Autism and TV?

Anyone who has ever seen a truly autistic kid in action cannot help but be struck by the impact it can have on nearly every part of normal life. Even moderately autistic kids often have very unusual behaviors because they are hyper-sensitive to one or more sensory inputs. This means that some kids can't stand any more than dim light, while others are driven mad by the feel of their own clothing against their skin. Still others are unable to modulate emotions to the point where every minor mishap or sorrow is a major event. In short, living with autism is no picnic.

Unfortunately diagnosis and treatment are not easy for this condition because no one is exactly certain what physical problem exists or what might have caused the problem in the first place. There are a million and one guesses but few good answers. For many kids the "treatment" is to try and learn to cope with a brain that is very differently wired than most.

As it turns out, Washington State has one of the highest rates of Autism in the country (about one in 167 children). Some believe this is due to better diagnostic screening our state. Others claim it has to do with the high tech industry which may attract mildly autistic (and therefore highly focused) workers. Whatever the reason, autism is a very real issue for our state school system.

Recently Slate carried a fascinating article about one autism study. Number crunchers and doctors have long suspected that TV viewing in the earliest years of life may have some impact on the development of the brain. However, it has always been very tough to prove this theory since you're generally not allowed to use human toddlers as lab rats. However, one scientist had a brilliant idea. Knowing that TV viewing goes up when the weather gets cold, what if he looked at a few very cold years in a given area to see if rates of Autism increased? His results are pretty striking.

Tracking one group of kids who went through the cold spells as toddlers he found dramatically increased rates of autism. Other kids, who did not experience very cold weather, were much less likely to develop autistic symptoms. Of course, none of this counts as "conclusive" evidence that TV can lead to autism, but it certainly does make you stop and think about all those two year olds out there watching hour after hour of Tellitubbies (designed specifically for the under two set) and cartoons.