Session 22 February 2010

[Andromeda]

Rolyateel, amazing job! Holy moley! Those look real Or maybe, this is what all of the MSM studios are doing.

Very impressive, Rolyateel! Useful skills, indeed!

Hmmm, yeah, maybe tone it down to brick red cement block walls with the paint flaking off, a couple stools, water leaking through the roof.....

Uh, we have a couple of rooms like that already!

 

[Andromeda]

Crawling and Development
However, Barnes believes that more than just body strength is at stake. "Crawling is also super-important for development and a lot of children miss this important skill".

Research by George Pavlidis and Timothy Miles has shown that developmental co-ordination disorders (ranging in severity from impaired motor skills to dyspraxia and dyslexia) may be related to a lack of the core stability that crawling gives a baby [Dyslexia Research and its Application to Education, 1987]. Of course, not all non-crawling babies will become dyslexic. According to statistics published by the Bristol Dyslexia Centre, however, around seventy per cent of dyslexics never crawled.

Another strange thing that baby Johnny did was to crawl/scoot backwards when he wanted to approach something.

 

[Laura]

Regarding the baby, Psyche just posted the following on the breastfeeding thread:

I was reading some information from autism.com, mainly about mercury toxicity, and I found some relevant points:

-In animal studies, infants do not excrete mercury until weaned and a milk diet increases gastrointestinal absorption of metals.
-A study of rats found that oral antibiotics and milk both decreased the rate of methyl mercury excretion. Rats typically take 10 days to excrete half the mercury they are exposed to, but in rats on an all-milk diet (relevant to nursing infants) the half-life increased from 10 days to 30 days. In rats on oral antibiotics, the half-life increased from 10 days to over 100 days. In rats on both an all-milk diet and oral antibiotics, the half-life increased to 300 days. Humans excrete mercury more slowly than rats, so the effects would be larger there.

Other than the mercury toxicity from fish, mercury amalgams, flu vaccinations and environmental pollution (coal plants, etc), there is also mercury in some immuno globulin therapies to treat blood incompatibility between mother and child, and which are also given when pregnancy invasive procedures are done (amniocentesis).

Here is more relevant information:

Mercury is an extremely toxic substance, and very low levels of it (nanomolar) can cause neurological and other damage.

The U.S. Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), gives the following summary about the symptoms of mercury toxicity in infants:

• “Mercury is considered to be a developmental toxicant. … The symptoms observed in offspring of exposed mothers are primarily neurological in origin and have ranged from delays in motor and verbal development to severe brain damage.”
• “The infant may be born apparently normal, but later show effects that may range from the infant being slower to reach developmental milestones, such as the age of first walking and talking, to more severe effects including brain damage with mental retardation, incoordination, and inability to move.”
• “Other severe effects observed in children whose mothers were exposed to very toxic levels of mercury during pregnancy include eventual blindness, involuntary muscle contractions and seizures, muscle weakness, and inability to speak.”
• “It is important to remember, however, that the severity of these effects depends upon the level of mercury exposure and the time of dose.”

This summary is strikingly close to the symptoms of autism.

[...]

Timing of the exposure is also a critical determinant of toxicity. For example, the developing fetus is 5-10 times more sensitive to mercury. Also, the human brain undergoes tremendous growth and maturation the first year of life. Mercury is known to interfere with these growth mechanisms. Exposures that occur during critical “Windows of Development” are more damaging.

There is tremendous inter-individual susceptibility to mercury and genetic make-up, age, sex, and health status all impact susceptibility. In adults a 78-fold variation has been reported and in infants this variation can be up to 10,000 fold. Metabolism and excretion can also vary widely.

Mercury detoxification and the elimination of gluten and casein (dairy) are the most favored and useful biomedical therapies for autism.

It kind of sounds like what was happening. Apparently, Johnny was quite normal up to about 7 months or so and then just sort of stopped developing. Because of Sue's age and the IVF, not to mention possible genetic factors, Johnny may have been particularly susceptible. And Sue did NOT believe that diet had anything to do with health. She continued to eat dairy and gluten for most of the whole time she was breastfeeding, and who knows how much mercury she had accumulated. Johnny may have been born completely poisoned from mercury toxicity in the womb and then, getting little but mother's milk for over a year, it just compounded the situation.

 

[Laura]

Man, what an upsetting situation. knowing the world is pretty much a vile, manipulated hellhole is bad enough, but having it presented in ways so immediate and familiar makes it so much worse. I don't even know Bob or Sue or their baby but my heart breaks for them and their future- what a horrendous time.

