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What Is Autism?
By Bernard Rimland

Autism is a poorly understood disorder that may manifest itself at birth or between 18 and 36 months. Many autistic children never develop functional speech. Some individuals, known as autistic savants (portrayed, for example, by Dustin Hoffman in the 1988 film Rain Man), exhibit remarkable skills in areas such as music, math, and art.

Unlike most disorders, autism is defined not by its cause, but by its symptoms, which may include purposeless, repetitive behaviors such as hand-flapping, rocking, or opening and closing doors. Sometimes this behavior is accompanied by severe tantrums. There are no biological tests at present to diagnose autism.

For decades, most psychiatrists considered autism to be a psychological disorder, caused by hostile parenting. It is now acknowledged that autism is caused by biological factors, but there is little agreement over which specific factors are most important, and exactly how they cause autism.

Autism used to be a rare disorder, occurring in about one in 1,500 children. Since the late 1980s, however, the autism rate has risen sharply in the US and other countries. Current estimates put the autism rate at one in 500 children, but some recent studies in California, New Jersey, and elsewhere report an incidence as high as one in 150. The California Department of Developmental Services released data in January 2000 that showed a 238 percent increase in formally diagnosed autism in the state over five years--a 36 percent increase during 1999 alone.1

Notes
1. L. Wecker et al., "Trace Element Concentrations in Hair from Autistic Children," Journal of Mental Deficiency Research 29 (1985): 15-22.

Research psychologist Bernard Rimland founded the Autism Research Institute in 1967 and is its director. He is also the founder of the Autism Society of America and the editor of the Autism Research Review International and the prize-winning book Infantile Autism: The Syndrome and Its Implications for a Neural Theory of Behavior. In addition, he served as chief technical consultant on autism for the film Rain Man. He lives in San Diego, California, with his wife, Gloria, and is the father of three adult children, Helen, Paul, and Mark.