Radio host calls autistic children 'brats'

As a parent of a child with a mild version of autism, I can't begin to describe how sickening this is.

I don't understand how someone could be so full of self righteous ignorance. My beautiful nephews have autism. We choose not to say that they are autistic but that they have autism because saying they are autistic just defines them rather than simply saying they are 7 year old individuals who have autism. As someone who loves them so much it is hard to see them struggle with typical childhood activities. My sister, who gave up her career to give them each the individual attention that they need, spends all day every day taking them to different schools, shopping for expensive special diet food and making sure she makes every attempt to give them everything she possibly can untill she is exhausted at the end of the night. And, by the way, her husband and their father works extremely hard everyday to provide for their family and is far from absent. Surely, a brat would be far easier and far less expensive. This Michael Savage character is an unfortunate insignificant waste of space.

I definitely do not agree with all of Savage's comments, but I do think that autism (since it is such a spectrum disorder...meaning it comes in so many different forms and affects children differently) is overly diagnosed.

I couldn't agree with Savage more. I am glad someone is finally saying something about this ridiculous trend. It's another in the long list of excuses modern parents have for.....not being parents. ADD, learning disorders, dyslexia....and now autism. It absolves both the children and the parents for any responsibility for behavior.

(And of course, there are a very small number of children who are indeed autistic in the classic sense, or are severely disturbed, etc. That is a given.)

I have even more respect for him because he has NOT retracted his comments. Good for him.

It's not a mental disorder, it's neurological. You're no better than Michael Savage.

First of all, it isn't a mental disorder, it's neurological. And why do people always talk like it's only children who have it? You don't outgrow it. I work with a man who is 61 years old. My son is 24. They are adults with autism.

I believe that most disorders in this day in age are over-diagnosed. Like the author stated, this was around before 2008, it is just now that we have a label and parents are paying more attention. However, people are quick to rush to judgement. "Oh my god, my child can't concentrate in school, MUST be ADD!', get a grip people, not every child has something wrong with them, it could be that they are just a brat, but it could be that there is truly something else going on. Doctors need to quit handing out prescriptions to every child that walks through the door and start educating parents what to really be looking for. Sure, these disorders exist, but do they exist at the rate that they are being diagnosed? Probably not. My sister was always getting in trouble in school for not paying attention and talking, was she diagnosed with ADD? No. My mom told her to shut up and pay attention in class, and guess what, she did. Today they would quickly medicate her and in the case of my friends daughter, blame every bad day that she had in school on her forgetting her medication. We as a society are over-medicated. We want a quick fix for everything. How about some personal responsibility and self control. That would be the easy answer, but the even easier one is apparently medication for everything. Sure, some really do need the medication to function, but probably not as many as we are medicating.

What a load of #@$%!! I only wish my son was a so called brat, from the age of 6 mos we knew he wasn't your typical baby, no verbal attempts, no eye contact none of the typical behaviors I would witness at the mommy & me classes......Over the next 3 years....he endured tests including blood tests...when you hold your child while they prick them and prod them....while you listen to every doctors opinion....these things are not taken lightly in society!!! We do not run out and get some 2 min diagnosis.....we spend our own money......we take time off of careers.....then we hope just for one moment that this beautiful child will look at you and smile.....and acknowledge everything we have done....obviously Mr. Savage's comments come from a man who has never experienced one moment of these things...nothing against him per-say...but I think Some...people should mind their own @#$& business and stick to what they know best....which in Mr. Savages case is F#$@ ALL!!!!!!!! o and by the way out of a class of 26 students only 3 that I know of....lol....have been diagnosed with similiar cases...I know that % sounds high...but if you have ever helped in one of these classes you would understand the huge difference between a child diagnosed with these problems and the rest of the so called...normal children!!!! o and I've also been happily married for 10 wonderful years and my husband has been here every step of the way!!!! and one more thing....I have told my son on occasion to smarten up and behave himself and he has....like ALL children even autistic or likewise can have a bratty day!!!! Which apparently Mr. Savage seems to be suffering from as of late!

Savage didn't say anything of the kind. Please stop reading socialist rags.

I do think that parents and doctors are over analizing this "disease". In his experience, children act out and get away with things that other children cannot. He had every right to say what he wanted about these children. We do have freedom of speech, do we not?

Those criticizing Savage for his comments are no better than he is - they are picking on (to use a politically incorrect term) a retard. Like autistics, he is mentally ill and deserves pity

As the mother of an autistic child I really wish that my child was just a brat. Those of you who have "normal" children should be falling to your knees and thanking God that you have healthy children. As for Mr. Savage, he should keep his uneducated comments to himself because he has NO IDEA what he's talking about.

