Anonymous wrote:Interesting discussion on Slate:

http://mobile.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/medical_examiner/2012/12/adam_lanza_asperger_s_can_autism_explain_the_sandy_hook_tragedy.html

Yes and I hope more reporters read this. Too many reporters are misinformed about ASD. It's bad enough they keep reporting something without a confirmed dx from a doctor, but to claim ASD accounts for the behavior of killing is reprehensible. I really hope when the dust settles some newspeople get reprimanded for what they have done to set back perceptions of a neurodevelopmental disorder.

This is a family that could afford to hire the best advocate in the area to get the right services on their son's IEP, yet as far as we know they didn't go that route. Was the issue perhaps that the school recommended s more therapeutic environment?

Just because the parents said it was Asperger's doesn't make it so. Have we seen a report from a reputable doctor? If so HOW OLD was the report. If he was diagnosed with Aspergers at 8 or 9 or something, I question it.

Also, at this point confidentiality goes out the window since he's dead. Why haven't we heard what treatments he was getting and what meds he was taken. There are reports that he was taking meds.

A few things make we really wonder about whether the parents were in denial despite trying to do what they thought would help:

a.) Mom taught him how to shoot and kept guns in house

b.) As a child they used to leave him with a babysitter who had no SN training and it sounds like he had risky behavior back then. They could have afforded the extra to get somebody well trained.

c.) Mom was trying to get him into college and she wanted him to live independently while attending. She only planned to live NEAR him.

I know their life must have been hell seeing their beloved little boy with all these struggles. I clearly see this was a loving family that kept their boys out of any divorce drama and they worked to keep things amicable. This i so admirable! I only wonder about these things because we need to figure out what any misteps were or what was wrong with services available in an effort to help prevent this. Yes, of course we need gun control. This issue is multi-facetted.

Anonymous wrote:OP,

I think your anger is misplaced. I think more people are outraged that there is such easy access to handguns that have no other purpose other than to kill many people in seconds as well as the lack of mental health resources to help young people who obviously need it.

+1, and I say this as someone who does not have a SN child. People are building a picture of this young man, looking for anything that might be a clue or play a role. Potentially on the autism spectrum. Child of divorced parents. Mom a gun collector. Financially comfortable. Loner. Genius.

None of these is a definitive causation for this tragedy, they are simply pieces of the puzzle that was this young man's life. People are trying to understand what and who he was. I don't hold this tragedy against people with autism any more than I hold it against people who are rich or who live in small towns or have high IQs.

There's no mention so far of mental help services being sought either.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm the 6:19 poster. To 11:43, I'd just point out that there is still no evidence that a lack of mental health resources is to blame for Adam Lanza's actions. ASDs are developmental disorders. So far there's nothing solid on a mental illness diagnosis here.

As far as lack of resources, doesn't the link above say the mother received more than $200,000 a year in alimony? She didn't work, so it doesn't appear that she lacked financial resources. If her son did have an ASD or another diagnosis, special ed/rehab services can serve kids 21 and under, I believe.

The undisputed fact, it seems, is that the mother collected guns and her son had access to them.

There is a severe lack of mental health services in this area--no matter how rich you are. They are few and far between.

Once again, we have no information on a diagnosis except for Asperger's, and I don't know that it's firm. Kids qualify for special ed services until they age out at 22. Having worked in the field, I know there can be difficulty accessing services -- but we have no evidence that's the case here. We do have evidence that there were accessible guns in the house.

Anonymous wrote:I'm the 6:19 poster. To 11:43, I'd just point out that there is still no evidence that a lack of mental health resources is to blame for Adam Lanza's actions. ASDs are developmental disorders. So far there's nothing solid on a mental illness diagnosis here.

As far as lack of resources, doesn't the link above say the mother received more than $200,000 a year in alimony? She didn't work, so it doesn't appear that she lacked financial resources. If her son did have an ASD or another diagnosis, special ed/rehab services can serve kids 21 and under, I believe.

The undisputed fact, it seems, is that the mother collected guns and her son had access to them.

There is a severe lack of mental health services in this area--no matter how rich you are. They are few and far between.

I'm the 6:19 poster. To 11:43, I'd just point out that there is still no evidence that a lack of mental health resources is to blame for Adam Lanza's actions. ASDs are developmental disorders. So far there's nothing solid on a mental illness diagnosis here.

As far as lack of resources, doesn't the link above say the mother received more than $200,000 a year in alimony? She didn't work, so it doesn't appear that she lacked financial resources. If her son did have an ASD or another diagnosis, special ed/rehab services can serve kids 21 and under, I believe.

The undisputed fact, it seems, is that the mother collected guns and her son had access to them.

OP,

I think your anger is misplaced. I think more people are outraged that there is such easy access to handguns that have no other purpose other than to kill many people in seconds as well as the lack of mental health resources to help young people who obviously need it.

Except for it looks like he indeed was diagnosed with Asperger's.:

http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=news/national_world&id=8924425

In working through the terms of their divorce, the couple spent considerable time talking about how to provide for Adam Lanza's well-being, said Paula Levy, a mediator who worked with the couple.

During their meetings, the couple mentioned that Adam Lanza had been diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome, an autism-like disorder, Levy said. But the Lanzas were in complete agreement on how to address Adam's needs and said little about the details of his condition, Levy said.

Best thing I've read on this:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/harold-s-koplewicz-md/adam-lanza-aspergers-mental-health_b_2316848.html

His Aspergers may or may not have played into his decision. We really don't know yet. Maybe he was bullied for it and it made him very isolated and angry. Maybe he had low frustration tolerance when things didn't go his way and he took out his frustration on innocent children.

I haven't seen anyone saying Asperger Syndrome caused him to be a mass murderer. Obviously that is not the case however it may have played a role, we just don't know.

I know a young man with Aspergers who took advantage of a natural disaster to go into a number of stores and steal a lightbulb from each. Did the Aspergers make him steal? No, but it played into his decision and his rationalization his actions. The same may be true here. Or it may not be. We don't know.

Interesting discussion on Slate:

http://mobile.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/medical_examiner/2012/12/adam_lanza_asperger_s_can_autism_explain_the_sandy_hook_tragedy.html

Peter Lanza is 54 yrs old and his son was 20 so his sperm was 33/34 at conception. So does that make him an older dad?

There was clearly something more than autism at play here. MSN quoted a man who was part of the high school security saying Lanza was on their radar at the time he was a HS student. Mom was accepting of the diagnosis but left school over differences. Still much to be sorted through and agreed, sad it is being reported this way.

Anonymous wrote:Some even have mutliple comordities. lovely term. I bet I misspelled it too. I've got two triple comordities. OP, I hear you about disorganization. I'm 21:31. My home is a Superfund site.

BTW, just to be clear, I said "untreated" schizophrenia or bipolarism. But I am not a shrink so really don't know what I'm talking about. I hope the press just settles down until we know. The data on the hard drives, insurance submissions, emails, divorce records, divorce depositions, IEP, homeschool records, facebook pages and work records, if any, will tell us.

Interestingly the dad has not said anything about diagnosis. Properly coached by a lawyer as someone suggested, I imagine. Isn't one of the current operating theories about autism being researched = older daddy's sperm? (I'm not making fun - this is a real operating theory).

Comorbidities.