Resource: A Spectrum of Disputes

            In “A Spectrum of Disputes,” Paul T. Shattuck, a professor of social work at Washington University, and Maureen Durkin, an epidemiologist at the University of Wisconsin, seek to argue that the radical increase in identifications of autism, which we discussed in class, is not an epidemic but merely a shift in the way we classify autism.  This article is accessible through the Lexis-Nexis Academic database.  The article comes forth in response to legal action against the Department of Health & Human Services to determine whether vaccines truly can cause autism.  Although the article avoids this topic altogether, it does seek to dismiss any notion of autism as an epidemic.  It first notes that the original definition of autism developed by Leo Kanner in 1943 was very narrow compared to the definition of autism as a spectrum that is used today.  The government is also much more thorough in its search to identify all children with autism than it has been in the past.  The rise in students classified with autism has also been accompanied by a drop in the number of students classified as having learning disabilities or intellectual and development disabilities.  The authors believe that many of these students are now being described as autistic.  The authors do not wish to deny that autism is serious, but they wish to make clear that autism should be treated the same whether or not it is an epidemic.  Lastly the author claims that schools and related services are not able to keep pace with the rapid advancement of knowledge on autism.  This article cites several federal autism studies in order to support its claims.  The key notion from this article is that educators of autistic children must be knowledgeable about the latest research on autism so that they may incorporate the best practices possible into instruction.

Work cited:

Shattuck, Paul T. & Durkin, Maureen.  “A Spectrum of Disputes.”  The New York Times.

            11 June 2007, Late Edition – Final: A19.