Autism Research Paradigm Shift

Published: July 15, 2007, 2:08 am

Tags: autism treatment, applied autism research, university of minnesota, thomas kuhn, scientific revolution, autism knowledge revolution, paradigm shift

The Autism Knowledge Revolution is taking shape before our eyes on the inter-net with reports on a regular basis of new breakthroughs in autism research. At the University of Minnesota it is hoped that a new autism research center will be accompanied by a paradigm shift in how autism is viewed. In an opinion article, TwinCities.com reviews the shift from Bettelheim's "refrigerator mom" theory which viewed autism as arising from personal interaction, or lack thereof, between mother and infant child to a genetic model which viewed autism as irreversible with the only viable treatment being behavior therapy promising only the possibility of limited improvements. The new paradigm views autism as both preventable and treatable by a combination of behavioral and biomedical approaches and autistic children as recoverable:Autism research is poised for another paradigm shift, from an irreversible condition to a treatable disease. In the revolutionary paradigm, autism is not a rare disorder

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