The only problem with this otherwise interesting theory would be families like mine, where for reasons of religious strictness we allowed almost no video, TV or computer game access for our son and he was still diagnosed with Aspergers.

I would definitely not expect this to be the "complete" explanation. Autism did exist before it became common for very young children to watch TV. It seems like it may be a component of the problem, but there are other reasons as well.

I don't think this is even a component. It would be like saying plastic dinosaur toys cause autism, because most of the little autistic boys I know prefer playing with plastic dinosaurs toys to hugging their friends. Pure silliness: I suspect a prank article.

If there was study that found a population of boys with abnornally high levels of autism when compared with years before, who only recently played with plastic dionsaurs at a certain developmental stage, to the exclusion of human interation for better than a quarter of their waking hours for years, then there would be a valid concern in examining the value of plastic dionsaurs either for their chemistry, or for the pattern of action and perception that impacts their brain function. There is no correlation between play with a toy and autism. There is correlation between television and autism. It could also be the chemstry of the carpet that they sit on when they watch it as much as anything else, but the correlation bears investigation.

Or that austism rates went up in counties where plastic dinosuars were sold faster than in counties without any plastic dinosaurs.