Hey Scientists: Mice Do Not Have Autism!
My kid’s 7th grade science teacher showed a video claiming fecal matter cures autism in mice… but guess what?
Consider this your trigger warning if you are neurodivergent or neurodiversity-affirming.
Today my son came home from school and (uncharacteristically) started a conversation about a lesson in science class. I was thrilled, because he rarely tells me about school… until I learned why.
He started by asking me, “Do I have leaky gut?”
I put down my phone and sat up a little straighter. “I don’t think so. Why? How has your digestion been lately?” He said it has been fine. So I paused to give him space to fill in the blanks…
It turns out that day his science teacher showed a video which covered fecal microbial transplants (FMT) as a cure for autism in mice.
Mic drop.
I’m grateful, in a way, because it sparked a conversation.
We don’t have many moments like this, now that he’s in 7th grade. It was the longest conversation about school we’ve had in years, and I didn’t have to chase him down. He came to me. He described the video and shared his perspective. I’m so glad he’s still willing to unpack these tricky questions with me. But that’s where my gratitude ends.
I’ve worked hard to give my son a self-concept that is true, balanced, and untarnished by the ableism all around us. The video, shown in class by someone in authority that he respects, an integrated class of neurotypical and neurodivergent peers, damaged that self-concept.
He was visibly wounded and confused. I saw how his lower lip quivered as he described the video and the ensuing conversation.
Tweens do not want to show their emotions to their parents, understandably. He does have emotions, though, and they were oozing out through the twitching corners of his mouth. Underneath his angst I saw a new shame about his diagnosis that has crept in under my radar. I listened… and my heart sank. This kid, who was an outspoken self-advocate just a few years ago, has gained some awareness of the ableist world, and his self-esteem is suffering. Middle school is hard enough, dammit!
My son did not want to say “fecal matter transplant.”
That’s understandable. Ew. Gross. I can only imagine the uproar in the science room. But FMTs are not my problem. The Food and Drug Administration has approved them as treatments for recurrent C. difficile infections. The problem is the misinformation and sloppy science.
My son went on to describe the scientific studies shared in the video, which also covered Parkinson’s Disease, and their findings. He didn’t know that this video was produced in 2018, and much of the research shared has been outdated or disproven since then.
My son told me how, after the video ended, a neurotypical kid called out, “Wait, so you can CURE autism?” The (well-meaning) teacher then had some backpedaling to do: “Only in mice,” he said.
Really? That’s it?
Now I had some questions.
First I asked my son if he had learned about the difference between correlation and causation. He had not. If they did teach this essential ingredient of the scientific method, they had not taught it in a way that he could absorb. Then, I asked whether he would want to have a cure for autism. He is quite sure he does not want to have a fecal microbial transplant, but not so sure he doesn’t want help with symptoms that he feels are making his life harder.
Good to know. That was new information.
I asked, “What about all the good parts about having autism?” He asked me to name them. I mentioned his ability to focus on his interests and learn an unbelievable amount about a subject he loves. I was just getting on a roll when…
He ended the conversation abruptly, and I resisted the urge to chase him into his room.
I looked it up. Oh, the internet.
So many half-truths to sift out. I had to wade through so many ads to find peer-reviewed literature on this topic. People are getting rich off of parents’ fears about autism.
I had to wade through so many ads to find peer-reviewed literature on this topic. People are getting rich off of parents’ fears about autism.
In a nutshell?
Inconclusive, or, depending on the researcher, completely disproven.
There are several reasons that video the 7th grade science teacher showed was bunk…
First of all, mice don’t have autism!
“Defining autism in a mouse or rat seems quite difficult.”
-Catherine Lord, distinguished professor of psychiatry and education at the University of California, Los Angeles
Thank you for this simple myth buster, Catherine Lord. It is like curing fish of stuttering. You can’t “cure” mice of autism, even if you believed that autism was something to be cured. I don’t. Autism is a neurotype, not a disease.
Dr. Jon Brock puts it this way: “When we say ‘autism-like behaviour’, what this really means is ‘behaviour in mice that can be described using the same words that we use to describe autism’.”
The study of mice from the video turned out to have a very small sample size, and a significant statistical flaw. According to statistician Thomas Lumley, “After correcting the error, the only statistically significant difference is the number of marbles the mice buried.”
It’s much more likely that any link between gut microbiome differences and autism is diet related.
Because of sensory differences, a lot of autistic people have restricted diets. That doesn’t equate to causation.
“Adding to the uncertainty, data from one of the largest human studies yet suggests that the link between an atypical gut microbiome and autism is driven solely by a difference in diet.” and “Diet has a significant effect on the microbiome, and autistic people often have unusual or restricted eating habits.”
-Angie Voyles Askham
I do believe in the gut-brain connection. There are some studies in the works with humans. I’m not against following science to see if it can help my kid and his peers feel better and have more choices in how they respond to the stressors in their environment.
“‘It’s plausible’ that a microbiome-based treatment could ease an autistic person’s anxiety or boost her sociability. It’s more likely, though, that it would alleviate some of the digestive issues that often accompany autism.”
-Thomas Frazier, professor of psychology at John Carroll University in University Heights, Ohio
Finally, scientists analyzing the mouse study found some pretty important mistakes in how the data was analyzed. When corrected, as Jon Brock explained, “There is no evidence of reduced social behaviour amongst mice with autistic donors, either on the Three Chambers test or now on the Direct Social Interaction test. There’s no reduced ultrasonic vocalization. No reduced locomotion. The only survivor is a barely significant effect of increased marble burying.”
I don’t know about you, but I have no problem with my son’s frequency of marble burying. It turns out, no one knows why the mice in this study buried more or fewer marbles. They are mice.
A study of 247 children in Australia found that the stool microbiome captures negligible variation in ASD diagnosis. Their results suggest an alternative model whereby genetic and phenotypic measures of the autism spectrum (including restricted and repetitive behaviors, social affect, and higher sensory sensitivity) promote a less diverse diet, which reduces microbiome diversity and is associated with looser stool consistency.
The Latest Update:
Most recently, a University of Queensland PhD student has been awarded a national prize for “busting the myth that the gut microbiome causes autism. Chloe Yap and her colleagues found that changes in gut bacteria in children with autism are instead caused by their eating habits.”
“I think that, probably, most of us don’t feel super sociable if we have a stomachache.”
-Dr. Catherine Lord
Teachers, thanks for spurring me down this rabbit hole.
In my opinion, seeing autism as a disease that needs a cure is ableist.
I’m sure this wasn’t intended, but teaching this idea in an ICT setting entrenches ableist norms into the class culture. Those norms are hard enough to combat in the wider culture.
I’m not asking anyone to censor real scientific teachings for triggering content, but if a conversation arises in such a context, please take it seriously and consider how it might impact the most vulnerable — just as you would if there was inadvertently some racism that came up.
It’s a teachable moment.
Next time, I have a request: Please think it through before you play a video that might come across as ableist in an ICT (integrated) classroom with half a dozen awesome autistic kids. How about checking the latest research, and provide a trigger warning?
Addendum: The teachers have replied with respect, and thanked me for my input. “I will definitely rethink showing this documentary in the future. I’ll look for a good replacement.” My son was still harmed, but hopefully future students will not be subjected to the same ableist drivel.
Kate Lynch (she/her) is the parent of an amazing atypical kid, an inclusive yoga and meditation teacher, and author of the upcoming book Atypical Kids, Mindful Parents: The joys and struggles of raising neurodivergent kids. Her little neurodiverse family lives in a magical land called Brooklyn, where she is not generally found ranting about middle school science.
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