I will shed my light on the following in the hopes of adding something constructive that might get back to Bob.
With regards to the following comment:

Well, we did ask with the results you see. And they have both dived into DeNile because it is a lot more than just the dull look in his face, the crab-crawling, etc. As Andromeda mentioned, there was an odd smell to the child that the girls described as like "wet cement" that had gone sour. And this was AFTER he was over being sick. His body had no real tone, either. Like I said, in many ways, he presented as a 7 or 8 month old and that's a big gap for one who measures his life in months.

My son had this smell too and I think that it is the result of a candida overgrowth. Unbeknownst to myself, my dedicated effort in breast feeding all three of my children infected them to varying degrees with candida with my latest baby getting the highest doses of all of them. I couldn't figure out why he was constantly having bouts of diarrhea until he ended up with a terrible case of thrush and then I put it all together since I knew I had candida. It has been awful knowing that every time I nurse my baby, I transmit candida to him and that he has been battling this invasion since he was a newborn. The case of thrush was so bad that the acidity in his mouth and body de-mineralized his brand new teeth within a week leaving him with caries that look just like he had "baby bottle mouth" and I've never given him a bottle once. Managing my own candida has been very tricky in this respect as well since if I kill it off too quickly, the toxins released in the die-off get in my breast milk and he gets a rash all around his mouth. And of course every time he smiles his giant cute smile, I can see the caries on his teeth that I've caused indirectly-he'd only had those teeth for a couple of months!!-Not a happy feeling for me when I see this :(.

For managing his candida though, I've introduced one sippy cup per day of slightly alkalized water (a pinch of baking soda, a pinch of potassium salt and a pinch of magnesium citrate) as well as probiotics and this gets rid of that acidic smell completely. I also keep Nystatin on hand just in case because if I'm not extremely vigilant, the thrush will come back in a matter of days. I think the poor guy knows his body is too acidic since he really wants nothing to do with fruit which most babies love.

Anyway, maybe somehow this info will find it's way to Bob so that he can look into it if he chooses.

Shedding light on this darkness is really all that any of us can do in this situation. I hope it helps.

Rx

Rx, I have to say that I was rendered almost speechless by your statement that you knew your children were getting and staying infected with candida from your milk and yet you continued, long past the time when they had teeth, to give this to them, even to the extent of destroying their teeth. In spite of the evidence before your eyes, you still think that your milk is better for them?

 

[Hildegarda]

Unbeknownst to myself, my dedicated effort in breast feeding all three of my children infected them to varying degrees with candida with my latest baby getting the highest doses of all of them.

Rx, I have to say that I was rendered almost speechless by your statement that you knew your children were getting and staying infected with candida from your milk and yet you continued, long past the time when they had teeth, to give this to them, even to the extent of destroying their teeth. In spite of the evidence before your eyes, you still think that your milk is better for them?

As I remember the way it works with candida in babies, it's not really that the mother infects the child with candida through breastfeeding. During pregnancy while the mother's defenses are down and the hormone levels are different, it's easier to get a vaginal yeast infection. The baby picks up the candida in his/her mouth in the birth canal during the birth process, and then can infect the nipples during the beginning of breastfeeding, while the nipples are still sore. Then, with continued breastfeeding, it leads to passing the infection back and forth. To stop the vicious circle, they recommend oral nystatin for the baby and nystatin cream for the mother, and also all kinds of things like washing and ironing your bras all the time, etc. In a more serious cases they do also give diflucan for breastfeeding mothers.

The discomfort of candida infections is a serious deterrent to continued breastfeeding, but if managed early and comprehensively it shouldn't be an issue. Babies who are bottle-fed are actually more likely to develop thrush/candida: the acquisition route is the same, through the birth canal, but because of the way the mouth moves while sucking on a bottle, it puts more stress on the tissues and the infection is more likely to take on; plus it can be hard to sterilize candida off rubber nipples and pacifiers.

 

[mcb]

...
Are some forms of Autism and asperger's actually just a different name for psychopathy?

I don't know.

I observe that a lot of stuff gets categorized wrongly because key elements are ignored. There are people with OCD/neurotic tendencies who are that way because of an excess of feeling/empathy who get tossed in the basket with those who are OCD/psycopathic with NO empathy or possibility of conscience.

