UK Disability Resource of Disabled Needs

Worst of it is that when autism was first identified by Leo Kanner in 1943 he put it down to being caused by poor attachment/"refrigerator" mothers. He recanted on that over 20 years later.

Fact is that if you look at the whole situation and identify what is going on, there is little similarity between attachment disorder and autism. The trick is in spotting the abstract/imaginative thought issues. A child with attachment disorder still has a functioning imagination and can display a sense of danger, for example. Most of the problem is in the tendency to take short cuts and make assumptions about parenting skills. Most of the cases of late diagnosis that I have come across have been down to this.

A little info here on that Charles.
http://www.autism-watch.org/causes/rm.shtml

Interesting article, Pixie, although it ignores Kanner's eventual change of mind - he did eventually realise that he'd mixed up the cause and effect issue.

Nowadays, it's more likely that - rather than diagnose the child - mums end up with the "neurotic mother" or Munchausens by Proxy tag. I remember one mum who for seven years couldn't get anyone to listen to her: all that time she did come over as neurotic in the way she stared (to hold your attention) and spoke rapidly (to make sure you heard everything she needed to say) - and was ignored as a result. When, finally, she got a diagnosis from one of the top people in the country (that even our LEA could not ignore), she was cured!

But it should not have taken seven years.

i know i have worked in special education for 17 years and we are certainly seeing more and more pupils coming through our doors

myra

I know one mum who has two children the eldest is fine her second child collapsed sveral days after having the immunisations had fits stopped speaking and began some of the the behaviours which we see in Autistic children. This mother blames the immunisation for this change in her daughter. Pam