Bingo! Mr. Savage-thank-you. Boys who are actually autistic are not brats-just the opposite. Let me explain. Autistic boys do not like to draw attention to themselves and doesn't that make sense?The absolute desire to avoid social situations is inherent in autism. I am autistic. As a young boy with autism, I did everything in my power to avoid looking at others and avoid others looking at me. Therefore it is not uncommon for people to tell the parent of an autistic boy what a well-mannered gentleman he is. The brats Savage refers to are ADD/ADHD-NOT AUTISTIC. As I have explained in past comments, there are hundreds of thousands, if not more, misdiagnoses of autism. For God' s sake cannot you figure it out-autistic boys are very quiet and avoid socialization. Do you recall the boy on the plane who was, with his mother, thrown off. He was no more autistic than Joan Rivers. I can guarantee you that boy had ADD/ADHD. Some of the symptoms of autism are also Symptoms of Borderline, GAD, PDD, Schizoid personality. The eutopia for an autistic boy is an environment void of any social contact. Remember auto (the intended prefix for autism) means "self".

Obviously, Michael Savage is too ignorant to understand how much he has publicly embarassed himself. He isn't worth the discussion. Austism and ADD/ADHD are real. There are definitive medical tests to determine so. When they are present they can be very devestating to individuals, families and in a larger sense to society, but no one ever askes to be afflicted with these diseases.

Exactly how much "Factual" research was done on this story, I would guess NONE. My best friends son is Autistic and is non verbal. He is the furthest thing from being what you call a "Brat. Both Mom and Dad dedicated their entire lives to raising their son, which has more struggles and challenges then you will ever encounter. By the end of reading this article, I feel the term "Brat" really belongs to Radio talk show host Michael Savage!

We are the parents of an autistic daughter; she was diagnosed with Pediatric Developmental Disorder/Autism at 18 months. She has attended physical therapy, speech therapy, and occupation therapy since that time. She also attended a special preschool and early development Kindergarten; currently she is enrolled in a mainstream elementary school and is a very good student. Additionally, we had to pay for her care since insurance companies do not consider these treatments necessary at such a young age. Believe me, we are very aware of how difficult she can be in public, yet we try incredibly hard to keep her behavior normal. She is now 9 years old. She is smart, funny and beautiful, yet, she has abnormal social skills which are a daily source of struggle. We have worked tirelessly to improve her tone of voice, language and body movements. I wish people like Mr Savage were more understanding of the difficulties faced by these children, who will grown into adults, and their families. I have had people in stores approach me regarding things she says and does. In fact, someone once told me that a "little smack" would take care of that behavior; our daughter was 3 at the time. I suppose Mr Savage would agree with this very nasty woman! Again, I think Mr Savage's remarks were cruel and hurtful; clearly, he needs to improve his SOCIAL SKILLS. I feel sorry for you Mr Savage, you are a pathetic excuse for a radio talk show host!

It's not just austism that is being over-diagnosed. ADD is right up there with it. For a large portion of those children ADD doesn't mean Attention Deficit Disorder...it means Absence of Discipline Disorder. It has just gotten too easy for the parents to give little Jonny a pill to numb his mind than to actually work at raising a respectable child.

I'm sure that Mr. Savage knew the flack this comment would get. He was in no way saying that autistic children are brats. I'm sure he realizes the severity of the disorder and that it is a very real thing. He was simply saying that it is terribly over diagnosed. Parents just don't step up the plate today, as they should, to discipline their children. They quickly run off to some doctor and put the kids on some medication that they really don't need. This makes them zombies, therefore alleviating the need for parents to be parents. When I was bad, I got a whipping. It changed my attitude and there was no need for medication to 'calm me down'. The belt works wonders.
Way to go Mr. Savage....it needed to be said.

From the mother of an Autistic child:

" Walk in my shoes, live one day of my life and dare to dream for your child".

Unless you have done this...then "Shut -up"' Savage and get a life!!!!

I would say that the 99% that Michael Savage is probably an inaccurate number, clearly there are SOME children out there that have serious problems that need professional help but I do agree that it is overly diagnosed. I'm sick to death of hearing how all these children needed to be treated with kid gloves because they have the disorder du jour; dyslexia, autism, ADD, ADHD, learning disorders, etc. etc. etc. I believe that most of the time it's a crutch for parents to explain why they can't control their children. My wife is a teacher and had a Kindergarten student last year that threw a chair in the classroom, the parents instead of disciplining the kid defended him by saying that he had all kinds of disorders that caused him to act out. My guess is that if they refused to discipline him for throwing a chair, they probably weren't disciplining him for much else either, that is the crux of that child's problem not some kind of psychological, neurological, or whatever disorder. Like everything else in this society parents are looking for an easy answer to explain the misbehavior of their children and instead of taking a good look at how they are raising them they want to point the finger at some nebulous problem.

I agree completely with Mr. Savage. I'm glad he has the ability to speak up and air his opinions and hope he does not have to retract them or apologize. He should be allowed to voice his opinion. It's his !!! Since when does voicing an opinion give someone else the right to ruin their career or livliehood? Oh yes, right here in the good ole USA where we're supposed to have rights to free speech.

Those that are saying Autism is the result of lazy parents, who don't discipline their children, are truly ignorant. Don't make such comments until you spend a few days with an Autistic child.

If savage would have called them "nappy-haired" brats, could he be fired? what makes one shock-jocks comments ground for removal (stupid, stupid don) and the other shock-jocks comments ground for ignoring (stupid, stupid mike)

Who is the whining spoiled brat rich kid who has no concept of reality? Could it be Savage?