So, there are people saying "I'm high functioning autistic" or "Aspie" when they are really just a bit OCD/neurotic due to narcissistic wounding.

Indeed. One of the top issues with higher-functioning autism is "social reciprocity." This is implied but not well stated in the current DSM-IV, and there is plenty of room for misdiagnosis. The DSM-5 draft attempts to improve accuracy by merging Asperger's with HFA, but in the process lumps together people with very serious empathy and communication issues and people with moderate issues, benefiting some while hurting others. Either way, the diagnostic confusion will continue and people will be included that don't belong.

Lack of social reciprocity may well come across as lack of empathy, but you can't tell that easily.The communication deficits involved can nevertheless lead to a form of "crazy making" as was suggested earlier. I had a very interesting conversation about this with the person I live with last night, after seeing the latest posts in this topic. Yes, I make her crazy sometimes, and it is very difficult for me to understand why although I am making progress with it. It was a very beneficial conversation, I think.

Conversely, lack of social reciprocity may indicate lack of empathy, and may be mistaken for autistic symptoms, especially in a society that is blind to psychopathy and its kin.

Someone also mentioned that deviousness is not something you would expect to see in a person on the autistic spectrum. This is generally true, though with notable exceptions. Sophisticated deviousness is unlikely, though. It would be really hard to pull off for a person with major social function deficits, even if it was something they desired to do, which is usually not the case.

But if you have a parent that passes on a genetic predisposition to autism (as opposed to an actual autistic parent), this doesn't say anything because "is predisposed to" and "is exhibiting the key symptoms of" are not the same thing. As far as I know a parent that is merely predisposed can exhibit a few traits or no traits of autism, though I am not up to date on the latest research, which tends to focus on people much younger than I.

 

[WIN 52]

Q: (Perceval) Poor Bob.

(Andromeda) Poor Sue.

(L) Should we publish the information in this session with the names changed, of course?

A: Why not? A lot to be learned by others.

Well, thanks for posting this. This information has been timely for me and is helping me work out some other issues in my own life. It is, kind of sick, disgusting about how weak willed people are attacked and just the general programming and going back in time to set up future results, is taken to the extreme, to the tenth power. The more I see all that is involved, the more I get the feeling that people are just plain blindsided by 4D STS. Information, reliable information is desperately neded by the people being used, which is all of us! We are all in this together, whether we are OP's or otherwise, and it seems like non OP's are the heaviest casualties.

 

[chachazoom]

<snip>
A telltale sign is that chaos always surrounds them....sometimes it's not easy to trace it to them.
<snip>

I know I don't KNOW anything for sure but just the feel of this especially when Laura desribed her shock and laying down that night with her heart hurting like there was an elephant on her chest. The chaos......the catering. When I was trying to put words to many experiences in the early years, I thought it was like everyone around them could be puking or biting their nails or walking on eggshells and they simply wouldn't notice. they'd only notice if you forgot the cream for their coffee. It's crazy making. HFA is in a class of it's own.
Now when I observe or listen to issues pertaining to autism, I listen for things that aren't pushed to the forefront. For example I was listening to Jenny Garth and speaking about vaccinations as the sole trigger of autism but in there somewhere she droped a couple of lines about her husband's response to the discovery of their son being autistic. Just a few words about his lack of emotional response and other behaviours that raised a red flag. I'm always trying to understand more, like what the difference would be between a very highly intelligent autistic person and a psychopath? Are all psychopaths autistic? One I know is a neurological conditions but I wonder if the pathological psychopath's brain would show up as autistic?

Hmmm... you've posed some interesting questions here.

Are some forms of Autism and asperger's actually just a different name for psychopathy?

I don't know.

I observe that a lot of stuff gets categorized wrongly because key elements are ignored. There are people with OCD/neurotic tendencies who are that way because of an excess of feeling/empathy who get tossed in the basket with those who are OCD/psycopathic with NO empathy or possibility of conscience.

So, there are people saying "I'm high functioning autistic" or "Aspie" when they are really just a bit OCD/neurotic due to narcissistic wounding.

My impression of Sue was that she was "over-the-top" narcissistic. I was allowing that she might be that way due to narcissistic wounding, but actually, the way she described her early life and relationship with her father, it strikes me that she was always narcissistic and he nurtured it. We notice that he died young and that could be due to him having been fed on by both his narcissistic wife and daughter. (Unconscious on both sides, of course.)

And finally, I have thought for a long time that NPD is just the "garden variety" of psychopathy - high functioning psychopaths.

