Autism-World

The following is an excerpt from a paper by Bernard Rimland, Ph.D.  It was in Volume 7, Number 2, 1993 of the Autism Research Review International Page 3.

Let’s start with the obvious:  the label PDD (Pervasive Developmental Disorder) is poorly understood, uninformative, confusing, disliked, and should be abandoned.  The sooner the better.  In fact, it should never have been adopted in the first place.

Over the years I have talked and corresponded with thousands of parents who have told me their child “has PDD.”  I often respond by saying something like, “Your child doesn’t have PDD.  There is no such thing as PDD.  Your child may be autistic, or have a condition like autism, or many characteristics of autism, but he doesn’t have PDD because there is no such thing.  PDD is a label concocted by psychiatrists to cover up the fact that they don’t know what you child does have.”

…..They don’t want to be misled or misinformed by sugar-coated verbiage masquerading as informed fact.  If we don’t know the right label for their child, let’s tell them that up front, rather than hide our ignorance behind the mystique of a pseudo-scientific label, presuming knowledge we don’t have, like PDD.

…In ARRI 5/2, we summarized an excellent statement, signed by 16 prominent Suropean and U.S. professionals in the field of autism, titled “Autism is not necessarily a pervasive developmental disorder.”  The authors noted that although the term PDD was introduced well over a decade ago, it has not really caught on, and is unfamiliar not only to lay people, but to the politicians and administrators, most of whom-thanks probably to Rain Man- are aware of sutism.  The article observes that the term “pervasive” is particularly inappropriate, since severely retarded persons, many of whom have chromosomal defects which affect every cell in their bodies, are not classified as having PDD.  Autism, they point out, rather than being a pervasive disorder, is in fact a specific one, characterized by deficits in social and cognitive functioning.

Quite apart from the misleading and inappropriate semantics of the term PDD is a very practical matter:  autistic children and adults unfortunate enough to have the PDD label affixed to them have often been-and continue to be-excluded from programs and services designated for those with autism, and which would benefit them.

…Form E-2 is designed for completion by the child’s parents, and asks questions about the child’s early development and about language and behavior through age five and a half.  )After age five and a half, autistic children begin to change in many ways, so it is better to rely on behavior prior to that age.)  <this form can be downloaded from the Autism Research Website for free>  Once we receive a completed E-2 form from a parent or professional, we enter the data into our computer, derive a score which tells the child’s position on the continuum ranging from “classical autistic” at one end to “not autistic” on the other, and mail a report to the sender.  We have performed this service, free of charge, for well over a quarter of a century for thousands of parents and professionals world-wide. 

A major purpose of this effort is to collect data for statistical analysis.  There is no doubt that the “spectrum of autistic disorders” contains numerous subtypes, some of which are large enough to be identified by statistical analyses of large databases, such as our database of almost 17,000 E-2 Forms.  We are already aware of some of these subtypes, such as classical-Kanner’s Syndrome-autism, fragile X autism, Rett syndrome, and candida-caused autism….

This entry was posted on Sunday, April 1st, 2007 at 12:34 am and is filed under What is Autism.