SDA-RF-CH-4.11.pdf

Media

extracted text
HONDA PRESENTS THE 191
ERA TEST RESULTS.
FOR OBVIOUS REASONS
What you’re looking at are the results of
a gas mileage test performed on 1974 cars by the
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
The test simulated an average trip under
city driving conditions.
If you’re in the market for a new car, we suggest
you make use of these results as follows.
1. Go down the list until you find >
considering.
2. Compare its mileage to th
top of the list.
3. Then decide.
This list is being published
car at the top of the list. Partly as a ■
TRAMS P.PG

Honda Civic.
Ml 29.1
Volkswagen 412 Wagon .
M4 27 9
Toyota Corolla 1200 Coupe
Ml 27.1
Lotus Europa Special
M5 25.2
Datsun B210
Ml 24.9
Toyota Corolla 1200 Sedan
Ml 24.8
Volkswagen 412 Wagon
A3 24.6
Chevrolet Vega Hatchback
M3 24.6
Lotus Europa
Ml 24.5
Volkswagen Dasher Sedan
Ml 24.3
Volkswagen Dasher Wagon
A3 23.7
Volkswagen Dasher Sedan
A3 23.3
Triumph Spitfire
Ml 23.1
Ford Pinto
Ml 22.8
Dodge Colt Wagon
Ml 228
Dodge Colt Coupe
A3 22.7
Subaru Wagon .
Ml 99 7
Toyota Corolla 1600 Sedan
Ml 22.6
Volkswagen Convertible
SA 22.6
BMW 2002
A3 22.6
Dodge Colt Coupe
M1 22.5
MG Midget
Ml 99 4
Datsun B210
A3 22 2
Renault 17 Gordini
M5 22 2
Renault 12 Wagon
A3 99 9
Audi Fox . .
Ml 22.6
Dodge Colt Wagon
A3 21.9
Honda Civic
SA 218
Saab 97
.
. ..
Ml 21.7
Volkswagen Karman Ghia
Ml 21.7
Subaru Coupe . ..
Ml 21.7
Toyota Corolla 1600 W'agon
A3 21 1
Volkswagen 181“Thing"
Ml 21.0
Volkswagen Super Beetle
Ml 20.9
Toyota Corolla 1600 Sedan.
A2 20.8
Datsun 710
A3 20.7
Datsun 610.
Ml 20.6
Fiat Xl/9 .
M4 20.4
BMW' 2002 tii
...
M4 20.3
Fiat 124 Special TC
. Ml 20.2
Ford Mustang
...............
M4 20.1
Datsun 710........................
Ml 20.0
Mazda 808 Coupe .
. . . M4 20.0
Chevrolet Vega Panel
Express........................ . M3 20.0
Chevrolet Vega Kammback
A3 20.0
Lincoln-Mercury Comet . . M3 19.9
Ope) .Manta Rallye........... . . M4 19.8
Ml 19.8
Lincoln-Mercury Capri ..
A3 19.8
Datsun 610
....................
M5 19.7
Alfa Romeo 2000 Berlina
Ml 19.7
Ford Pinto W'agon
Volkswagen Kombi-22
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Ml 19.6

Chevrolet Vega Hnlchbirk
Saab 99 LE
Toyota Mark I! Wagon
Alfa Romeo 2000 G 1 '•
Renault 12 Sedan
Porsche 911-3'
TVR 2500 M
Volkswagen Kombi-22
(Microbus)
Mazda 808 Coupe
Renault 12 Sedan
MGB
Toyota Corona SR Sedan
Toyota Corona SR Sedan
Volvo 1-15
Opel Manta
Opel 1900
Hat 121 Sport Sedan
Renault 15 TL Coupe
Opel Manta Luxus
Fiat 121 Special 1'C
Fiat 128 W'agon
Fiat 121 W'agon
Porsche 914-1
Renault 17 TL Coupe
Volvo 142
Fiat 128 Sedan
Chevrolet Vega Hatchback
Ford Mustang
Porsche 911S
Ford Pinto
Peugeot 504 Sedan
Volvo 14-1
Ford Mustang
Lincoln-Mercury Capri
Porsche 911 S
Triumph TR-6
Peugeot 501 Sedan
Plymouth Valiant Duster
Ford Maverick
Ford Pinto W'agon
MGB/GT
Datsun 260Z
Porsche 911 T
Audi 100
Saab 99 LE
Fiat 124 Sport Coupe
Dodge Dart
AMC Gremlin
Datsun 260Z
Chevrolet Nova Hatchback
AMC Gremlin
Ford Maverick
Lincoln-Mercury Comet

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Chevrolet Vega Panel
Express
Toyota Mark 11 Sedan
Toyota Mark II Wagon
Toyota Mark II Sedan
Chevrolet Nova Hatchback
AMC Hornet Sedan
Volvo Hi!
Mercedes Benz 230
Merced— B.-ez 280
Ford Torino
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AMC JavMin
AMC Amba^ador
Mazda RX 3 Wagon
Eord
Mazda RX 3 Coupe
Mazda RX 2 Coupe
Mercedes Benz 150
Mazda RX 4 Wagon
Ford Pantera
Buick Century 350
Buick LeSabre
Cadillac Eldorado
Mazda RX 1 Coupe
Jaguar E Type V-12
Oldsmobile Cutlass
Chevrolet Impala Custom
Coupe
Pontiac Trans Am
Ferrari Dino 2-I6 GT
Chevrolet Impala Estate .
Wagon
Pontiac Ventura

