A Mother Speaks About Her Son and Virtual Autism

An American mom describes how her 14-month-old son overcame a screen-induced syndrome most commonly called "Virtual Autism." The condition is associated with heavy regular screen viewing and characterized by regression in language and behavior and development of autistic-like characteristics. Rapid improvement is often seen when the child stops viewing screens and playing with electronic toys and greatly increases face-to-face social engagement with loved ones, including back-and-forth "talking", play, and being included in simple typical household routines, such as doing the laundry.
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Excerpts from the interview:
WHAT THE MOTHER FIRST NOTICED: "So when he was around 14 months old, I started noticing the classic hand flapping, the tiptoe walk. He would tilt his head to the side...I realized he had started losing skills probably for the last couple months....eye contact was nearly gone...And the big one was, he had stopped answering to his name."
WHAT SHE REALIZED: "Something inside of me, I had realized that he was a little bit more willing to be social and a little bit more himself on days the TV wasn't on at all. So, I did type "screentime" plus "toddler" plus "autism" and this is where I came across Lori Frome's online body of work and then also the collection of articles on DurableHuman.com about Virtual Autism. The next day, we stopped screen time."
WHAT WAS THE PROBLEM: "It was a TV show...it was called Cocomelon and it is infamous among parents of young children...He would watch that on television. Not very much compared to other stories I've seen about children with Virtual Autism, maybe between an hour and a half and two and a half hours a day. But for whatever reason, that was enough to get him, so we just stopped that."
WHAT HAPPENED: "His waving came back within a few days...all of a sudden he was very clingy with me, which was out of the norm and very reassuring to me and eye contact wasn't where it should be, but is was there definitely. And there was much more than that and this was just the first week....I decided I'm going to take everything he got a Fail score on the MCHAT and every CDC milestone that he missed and I'm gonna work on these individually."
WHAT WAS MOST CHALLENGING: "The screen removal was the easy part. The hard part was the constant high quality social interaction...I did involve him in a lot of chores with me. He thought that was really fun...We started really slow, actually. I would put him in the highchair facing me with a blank boring wall behind me. So he had no choice. If he wanted to look at something, he would have to look at me and I'd talk to him and tickle his fingers. He didn't like it at first, but then he started getting excited for it."
HOW SHE GOT THROUGH: "Since the progress started so rapidly, it was kind of instant gratification for me. It was very inspiring. And I also had this idea that this is my one shot. I don't have another option."
HOW SHE FEELS TODAY: "What I witnessed to me was a miracle. It's like I saw a miracle. This protocol has changed my parenting from passive, I would say. Though I didn't know it at the time, but it was passive and maybe even mediocre to just energized and involved...It has been the greatest blessing in disguise. I mean, with screens just not being an option, it really frees you from that crutch...It's just such an honor to see Walter turn into such a happy, social, silly, caring little boy and I'm so excited to see his progression."
HER SON TODAY: "We started speech therapy in April and just a couple days ago, he graduated. His communicative language, words he speaks, is within the threshold of normal for a two-year old."
HER WARNING TO PARENTS: "Families need to know that even though heavy screen use is normalized in our society doesn't mean it's safe. You know, lead paint was once called safe. Asbestos was called safe. Cars didn't have seat belts and that doesn't mean it was okay. You know, this heavy screen use in society is fairly recent. It's effects on the human mind, on our children, it hasn't been fully realized yet. And just because you aren't being warned explicitly at every doctors appointment or by parents that came before you, other parents, that doesn't mean the danger isn't there...Just because no one's telling you it's dangerous, doesn't mean it isn't.
TAKEAWAY FOR PARENTS: "It cannot hurt to take the screens away from the baby. I am a very private person, but I don't feel I would be being a good human being to keep this to myself. That's why I agreed to this interview and any subsequent anything. It would be wrong to keep this to myself."