I didn't notice a shred of empathy in Sue, and her main means of controlling others and extracting their "juice" was evoking pity and I'll never forget Martha Stout writing that this is the main card played by psychopaths.

It is called or was, autistic psychopathy. One thing I've learned is it takes a lot of intuition as much as anything else. Also, long term exposure to a HF undiagnosed autistic causes the partner to mirror them and it has been my experience that it is very difficult to discern which is the autistic and which the affected. And also in my experience, the partner of the HFA dies early.

 

[Carlybee]

Thanks for sharing that encounter with us Laura, there's so much information to ponder from that situation. Can't help but think if Bob had the knowledge to protect himself as you all managed so well, how was it that Sue's "power" was more overpowering than his ability to put what he had learned into action to protect himself? Blinded by manipulation perhaps?

 

[Stuart]

Thanks for the session. It boggles my mind how someone who knows the score can be so easily manipulated and blinded to the reality of the situation - even when the C's shed light on the circumstances. It's all very sad. :(

 

[chachazoom]

But there's an important feature that they all have, unlike Sue: there isn't an ounce of pretending, scheming or double-facedness about them. They can be immaturely egotistic, brusk, socially awkward or surrounded by chaos, but at least they don't play games -- what you see is what you get, which can actually be pretty liberating. If you can talk to them just as directly as they talk to you, and try either compensating or disregarding their shortcomings, you can have a very good, easy and productive relationship, as long as you stay within your comfort zone in interacting with them. Were I a man, I wouldn't be comfortable being married to any of those three girls, but other people have different tolerances for things or personal needs.

Another thing about Sue is that she is (appears to be) much more polished in both her behavior and appearance than a mildly autistic lady would be, in my experience. So while she may have autistic traits, I don't think that's her main problem.

My understanding also is that a highly intelligent classic autistic person, at a bottom of his/her heart, wants to connect to people in a proper way but has trouble with it, while classic psychopath has no desire to connect properly at all, and instead uses and abuses.

So autism and psychopathy are different, but at the same time a person can be both psychopathic and autistic at the same time. One can have both flees and lice, as they say. Things can also change and evolve with age, or look like they do, depending on what's happening in the body and outside. Take the recent college shooter, Dr. Amy Bishop -- judging by her looks and her life course, I am pretty certain she appeared to be a high-functioning autistic as a child and young adult, but then as an adult other traits came to the fore (schizoidia??); she suffered mental decline for years and ended up in an outburst of violence. Many things you are naming as troubling in your acquaintances are rather the psychopathic traits, and not autistic IMO.

autistic psychopathy is the original name. I think intelligence levels/personality shape it. I have known one that cannot lie but after years of observation have come to realize that she is the most deceptive person I know. Her whole life is a lie, so enormous you cannot see it. And most every interaction is manipulative. People see her as a saint. I have also known some that are the biggest liars I've ever experienced. I pondered on this deeply. Observed carefully for years. What is consistant is their egocentric thought process. In an autistics world they are the only one that exists in it in a realistic way. That's why they cannot perceive lying the same as non autistics. Lying by definition requires the ability to understand anothers perspective, perception and purposefully to deceive it. In my sil's case she is highly intelligent and I believe she knows that something is very different. There's more to this but I believe she exists to others only through the image of herself she has constructed. She understands much through her intellect and has learned through trial and error how to interact "normal".

There is never a true emotional exchange. I believe that manipulation is the only available route to her, to achieve her desired results. If one exists alone in their world and sees others as basically things, and they don't understand about emotional exchanges, can't see or feel another, than manipulation is the only way to communicate to achieve her desired result. And that is what a "relationship" comes down to. It is her degree of awareness of her intellectual understanding of what deception is that perplexes me. I am certain it is soley through her intellect this awareness.....I've even pondered if it is perhaps as close as an autistic person can get to understanding empathy via the intellect.
I also know another person that could not be bothered to go to such lengths, only minimally concerned with his image....wants to stay out of trouble and is considered a good citizen but not husband or father but probably is only minimally aware of this and it hardly matters, except when it causes discomfort for him. This is why he lies often (to us its a lie) but to him it's just saying what's necessary to restore his comfort level. Doesn't understand why others get mad but he's learned it's "bad". He does it anyways cause whats really bad is feeling discomfort and he doesnt feel that when he says whats necessary to make his life easier. He reminds me of an animal....just lives for satisfying his physical instincts. He's not devious to any degree that his autism wouldn't explain He is of lower intellect but would be considered HFA.