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HONDA

The Honda Civic. More miles per gal

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Chevrolet Malibu Classic
Pontiac Le.Mans
Ford Torino
Buick Century' Wagon
Jaguar E Type V-12
Buick Estate Wagon
Chevrolet Caprice Wagon
Lincoln-Mercury Cougar
Ford Wagon
Oldsmobile Cutlass
Supreme
Pontiac Le.Mans
Rolls Royce Silver Shadow
Pontiac Catalina
Pontiac Le.Mans
Buick Grand Sport
Chrysler
Oldsmobile Delta 88 Royal
Pontiac Ventura GTO
Pontiac Ventura GTO
Chrysler Wagon
Plymouth Furv Wagon
Cadillac DeViile
Buick Regal
Pontiac Grand Am
Chevrolet Caprice Classic
Oldsmobile Vista Cruiser
Cadillac Fleetwood
Pontiac Trans Am
Pontiac Le.Mans Safari
Excalibur II
Dixlge Sport Wagon
Pontiac Grand Safari
(Hdsmobile Toronado
Buick Electra 225
Pontiac Catalina Safari
Jensen Inti rceplor
Pontiac Grand Ville
Mercury Wagon
Lincoln Continental
Maserati 120
Pontiac Bonneville
Chevrolet Chevellc Laguna
Oldsmobile 98 Regency'
Oldsmobile Delta 88 Wagon
Lamborghini Jarama
Lamborghini Espada
Ferrari 365 GTB-4

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65

MEDICINE

called “endogenous” form of depression,
which seems to arise without any evi­
dence of a traumatic life experience to
account for it, is rarely diagnosed in
youngsters. In nearly all cases, childhood
depression is “reactive,” associated with
an event in the child's life, usually in­
volving the parents. “The child-psychia­
try books of twenty years ago may not
have even mentioned it,” says Dr.
Leon Cytryn of the George Washington
University School of Medicine. “But
we're beginning to realize that there are
many depressed children and we suspect
a lot of them become depressed adoles­
cents and depressed adults.”
Its most pathetic form is the “anaclitic” (from the Greek, “leaning on”)
depression that is observed in infants
separated from their mothers in the first
six months of life and raised in institu­

of Columbia, may be overlooked by (he
parents for months, but psychological
testing may bring out the true extent of
the child’s depression quite quickly.
Asked to draw a picture and then tell
a story about it, an 8-year-old boy
brought to McKnew recently drew a pic­
ture of a small whale. Then he told how
the whale was lost and was trying to get
home. lie tried to hitch a ride with an­
other whale, but slipped off its back.
Then he joined a school of whales, but
they swam too fast for him to keep up.
So the whale in the picture was lying
with another whale, also lost, waiting to
be found. “If an adult told you a story
like that,” notes McKnew, “you’d imme­
diately give him antidepressants.”
Depression in children almost always
follows a sense of loss. Acute reactions
occur, understandably enough, after the

situations that may be at the bottom of
his problem. The play-therapy concept is
based on the common-sense notion that
play is a more natural mode of expression
for a child than verbalizing.dreams.
One of the most common problems
that call for psychiatric attention in chil­
dren is school phobia. It may be a symp­
tom of depression, but may also have a
far more readily treated cause. Dr. Lee
Salk recalls the case of Stephen, age 5,
who lived on the twelfth floor of a New
York apartment with his parents and
grandparents, who continually expressed
their fear of burglars. His mother warned
him constantly of the evils that could
befall him when he went out to play and
often warned him not to let the elevator
doors close on him. Soon, he had devel­
oped a fear of both burglars and eleva­
tors, and was afraid to go out alone.
Not surprisingly, his anxieties contin-.
ued at school; his mother would drop!
him off at the door but could count on
his coming out again minutes later. The
problem, as Salk explained, was that the
child had become totally helpless outside
his mother’s purview and dependent on
her attention—a common source of school
phobias. Salk explained to the overanx­
ious mother that Stephen should hear
fewer dire predictions about the world
outside and be allowed more independ­
ence. In weeks, he was spending full
days in school.

