Lynn Waterhouse, PhD
Professor, Graduate Global Programs
Director Emeritus, Child Behavior Study
The College of New Jersey
Pennington Road
Ewing, NJ 08628
Email: lynwater@tcnj.edu
Webpage: http://lynnwaterhouse.pages.tcnj.edu/
EDUCATION
Ph.D. 1972, University of Pennsylvania, Developmental Psycholinguistics
Certificate 1968, l’ Université de Paris-Sorbonne
M.A. 1967, University of Pennsylvania
B.A. 1965, University of Chicago
EMPLOYMENT
The College of New Jersey, Professor, Linguistics, Honors Program, 1972-2006
The College of New Jersey, Professor, Graduate Global Programs, 1984-present
The College of New Jersey, Director, Child Behavior Study 1975-2006
The College of New Jersey, Chair, Communications Program, 1979-1993
Princeton University, Department of Psychology, Visiting Professor, 1993-1994
Educational Testing Service, GRE and LSAT consultant, 1976-1994
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
Waterhouse, L. (2013). Rethinking Autism: Variation and Complexity. Academic Press.
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“This book by Lynn Waterhouse will ruffle some feathers, with its bold conclusion that “there is clear detriment to maintaining the diagnostic category of autism spectrum disorder.” However, the evidence she presents is compelling. In every domain she investigates – symptoms, neurobiology, etiology, correlates – she finds that there is considerable heterogeneity in autism. As well as striking differences among children with an ASD diagnosis, there is also a lack of specificity in symptoms and causes. For instance, genetic variants and environmental risks that are associated with increased risk of autism are also associated with other neurodevelopmental disorders.
Waterhouse is not denying that there are children with severe developmental difficulties involving social interaction, communication and stereotyped behaviours. Rather, she is questioning whether their needs are best served by grouping them all together under a single umbrella label.
Her view is that research efforts directed at finding a unifying theory of autism are misguided, and that we should be focusing on symptoms rather than an abstract diagnostic category that can obfuscate rather than clarify our understanding.”
Dr. Dorothy Bishop, Professor of Developmental Neuropsychology and Wellcome Principal Research Fellow at the Department of Experimental Psychology, Oxford University.
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“Waterhouse squarely tackles the “elephant in the room” in autism research; the complex heterogeneity seen at all levels of analysis. She provides a compelling and scholarly rationale for accepting this heterogeneity and exploring it as the only way to gain a deeper insight into the disorder. The argument is sustained, learned and comprehensive. We shall all be dealing with this challenge for decades.”
Peter Szatmari MD, Director Offord Centre for Child Studies, McMaster Children’s Hospital and McMaster University, Ontario, Canada.
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“Rethinking Autism is a book that needed to be written, and Waterhouse has written it extremely well. The central claim of the book that researchers must move beyond the construct of the ICD or DSM diagnosis of autism is very well supported, and, in my view, nearly irrefutable. The book makes clear that understanding the varied risk factors for autism symptoms and the variable pathogenesis of autism symptoms is crucial with respect to treatment implications and outcome.
Some researchers have reported that a minority of boys with the fragile X premutation have autism spectrum disorder (as is illustrated by a clinical description of twins in the book). However, it is important to note that studies making a premutation-autism link have been affected by sampling bias, and the actual risk for intellectual or behavioral disability in this population, though yet to be definitively established, is probably quite low. Further, though the book correctly notes that the vast majority of individuals with the fragile X premutation have normal intellectual abilities and no autism symptoms, the book’s statements on p. 53 and 193 errantly identify excess FMR1 messenger RNA found in association with the fragile X permutation as a cause for autism symptoms. While there is significant evidence that the lack of FMR1 protein is linked to autism symptoms and intellectual disability in the fragile X syndrome, there is little evidence that excess FMR1 messenger RNA in fragile X premutation causes autism symptoms or intellectual disability. What may be possible in some humans with the premutation, as Qin et al. (2011) reported for mice with the premutation, is that lower levels of FMRP protein may contribute to increased risk for autism symptoms.”
Allan L. Reiss, M.D.
Robbins Professor and Director, Center for Interdisciplinary Brain Sciences Research
Vice Chair, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Professor of Radiology and of Pediatrics
Stanford University School of Medicine
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Author’s note on Fragile X permutation brain effects:
Fragile X syndrome (FXS) is the most common inherited form of intellectual disability in the world. As is discussed in the book, a small but significant subset of individuals diagnosed with autism are found to have Fragile X syndrome. Moreover, as is outlined in the beginning of Chapter 2, in rare cases individuals with autism symptoms have been found to have a related genetic disorder, the Fragile X premutation. Fragile X premutation and Fragile X syndrome both result from too many repeats of three linked amino acids in a neighboring region of the Fragile X mental retardation 1 (FMR1) gene. In Fragile X syndrome, there are 200 or more repeats. By contrast, in the Fragile X premutation syndrome there are only 55-200 repeats. There is also a gray area of 41-54 repeats that has been associated with physical and mental problems.
Intellectual disability and social impairment in Fragile X syndrome and Fragile X premutation have been tied to lower levels of the Fragile X mental retardation protein (FMRP) in the brain. However, not all those with Fragile X premutation have severely reduced FMR1 protein in their brains, and many have abnormally high levels of the FMR1 RNA. RNA is required for genes to produce proteins, but abnormally high levels of RNA have been found to have toxic brain effects in those with repeat mutations in a variety of genetic diseases.