I've thought deeply about "lies" I believe my sister inlaw cannot lie because she doesn't know how...
She is very intelligent and understands the degree of mimicry required and it is too complexed for her....others might not lie because the concept doesn't exist..
Now I've read too about some high functioning autistics that truly want to connect but in my experience this cannot be so. They do not understand what it means to connect with another so how can they want what they cannot conceive? They might want to fit in so they're not uncomfortable, they might not want to be alone. They might want to mimic others, (there's actually a book written by a HFA woman called Pretending to be normal.)
Now this is kind of interesting. It wasn't until I studied the most perplexing expressions in the adults that I could see obvious expressions that are their offspring.
I think that for some reason that HFA females are more inclined to be devious.I think they target highly empathetic opposites. I know that it was through my exposure and study of autism that I understand psychopathy so well.
here is an interesting website.
http://www.nas.org.uk/nas/jsp/polopoly.jsp?d=1581&a=17634

 

[Harold]

Hello Laura, So I'm sure you have the ultimate caregivers around for your hand, my wish for you and all involved is a speedy recovery, which is by now hopefully over.... your hand? Still bad? Hope not. The last time I hurt my hand badly... after bout the 30th person asking 'oh dear, how's your hand?' I think I said, 'there gonna have to cut it off!'....lol a forum moderator, I would not make.

I again want to express my deep gratitude to you Laura and the forum, in advance, for saving my life! You go girl! I mean, this thread has been a massive dive for me into the forum 'pool' so to speak, I just joined (the forum) recently and started to venture into the forum recently and this thread really only on fri. night. I am so glad to have found this thread, I have been at it for days now and gave up at the 9th page.... I need a Nap! Im so mentally exhausted, my mind is spinning..... Thank-you! I cant imagine how you all felt in that situation, my heart goes out to you all.

In what I have read to date, your dedication, and the dedication of everybody here is so great and you are so uncompromising and generous....All.

I find you all to be honest, sincere, externally considerate.... fer sure!!!!! I imagined something else before I arrived here but I have no forum experience. There does not appear to be a jerk in the house except for Vinnie whats-his-face.

There were several comments I made out loud to my computer while reading through your ordeal regarding my opinions of your house guests...... none worth repeating.....but! the one thing I did say to my computer in a rather loud voice was.."WHERE WERE YOU GUYS WHEN I MET MY EX-WIFE?" an then it started to regress to where were you guys when I met my last 8 girlfriends? And hey ! where were you guys on the day I was born?....lol....lol..... it went on and on. It reminds me of a joke, but anyways.

I wrote down about two pages of notes, points to remember, mostly with questions attached.

For me, what makes me so happy is your methodology, I don't know the terminology all yet but this thread has gotten me up to speed a little.

I want to share that I was able to find my life zig and zag through everyone's experiences in this thread. For example. In October 1999, I was a month off a year long experimental type of kemo for my liver. The experiment failed and the treatment cancelled, but I went into 100% remission as a result of the experimental treatment. So after having an apparent miracle, which led to having a life again, and coming from the school of hard knocks, when I met my ex-wife......'I just knew..... it was love at first site.' God would not play a dirty joke like this on me. We got married in Vegas on Valentines Day 2000, at Cupids Chapel, I gave her a heart shaped diamond ring. The guy who married us KNEW Elvis! As I saw them having a smoke together after the service. What could go wrong with this picture ...eh? ALL THE RIGHT SIGNS WERE THERE!!!!! God had finally begun to shine his love upon ol Harold..... But a funny thing happened on the way home from eloping.

A beautiful woman apparently walked in front of me at the airport, I did not even see her, I was looking into the reflection of a restaurant window of my new wife and I sitting together and smiling. My ex-wife cried on the flight, most of the way home. She moved 'back' in with her mother after labor day after we finally took our 10 day 'honey moon', as this was delayed as I was doing a major reno job at her brothers 5000 square foot home for next to nothing for a few months, for my new brother-in- law. So to shorten this painfully short story, I will say it all ended.... but not before my ex-wife told my sister and mother many lies about me, all of them half truths about her life. Shattering stuff, pedophilia, heroin addiction, sexual liaisons with other family members partners, constant fooling around etc... my sister and I are not as close at all as before she met my wife. So yes, the consortium will stop at nothing to darken ones heart.