The relief of the most serious problems

Robert R. McElroy—Newsweek

Keep trying: TEACCII therapists working with a difficult patient

tions where they get little attention
and neural stimulation. These babies,
starved for warmth, withdraw and dis­
play some of the signs of autism, such
as monotonous rocking and, as they grow
older, difficulties with language. They
will improve with regard to language and
motor skills if moved to a favorable en­
vironment, but the profound emotional
impact of their early experience may
be devastating.
Beyond the age of 6, the depressed
child may show signs of sadness, social
withdrawal and apathy similar to the
symptoms of adult depression. But usual­
ly it is masked. In young children it
may be expressed in psychosomatic head­
aches or vomiting; in older children it
may show up in aggressive behavior,
truancy, vandalism and, particularly
among girls, sexual promiscuity. The pe­
riodic episodes of sadness that are the
tip-off, notes Dr. Donald H. McKnew Jr.
of the Children’s Hospital of the District

58

death of a parent or close relative, divorce
or a move to a new community. Often,
they are more like grief reactions and
disappear with time. But many depres­
sions occur because the child senses a
withdrawal of interest and affection
through frequent separations from, say, a
father who travels a lot; or because a
parent conveys an attitude of rejection or
deprecation. In most instances, one or
another of the parents has a depressed
personality, McKnew observes.
Antidepressant medication is seldom
prescribed for children. Most often, psy­
chiatric counseling, involving both parent
and child, is required. Fortunately, psy­
chotherapy usually is effective. Here psy­
chiatrists have devised methods that
sidestep the completely verbal methods
of communication used in more adult
forms of psychotherapy. One of the most
widely used is play therapy, in which the
child uses a variety of toys to expose,
under the therapist’s watchful eye, the

of troubled children—autism, schizophre­
nia and hyperkinesis—must await much
further research into the physical and
biochemical mysteries of the brain. What
is required is the same sort of commit­
ment on the part of private agencies and
the government that. has lately been
mounted in the war against cancer and
heart disease. At the same time, the
children who are already victims of these
tragic disabilities must be afforded the
special training that will give them the
best chance of finding a useful life. In
view of the fact that 10 per cent of the
nation’s children are now destined to
develop some form of emotional disabili­
ty, the effort would seem a small price
to pay.
Meanwhile, in the view of child ex­
perts, there is a good deal that parents
can do to protect their children from
many kinds of serious emotional damage.
First, says Salk, is to recognize the child’s
dependency during the first year , of life
and respond unstintingly to his need for
warmth and affection. Once the child
has learned to trust his parents, it is time
to set limits that prepare him for his en­
counters with the world. To contend with
the child’s impulse to explore his environ­
ment, knocking over countless glasses of
milk as he goes, may be a frustrating and
seemingly endless task, Salk concedes.
“But,” he adds, “for the parent who loves
his child, has patience and can still see
the world through a child’s eyes, the re­
wards are beyond measure.’’
Newsweek, April 8, 1974

MEDICINE

homes. Through a one-way glass, thera­
pists show parents how to reward the
child with hugs, or candy, when he per­
forms an expected task. The early exer­
cises focus on such basics as looking the
parent in the eye, learning concepts
such as “same” and “different” by sorting
knives, forks or other objects, and learn­
ing to identify objects with words. Par­
ents are taught to distract their children
from psychotic movement, such as rock­
ing. When a child fails to respond, the
parent is assured that it is correct to
show displeasure.
The road to advancement is painfully
arduous, but many children do improve.
Michael, a brown-haired 5-year-old,
couldn’t talk and was unmanageable
when he entered TEACCH a year and a
half ago. Now he has a vocabulary of
750 words and behaves well enough to
attend a special school. David, who had
an IQ of 70 when treatment began nine
years ago, now scores 30 points higher
and is getting average grades at a regular
private school. "By getting to them ear­
ly,” says Schopler, “some children can be
salvaged.”
SCHIZOPHRENIA

Schizophrenia in children bears some
resemblance to autism and many psy­
chiatrists consider them related. The
child may be withdrawn and fail to use
words. He may also be overactive and
aggressive. Unlike schizophrenic adults,
56

children affected by the dis­
order don’t usually hear voic­
es or otherwise hallucinate.
But they do fantasize, ac­
cording to psychiatrists, and
they often can’t distinguish
between the real and the
imaginary.
In the past, psychoanalysts
tended to ascribe schizophre­
nia largely to the influence of
a castrating “schizophrenogenic” mother. Many psychi­
atrists today believe the emo­
tional environment of the
home may play a greater
part in tire disorder than is
the case with autism. But a
growing number of the ex­
perts are now persuaded
that a genetic defect, cou­
pled with neurologic impair­
ment of some kind, constitutes
the underlying cause of the
disorder.
The influence of genetics
in childhood schizophrenia
has been demonstrated by
Dr. David Rosenthal of the
National Institute of Mental
Health. Rosenthal compared
children with a schizophrenic
mother or father who were
raised by normal adoptive
parents with adopted chil­
dren of normal parents. In
this way, the possible envi­
ronmental influence of par­
enting was equalized. It
turned out that the children of psychotic
parents in the study had about twice
the incidence of schizophrenic disorders
as did those of normal parents.
The outlook for the schizophrenic child
is considerable brighter than it is for the
autistic. Many of these children are ed­
ucable and never have to be institution­
alized. Brooklyn’s League School is typi­
cal of centers across the country that
use a “psycho-educational” approach to
treating schizophrenic children while the
child lives at home.
Children are usually accepted at the
school between the ages of 3 and 5 and
most stay several years. Tommy Harper
of Brooklyn began when he was in
second grade. Throughout his childhood
he had displayed a vicious temper. He
threw blocks at his teachers when he
couldn’t get his way, and once pounced
on a little girl and broke one of her teeth.
Consigned to the cloakroom, he was lat­
er found sitting on a shelf, beating him­
self over the head with a toy gun and
crying, “I want to die.”
With the structured environment and
intensive individual attention he re­
ceived at the League School, Tommy
settled down and learned to read, do
math and function in groups. He was
bright, a fast learner and in four years
he was back in regular school. Today, at
15, Tommy is still a bit of a loner. But he
can play sports such as football and not
lose his temper in defeat; more impor-

