The Science and Fiction of Autism / / Laura Schreibman.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter HUP eBook Package Archive 1893-1999
• VerfasserIn: Schreibman, Laura,
• Place / Publishing House: Cambridge, MA : : Harvard University Press, , [2007]; ©2007
• Year of Publication: 2007
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (304 p.)

Autism is a complex and incurable constellation of bizarre behaviors, impaired cognition, limited language, and most distressingly, a lack of responsiveness to other people, and it has been the center of impassioned debates for decades. What is it? What causes it? How can it be treated? In The Science and Fiction of Autism, one of the country's leading experts in behavioral treatments approaches autism through the context of its controversies, showing where extraordinary and unfounded claims have falsely raised hopes, stirred fears, and ruined lives. Arguing that autism is an entirely biological disorder, however complex its neurological origins, Laura Schreibman lays waste to the beliefs that it is caused by "refrigerator mothers" or the MMR vaccine, as well as to the simplistic claims that it can be cured by a variety of unsubstantiated treatments. Drawing from her own long clinical experience with autistic children and their parents, Schreibman arms her readers--students, educators, psychologists, and parents alike--with information and arguments to deal with the onslaught of good, bad, deficient, and irrelevant ideas about autism.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Acknowledgments -- Contents -- Introduction -- 1. Critical Evaluation of Issues in Autism -- 2. Characteristics of Autism -- 3. Diagnosis and Assessment -- 4. What Causes Autism? -- 5. Are There Core Deficits in Autism? -- 6. Developing Treatments That Work -- 7. Are Other Treatments Effective? -- 8. Miracle Cures or Bogus Treatments? -- 9. Early Intervention, “Recovery,” and “Best” Treatment -- 10. Educate Autistic Children! -- Epilogue -- Notes -- Index