Myth Buster Research Paper
Kemper Martin
ASU
SPE521
Professor Paul
November 21, 2017 Myth Buster Research Paper
Introduction
There are many myths regarding the cause of Autism. One myth will be discussed in this paper. The myth is “Autism is caused by poor parenting, “refrigerator mothers”. The origin of this myth started in 1943 by Dr. Leo Kanner. He made it now that a lack of parental nurturing and connection with their autist child was attributed to the child’s ASD. In 1949 he wrote a paper coining the term “Refrigerator Mother” theory.
Evidence Against Myth
Along with their now-much-maligned colleague Bruno Bettelheim, who further popularized the figure of the “refrigerator mother,” these eminent researchers were wrong…show more content… In a 1960 interview, he described parents of autistic children as "just happening to defrost enough to produce a child" (and is believed to be the source of the "refrigerator parent" label). He was hardly the only authority to blame autism on poor parenting though. Child development specialist, Bruno Bettelheim and other psychoanalysts also stressed the role of "cold and distant" parents (usually the mother) in causing autism in children. And so the "refrigerator mother" hypothesis was…show more content… Along with Bettleheim, other psychiatrists took up the cause of protecting children from their "refrigerator parents." Autism was often compared to the environmental retardation seen in neglected children and psychoanalysts such as Margaret Mahler weighed in with their own theories on how autistic children were unable to separate themselves from their mothers.
As early as 1964 though, parents of autistic children began fighting back. Bernard Rimland, a psychologist and a father of an autistic child, wrote a book debunking the refrigerator parent hypothesis and the various misconceptions surroundings the causes of autism (Leo Kanner wrote the foreword for the book). Along with his own research into autistic children, Rimland became a spokesperson for parents of autistic children and helped found the Autism Society of