My question is this.... I have lots of questions, that have been generated through reading this thread, from reading 'The Wave' and from practicing EE. Not to mention that I have had a really flippin freaky experience that I don't know if it's to do with the EE or the added knowledge or what. SO! (here's the question now...sorry) Is going through the threads individually the only way to figure out where to direct certain issues and questions?..... Or is this too eager yet, I'm only on chapter 8 of the Wave, but my life has changed profoundly, thusly I am compelled to start to learn immediately. As these profound changes are occurring in rapid succession, unrestrained as I read more of the Wave and learn and apply..... repeat......repeat.

I apologise if this seems a trivial question but I'm not a computer guy(anymore) and I'm not a forum guy either. I'm out here surrounded..... if you know what I mean....wink wink. And I've never met a more understanding and way more informed bunch who really understand what it is that I am really surrounded by.

Thank-you all again in advance for the consideration given me, my matters/issues/lessons and my soul.

Namaste
Harold

 

[Nienna]

Hmmm, yeah, maybe tone it down to brick red cement block walls with the paint flaking off, a couple stools, water leaking through the roof.....

Uh, we have a couple of rooms like that already!

D'oh!!!

Added: Hmmmm with rolyateel's handy dandy thingamajig, you can have those rooms looking like anything you want in next to nothin' flat!

 

[shijing]

Hi Harold --

Is going through the threads individually the only way to figure out where to direct certain issues and questions?

That's generally true. Other strategies that will help are to first look for the appropriate board (Psi, Earth Changes, Religion, etc) and once you think you are in the right category, then skim those specific thread titles to see if you can find what you need.

Also, you can always do a search for a particular term. You can either search the whole forum, or search a specific board (use the "Choose a board to search in, or search all" function once you hit the "search" button). For example, you can do a search for "search" in only the Tech Support board.

 

[go2]

I am very interested in your comment that" Dyslexia is a genetic phenomenon of neural diversity and the progression directly to walking probably had an evolutionary advantage when scorpions, snakes, spiders, etc. were a constant concern.

I would be really interested in your sources for the genetic phenomenon aspect of Dyslexia, my brother and I are both dyslexic also.

Hi slowone,

Thanks for the detailed response. I have pondered this topic for some three decades as I parented two dyslexic boys to creative and successful adulthoods. These boys appear above average in all areas, except for the right brained activity of reading and writing. Reading and writing are a recent development in the long evolution of human neural capacities. There is a “shift theory” of human neural evolution which hypothesizes that dyslexics are a more ancient type of human brain evolved in a matrifocal hunter, gatherer culture. Female sexual selection of males with language skills led to a patriarchy which placed further evolutionary pressure on the split brain focused on language skills. The corpus callosum is smaller in the average human brain than the dyslexic brain. This indicates that reading and writing skills require less communication between the left and right hemispheres of the brain. The larger corpus callosum in the dsylexic brain indicates more coordination between the right and left hemispheres of the brain. This may account for the capacity to walk without the necessity of crawling for the right brain dominate majority brain. The increased capacity for brain communication, perhaps is the reason my sons excel in graphics and interpersonal communication. These skill combinations are highly desired in a world where creativity and interpersonal skills are rare. The right brained individuals dominated patriarchal and hierarchic societies of the age of empire. Women have been freed of the sexual selection pressure as the industrial age of war is becoming an anachronism.* The dyslexic brain is reemerging on the human scene.

The hypothesis I roughly present is based on the collected work of Andrew Lehman at http://www.serpentfd.org/. There is an incredible collection of evolutionary biological research and thought on these topics on the link. Autism is a focus of his interest. I will address one other factor Andrew Lehman hypothesizes underlies the dramatic changes in human neuropsychology. That factor is neoteny.

It is possible neoteny may be a key to understanding the increase in psychopathy, autism, and related neuropsychological pathology. The age of puberty has dropped by 3.5 to 4 years within the last century. The human neural development virtually ceases when the sex hormones flood the brain. The epidemic of neuropsychological pathology may be related to this phenomenon. The average brain doesn’t have time to make the neural connections to support complex social interactions and image processing. The capacity to process images and symbols underlies the ability to comprehend metaphor and allegory which are so important for spiritual(soul) development.

I will include a few paragraphs from the vast resource linked below. The author’s hypothesis and conclusions are an evolutionary biology model of dyslexia. This is the only model I have studied which rings true with my personal experience and observation within my own family. I hope you find this link broadens your understanding of dyslexia, slowone. I think anyone interested in autism will find insight from looking through the lens of evolutionary biology.

