User talk:Sandover

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PLEASE NOTE: I delete old talk.

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[edit] FPC
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[edit] Featured Article: 1755 Lisbon earthquake

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[edit] autism and Cho

The Korean word for autism 자폐증 (japyejeung) is a cognate of the Chinese/Japanese term 自閉症 (zibizheng), whose Chinese characters literally just mean "self-closed-syndrome" and can be colloquially applied to anyone who is introverted or noticeably quiet. It is not a very scientifically precise term and its typical usage would be equivalent to describing someone as "depressed" (saying "I am depressed" doesn't imply I have clinical depression). Thus the statement from Cho's grandmother of Cho being "autistic" must be taken with a huge grain of salt. I agree with you, I don't believe Cho was autistic. The media took a translated soundbite of "autism" and made a big deal out of it. --Naus 22:01, 24 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] selective mutism and Cho

I remember the all the antagonism that was generated on the Cho talkpage last April when you first raised the selective mutism theory. I find it very interesting that, since then, it has emerged that Cho was indeed given this diagnosis as a junior high school student. 172.166.2.184 (talk) 00:43, 25 November 2007 (UTC)kenmore

It is to the community's credit that it tolerated my tenacious and sometimes strong-armed editing in the wake of the Virginia Tech tragedy. I never met Cho, and had no inside knowledge of his selective mutism diagnosis. When I heard the 'autism' notion I thought it highly unlikely, given the videotape of Cho's speech patterns as broadcast by NBC two days after the terrible event. When Cho did speak, his voice lacked an autistic cadence.
The specific behavioral descriptions offered by Cho's Korean relatives, who met him twice during his childhood, were consistent with selective mutism, not with autism. In Cho's biography, I noted a behavioral hallmark of selective mutism: Cho had a single junior high school friend with whom he could speak and confide. That 'single special friend' comes up often among those who are selectively mute,[1] but it is not at all typical of individuals with autism.
The first 'Cho was autistic' edit on Wikipedia appeared on April 20, 2007, sourced to English and Australian newspaper reports.[2] Cho's dubious 'autism diagnosis' survived only 27 hours before I began chipping away at it on April 21st.[3] By April 23rd, I had opened the possibility of selective mutism in both Cho's Wikipedia entry and in the Virginia Tech narrative,[4] and continued to defend my edits and viewpoint aggressively for days.[5] Acceptable compromise language was found for both articles, lasting until the Wall Street Journal confirmed Cho's selective mutism diagnosis (nearly four months later) on August 20, 2007.[6] I updated Wikipedia with that news.
Kudos to those families who are now talking about selective mutism, and to the media who are now giving it such sensitive coverage.[7] May we have more of this, please? Sandover (talk) 06:36, 19 February 2008 (UTC)