Psychology professor works to unlock secrets of Asperger's, autism

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Saturday, January 19, 2008

MONADNOCK PROFILE Psychology professor works to unlock secrets of

Asperger's, autism

Anika

Sentinel Staff

From their tiny base at Keene State College, students of Professor

Lawrence A. Welkowitz's psychology courses come face-to-face with the

field's legends - big names such as famed psychiatrists Laszlo Papp

and Jack Gorman.

Such is the power of the Internet, where Welkowitz's students watch

interviews between their professor and these noted professionals. And

for an avid blogger, who likens himself to trailblazer Boone

in his exploration of the human mind, it opens new worlds.

" Why shouldn't kids in Keene, New Hampshire, be exposed to the top

things that are going on in the field? " Welkowitz asked. " Why not? "

For Welkowitz, who brings his digital camera and recorder wherever he

travels, " everything is an opportunity to develop a teaching tool. "

A trip to a crowded New York shopping center becomes a window through

which to explore the dynamics of agoraphobia, a fear characterized by

the avoidance of open spaces. And a hike up Mount Monadnock? A chance

to talk about overcoming one's fear of heights.

Welkowitz's blog provides a glimpse into the New Jersey native, who

likes to go by " Larry, " wears sneakers in his Keene State office and

sports a wide, Cheshire Cat smile.

Posted on his site, Welkowitz.typepad.com, is everything from a

picture of a puffy-painted " Professor of the Month " award from Keene

State's Phi Sigma Sigma sorority to a piece about the local wiffle

ball league in which he participates with other psychologists and

doctors.

But the focus of the site - along with much of Welkowitz's career -

is Asperger's Syndrome, a neurobiological disorder with similarities

to autism.

Like those with autism, people with Asperger's Syndrome are often

isolated from peers and have trouble reading social cues, according

to the Asperger's Association of New England. But unlike people with

autism, those with Asperger's Syndrome are likely to desire the

social acceptance they have difficulty finding.

A long-held interest; an academic family

Welkowitz's broader interest in psychology dates back to his

childhood.

By the time he was in 7th grade, when many of his classmates may

still have hoped to become rock stars or ballplayers, he'd already

become enticed by psychology - thanks to scientist Harry F. Harlow

and his monkeys.

In the 1960s, Harlow conducted a series of experiments where he

demonstrated the affinity monkeys had for " surrogate " mothers made of

terry cloth over those made of wire.

The study " showed that monkeys raised by wire mesh mothers developed

stress and ulcers while monkeys raised by warm, cuddly mothers became

healthy, " Welkowitz said. " It was that whole mind-body connection

that I've been interested in since I was a kid. "

But psychology also coursed through Welkowitz's blood, courtesy of

his own mother, Joan - a do-it-all type who found time to pen a

textbook about statistics for behavioral sciences, serve for several

years as director of New York University's clinical psychology

doctoral program and still get dinner on the table, according to

Welkowitz's younger sister, A. Welkowitz.

" She was a feminist at a time when that meant you did everything, "

Larry Welkowitz said of his mother, with whom he collaborated on some

of his studies of anxiety disorders, depression and Asperger's

Syndrome.

Joan Welkowitz died in 2006, at age 76, just one week after

completing the last edition of her textbook, according to Larry

Welkowitz. She was still teaching at New York University, he said,

adding that to him, success means never retiring.

" I imagine that (Joan) influenced my brother and I, " said

Welkowitz, also a clinical psychologist, associate professor and the

assistant academic coordinator for a community mental-health program

in Burlington, Vt. " My brother Larry was particularly very close (to

her). "

Welkowitz's father, Walter Welkowitz, now of Keene, is similarly an

academic-type - a professor who started the biomedical engineering

program at Rutgers University in New Jersey, an author and a co-

inventor of devices that help the heart pump.

And his older brother, Welkowitz, joins the ranks as a

professor at Whittier Law School in Southern California.

" Conversations around the dinner table were about (the) Big Bang

Theory, calculus, the war in Vietnam, " Larry Welkowitz said, " but

mostly I just wanted to go out and play baseball. "

Welkowitz said her older brother was an athlete growing up, as

well as the editor of his high school literary magazine, and she

remembers him as a funny, popular guy.

He carried this into adulthood, according to colleague Baker,

who said the easy conversation and similar background she shared with

Welkowitz made him quickly feel like a brother.

" Larry's a real connector, " said Baker, also a Keene State psychology

professor. " He knows hundreds of people in the community. "

But it's the children who find wading society's waters more

difficult - those with Asperger's Syndrome - who Larry Welkowitz

finds fascinating.

" It's that single-mindedness, that ability to focus on particular

areas of interest. There's something very pure about Asperger's and

autism, " Welkowitz said of what intrigues him about the

disorders. " They don't play all these social games. You know exactly

where they're coming from. "

Taking action locally; following in footsteps

Professionally, Welkowitz started encountering the disorder long

before much was known about it.

" I started to see a lot of kids for whom there was no clear, clinical

diagnosis, " he said. " I was seeing these wonderful, bright, but

socially different kids, and I was struggling to try and figure out

what was going on with them, and how to help them. "

His interest was also driven by a family member who has Asperger's,

he said.

While often struggling with social interaction, people with

Asperger's Syndrome are believed to have intelligence quotients

ranging from the level of normal to genius, according to the

Asperger's Association of New England.

" A colleague of mine once said, 'If it weren't for people with

Asperger's and autism, we'd all be living in caves.' And I'm sure

that's true, " Welkowitz said.

As an example, he cited Albert Einstein - who people have speculated

may have had Asperger's - and his capacity to spend several years

working on his theory of relativity.

In 1996, two years after Asperger's Syndrome was officially

classified as a psychiatric disorder, Welkowitz started a local

Asperger's study group with Baker.

With crowds of people so large they couldn't fit in the room, the

group expanded to include offshoot projects - such as a parent

support group, and a peer-mentoring program which pairs " typical "

college kids with students or other children with Asperger's and

autism.

Participating in the program helps a child receiving services go from

being a " chronic outsider " to functioning within the social scene,

according to Welkowitz.

In return, he said, the mentors " find that the more they learn about

Asperger's, the more they're learning about themselves - that all of

us can relate to sort of that 'inner geek.' ... By being kind to

people with Asperger's, they're really learning about the kind of

world that they want to live in. "

This may represent Welkowitz's stamp on the community, but he's also

clearly leaving an impression at home - on daughter Annika, who

describes her father as funny and " another friend. "

Like her father, Annika R. Kristiansen enjoys blogging, putting the

poetry she writes " out there, " into the Internet stratosphere.

At 12 years old, she's about the same age Welkowitz was when he

discovered Harlow's monkeys.

And lately, she said, she's been thinking she might want to become a

psychologist.