Some medical terms are particularly scary. Think how you feel when a doctor uses the word "cancer" though most people die with cancer than of it. Autism is such a word and for good reason since, arising during the earliest period of life when the basic ego capacities governing thinking and behavior develop, it is perhaps the most devastating of all mental illnesses. And among the most distressing to witness too, with its severest form being instantly diagnosable from its helter-skelter aimless searching movements and self preoccupation. Making it understandable why the government would pay huge sums to transform these suffering children into adequately functioning adults.
But, and here's the rub: (1) Severe autism is relatively rare; (2) The mild autistic-like symptoms of many children are usually outgrown without treatment; (3) Autism is vastly misdiagnosed due to ignorance of child psychological development being widespread among professionals; and (4) A profitable industry created and underlain by this ignorance has developed.
The etiology of autism has been long known and a recent Australia study revealed its best, least expensive treatment. While no one experiences a perfect mothering, autism derives from the infant's experience of a severely deficient one. Sensing this parental inadequacy, for babies have greater cognitive abilities than had been believed, the child first seems precocious as they seek without assistance to achieve independence. When failing as they must, their protective mode of relating which can be characterized as the autistic shell develops.
The most effective intervention would be to provide intensive parenting education for parents on a one-to-one basis. When this was done during the Australia study almost none of the children exhibiting autism symptoms early in life were so diagnosed by age four-years. An apt saying in mental health treatment is that better is earlier. Ignorance is expensive, both financially and emotionally.