The Myth of Autism -March 2002

[Guest guest]

Below is the text of Dr. Goldberg's latest version of 'The Myth of Autism'

If you would like a copy in Word.doc format, please e-mail me @

marc@...

Thanks

J. Goldberg, M.D., F.A.A.P.

5620 WILBUR AVENUE, SUITE 318

TARZANA, CALIFORNIA 91356

TELEPHONE (818) 343 - 1010

FAX (818) 343 - 6585

Email – office@...

On the web: www.neuroimmunedr.com

ADHD/ADD - LEARNING DISABILITIES

IMMUNE DYSFUNCTION

CFS/CFIDS

AUTISM

" The Myth of Autism "

In Leo Kanner's now classic 1943 paper he outlined the behavior pattern,

present from early in life,

which he named 'early infantile autism'. Prior to this, there were, in the

literature, occasional accounts

of individual children whose behavior fitted the picture Kanner later

described. Kanner described only

the autistic children referred to his clinic and, later on, those attending

a particular special school

(Kanner,1973). He made no estimates of the numbers in the general

population, but thought that his

syndrome was rare.

Later on Kanner and Eisenberg (1956) discussed Kanner's original conception

of autism and the five

features he considered to be diagnostic. These were, a profound lack of

affective contact with other

people; an anxiously obsessive desire for the preservation of sameness in

the child's routines and

environment; a fascination for objects, which are handled with skill in fine

motor movements (an

area of actual weakness in many of the children being diagnosed today);

mutism or a kind of

language that does not seem intended for inter-personal communication; good

cognitive potential

shown in feats of memory or skills on performance tests, especially the

Séguin form board. Kanner

also emphasized onset from birth or before 30 months.

In the same paper, Kanner and Eisenberg modified the diagnostic criteria by

selecting two as essential.

These were:

1. a profound lack of affective contact

2. repetitive, ritualistic behavior, which must be of an elaborate kind.

They considered that, if these two features were present, the rest of the

typical clinical picture would

also be found

THEN: 1 – 2 children / 10,000

NOW: 1 child / 500, with much higher numbers being quoted routinely

So, how can so many children now have such a previously rare disorder? How

can a rare, almost

unheard of " severe mental dysfunction " become something every pediatrician

is seeing, something

every parent is concerned about? How can we now have this rare misfortune

become an

epiphenomena threatening to overwhelm our school and social systems, while

destroying families

across this country, and around the world?

To understand this, one needs to go back to the beginning. Per above,

Kanner (1943) described a

disorder by its " behavioral " features. Needless to say, " behavioral "

dysfunction can be caused by

many factors, NOT just the idea of a developmental or psychiatric

dysfunction, as held forth, for so

many years. Think of it, an idea, literally now dictum, held forth over

decades, with ONLY a

" behavioral " pattern for diagnosis, not one objective or consistent

physiologic dysfunction or finding

required to prove or disprove this " disorder / diagnosis, " (but " somehow "

all these children have it FOR

LIFE). In fact, over the years, to this day, health professionals have had

no idea what causes this

disorder. Explanations have ranged from childhood schizophrenia to bad

parenting to " something "

biologic, all with the underlying concept that " something " must have

happened " developmentally. "

Somehow (mechanism unknown) the brain was " miswired, " these children were

not okay, COULD NOT

be okay (but with NO idea of what was happening, WHY it happened, even HOW

it happened).

Graduating medical school (UCLA) I was told that IF I saw one Autistic child

in my entire lifetime of

practice it would be " one too many. " Over the last 10 – 15 years that is

sadly no longer true for myself

or many other pediatricians. How can this be? Scientifically (logic not

myth) how can this be possible?

Since " developmental " disorders were NOT considered " medical " disorders,

medical doctors were not

the primary physicians consulted or involved with their management.

Likewise, the brain was

essentially a " Black Box, " with essentially no real evidence allowing study

or insight into what was really

happening with this or most " neurological " or " psychological disorders. If

there was NO definable

objective reason for what was happening, " it must be psychological " seemed

the standard cry of

medicine. Therefore, as Psychologists and Psychiatrists rapidly expanded

the above definition to

include all the children appearing with " spectrum " dysfunction, the first

large mistake was made.

Suddenly (mid - late 80's / early 90's) there were a lot of children

appearing that did NOT fit " classic "

Autism. This should have created appropriate questions and initiated

scientific, medical investigations.