Right-shift theory (Annett, 1985) states that there is a gene (+) that predisposes most people for language facility. Annett noted that there is a difference in the distribution of handedness between human and animal populations characterized by a right-shift in human beings. This right-shift makes clear that not all humans are equally well disposed to language use. People with a (- -) genotype (18-19 % of the population) evidence no predilection to specific handedness or cerebral asymmetry and so achieve a left- or right-handedness close to random. People with (+ +) (32%), or a strong predilection to right handedness and asymmetrical lateralization, are highly disposed to language usage, but at the expense of right hemispheric strengths. Annett believes the mixture of both genetic propensities, (- +), offers the advantages evidenced by 49% of the population belonging in this category. She characterizes these advantages as a balanced polymorphism (Annett 1984, 1990) when applied to overall strength in language facility. It is important to understand that changes from population to population are gradual, not clearly demarcated and that movements across this arc or spectrum from (- -) to (+ +) are incremental.

Heterochronic principles describe the effects of relative rates of development and maturation on species evolution. We believe these concepts, when paired with zygote selection and uterine selection, can be used to describe specific developmental trajectories in individuals vulnerable to neurological conditions. We believe that transitional model 1.0 is a solid start in understanding the etiology of neurological disease. We are accumulating evidence from many studies which lead us to believe that other diseases can be explained with these principles. Geschwind and Galaburda's (1987) observations form the foundation for the patterns we have discerned. They noted the connections between handedness; immune and auto-immune disorders; and conditions associated with developmental delay. The following patterns have been particularly noteworthy.

1) High testosterone (T) females (the older genotype) are at the (- -) end of the developmental spectrum and are developmentally accelerated compared to the low T females (+ +) at the developmentally delayed end of the spectrum. Females at the right end are markedly more neotenous and/or hypermorphic than left end females. At the left end, relative to the females at the right end, the females are more left-handed and ambidextrous.

2) Low T males (the older genotype) are at the (- -) end of the developmental spectrum and are developmentally delayed compared to the high T males at the (+ +) other end. Males, perhaps, exhibit more variation than females (Darwin, 1871) in the arc from (- -) to (+ +). At the left end, relative to the males at the right end, the males have bigger brains (Annett, 1991), more symmetrical cerebral hemispheres, larger corpus callosums (Witelson, 1991a, 1991b,1989, 1985), lower T (Tan, 1990) slower metabolic rates (Badcock, 1991), a less acute sense of the passing of time, increased left handedness and ambidextrousness, and increased speed (Annett, 1984), agility and coordination. Males at the left end are markedly more neotenous (Coren, 1991) and/or hypermorphic than males at the right end.

3) Females with high T give birth to females with high T and males with low T. Males with low T tend to sire progeny characterized by females with high T and males with low T. Older females, females with higher T, have more left-handed progeny, not because of increased birth trauma, but because females program the developmental rate of their progeny based on the sex of their progeny and the mother's T level (Geschwind & Galaburda, 1987). Low T females and high T males create low T females and high T males.

4) The eight environmental variables influencing T; light (Geschwind & Galaburda, 1987), diet (Schmidt , 1997), body fat (Ross, 1986; Glass, 1977), alcohol and drugs (Castilla-Garcia, 1987; Ahluwalia, 1992), tobacco (estrogen levels) (MacMahon, 1982; Barrett-Connor, 1987), touch, physical activity (MacConnie, 1986; Morville, 1979), and stress (James, 1986), often do not affect the two sexes the same way. For example, increased body fat raises female T and lowers male T (Pasquali, 1991).

5) These eight specific environmental variables impact the distance and direction progeny can slide along the (- -) to (+ +) developmental arc. Moving left and right across the arc moves people backwards and forwards in genetic time. Impact points include the somatic environment of the parents at zygote creation and the uterine environment. Along with sexual selection, zygote selection and uterine selection (Geschwind & Galaburda, 1987) have the greatest influence on evolution in humans. Particularly vulnerable to neurological disease are those children whose parents are genetically already at either the left (- -) or right (+ +) ends who are exposed to these environmental variables. It is by the increasing or decreasing of the parents' testosterone (and possibly estrogen) levels that these variables further impact the developmental maturation rates of these vulnerable genotypes. For example the raising and lowering of the mother's T levels directly influences the developmental rates of the children during gestation (Geschwind & Galaburda, 1987).

