From Salon:

Autism spectrum disorders are complex and highly variable with a poorly understood cause… One could write an entire book on the ins and outs of autism and indeed several such books already exist… Instead I have two main goals. One is to address the basic mirror neuron-based account of autism because the theory has been rather influential and a lot is at stake given how many lives autism touches. The other goal is to highlight an alternative perspective on autism in the same way that (I hope) I’ve been able to highlight alternative perspectives on mirror neuron function, embodied cognition, and imitation. Specifically, I’m going to suggest the possibility that the dominant neurocognitive theories of autism, which assume that behavioral deficits result from lack of or diminished social sensitivity, have it wrong and in fact have it backward.

For the full story, please visit http://www.salon.com/2014/09/01/we_might_have_autism_backwards_what_brok....