My thoughts exactly.

One of my nephews was recently diagnosed with mild autism. And honestly, I'm not sure where I stand on that.

While Mr. Savage was, perhaps, a bit savage in his language, there are some elements of his argument I agree with.

The way my brother- and sister-in-law have raised their children can be described as "feral". Very little discipline is involved, and when it is, it is extremely mild. Coupled with a known streak of pretty serious dyslexia that runs through my husband's family, my husband and I just aren't sure this very headstrong child is actually autistic.

For example - when going through potty training, he gave his parents a tough time. They, however, weren't very strict about it. But when he spent about 10 days with my in-laws, he was all but potty-trained at the end of his visit, because my in-laws clearly laid down the rules and made it unpleasant for him to break them. However, within 3 days of going back to his own house? He regressed to his former state.

His doctors did determine he has a IQ within normal range. They also determined he is - like many in the family - dyslexic, which can cause some of the communication issues (it did with my husband, and my MIL fought tooth-and-nail for someone to confirm that in the 70's - she knew her son was bright enough and that dyslexia ran in the family - dyslexia was not in vogue then, you see). And on our last visit - a few months after the diagnosis - the child was completely out of control. Completely inappropriate behaviour and lots of hitting if you tried to control him in any way. His parents would just brush the behaviour off and say "he's autistic - we can't do anything about it." But give him a slice of chocolate cake and a movie to watch? Obedient as a lamb.

As someone who works with kids a bit (a side-effect of being a paleontologist), I've worked with autistic more than once. So I'm not denying it's out there, and that it's not a difficult road for parents and generally heart-breaking. But honestly? Autistic kids tend to be easier to control than this wild child.

Perhaps there is something that we're missing - I'm totally acceptable to that idea. But this is a child who has always been bright and doesn't really show the social-averse patterns of autism, not to mention you really don't see a lot of the repetitive and/or focused behaviour (other than getting his way). He has always been a willful child, and his will has always been catered to, many times through manipulation.

So I do wonder if his doctors simply labeled him autistic, as it's the thing to do these days. Because every time I turn around, it seems about 1 in 3 of the children I run into have some sort of developmental disorder. While perhaps there is something environmental (or something to the vaccine theory), I do have to wonder if it's just easier for the doctors to give these children a diagnosis the family can wrap their head around.