6) Left spectrum individuals retain the older genotype, evidencing skill clusters highly valued before the advent of the (+) gene for a decrease in corpus callosum size and a reduction in portions of the right cerebral hemisphere which increased cerebral asymmetry. The highly selected (sexual selection being the primary selection force) character of the (+) gene proffers a heightened sense of passing of time (Marshack, 1972), increased split consciousness (Thompson, 1981), with a resulting ability to use language linearly; to plan (Annett, 1985). The (+) does not increase language facility directly, it creates an increased time dissociation evolving symbol to sign, through a disassociation of the cerebral hemispheres.

7) Dyslexia is not the only disease that has confounded studies by masking its roots at both the left and right ends of the developmental spectrum (Annett et. al., 1996). We believe that schizophrenia, Tourette's, diabetes and several other diseases may be split according to the same principles. By using peg tests (Annett, 1985); comparisons of brain size, planum temporale (Annett, 1992) and corpus callosum (Witelson, 1985); T levels; metabolic rates; developmental stage markers; and family histories; we can sort out the (- -) from the (+ +) from the pathological cases. Pathologically developmentally delayed and accelerated individuals can now be identified and treated separately from the genetic/environmental cases. The post-natal influences of the eight environmental variables mentioned above can then be assessed, because in addition to influencing a child's developmental rates before birth, these same variables can exacerbate and alleviate existent conditions and diseases by their ability to raise and lower T. Raised testosterone can have profoundly negative effects on the immune and autoimmune systems (Wingfield et.al., 1997). By assessing where a person naturally belongs on the left-right scale, a person's natural T level can be calculated. Once a person's natural T level is known, the same eight variables can be used to change T, bringing that person in line with his or her natural immune and autoimmune threshold. It is vital to note that the influence of these eight variables mask the natural T levels existent in each individual, throwing off studies, confusing the patterns.

8) The timing of the onset of puberty, the heterochronic principle of progenesis (Gould, 1977), has powerful correlations with neurological and cognitive variation. Diet, percentage of body fat, and physical activity are primary variables responsible for pubertal timing. There are studies (Saugstad, 1989) that suggest that specific forms of schizophrenia and bi-polar disorder are directly related to the timing of the onset of puberty. The relationship between pubertal timing and an individual's location on the developmental arc may reveal in greater detail the etiology of specific diseases. Depression may be directly related to the worldwide curtailment of the final stage of cognitive development, abstract thinking, caused by an earlier onset of puberty. There has been a drop in the age of puberty by three to four years over the last 100 years in urban cultures worldwide (Eveleth & Tanner, 1976) caused primarily by changes in diet. These dietary changes signal our bodies that increased fat, carbohydrate, and protein resources are available for an increase in birth rate, accomplished by lowering the age of procreation; a naturally selected response.

I doubt that cross brain coordination has any thing to do with crawling.

I think there's plenty of research to support the importance of crawling and brain development and that it is strikingly absent in babies who are later diagnosed as dyslexic is worth noting.

Hi Black Swan,

First I will ask the obvious question. How would walking require less brain coordination than crawling? There is indeed a correlation between not crawling and dyslexia. This correlation can’t be causation, as walking requires more motor skill and brain coordination than crawling. The right brain dominate average human probably needs to crawl to develop coordination; however it is possible and likely that the dyslexic brain doesn’t require remedial crawling to coordinate motor functions. The premise that absence of crawling behavior causes brain dysfunction simply doesn’t recognize neural diversity. We must look elsewhere. (see above)

I think dyslexia is not a disease or a defect, but a different type of brain than the right brain dominate human brain evolved by sexual selection of individuals with linear language processing capability. Dyslexia is misunderstood because normal is confused with average by our mediocrity. This topic is complex and I don’t wish to present as an expert. It is a subject that I have considered for three decades as I have two dyslexic sons who were diagnosed by the experts in the medical and educational system. It became apparent than these fine children where in danger of being ruined by the professionals in the field because they couldn’t spell words.

I know only a little, but Andrew Lehman’s evolutionary look at these questions is more satisfying than the narrow perspective of professionals in special ed. I fear the plunging age of puberty is a historic tragedy as unforeseen consequences of technology and the politics of empire destroy humanities neural capacity, which underlies all. Thank you for providing a challenge for my lazy neurons, Black Swan.

Edit: *I could be wrong about war and empire being an anachronism.