Bernard Rimland, 78, Researched Autism

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Bernard Rimland, a psychologist considered the father of modern autism research who founded the Autism Society of America, died November 21 at 78 at a nursing home outside San Diego.

Rimland devised new ways of treating autism. His book “Infantile Autism: The Syndrome and Its Implications for a Neural Theory of Behavior” (1964) disputed the prevailing view that autism was the psychological byproduct of uncaring mothers who forced their children to withdraw into a shell of indifference.

Instead, he concluded autism, which is characterized by poor language skills and the inability to handle social skills, was the result of a biochemical defect.

Rimland was one of the first to surmise the United States was undergoing an autism epidemic in which one of every 175 children is now afflicted.

He founded the Autism Society of America, the largest parent-based autism organization in the nation, with more than 100,000 members and supporters and 200 chapters.

Rimland was born in 1928 in Cleveland. His family moved to San Diego where he earned an undergraduate degree and a master’s in psychology at San Diego State University. He obtained his doctorate at Pennsylvania State University.

He married Gloria in 1951 and had a son, Mark, five years later who was diagnosed with autism. At the time, the medical community blamed mothers for the disorder. Rimland was determined to prove the theory wrong.

After several years of research, Rimland had his book published. It was initially ignored by doctors but was highly popular with psychology students.

In 1967, he started what is now known as the Autism Research Institute based in San Diego, and became an advocate for intensive behavioral therapy for autistic children.

He served as a technical advisor for the Oscar-winning film “Rain Man,” in which Dustin Hoffman modeled his performance, in part, on Rimland’s autistic son.


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