. We know that he is watching social situations & responses and then later trying them out on the family. We also know that just as TV is an escape mechanism for the rest of us, he probably needs to 'escape' more than we do. He is bright and mostly understands what he needs to do to get along with people, especially at school. Just because he understands what it takes, however, does not make him comfortable with it.

There is an autistic spectrum and we feel blessed that he would be considered on the high-functioning part of the scale. After 5 1/2 years of work, instead of 'Rainman', he can appear simply awkward and quirky to people who have just met him. For this effort, we are rewarded with Mr. Savage's broadcast to millions that children like our son should just 'cut it out'.

If Don Imus can be forced off the air for saying something offensive that he put no thought into, can we do the same for Michael Savage considering that he obviously put much thought into his rant?

Your child may not be autistic. He sounds very much like my son.

My son is 15 now but when we had him looked at by a neurologist at age 5, she told us he wasn't autistic, although some of his behaviors would point to that. He could barely speak, but he made eye contact and he was intuitive. He also studied television shows in order to figure our social situations.

His problem, she said, was a receptive/expressive language disorder. Basically, he lacked language because that part of his brain was developmentally behind the other parts. Without language, a child will feel isolated socially, like an alien because culture is transmitted through language.

Now that he's 15, we understand a lot more about what is going on with him because he can tell us. He's never been a behavior problem. Indeed, he does everything exactly because he's afraid of making a cultural gaffe or making a mistake by missing some spoken detail. He's an A-student but he has to work really hard because he thinks in pictures and must translate back and forth. *All* language is a second language to him and he and his teachers have found strategies to overcome the disability.

I would recommend that you google "Einstein's Syndrome" and late-talkers. There's research being done on these children and while they may present as PDD or austism spectrum, it can be a mis-diagnosis.

Good luck!

"Your child may not be autistic. He sounds very much like my son."

I'm sorry, but the person above with the autistic 7-year old is not much like your son. Flapping, withdrawn, etc. is not just a symptom of "late-talking". Anyone with a truly autistic son or daughter knows the behavior patterns present in these children are not just quirks that can be cured.

"we understand a lot more about what is going on with him because he can tell us. He's never been a behavior problem."

Well obviously YOU don't have a truly autistic child, but if you did, he probably couldn't "tell you" what's going on with him. "Slow learner/reader/speaker" is not the same as "socially withdrawn" and "developmentally regressive". One is just slow going forward in speech and expression, while the other regresses instead of going forward.

"Indeed, he does everything exactly because he's afraid of making a cultural gaffe or making a mistake by missing some spoken detail."

Autistic children are not completely aware of "cultural gaffes", etc...they are not completely aware of the world in which they live. It seems to me like your child may have been mis-diagnosed, but you shouldn't be pressing that onto others, since I don't quite believe that you know what this other parent is going through.

>Anyone with a truly autistic son or daughter knows the behavior patterns present in these children are not just quirks that can be cured.

Believe it or not, I *agree* with you, and that's why I responded to Cautin in the way I did. Autism is not "cured." I actually have a good deal of experience with autistic folks, from mild to severe. That's how I knew my son wasn't autistic even though it did appear so early on. Note what the poster says about his own son:

"His language skills are probably up to a 5 year old. Lots of eye contact. No more flapping. Meltdowns are easier to predict and control...He does watch a lot of TV... it helps him understand how to interact with people "

And you said: "they are not completely aware of the world in which they live"

Very true ... which is why I had to wonder about Cautin's son. That child is progressing quite well (he's only two years behind in speech) and he's making an effort to understand and interact.

Do not underestimate "late talking" by the benign label. It is a very serious condition. It is not simply shyness or being a slow learner or slow developer (actually, many of these children are very smart ---that's how they manage to progress against high odds). It is the inability to process verbal information and that can have a *profound* impact on a two-three year old. The resulting behavior looks very much like autism even though the root cause is different, especially in very young children and you need a really good neurologist to tell the difference.

I also agree with what you said above about television watching not being a cause but simply a correlation and maybe even the effect.

I respect your experience with your brother-in-law, but you don't have experience with Einstein's Syndrome as well. I have seen both. I know the difference but I also know, from experience, how one can be mistaken for the other.