Thomas Sowell
http://www.jewishworldreview.com --
ACCORDING TO SOME REPORTS, the incidence of autism seems to be increasing
substantially. A growth in this tragic affliction would certainly be a cause
for alarm. However, the ways in which autism is diagnosed include some very
crude -- and even disingenuous -- practices, so it may not be easy to tell
whether autism is in fact more prevalent today or whether words are being
used more loosely. Parents whose children are late in developing speech
often report that speech therapists, social workers, or school personnel
tell them that calling their child "autistic" will facilitate getting the
government to finance treatments that the child may need for his real
problem.
Even when honestly applied, the label of autism can often be a result of
incredibly crude checklists, especially when used by people with no medical
training nor doctorates in related fields. School districts, especially,
often have lower-level personnel evaluating children with the aid of
checklists -- and calling these children "autistic" if the number of items
checked exceeds some magic number or percentage.
If we were to make up a checklist of the characteristics of a mouse -- four
legs, a tail, fur, two ears, a digestive tract, etc. -- a high percentage of
those characteristics would also apply to a giraffe. Yet we never mistake a
mouse for a giraffe, because we are also aware of the ways in which they
differ. Even if the similarities reach 80 or 90 percent, we still will not
say: "There's a giraffe under the kitchen sink!"
Yet, in the far more momentous decision to label a child and perhaps change
the course of his education and his life, there are seldom checklists of
differences between autism and other things that may share similar
characteristics.
For example, a study titled "Gifted Children" by Professor Ellen Winner of
Boston College found that youngsters with very high IQs "develop almost
obsessive interests," "often play alone and enjoy solitude," have
"prodigious memories" and "show intense reactions to noise, pain, and
frustration." She adds: "They refuse to submit to any task that does not
engage them and, as a result, often end up labeled as hyperactive or with an
attention deficit disorder."
They can also end up being labeled autistic, because autistic children also
have obsessive and anti-social behavior, as well as extreme reactions and
prodigious memories. This creates a statistical problem for those trying to
determine whether genuine autism is or is not increasing -- and a
devastation for parents being told that their child is going to be another
"Rain Man."
Overlapping characteristics among very different kinds of children make
checklists dangerous in semi-professional hands -- and sometimes even in the
hands of higher-level professionals, who should know better. One of the
leading authorities on autism, Dr. Bernard Rimland of the Autism Research
Institute in San Diego, has said: "In recent years autism has become
fashionable, and the term is vastly overused."
Those who simply count "symptoms" of autism too often discount contrary
evidence. Precociously intelligent preschoolers, labeled autistic because
they talked late, have included little boys who became very emotionally
attached to some little girl at their school, despite the fact that such
emotional attachments violate the self-absorption that initially defined --
and named -- autism.
Parents report autistic labels being slapped on their kids in less than ten
minutes by some psychologists and neurologists, simply because the children
were uncooperative and refused to respond to even the simplest questions.
In a couple of cases, a neurologist practically ripped a little toddler out
of his parent's arms and proceeded to undress him, asking him questions all
the while. That a distressed child refused to cooperate under these
circumstances hardly seems surprising. But, when this was brought to one
neurologist's attention, he brusquely declared that he had examined
thousands of children. What he omitted was any evidence on how often he had
been proved right and how often wrong.
Maybe there really is an increase in autism. If so, it is a serious concern
that certainly ought to be addressed. But, if not, that is also a serious
concern, not least for the parents needlessly put through anguish and the
children needlessly sidetracked into programs that can do them more harm
than
