Comments by "Lorri Lewis" (@lorrilewis2178) on "Daily Mail World" channel.

  1. Carl Rice, I had a relative by marriage who adopted an infant who turned out to have autism. I got educated about it, and I can recognize the signs. If you notice, in the part of the clip where you can briefly see the child's face when he was walking down the aisle, he doesn't make eye contact with anyone. That's one sign. Also, a child throwing a regular temper tantrum simply can't keep screaming for 8 hours. It's the WAY and PATTERN of how this child screams that tells the tale. The child also doesn't really speak - he just screams. I once worked a retail job and a woman came in with her two daughters. One of the daughters was about 8 years old and she started screaming. At first, I thought the mother was a terrible parent, then I noticed the girl was screaming and laughing at the same time. Hard to describe it. It's a different kind of screaming and she didn't talk at all. Later, the salesperson told me she was autistic, which I'd already figured out.
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  2. Carl, What did I write up top? I SAID the parent should NOT have forced the child onto an 8-hour flight, because it was beyond his ability. The signs of severe autism are not difficult to diagnose. Mild autism would be tricky to diagnose, but not severe autism. I was saying my niece was autistic a good two years before the doctors diagnosed her. The doctors could not possibly spend as much time with her as I did, so they weren't able to observe all her behavior. The parents began to notice something was wrong the Christmas she was three-years-old. I saw the same behavior they saw, and thought to myself that it was almost like she was autistic. Later, I picked up a book on the subject and my niece had every single sign. Diagnosis is based on observing behavior. It's not like there's a blood test. I tried and tried to tell the family that she had every single sign of autism, but they didn't want to hear it. Two years later, she was finally diagnosed. It was sad because early intervention is recommended. Here are the signs I observed: She had started out talking normally, and then over time began to lose all language ability. She stopped talking. She stopped making eye contact. She stopped answering to her name, yet it was plain she wasn't deaf. She started lining her toys up in rows endlessly. She was great at puzzles, but didn't play with toys in an imaginative or "role playing" way that normal kids do. She was given a toy farm and she only played with it like it was a giant puzzle. She didn't understand what a farm was or how the characters related. They were objects without meaning. When she wanted something, she would grab a person's hand and silently take their hand to the thing she wanted --- autistic kids will often use another person's hand like a tool, instead of asking for what they want. She had no concept of physical danger or dangerous heights that normal kids develop by a certain age. She would only eat an extremely limited range of foods. She lived in her own world and didn't interact with anyone. All of those are signs of autism. When a child has THAT MANY signs of autism, you don't have to be a rocket scientist or doctor to see what's right in front of your face.
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  3. If this child has severe autism, then lack of parental discipline is really not the issue. Autism can look like bad behavior, but kids with it often can't cope with changes in routine and are over-sensitive to stimuli like sounds, touch, etc... The boy didn't seem to have eye contact, which is one sign of autism. The airline has confirmed that this child suffers from a medical condition, but they aren't allowed to breach his privacy and reveal what it is. That said, the parents should never have forced him to do the flight in the first place. It was beyond his ability to cope. I've used to have a relative by marriage who had an autistic child, so I am very familiar with it.
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  4. Same
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  5. Lylie_536, I have no clue what you mean by "counseling". You don't counsel someone out of autism. The child should not have been put on an 8-hour flight. It was beyond his ability. This was NOT a tantrum over an iPad. The iPad is a tool the mother uses to focus his attention. A lot of autistic children get entranced by watching videos and can get occupied for hours that way. On the other hand, the autistic relative I mentioned, has recently had computers taken away from her. They finally got an expert that said they increase agitation and she seems to be somewhat calmer without it. But she's no where near as severe as this boy.
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