Table of Contents

Acknowledgments ix Introduction: Love as an Analytic Tool 1 Part One Chapter 1: Research Programs, "Autistic Disturbances,"and Human Difference 29 Chapter 2: Love Is Not Enough: Bruno Bettelheim, Infantile Autism,and Psychoanalytic Childhoods 61 Chapter 3: Expert Amateurs: Raising and Treating Children with Autism 93 Interlude: Parents Speak: The Art of Love and the Ethics of Care 125 Part Two Chapter 4: Brains, Pedigrees, and Promises: Lessons from the Politics of Autism Genetics 141 Chapter 5: Desperate and Rational: Parents and Professionals in Autism Research 167 Chapter 6: Pandora's Box: Immunizations, Parental Obligations,and Toxic Facts 197 Conclusion: What the World Needs Now: Learning About and Acting on Autism Research 229 Notes 237 Bibliography 313 Index 329

About the Author

Chloe Silverman is an associate professor in the department of English at Pennsylvania State University.

Reviews

"For Chloe Silverman, 'understanding autism' means understanding how autism has become a diagnostic category and why for some people, in autism advocacy groups for example, it isn't a pathology at all but just a different way of seeing the world... Silverman's remarkable book is a testimony to the difference parents of autistic children have made to the understanding of autism, and it also has things to say about the difference a parent's understanding can make to understanding many other things that children suffer from."--Adam Phillips, London Review of Books "Autism remains a contested condition, and given the steep rise in research, diagnosis rates and media coverage, the debate is set to run and run. Science historian Chloe Silverman gives a balanced, sensitive social history of autism that unflinchingly covers many controversial byways. She explores the theory and biomedical advances, and how gene banks, schools and autism organizations have enriched understanding--augmented by parents of children with autism, whose experiences have informed and inspired much research."--Nature "Comprehensive, well annotated, and fascinating to read, Understanding Autism will appeal to readers from a broad variety of disciplines. Silverman provides an honest and refreshing perspective on encouraging dialogue about a condition that will likely continue to be in the public spotlight for decades to come."--Science "Silverman provides a very good account of autism; knowledgeable readers will find themselves nodding along with the details. The author excellently portrays the relationship of autism with its social history."--Choice "Silverman's book presents a vivid picture of the ongoing and somewhat dialectical (in the Hegelian sense) relationship between parents of autistic children and professionals who specialize in autism."--W. R. Albury, Bulletin of the History of Medicine "Understanding Autism provides a much-needed and thorough history of autism. In addition, it makes a convincing case for incorporating affective relationships into science and technology studies and our understandings of the foundational elements of expertise. At moments in the book, however, the tension between affect and science are incompletely resolved. These moments of tension will likely prove elucidating in future research."--Marissa King, American Journal of Sociology