full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Wendy Chung: Autism — what we know (and what we don't know yet)

Unscramble the Blue Letters


"Why?" "Why?" is a question that preants ask me all the time. "Why did my child dvleeop autism?" As a pediatrician, as a geneticist, as a researcher, we try and aredsds that quiotesn.

But autism is not a single condition. It's actually a spectrum of disorders, a spectrum that ranges, for instance, from Justin, a 13-year-old boy who's not verbal, who can't spaek, who communicates by using an iPad to touch peucitrs to communicate his thoughts and his concerns, a little boy who, when he gets upset, will start rocking, and eventually, when he's disturbed enough, will bang his head to the point that he can actually cut it open and require stitches. That same diagnosis of autism, though, also applies to Gabriel, another 13-year-old boy who has quite a different set of challenges. He's actually quite remarkably getifd in mathematics. He can multiple three numrbes by three numbers in his head with ease, yet when it comes to trying to have a conversation, he has great difficulty. He doesn't make eye contact. He has difficulty starting a conversation, feels awkward, and when he gets nervous, he actually shuts down. Yet both of these boys have the same dnaogsiis of aiutsm sceturpm disorder.

Open Cloze


"Why?" "Why?" is a question that _______ ask me all the time. "Why did my child _______ autism?" As a pediatrician, as a geneticist, as a researcher, we try and _______ that ________.

But autism is not a single condition. It's actually a spectrum of disorders, a spectrum that ranges, for instance, from Justin, a 13-year-old boy who's not verbal, who can't _____, who communicates by using an iPad to touch ________ to communicate his thoughts and his concerns, a little boy who, when he gets upset, will start rocking, and eventually, when he's disturbed enough, will bang his head to the point that he can actually cut it open and require stitches. That same diagnosis of autism, though, also applies to Gabriel, another 13-year-old boy who has quite a different set of challenges. He's actually quite remarkably ______ in mathematics. He can multiple three _______ by three numbers in his head with ease, yet when it comes to trying to have a conversation, he has great difficulty. He doesn't make eye contact. He has difficulty starting a conversation, feels awkward, and when he gets nervous, he actually shuts down. Yet both of these boys have the same _________ of ______ ________ disorder.

Solution


  1. parents
  2. speak
  3. gifted
  4. diagnosis
  5. question
  6. develop
  7. spectrum
  8. numbers
  9. autism
  10. pictures
  11. address

Original Text


"Why?" "Why?" is a question that parents ask me all the time. "Why did my child develop autism?" As a pediatrician, as a geneticist, as a researcher, we try and address that question.

But autism is not a single condition. It's actually a spectrum of disorders, a spectrum that ranges, for instance, from Justin, a 13-year-old boy who's not verbal, who can't speak, who communicates by using an iPad to touch pictures to communicate his thoughts and his concerns, a little boy who, when he gets upset, will start rocking, and eventually, when he's disturbed enough, will bang his head to the point that he can actually cut it open and require stitches. That same diagnosis of autism, though, also applies to Gabriel, another 13-year-old boy who has quite a different set of challenges. He's actually quite remarkably gifted in mathematics. He can multiple three numbers by three numbers in his head with ease, yet when it comes to trying to have a conversation, he has great difficulty. He doesn't make eye contact. He has difficulty starting a conversation, feels awkward, and when he gets nervous, he actually shuts down. Yet both of these boys have the same diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
eye contact 4
concordance rate 3
genetic information 3
autism spectrum 2
spectrum disorder 2
fraternal twins 2
genes causing 2
causing autism 2
brain functions 2
good eye 2
develop autism 2
google glass 2

ngrams of length 3

collocation frequency
autism spectrum disorder 2
genes causing autism 2
good eye contact 2

Important Words


  1. address
  2. applies
  3. autism
  4. awkward
  5. bang
  6. boy
  7. boys
  8. challenges
  9. child
  10. communicate
  11. communicates
  12. concerns
  13. condition
  14. contact
  15. conversation
  16. cut
  17. develop
  18. diagnosis
  19. difficulty
  20. disorder
  21. disorders
  22. disturbed
  23. ease
  24. eventually
  25. eye
  26. feels
  27. gabriel
  28. geneticist
  29. gifted
  30. great
  31. head
  32. instance
  33. ipad
  34. justin
  35. mathematics
  36. multiple
  37. nervous
  38. numbers
  39. open
  40. parents
  41. pediatrician
  42. pictures
  43. point
  44. question
  45. ranges
  46. remarkably
  47. require
  48. researcher
  49. rocking
  50. set
  51. shuts
  52. single
  53. speak
  54. spectrum
  55. start
  56. starting
  57. stitches
  58. thoughts
  59. time
  60. touch
  61. upset
  62. verbal