Post date: Nov 28, 2011 10:45:47 AM

i am often asked about my views on the diversity of the autism spectrum. Here is a reply I wrote in 2009 to a question by Cheryl Gillan MP.

Way back, in the 1940s when autism was first described, Hans Asperger made the important point that autism is a kind of pathology that is not necessarily bad news. He had examples of original and creative thoughts from his patients. He had seen that some achieved the most advanced academic positions. In his mind he was certain that society gains from the contributions by people with autistic conditions.

It is now generally agreed that people who have an autistic condition can be exceptionally logical and analytic. They can also be exceptional people in other ways, with unique talents. Temple Grandin is an example of a person with autism who has achieved accolades as a writer, presenter and a designer of livestock facilities. Her website illustrates her many astonishing talents. She can articulate what it means to have high functioning autism and she highlights certain advantages of the thinking style, which in her own case, she describes as visual thinking.

You may not notice anything when you first meet a very able person with an autistic condition. Nevertheless, for them to look and act normal is often a tremendous effort. It may surprise you that they are often very anxious, even panic stricken while you merely chat with them.

Some high-functioning persons diagnosed with an autistic condition may in fact have some other personality problem. Combinations with symptoms of other disorders can also occur, including depression or schizophrenia. These muddy the picture.

Intervention and remediation

In discussions about needs and rights of individuals with autism, people often get very confused because the autism spectrum is so wide. It is not possible to make general provisions that catch all. The diversity of services that are needed is enormous. This is true for education as well. Not all children with an autistic condition can be placed in a main-stream school and integrated with other children. But some can be.

This is why discussions about special needs schools and integrated schooling are often fruitless. Parents may have strong preferences for their child to be placed in a main-stream school, thinking that this is the place where by the sheer need to get along with other children, their child would be driven to adapt and to learn social skills. If only this were so! Instead, from my experience I can say that many children with autism, regardless of ability, benefit from being taught by a specialist teacher in the calm and highly structured environment of a special unit or special school. But this is not an opinion shared by all and the debate will continue because there are so many shades of autism that it seems most reasonable to make different plans for different children.

It is never too late

Learning is life long and the human brain is more plastic than has been supposed up to quite recently. It still surprises people to be told that the brain changes when they learn something new and even when they remember something old. This is equally true for people with autism. They learn massively when they are well into adulthood. Temple Grandin says she only started to learn about certain social situations after she was 50.

Deciding about needs for education, for employment and for living accommodation in later life are not one-off decisions. There are huge changes in needs with age. It needs the coordination of different services to fulfil the potential of individuals whatever their age. Psychiatric services are often needed to treat secondary symptoms, for example, high anxiety and depression.

Stress on the family

It is quite obvious that caring for a child with learning difficulties, emotional and social impairment, lack of communication, as well as obsessive tendencies, is a heavy burden to bear for any family. The main stress on the family is not “what other people think”. The chief worry is what will happen when the child has grown up and when the parents are no longer there. How frustrating it is not to know what causes the condition.