taut, he is an honor student. Dr. Carl
Fenichel, director of the school, esti­
mates that about 80 per cent of th'e
children at the school had been des­
tined for state institutions. Now, the ma­
jority go on to satisfactory jobs, regular
schools and some even to college.
HYPERKINESIS

Of the more serious childhood behav­
ior disorders, hyperkinesis has become
the most widely publicized of late be­
cause it is being diagnosed in an increas­
ing number of schoolchildren. The symp­
toms may be discernible in infancy, when
the mother finds that her baby is un­
usually restless and difficult to soothe.
They become more obvious when he
reaches school age. Typically, hyperki­
netic children are highly excitable, easily
distracted and impulsive. They have
trouble concentrating and therefore be­
come disruptive in the classroom. Be-j
cause they are failures in their work,
they develop the emotional side effect
of low self-esteem and frequently com­
pensate by delinquent acting-out. “These
youngsters consider themselves worth­
less,” says Dr. Lawrence Taft of the Col­
lege of Medicine and Dentistry of New
Jersey, “because everyone is telling them
they’re no good.”
Hyperkinesis seems to run in families,
but there is also evidence that the disor­
der may be related to minimal brain
damage, possibly occurring at the time
of birth or after a viral infection such
as measles. There is also evidence that
lead intoxication may produce hyper­
kinesis among ghetto children who ha­
bitually put pieces of peeling lead-based
paint into their mouths.
At least a third of hyperkinetic chil­
dren show marked improvement on daily
doses of stimulants such as ampheta­
mines and even coffee (Newsweek,
Oct. 8, 1973). Just how the stimulants
have this paradoxical calming effect isn’t
known, but they seem to improve the
child's ability to concentrate.
Dosing large numbers of schoolchil­
dren with the very drugs that constitute
a major abuse problem in the U.S. has
stirred controversy among many parents
and even some psychiatrists. Some
charge that the stimulants are prescribed
as “conformity pills” for rebellious chil­
dren. The drugs may produce side ef­
fects, including loss of appetite and
sleeping difficulties. As a result, children
who take them for several years may not
grow as tall as they might have other­
wise. But the effect of the drugs can be
so dramatic, says Taft, “that you won­
der whether an extra bit of height is all
that important.”
DEPRESSION

Among the childhood emotional dis­
orders in which the relationship with
the parents is of unquestioned impor­
tance, the outstanding example is de­
pression. Some experts estimate that de­
pression accounts for at least a quarter of
the troubled children they see. The so-

o

Newsweek, April 8, 1974

.. . learning to speak with the gentle help of Danielle Berger

job over to the parents, consulting oc­
casionally to see how they were doing.
But Connie found she couldn’t work with
Shawn. “Every’ time I tried, it just hurt,”
she says. “Some parents can’t do it.”
Connie, in fact, felt the need to see a
psychiatrist herself—and it was a wrench­
ing experience. “The first thing he asked
me,” she recalls, “was ‘How do you
feel about Shawm?’ I couldn’t answer.”
Finally, thanks to two consultants to
the Los Angeles County Autism Project,
Alan Instil and Danielle Berger, who
have worked with Shawn for the past
year and a half, the child is slowly im­
proving. Danielle demonstrated the con­
ditioning technique one afternoon re­
cently in the Lapin home. Holding a
package of sliced cheese, Shawn’s favor­

ite food, she knelt on the floor and in­
structed the child to say, “I love mom­
my.” Shawn mumbled unintelligibly and
Danielle withdrew the cheese and
frowned. Then she repeated the com­
mand, with similar results. Finally, after
half an hour, Shawn formed the right
words and earned his piece of cheese.
Shawn has learned his tiny repertoire
of skills: he can now look his parents in
the eye, he is toilet-trained, he can dress
himself in three minutes instead of the
45 it used to take and he can say about
fifteen words. It is a pathetically small
set of achievements for a normal 5-yearold, but according to the standards by
which the autistic child is judged, it
represents dramatic progress. And the
Lapins haven’t given up.

