What is autism spectrum disorder?
At root, “autism is a difference in how your child’s brain works that shapes how they interact with the world around them,” according to the Cleveland Clinic. People with autism diagnoses, the clinic says, “may excel more in certain areas and need more support in other areas compared to their neurotypical peers.”
Over the years, autism’s definition and diagnosis has changed.
In the 1950s and 1960s, “it is very likely that many people with profound autism were misdiagnosed with ‘mental retardation,’ a term in use at the time, or schizophrenia, while other autistic people probably got no diagnosis at all,” said John J. Pitney, Jr., a Claremont McKenna College politics professor, author of the book, “The Politics of Autism: Navigating The Contested Spectrum,” and father of an autistic son who’s about to graduate from college.
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In more recent decades, the diagnostic criteria for autism have broadened, producing a spectrum ranging from severe impacts to more modest ones. Today’s definition encompasses “individuals with milder symptoms, stronger language skills, and higher IQs,” said Christopher Banks, president and CEO of the Autism Society of America.
source: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/fact-checking-robert-f-kennedy-jr-s-statements-on-autism