Myths about Autism

MYTH #1

Autism has a psychological causation, in that the mothers of these children, intentionally or not, did not love their children. The term "refrigerator mother" was born, referring to the fact that the mother was cold toward her child. For many years, this was believed to be the cause of autism. Parents, desperately seeking help for their children, were told by professionals whom they trusted, that they were the cause of the condition. This caused much needless guilt on the part of the parents.

MYTH #2

A common misconception is that children are unloving and do not have any emotional feelings. On the surface this may seem to be the case because children don’t always express their emotions in a way that people recognize. As parents of children with autism, people know that although our children are unable to show their emotions in a traditional way, they certainly do have them and many children with ASD are very attached to their parents. For anyone willing to take the time to recognize them, you will be able to pick up on the ways our children do show emotions and love. It takes looking at things from a different perspective, to see the many ways individuals with autism show their emotions. After all, how do we explain autistic children’s behavioral issues if there are no emotions.


MYTH #3

We’ve all been out to a grocery store or running errands when we come across a child throwing a temper tantrum, including screaming, throwing, and hitting. We may wonder why a mother or father is letting their child do this without any discipline or reprimands. If this is a child with autism, he has most likely lost control due to sensory overload. The sounds, visual stimulation, and the overwhelming crowds are just too much for this child to take in which results in a melt down. Parents are unrightfully blamed for not disciplining their children. Imagine not being able to filter out sounds. So many of us are used to having the power to control what we take in of our environment that we cannot conceive how this child’s brain just went into overload. Individuals with autism often are not able to filter out all the other sounds in the environment, isolate sensitivity issues about bumping into people in crowds, or be capable of sorting out all the visual stimulation that exists around them at once. All this that we take for granted, an individual with autism usually has to handle item by item and sometimes they just can't take it, their brain just gets too confused from all the input, resulting in a "blow out" or "overload". Imagine not being able to filter out sounds. So many of us are used to having the power to control what we take in of our environment that we cannot conceive how this child’s brain just went into overload. Individuals with autism often are not able to filter out all the other sounds in the environment, isolate sensitivity issues about bumping into people in crowds, or be capable of sorting out all the visual stimulation that exists around them at once. All this that we take for granted, an individual with autism usually has to handle item by item and sometimes they just can't take it, their brain just gets too confused from all the input, resulting in a "blow out" or "overload".