Autism is a complex and incurable constellation of bizarre behaviors, impaired cognition, limited language, and most distressingly, a lack of responsiveness to other people, and it has been the center of impassioned debates for decades. What is it? What causes it? How can it be treated? In "The Science and Fiction of Autism," one of the country's leading experts in behavioral treatments approaches autism through the context of its controversies, showing where extraordinary and unfounded claims have falsely raised hopes, stirred fears, and ruined lives. Arguing that autism is an entirely biological disorder, however complex its neurological origins, Laura Schreibman lays waste to the beliefs that it is caused by "refrigerator mothers" or the MMR vaccine, as well as to the simplistic claims that it can be cured by a variety of unsubstantiated treatments. Drawing from her own long clinical experience with autistic children and their parents, Schreibman arms her readers--students, educators, psychologists, and parents alike--with information and arguments to deal with the onslaught of good, bad, deficient, and irrelevant ideas about autism.

勞拉·施賴布曼（LauraSchreibman）博士是美國加州大學—聖地亞哥分校（UCSD）心理學係傑齣教授（DistinguishedProfessor），注冊心理學傢。是自閉癥研究領域中具有世界水平的領軍人物，也是應用行為分析方麵最受尊敬的研究者之一。勞拉教授是加州大學聖地亞哥分校（UCSD）自閉癥乾預研究項目負責人，關鍵行為訓練（PRT）的創始人之一。曾任美國加州大學—聖地亞哥分校（UCSD）副校長，心理學係主任，是十九傢世界著名心理學與特殊教育雜誌的編委，自1983年以來，一直就職於加州大學—聖地亞哥分校（UCSD）心理學係。發錶論文140多篇，齣版專著4部。