HARTFORD The Sandy Hook Advisory Commission secured a promise Friday from Peter Lanza to turn over at least some of Newtown shooter Adam Lanza's treatment records, and heard from two of the foremost autism experts on what the disorder isn't, as much as what it is.
Peter Lanza "called me during the last presentation,'' Sandy Hook panel Chairman Scott Jackson said before the commission broke for lunch Friday afternoon. "I'm going to sit down with him in short order" to work out the parameters of a records release.
Jackson, the mayor of Hamden, said earlier Friday that Peter Lanza had reached out to him recently and promised to help the commission in its quest to better understand what drove Lanza's son to kill 26 children and women at Sandy Hook Elementary School on Dec. 14, 2012, and to analyze Connecticut's mental health system for gaps and breakdowns.
Peter Lanza's commitment was one step on that journey Friday; another was hearing Dr. Fred R. Volkmar of Yale and Matthew D. Lerner of Stony Brook University in New York cite study after study showing no link between autism spectrum disorders and violent crime.
Adam Lanza "displayed a profound autism spectrum disorder with rigidity, isolation and a lack of comprehension of ordinary social interaction and communications," a Yale psychiatrist involved in Lanza's care concluded, according to state police records.
The recently released police reports revealed that Adam Lanza was seen at the Yale Child Study Center in his early teens and was once prescribed the antidepressant Celexa.
Volkmar, a child psychiatrist, professor of pediatrics, and chairman of the Yale Child Study Center, and Lerner, an assistant professor of psychology, psychiatry and pediatrics at Stony Brook, said that people with autism and Asperger's syndrome are more likely to be victims than perpetrators. When people on the autism spectrum do commit violence, it's almost always impulsive and reflexive, and in response to a situation that has overwhelmed them.
That Lanza apparently had an autism spectrum diagnosis and committed a calculated crime makes his case exceedingly rare. Lanza killed his mother before driving, heavily armed, to the Sandy Hook school.
Someone with an autism spectrum disorder might struggle to control his emotions in a confusing situation, might exhibit poor judgment socially and might inappropriately assign blame. He might become overwhelmed and agitated when stressed, but in most instances wouldn't act out violently, Lerner said.
Jackson asked what the commission and the community can do to make schools in Connecticut safer.
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Sandy Hook Panel To Receive Lanza Treatment Records