| Abstract: | Presents an obituary for Eric Schopler, an authority on the diagnosis and treatment of autism spectrum disorders, who died at his home outside Mebane, North Carolina, on July 7, 2006, after a courageous battle with cancer. Eric Schopler spent his life promoting three truths about autism: that it is a developmental disorder, that treatment should be educational rather than psychiatric, and that parents can be effective cotherapists. If these truths are widely recognized today, it is in large measure because people like Eric had the vision to base their understanding of the disorder on empirical foundations and the courage to stay true to their convictions in a day when nonempirical, psychogenic theories dominated the field. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved) |