The toxicity of excessive FMR1 RNA in the brain has been linked to tremors, problems in walking, and cognitive decline in individuals with Fragile X premutation who develop Fragile X-associated tremor/ataxia syndrome (FXTAS) in adulthood. However, Tassone and Hagerman (2012) have noted that evidence of RNA toxicity can be found in early brain development, and they concluded that excessive FMR1 RNA is a likely cause of brain disruption in children who have Fragile X premutation.
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Waterhouse, L. (2011). Autism endophenotypes are not unified by gene variants or chromosome number variants. In Fein, D. A. (Ed.), The Neuropsychology of Autism, Oxford University Press.
Waterhouse, L. (2009). Autism is a portmanteau syndrome. Neuropsychology Review, 275-276. Autism is a portmanteau syndrome Letter response to Belmonte et al. 2009
Waterhouse, L. (2008). Autism overflows: Increasing prevalence and proliferating theories. Neuropsychology Review, 273-286. Autism overflows.pdf
Waterhouse, L, Fein, D., & Nichols, E. W. (2007). Autism, Social Neuroscience, and Endophenotypes. In Volkmar, F. (Ed.), Autism and Pervasive Developmental Disorders 2nd edition. Cambridge University Press. Autism, social neuroscience, and endophenotypes.pdf
Waterhouse, L. (2006). Multiple Intelligences, the Mozart Effect, and Emotional Intelligence: A critical review. Educational Psychologist, 207-225. Multiple Intelligences, the Mozart Effect, and Emotional Intelligence A Critical Review.pdf .
Gardner, H., & Moran, S. (2006). The science of Multiple Intelligences theory: A response to Lynn Waterhouse. Educational Psychologist, 227-232.
Rauscher, F. H., & Hinton, S. C. (2006). The Mozart Effect: Music listening is not music instruction. Educational Psychologist, 233-238.
Cherniss, C., Extein, M., Goleman, D., & Weissberg, R. P. (2006). Emotional Intelligence: What does the research really indicate? Educational Psychologist, 239-245.
Waterhouse, L. (2006). Inadequate evidence for Multiple Intelligences, Mozart Effect, and Emotional Intelligence theories. Educational Psychologist, 247-255. Inadequate evidence for Multiple Intelligences, Mozart Effect, and Emotional Intelligence theories.pdf
Waterhouse, L., & Fein, D. (2005). Perspectives on social impairment. In Cohen, D. J. et al., (Eds.), Autism and Developmental Disorders: A Handbook. Wiley Publishing.
Waterhouse, L. & Fein, D. (2004). Aspects of the evolution of human social skills. In Volkmar, F., (Ed.), Autism. Cambridge University Press.
Jackson, C. T., Fein, D., Wolf, J., Jones, G., Hauck, M., Waterhouse, L., & Feinstein, C. (2003). Responses and sustained interactions in children with mental retardation and autism. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 115-122.
Waterhouse, L. (2002). Plasticity and variability in development. In Molfese, D., (Ed.), Neuropsychology of Human Development. New Jersey: Erlbaum.
Liss, M., Fein, D., Allen, D., Dunn, M., Feinstein, C., Morris, R., Waterhouse, L., & Rapin, I. (2001). Executive functioning in high-functioning children with autism. Journal of Child L. Psychology and Psychiatry, 261-270.
Liss, M., Harel, B., Fein, D., Allen, D., Dunn, M., Feinstein, C., Morris, R., Waterhouse, L., & Rapin, I. (2001). Predictors and correlates of adaptive functioning in children with developmental disorders. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 219-231.
Green, L., Fein, D., Modahl, C., Feinstein, C., Waterhouse, L., & Morris, M. (2001). Oxytocin and autistic disorder: alterations in peptide forms. Biological Psychiatry, 609-613. Oxytocin and Autistic Disorder alteration in peptide forms.pdf
Stevens, M. C., Fein, D., Dunn, M., Allen, D., Waterhouse, L., Feinstein, C. & Rapin, I. (2000). Subgroups of children with autism by cluster analysis: a longitudinal examination. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 346-352. Subgroups of children with autism by cluster analysis a longitudinal examination.pdf
Rapin, I., Steinberg, M., & Waterhouse, L. (1999). European Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 214-215. Consistency in the ratings of behaviors of communicatively impaired autistic and non-autistic preschool children.pdf
Bacon, A., Fein, D, Morris, R., Waterhouse, L., & Allen, D. (1998). The responses of autistic children to the distress of others. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 129-142.
Modahl, C., Green, L., Fein, D., Morris, M., Waterhouse, L., Feinstein, C., & Levin, H. (1998). Plasma oxytocin levels in autistic children. Biological Psychiatry, 270-277.
Waterhouse, L., Fein, F., & Modahl, M. (1996). Neurofunctional Mechanisms in Autism. Psychological Review, 457-489. Neurofunctional mechanisms in autism.pdf.
Waterhouse, L., Morris, R., Allen, D., Fein, D., Feinstein, C., Rapin, & Wing, L. (1996). Diagnosis and classification in autism. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 59-86.
Hagin, R., & Waterhouse, L. (1996). Diagnosis and treatment of reading disorders. Pittsburgh, PA: Learning Disabilities Association.