. .. and dressing himself at last

or fight back. Some children fight back,
’but the autistic child plays dead.”
But the current trend is away from
the Freudian view. Recent studies show
that the parents of autistic children dis­
play no emotional traits that set them
apart. “The only differences these par­
ents show from other parents,” notes Dr.
Eric Schopler of the University of North
Carolina School of Medicine, “is that
they are all under stress themselves be­
cause they have a difficult child.”
Moreover, researchers have made a
number of observations that suggest that
autism is more of a neurologic problem
than an emotional one. A number of
autistics, for example, show so-called.
“soft signs” of neurologic impairment,
such as poor muscle tone, uncoordination
and exaggerated knee-jerk responses.
Drs. Edward Omitz and Edward Ritvo
of the UCLA School of Medicine have
studied the eye reactions of normal and
autistic children placed in a spinning
chair. If the chair spins to the left, a nor­
mal person’s eyes will move to the right,
snap back and wander right again; when
the chair stops, the eyes will reverse
their movement. Autistic children show
the same pattern of eye movement, but

for a much shorter period. This suggests
that the disorder involves a maturational
lag in neural development. “The over­
whelming evidence,” says Ornitz, “is that
this is an organic condition.”
Because of the evidence suggesting
that a physical abnormality is involved,
there is a tendency among experts to­
day to regard autism as a form of mental
retardation rather than an emotional ill­
ness. “Autistic children both will not and
cannot perform many tasks,” says Omitz.
About 75 per cent of autistics remain re­
tarded through life, he notes, and more
than half eventually are institutionalized.
It is the parents of an autistic child
who suffer the most. Many of them spend
years going from specialist to specialist in
a fruitless search for cures. At first, a
pediatrician may tell them their child is
deaf or simply “spoiled.” Psychoanalysts
may suggest that they, the parents, need
treatment as much as their child does,
only adding to an already unbearable
burden of guilt. Psychiatrists may give
the child tranquilizers, stimulants or even
electroshock therapy. But the child re­
mains his autistic self. Recently, some
physicians have prescribed massive doses
of such B vitamins as niacinamide, pyri­

doxine and pantothenic acid for both au­
tistic and schizophrenic children. But
most experts insist that the so-called
megavitamin therapy has no scientific
basis. “This is the false-hopes business,”
says one researcher, “and it causes a lot
of anguish.” “Every time you go to some­
one you’re desperate,” says Connie Lapin,
a Los Angeles mother of an autistic son'
(box). “They say they’ll treat him. But
then they can’t reach him and they
give up.”
But while there is no specific treat­
ment for autism, a number of centers
now offer special training that has pro­
duced promising results in some children.
One of them is TEACCH (Treatment
and Education of Autistic and relat­
ed Communications handicapped Chil­
dren), begun by Drs. Eric Schopler and
Robert J. Reichler eight years ago and
now funded by the State of North Caro­
lina. One of the outstanding features of
the program, according to Schopler, is the
participation of parents as co-therapists
in training their own children.
Basically, the parents are instructed
how to use reward-and-punishment be­
havior modification to train their children
during daily half-hour sessions in their

April 8, 1974

55

Milestones of progress: Crying in a moment of frustration . . . responding to a teacher at his special school . . .

never could hold onto his bottle, recalls
Connie Lapin, 34. But on the other
hand, Shawn had begun to walk even
before his older brother and could say
three or four words. So there seemed to
be no reason for concern. Then a sudden
change in Shawn occurred. “One day he
tuned everything out,” his mother says.
“He didn’t respond to his name any
more. He didn’t talk any more.”
Soon, Shawn’s behavior was growing
worse. He cried all night, and Connie and
her husband, Harvey, a Los Angeles den­
tist, split four-hour shifts to quiet him.

pushed his parent away.
Connie and Harvey then began the
tormenting, purgatorial ritual that most
parents of troubled youngsters seem to
follow—making the rounds of experts.
After several false leads, the Neuropsy­
chiatric Institute at UCLA finally di­
agnosed Shawn as an autistic child.
The last stop for the Lapins in their
search for help was the office of Dr. Ivar
Lovaas of UCLA. A Norwegian-born
psychologist, Lovaas has specialized for
the past twelve years in changing the
behavior of autistic children through

reward-and-punishment “operant condi­
tioning.” Lovaas was kind but blunt about
Shawn’s prognosis. “This is not going to
cure Shawn,” he told the Lapins. “All it
will do is modify his behavior, and prob­
ably get him into a better institution.”
“It was Ivar who brought me down to
earth,” says Harvey. “All that work and
that’s all it would do—get him into a bet­
ter institution. It blew my mind. But as
a parent, what are you going to do? The
kid didn’t ask to be bom, and he certain­
ly didn’t ask to be autistic. I thought I
had to do what I could.”
Lovaas and his assistants, usually
UCLA undergraduates, spent several
sessions a week with the child and his
parents, both at tire clinic and in the
home. After six months, they turned the

likely that he himself will be aggressive.”
Because there is no one cause of child­
hood emotional problems, many methods
of treatment have evolved in recent
Lears. Since a young child can hardly
be expected to lie still for long, deep­
probing sessions of analysis on the
couch, psychiatrists have developed oth­
er ways to get at the source of his trou­
bles. One involves watching how he
plays with his toys or interpreting the
pictures he draws. Other therapists ig­
nore the deep-rooted sources of a child’s
problem and use reward-and-punishment
conditioning techniques to modify the
child’s abnormal behavior. In many cases,
the children with the overactivity syn­
drome of hyperkinesis can be helped
with drugs. Unfortunately, no truly ef­
fective treatment has yet been found for
the child afflicted with the most devas­
tating of all the disorders—autism.

