The Emanuel Miller Memorial Lecture 1998: Autism: Two‐way Interplay between Research and Clinical Work

Abstract

The two-way interplay between research and clinical practice in relation to autism is reviewed with respect to: (1) diagnosis and syndrome delineation; (2) the nature of the disorder: (3) intervention studies; and (4) aetiology, as manifest during four time periods; (a) the 1950s and 1960s; (b) the 1970s into the mid 1980s; (c) the late 1980s and early 1990s; and (d) the late 1990s. It is concluded that clinical practice has changed out of all recognition during the last 50 years and that research findings have been crucial in bringing about that change. It has not, however, been a one-way traffic. Many key advances were prompted by astute clinical observations and some extravagant research claims were given a more balanced perspective through the light of clinical experience. Crucial research and clinical tasks remain but the means to meet them are there if the opportunities are taken and attention is paid to the lessons of the past.

Autism Research: Lessons from the Past and Prospects for the Future

“…A corollary of that is that it is necessary to provide systematic feedback to families on research findings and, throughout all our studies, we have attempted to do that. It is also necessary to work closely, and cooperatively, with parent organizations and with special schools, and many of the studies that I have mentioned have been possible only through such partnerships (Rutter, 1998(Rutter, , 1999.…”

Autism Spectrum Disorders and Childhood-Onset Schizophrenia: Clinical and Biological Contributions to a Relation Revisited

“…DSM III-R, IV and DSM IV-TR further elaborated the PDD category3, 4. This distinction enabled decades of research validating different patterns with respect to familial, brain imaging, and genetic risk5-8. Clinically, this has been a basic and self evident distinction as age of onset, differential diagnosis, and treatment of the two conditions differed 9.…”

Are the Majority of Children With Autism Mentally Retarded?

“…According to Rutter (1999), researchers in the field of autism research long ago determined that most children with autism were, in fact, mentally retarded. In a lecture on the evolution of research and clinical practice related to autism from the 1950s through 1998, Rutter (1999) discussed the focus of autism research across four time frames.…”

“…In a lecture on the evolution of research and clinical practice related to autism from the 1950s through 1998, Rutter (1999) discussed the focus of autism research across four time frames. He stated that in the 1950s and 1960s, there were many comparative studies focusing on the differentiation of autism from MR. By the 1970s, Rutter noted that it was already believed to be the case the most children with autism had MR.…”