Wednesday, January 03, 2007

Bernard Rimland died


TIME Magazine

December 11, 2006
Milestones section

DIED. Bernard Rimland, 78, psychologist who pioneered modern autism research and advocacy and founded the Autism Society of America; in El Cajon, Calif. In 1958 Rimland diagnosed autism in his 2-year-old-son Mark with the help of a college textbook. The personal discovery led to a professional crusade. "This was war," he later wrote. In 1964, he published Infantile Autism, a landmark book that argued autism had biochemical roots and upended the then conventional wisdom that it was a child's response to 'refrigerator mothers" who didn't show adequate affection. An adviser to the makers of Rain Man - his son was a model for Dustin Hoffman's Oscar-winning 1988 turn as an autistic savant - Rimland also controversially claimed metals like mercury could trigger autism and vitamins could help treat it.


If it was not for Dr.Rimland, people might think Jessica was autistic because I was a bad mom! I owe him a great deal!

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