their environment. As an infant, the autis­
tic child may go limp or rigid when his
mother picks him up. He may seem deaf
to some sounds but not to others. He
may show no sensitivity to pain, even to
the extent that he can blister his fingers
on a hot stove without flinching. For long
periods, he may rock monotonously back
and forth, flap his hands in front of his
face, walk on tire tips of his toes or whirl
about like a dervish.
Autistics show unusual deviations in
reaching the milestones of development.
They may never sit up by themselves or
crawl, but instead suddenly start walk­
ing. Some start to talk, but then abrupt­
ly stop using language altogether, or only
echo words and phrases they have over­
heard. They reverse personal pronouns,
such as saying “you” for “me.” They
seldom look anyone in the eye. When
an autistic child wants something, he
may, without looking at his mother,
steer her hand toward the object as if
manipulating a pair of pliers. Because
many autistic children show certain
“splinter skills” above and beyond their
otherwise poor level of functioning—such
as the ability to rattle off strings of num­
bers—they have traditionally not been

classified as retarded or brain-damaged.
After Kanner’s description of autism
was published, some psychiatrists ob­
served that the parents of such children
tended to be intellectual, emotionally
detached and with a tendency to think
in abstractions. With the prevailing in­
fluence of Freud on child psychiatry at
the time, it was hardly surprising that
the condition should be blamed on these
"refrigerator parents.” Autism was sup­
posed to result from rejection of the
child by the mother at an early stage in
infancy. Dr. Bruno Bettelheim, a dis­
tinguished psychoanalyst who recently
retired after 30 years of dealing with
autistic children at the University of
Chicago’s Orthogenic School, is a force­
ful exponent of the Freudian view.
The autistic child has an inherited pre­
disposition to emotional trauma, Bettel­
heim says, but unconscious rejection by
the mother is the major traumatizing
event. The parents, he says, tend to deal
with the child in a mechanistic way, out
of a sense of obligation rather than gen­
uine affection. “This is interpreted by
the child as a feeling he shouldn’t be
alive,” says Bettelheim. “When animals
are threatened, they either play possum

The Silent Struggle of Shawn Lapin
1, Shawn Lapin seemed But every time one of them picked him
At tothebeagea ofhealthy,
normal child. He up, his body became rigid and he

AUTISM

The term “early infantile autism,” from
the Greek for “self,” was coined 30 years
ago by Dr. Leo Kanner of Johns Hopkins
to describe a group of disturbed schizo­
phrenic children who showed a uniform
pattern of disabilities in responding to
54

Newsweek

770,000. "The drift,” says Noshpitz, “is
toward seeing more and more very dis­
turbed children, youngsters who need
residential treatment." And psychiatrists
in private practice note similar trends.
“There is now a widening scope of pa­
tients with childhood disturbances,” says
one veteran New York psychoanalyst,
“and it is not just because more people
are deciding to put their children in
therapy."
Frend, who preached that the root
causes of emotional disorders were to be
found largely in a disturbed relationship
between parent and child in early life, is
no longer quite so predominant an influ­
ence on child-care professionals. The
more eclectic psychologists and psychia­
trists hold that childhood mental ills
seem to arise from three intertwining in­
fluences: predisposing physical and he­
reditary' factors, forces within the family
—including the Freudian traumas—and
stresses imposed by contemporary life.
“The fortunate child,” says Ner Littner of
Chicago’s Institute of Psychoanalysis, “is
the one with good heredity and adequate
care provided by two parents who are
able to recognize and meet the child’s
needs in early life, and a minimum of
chronic, overwhelming stress situations
as the child grows up.”
But now more than ever before, the
triad of forces seems to conspire against
the emotional well-being of the Ameri­
can child. First, there is a growing rec­
ognition that children born prematurely
or as a result of difficult labor, those
suffering from complications of measles
and other viral infections and those
raised by parents who are themselves
victims of mental disorders run a high
r»\k nf pmpbinnnl dicti.rhnnrA

Rnyc

fnr

reasons perhaps attributable to hormonal
differences, are up to five times more
vulnerable than girls.
Second, today’s mobile society has all
but abolished the extended family. Par­
ents can no longer count on grandparents,

Robert It. McElroy—Newsweek

Six-year-old girl with doll: Nightmares, compulsions and loneliness
aunts and uncles to act as authority
figures in the raising of their children.
“I’m personally convinced that no two
parents can rear a child entirely alone,”
says Dr. Sally Provence of Yale’s Child
Study Center. “Yet young parents have
fewer supports for parenting than ever
before—it’s either drag the kids along or
get a sitter.” With the increasing num­
ber of young women carving out careers
for themselves, some experts see a threat
even to the integrity of the nuclear
family. “I’d much rather see people nothave children at all than leave infants
in a day-care center,” says Dr. Lee Salk,
chief child psychologist at New York
Hospital-Cornell Medical Center and
author of the best seller “What EvenChild Would Like His Parents to Know.”

