Just this past weekend at a store, my grands, out of their usual home routine, were being wild in a department store. They are usually good kids, the youngest is 2. My grand decided to go for the "getting loud" tactic of obtaining ownership rights to a Little Dora backpack. I got into her face with a circular finger around my mouth saying "NO". Her eyes glossed over like she hadn't heard me. I now, made physical contact by laying my hand on her arm. And repeated NO. She connected, it was just a glimmer, nonetheless, I honed in right quick and said:
I've survived worse than your behavior; I shall prevail again. "NO". She wasn't happy about it; and too bad. Some might assume, that should I just use the "word" thing that liberals are so inclined to promote, that the child would just get it.
But you see, my adorable youngest granddaughter somehow kinda remembers the time she acted like this in a public place, and her granny found a nice not-so-public place to give her a swat. Suddenly, that memory, just a glimmer, surfaced in her growing mind.
I saw it, and she knew I saw it.
She was in excellent form thereafter.
After she'd let go of her behavior, and was in my arms, sobbing, I looked over and saw an employee, and obvious Granny, who (my daughter tells me) had been smiling so huge and big while I'd been "conversing" with my granddaughter.
The point is this: YES, I've seen truly autistic children. They are so OBVIOUSLY autistic, there's no comparison to other children. There's no wiggle room.
Then there's those who seem on the "edge"; the borderline cases. They require extra attention from their parents; as so super brainiac children -- both require EXTRA WORK from and by the parents.
It's a tough call, as a parent. I suggest tough-love first, experts after all at home remedies have been thoroughly researched by the parents, and exhausted.
If you've an autistic child, you've got my personal support, Dead.
My grand, above, is at the age of taunt. She says "No", and you are supposed to argue with her on her level. I never do. I'm swift. I give a couple of response lines, if their behavior persists, it's time for something physical -- and that can include a time-out, a nap, a run in the yard, or yes, a nice little swat. I'm speak "non-verbally" too. ;> And in this regard, the toddler understands perfectly.
My late-talking abilities occurs AFTER the toddler is perfectly aware that I see what they do not. Then we talk. Perfectly, and with lots of love.
In this camper population, I guess I don't see many misdiagnosed children. The autistic children I see at camp are the real deal. You can't talk them out of being autistic. It would like trying to talk a stone into being a frog.
That's why I consider Savage's remarks about the 99% so completely asinine. I'm sure there are kids with lesser disabilities being diagnosed with "autistic spectrum" for a variety of reasons. If that was his point, I wouldn't disagree.
But his contention is that 99% of autistic children can be snapped out of it by yelling at them. What an idiot.
Regarding the explosion in autistic diagnosis, I don't really know the exact reasons for it, but I can speculate. One reason is that they are correctly identifying it more now, rather than just calling autistic children retarded or crazy. And of course there are false diagnosis and fraud, but I don't think the number is enormous.
In the years I've worked at the camp I work at, the percentage of male campers with autism has gone from about 5% to about 85%. Again, these are not kids with mere attention deficits or behavior problems. These are kids who will rock in place for three hours and recite the dialog to "The Emperor's New Groove" complete with sound effects from the opening frame to the end. Or a kid who will cut intricate snowflake patterns in construction paper for six hours straight and be happy about it. That sort of behavior. All the time.
Another major reason that the percentages at my camp have moved so strongly towards autism is the fact that so many Downs Syndrome kids are aborted, they've almost disappeared from the camper population. They used to be the vast majority 25 years ago. But that's a whole nuther issue.