Some misconceptions about infantile autism

Abstract

Recent studies throw light on certain widespread misconceptions about infantile autism and offer rational alteratives:
(a) Autism should not be considered a disturbance in affective contact but a cognitive and perceptual difficulty. This difficulty, rather than social withdrawal, is the central feature of the disorder. Linguistic and problem solving studies tend to confirm this probability.
(b) Pre-occupation with hand flapping and spinning objects in autistic children does not require interpretation, as recent neurological studies indicate the strong probability of a neurological basis for this tendency.
(c) A highly permissive approach is not likely to help the autistic child and may intensify atavistic behaviours. To hold parents of autistic children culpable is unjustified. Progress in therapy and in the home is probably related to a systematic use of reinforcement.
(d) The absence of speech by the age of five years no longer means a hopeless prognosis, as operant conditioning allows speech to be learned after this age. 
Dealing with autism as a cognitive dysfunction, Rimland²³ emphasises the child's inability to comprehend his environment and to integrate his sensations, while Rutter²⁹ shows the similarity between autism and receptive aphasia. He claims that social withdrawal is secondary to language difficulties in autism. For this reason and because the autistic child seems unable to learn under ordinary circumstances, it seems that reinforcement therapy practised within the framework of speech therapy would show the best results. Operant conditioning has been unjustly attacked on many accounts, but the hopeful prognosis and breadth of applicability it offers should be a spur towards dissipation of these misconceptions.