Third, in today’s push-button society
children tend to learn about the world
around them vicariously by television.
“Many of our children and young people
have been everywhere by eye and ear,”
notes a recent report of the Joint Com­
mission on Mental Health of Children,
“and almost nowhere in the realities of
their self-initiated experiences.” And
much of what the children see is the
vivid depiction of war, violence and so- cial upheaval; aggression has become
.one of the most pervasive childhood ex­
periences of all, says Dr. Ebbe Ebbesen
of the University of California at San Die- ".
go. “Children learn abnormal behavior
from observing other people,” the Cali­
fornia psychologist contends. “The more
aggression a child is exposed to, the morA

A schizophrenic child can
produce only squiggles when
requested to draw a person
Big teeth in drawing
by depressed boy sug­
gest hostility of parents

April 8, 1974

Withdrawn child’s poor percep­
tion of people is shown in drawing
of figure without ears and arms
53

SCIENCE

Mission to Mercury
For the moment the U.S. manned
space program is at a standstill, and after
next year’s planned link-up between U.S.
and Soviet spacecraft, no American as­
tronaut is scheduled to fly until 1979
when the space shuttle is due to make
its maiden flight. But the pace of plane­
tary exploration by unmanned probes,
belli U.S. and Soviet, is quickening spec­
tacularly. In recent months, instrumented
spacecraft have zeroed in on Venus, Mars
and Jupiter to provide astronomers with
a wealth of significant new data on those
planets. And last week in Pasadena, sci­
entists at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory
witnessed perhaps the most dramatic
event yet in planetary exploration—the
transmission by Mariner 10 of the firstever close-up pictures of Mercury.
For the astronomers at Pasadena, the
pictures were priceless. Mercury is the
closest planet to the sun (the distance
varies from 29 million to 43 million
miles), and is thus all but unobseiwable
through even the largest earth-based
telescopes. Because of its proximity to
the sun, the ancients saw Mercury as a
kind of solar equerry—and hence named
it after the messenger of the gods. The
planet is just half again as large as the
moon, but its density is similar to the
earth’s, suggesting that it contains large
amounts of iron. Mercury takes 88 days to
speed around the sun in a markedly el­
liptical orbit. Until 1965, astronomers
believed that it continually offered the
same face to the sun as the moon does
to the earth. But then radar studies
proved that the planet rotates on its
axis once every 58': days.
The combination of Mercury’s slow ro­
tation and its elliptical orbit produces an
effect unique in the solar system. As the
planet approaches its closest point to
the sun, an observer on Mercury’s surface
would see the sun apparently stop in the
sky and then travel backward for a short
while, before resuming its movement
across the sky in the normal direction.
Pictures: Mariner 10’s first photo­
graphs, taken from a distance of 3.5 mil­
lion miles, showed Mercury to be covered
with white spots. As the craft moved
closer, the spots became craters, resem­
bling those on the moon and Mars. So
clear were the pictures that the scien­
tists at Pasadena did not need the normal
computer enhancement to spot craters
within other craters, or to see sinuous,
rille-like features winding between the
craters.
The pockmarked appearance of Mer­
cury’s surface had been largely expect­
ed, but scientists were amazed when
Mariner’s instruments detected evidence
of a small magnetic field and a wispy
atmosphere around the planet. Astron­
omers had thought that Mercury’s slow
rotation would preclude a magnetic field.
They had also believed that the solar

Newsweek. April 8, 1974

wind of particles streaming outward from cember, Pioneer 10 returned a great deal
the sun would strip away any molecules ^pre data than expected. In particular,
in the atmosphere. The''magnetic field the craft discovered that the Jovian up­
that Mariner found is onlyXl per cent as per atmosphere consists of at least 70 per
strong as earth’s field, but 'greater than cent hydrogen and that it contains a
those of Venus and the morin; the thin “temperature inversion” (in which the
atmosphere is composed predominantly warmer air lies above the colder). This
of neon, argon, helium and hydrogen. combination of circumstances, says Dr.
Scientists postulate that the gases arose John Wolfe of NASA’s Ames Research
in some way from inside Mercury, 'either Center, means that the space agency
from volcanic activity or some process should be able to send a space probe
yet to be identified.
\
right into Jupiter’s atmosphere—a task
Spectacular as they were, Mariner 10’s previously considered impossible.
views of Mercury were just the latest in,
From the astronomers’ point of view,
a series of recent planetary unveilings. '■ the planetary probes are giving a com-’’
Among the highlights:
\pletely new dimension to the oldest of
■ VENUS. Passing within 3,500 miles of
all sciences. “All of the other sciences
Venus en route to Mercury, Mariner 10 lend themselves to experimentation,” ex­
provided scientists with a first clear plains Carl Sagan of Cornell University.
glimpse of Venusian weather patterns. “But this has never been true of astrono­
The unexpected findings included ultra­ my. The astronomer has always had to sit
violet views of a shell of carbon monoxide passively and watch the sky. Now, the
surrounding the planet, a huge (4,500 advent of space probes makes astronomy
miles by 1,250 miles) oval blemish in an experimental science, and this is one
the atmosphere roughly in line with the of the biggest breakthroughs in the his­
sun that was dubbed the Venusian Eye, tory of the field.”
and a jet stream that carries the cloud
Interestingly enough, the information
cover in a westerly direction at up to produced by space probes has applica­
hundreds of miles an hour.
tions close to home. Meteorologists think
■ MARS. Last month, a convoy of four
that knowledge of planetary atmospheres
Soviet spacecraft arrived in the vicinity will permit them- to build models of
of the red planet, but two efforts to soft- global weather systems that will allow
land an instrument package on its surface better understanding of the earth’s
failed; one missed Mars completely, weather. On Venus, for example, atmos­
while the other ceased transmitting on pheric circulation is not affected by
its way down. Even so, the probes did planetary rotation, and on Mars there is
hint that the Martian atmosphere con­ no evaporation and condensation of
tains several times more water vapor water. “The planets,” says Kenneth
than previously believed. U.S. space ex­ Franklin of New York’s Hayden Plane­
perts think that the Russians will try an­ tarium, “give us a chance to study some
other soft landing next year.
of the important factors in weather by
■ JUPITER. Negotiating the intense ra­
isolating those factors—something that is
diation belts of the giant planet last De­ impossible to do on earth.”
51 ■

