The autism controversy
Carrie Melchisky
I am the mother of an 11-year-old autistic son. While I agree that my son’s social interactions are usually inappropriate, I challenge Simon Baron-Cohen to spend a day with my child and then tell me he lacks empathy (“Autism: What’s Sex Got to Do With It?,” February 2004).When I stub a toe, my son bends to kiss it; when I cry from frustration, my son dries my tears. These children are not unreachable, not unteachable and certainly not unfeeling. The many unfounded theories that are bandied about, like the theory in your article, are just stumbling blocks in my journey to get the best education, treatment and life for my child.
Carrie Melchisky Brick, NJ
As a therapist who works with children on the autism spectrum, as well as the parent of a child who has Asperger syndrome, I was outraged by the article “The So-Called Epidemic” (February 2004), which discounts the very in-depth, well-researched and respected 1999 study that found a 273 percent increase in autism rates among children in California. Who are the “experts” who question the validity of the study? It states that the increase cannot be explained away through looser diagnoses nor heightened awareness.
Mara Schoner Los Angeles
COPYRIGHT 2004 Sussex Publishers, Inc.
COPYRIGHT 2004 Gale Group
