The autism puzzle.

This programme, written, produced and narrated by Saskia Baron whose brother is profoundly autistic, looks at all aspects of autism from its diagnostic discovery to the latest research into the condition. Archive footage of Leo Kanner and the first fully autistic school with influential teacher Sybil Elgar is included. Hannelore Braunsberg's son David attended the school and she recounts what an enormous difference it made to their lives. Lorna Wing, now President of the Autistic Society, talks about her own experiences of raising an autistic daughter in the 1960s and how responsible she felt due to the belief in Freudian ideas of 'refrigerator mothers.' The possible connection between the MMR (measles-mumps-rubella) vaccine is discussed. We visit Charlotte Moore in her home with her three sons, two of whom are autistic. John Peters was only diagnosed as having Aspberger's Syndrome 5 years ago when his grandsons were discovered to be on the autistic spectrum. He describes how this has affected him. Finally we look at a series of recent studies at Yale University which attempt to understand what autistic perception is really like.