MEDICINE

E-iMni «E1U.
WWteiR sw.)®&. raw3a;.E«ae

Troubled Chi Idren: The Quest for Help
the number of emotionally troubled chil­
dren is appallingly high.
■the most conservative estimate, at
he control of the often deadly diseases
of childhood is the proudest achieve-. least 1.4 million children under the age
ment of medical progress in this centuiyj of 18 have emotional problems of suffi­
Thanks to vaccines and antibiotics, the cient severity to warrant urgent atten­
average American child no longer must tion. As many as 10 million more require
run a gauntlet of physical threats such psychiatric help of some kind if they are
as the crippling effects of polio, the heart ever to achieve the potential that medi­
damage of rheumatic fever or diphthe­ cal progress on other fronts has made
ria’s death by slow strangulation. Thanks possible. “If we used really careful
to better nutrition, today's children grow screening devices,” says Dr. Joseph D.
inches taller and pounds heavier than Noshpitz, president of the American
their forebears did. In short, the Ameri­ Academy of Child Psychiatry, “we would
can youngster has never had better pros- probably double and maybe treble the
_ poets for a long and healthy life.
official statistics.”
Jut for all that modem medicine has
The hard core of these children are
io- to protect and nourish the child’s those who arc autistic or schizophrenic.
body, surprisingly little has been done They are helplessly withdrawn from re­
to assure him of an equally healthy mind?) ality and exist in an inner world that is
Despite all the talk about America’s seldom penetrated by outsiders. More
child-centered society and all the Vest than 1 million other children are hyper­
sellers purporting to tell parents how to kinetic. They turn both living rooms
raise happy, well-adjusted youngsters, and classrooms into shambles by their

BY MATT CLARK

T

e

frenetic and uncontrollable physical ac­
tivity. Millions more troubled children
are plagued by neurotic symptoms. They
are haunted by monster-ridden night­
mares, frightened of going to school, held
in the grip of strange compulsive rituals
or lost in the loneliness p£ Repression.
Harder to pinpoint but just as‘troubledare those who simply don’t function in
society. They fail in school, they run
away, they fight, they steal. Eventually,
they fill reform schools and prisons.
f_JJntil recently, childhood emotional
disorders have been tragically neglect­
ed as a national health problem of dra­
matic proportions'?) Because of his bizarre
and often repellent behavior, the emo­
tionally disturbed youngster has nevermade an appealing poster child for moth­
ers’ marches and annual fund-raising
drives.\ While most of the nation’s 7.6 mil­
lion physically handicapped children re­
ceive educational and medical services
through a variety of public and private
channels, fewer than 1 million of the
emotionally handicapped are receiving
the help they need. All too often, the
disturbed child has been expelled from
public school as unteachable, or shunted
into special cl assessor retarded children
with brain damage^* We are in the Year
One in care and treatment of these chil­
dren,” declares Josh Greenfeld, a 46year-old writer whose 1972 book, “A
Child Called Noah,” vividly described
his own agonizing search to find help for
his autistic son. “We are going to have
to shock ourselves into the fact that we
are killing these children as well as de­
stroying the lives of the families the kids
are part of.”

But within the past few years, parents

A test of patience: Autistic child with mother in North Carolina ..
52

like the Greenfelds have made some im­
portant gains in winning better care for
their troubled children through the legis-:
lators and the courts. In one of the most
far-reaching decisions of all, a District of
Columbia Federal judge ruled in 1972
that all handicapped youngsters—includ­
ing the emotionally disturbed—are en­
titled to public education under the
Fourteenth Amendment. Thanks to the
relentless lobbying of the National Soci­
ety for Autistic Children in Albany, N.Y.
—composed largely of parents—more than
30 states have passed laws providing
special education for autistics in the last
four years.
One reason for the increasing rec­
ognition of the needs of the troubled
child is the strong evidence that his
ranks are growing. The number of chil­
dren receiving treatment for emotional
problems in institutions and outpatient
facilities has risen nearly 60 per cent in
the last seven years—from 486,000 to

Newsweek

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