h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I just joined h2g2 yesterday and thought I'd jump right in with an entry. I realize that I don't have British spelling in my entry. I'm from the U.S. and don't know all the British spelling rules yet.

I'm seeking input about this entry:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/A556111

What is unclear? What is poorly written? What important overview aspects have I not covered?

Also: do you think I should submit this as a single entry or should I pursue a Life University project? There are enough aspects of Asperger's Syndrome (even more if I base the project on the entire Autistic Spectrum) to warrant a full project... I suppose my question is this -- based on this entry, do you think I have the potential to lead a successful Life University project?

Thank you in advance for any input.

Sparrow R. Cross

Welcome to the guide, Sparrow
It looks like a pretty good entry to me. It certainly seems like the detail on various aspects is covered to a similar degree.

A university project may be a good idea - it looks to me like you could lead one pretty well, and I guess there is more than one article's worth of stuff to be written.

If you are going to expand the article to a clutch of university articles :-

Possibly there's room for expansion on what the various therapies might do - whether they focus on a particular sysmptom, or are more general, and whether they usually works for most people vaguely equally, or if some people respond particularly well, and others little or not at all.

Some of the typical symptoms of Aspergers are present to a lesser degree in many people, and characteristic collections of particular symptoms can be quite common in subsets of the population - one of the stereotypical techy/geek personality types includes a relative lack of social skills, excessive honesty/tactlessness, bad handwriting, intense concentration on topics of interest and disregard for other subjects)
If you were going down the Univesity route, maybe a section on what makes Asperger's qualitatively different, or where a line would be drawn between Asperger's and people showing some of the symptoms, but to a lesser extent, could be useful?
Professionally speaking, is it generally accepted that it is a specific distinct condition, or a roughly definable end of a continuum.
(Otherwise, one of the first questions would probably be "I know someone a little like that"

I'm sure there was something on Asperger's in Scientific American or New Scientist a few months ago. I'll have a poke round and see if I can find my copy.

If you are going to go the University route, it may be worth contacting

http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/U99875

Hi! being the researcher who was suggested as a contact in the last post, I thought I should drop by and put my 2 cents in. here are my comments:

1) drat! I was going to write this entry.
2) the term "Kanner's Syndrome" isn't normally used anymore, I would probably refer to "Autistic Disorder" which is what the DSM-IV labels it as.
3) I would include the DSM-IV diagnostic criteria for Asperger's Syndrome, and possibly something on how these criteria are different than those for Autistic Disorder.
4) I would also include some links to some of the better informational and support sites -- my personal favorite is the Asperger's OASIS.

hope this helps some!


Mikey

1. sorry about that. Want to work together on a University project about the autistic spectrum? (I can't start until June 4th)

2. Thanks. I haven't done the same DSM digging on autistic disorder and most of the autistic people I hang with talk about Kanner's (but then again, a lot of them are in their fifties.)

3. That's a good idea. I'd feel compelled to explain the criteria somewhat, though. I and other people I know with AS have some problems with some of the DSM criteria and/or the wording of it. As one aspie I know put it, "preoccupation with parts of things? I can't remember ever becoming obsessed with the handle on my coffee mug."

After a group of us talked about the preoccupation thing, we came to an agreement that we are, indeed, preoccupied with parts of things but the way DSM is worded makes it sound different than it really is for us.

I've seen other people do a sort of breakdown version of the DSM criteria where they explain each element and/or give concrete examples. I like that approach and may re-invent that wheel.

4. I wasn't sure about the whole outside link thing on h2g2. I gathered there were rules about when and where you can link to outside stuff but I haven't worked all that out yet so I didn't approach it. I like OASIS, too. I also like INLV, especially since it was the site that helped me find the online autistic community.

5. One of my aspie friends suggested I add a special section about people who are diagnosed as adults. she said (when I asked a group of friends what they thought about potholer's question about where the official cutting-off point is between on the spectrum and off the spectrum), "As I understand it, adult diagnosis is a forensic exercise as there is no adult scale. The difference between a person on the spectrum and someone who is shy/awkward is the intensity and I guess that impacts on daily life. My dx is residual asperger's not because I do not have characteristics but because I have many good coping strategies, however those who know me will know that I have considerable difficulties and do not live a "normal" life. I guess this must influence the dx."

Part of why I was thinking that the spectrum could make a good university project is because there are a ton of resources out there that deal with autistic children but almost nothing dealing with autistic adults, especially those of us who didn't get a diagnosis as a child. I'm already working on a list of articles for a university project in case I decide I have the fortitude to see it through. I was thinking: an overview of the spectrum, individual articles about autistic disorder, asperger's syndrome, adhd and pdd-nos with diagnostic criteria (explained), an explanation of how each differs from the others and why they are considered (or in the case of ADHD, controversially considered) to be on the spectrum. There's also another condition I hear mentioned a lot called "fragile X" but I don't know anything about it or whether it's considered to be on the spectrum or not. either one or individual articles about other conditions that tend to cluster around autism (there are more I would add in if dealing with the entire spectrum such as tourette's syndrome and depression), an article about teaching children on the spectrum (I noticed there's a person on h2g2 who does that for a living http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/A536771 and I have my fingers crossed that she might want to help), an article about the special needs/considerations of adults on the spectrum, an article (or several) about the therapies and treatments most commonly used in autism, an article about current theories of where it comes from (again, I noticed that there is a researcher from Holland on here who is researching autism in the outside world but he doesn't seem to be very active http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/A480223 )

An article about famous people with autism would be problematic because so often I hear people in the autistic community guessing that people have or had autism with no actual proof. Bill Gates is one who gets mentioned in connection with Asperger's but I've seen nothing that officially cites that. However, there are a couple of famous people who are known to be on the spectrum, most notably Temple Grandin. Most of the rest of the famous people I know of are actually children or siblings of famous people. A short biography of Temple Grandin might be an interesting article or an article about autistic authors since there are a handful of people who have written books about life on the spectrum.

I'm not sure if this would be considered enough material to justify a university project or not, but I think that it would. Like I said, I couldn't start it until June 4th but if someone else ended up starting it in the meantime, I'll join in. I'm not about hogging the glory, I'd just like to see a really good entry (or series of entries) here for the spectrum.

Thanks for the input!

Sparrow

Needless to say any more than just quote the Peer Review thread at http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/F48874?thread=116602: ""This entry has been selected for inclusion into the Edited Guide! "

Editorial Note: This conversation has been moved from 'The h2g2 Writing Workshop' to 'Asperger's Syndrome: An Overview'.

This Conversation has been moved because thias entry has now been recommended by a Scout from Peer Review.