" What's going on? Why are we suddenly seeing so many dysfunctional

children? Maybe something is

wrong here? MAYBE this is not Autism? Instead, literally the " definition "

just kept being expanded,

modified, and ALL the new children were just put into a variation of the OLD

basket. It is very likely,

children and society itself would be way ahead IF instead of expanding the

" basket " enlarging the

alphabet soup of Autism (PDD, Aspergers, Autistic spectrum, LKS variant,

etc.), experts had said,

maybe this is NOT Autism, maybe we have another problem (with some

" Autistic " like symptoms)

occurring. Instead they (the " experts " ) just kept expanding the definition,

expanding the " basket " but

NEVER asked the critical question, do these children even belong in this

basket? How many parents

(often against their own belief) presently are being told their children

have this strange disorder (or are

on the spectrum) and they must learn to live with it, accept it? How many

parents think their children

even come close to meeting Kanner's main criteria " a profound lack of

affective contact and elaborate

repetitive, ritualistic behavior? "

The good news is science is finally on the children's side, but sadly it

appears the old logic and system

are many years away from changing or waking up. A cold, hard fact of

science says " You cannot have

an epidemic of ANY type of genetic or developmental disorder " It is

impossible, cannot happen, there

are NO exceptions!! And yet, the vast majority of the researchers in this

country, the world, are still

studying these children as if they truly had some undefined, unknown

" developmental " disorder.

Instead of looking for the correct answers, instead of focusing on at this

point what can ONLY be

understood as a DISEASE (not developmental) process, the " system " continues

to fund researcher's

trying to figure out and understand " Autism " (as a developmental disorder).

This is why so little

progress has occurred in spite of millions of dollars being spent.

Researchers are being funded to

study what 99.9% of the children appearing today CANNOT have. IF this

process continues,

EVERYONE will lose (except the researchers and universities receiving mass

amounts of funding and

the " industry " of " alternative therapists " helping to try and " treat " these

sadly dysfunctional, " special

needs " children).

As noted, it is blatantly obvious to all but the " system, " 99.9% of your

children do not come close to

meeting Kanner's definition of Autism. It has become absolutely safe to

say, 99.9% of children being

diagnosed as " Autistic " do not have Autism (as the term is understood or

used), but rather reflect a

disease state, a CNS dysfunction, manifested by many Autistic symptoms, but

unlike a developmental

disorder, treatable, changeable IF we act quickly enough. But, how many of

the present " leaders, " how

many of the existing " Autistic " groups are questioning present funding,

present efforts? How many are

going before congress saying we have a large group of children that IF

helped, IF treated might grow

up to be productive citizens, might pay taxes (rather than utilize tax

services) one day? Why NOT?

That is the " myth " of Autism. Children are being " labeled " with a disorder

they DO NOT really have.

Parents are being told there is little hope, when there should be a lot of

reasons for hope. As long as

we continue to " label " so many children / families with this " undefined, "

" unexplained " disorder, few

physicians, parents, or congressman EXPECT these children could ever really

recover, really regain

regular function. In the " myth " of Autism, many dangerous or partially

successful therapies abound,

with " some success (often with large risks) being better than nothing. "

Think of the difference, if

physicians, therapists EXPECTED a child to recover, were focused on finding

answers to fix this now,

for this generation of children, rather than accept any degree of " minute "

improvement as " wonderful " .

It has become obvious, that " neuro-immune, " and / or chronic viral

connections are the only pathways,

the only " proposed " mechanisms that have NO scientific contradictions, and

an ever-enlarging

compendium of articles in support. While many will pose the questions

" where are the controlled

studies, " EVERY medical fact and recent discovery helps substantiate the

likelihood of an autoimmune,

" neuro-immune " related process. Perhaps it's time this question / challenge

should be turned around.

WHERE are the studies, where is the data showing all these children, all

these families have to resign

themselves to some permanent dysfunction, incurable disorder? Based on what

" objective " data,

based on what " objective " studies are we committing so many children and

families to this bleak

prognosis, a very bleak future?

We ARE presently at a major crossroads. Are we going to continue to follow

(blindly) OLD logic, OLD

thinking with NO consistent physiologic dysfunction measurable / documented;

OR can we unite behind

scientifically sound data, more than " reasonable medical probability, " and

clinical logic before we lose

forever the chance to help THIS generation of children. There are excellent

researchers, clinicians, and

scientists ready to focus on solving this disease NOW, rather than study the

" myth, " but this effort

() remains buried under the wall of " controlled " misinformation.

Unless, we all step up now to

change this, to demand clinical science and logic, not " mythology " be

applied to these children, the

" system " could easily take another 10 – 15 years (or longer) to come around

to the right answers. How

many are ready to step up and say, " enough is enough " ? How many millions of

dollars have been

spent (particularly in the last 6 – 7 years) with NO answers, NO new hope?

Are we all going to wait

another decade (or longer as many researchers predict) for possible answers

or are we going to help

solve this NOW? The effort was formed to help look at this crisis

appropriately scientifically,

logically, MEDICALLY. Many parents are working hard to help make a real

future for their children. It

is up to all of you to decide if that effort is going to get a chance to

succeed NOW for your children. Do

we continue to follow " mythology " or do we turn to clinical logic and a true

scientific understanding of

your children's dysfunction / disease??

Respectfully submitted for consideration of all parents, educators,

therapists, and health professionals

being overwhelmed by " The Myth of Autism " (perhaps its time to change the

focus, maybe really

change the future for this generation of children and families)

J. Goldberg, MD, F.A.A.P.

March 2002

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions. I can be reached

at 818-951-8579

** Marc Share

President & Executive Director

Research Institute and Parents Coalition

'Working To Give Our Children A Future'