Darold Treffert Quotes

United States, Psychiatrist
March 12, 1932 – December, 14, 2020.

Darold A. Treffert was a retired psychiatrist and current research director who specializes in the epidemiology of autism spectrum disorders and savant syndrome. He currently lives in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. He is on the staff at Agnesian HealthCare and serves on the Board of Trustees of Marian University. Treffert was a clinical professor at the University of Wisconsin Medical School. He is also a clinical professor at University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee.

We have medicalized a lot of things that I think are not really medical conditions.

Darold Treffert
Originally when we talked about language disorder it was a catastrophic language disorder. It's substantial, and from a treatment standpoint it's okay to keep diluting that term, but from a research standpoint we need to be much more precise. I wish somebody would take up the mantle of just that particular task.

Darold Treffert
- Wish
- Needs
- Tasks

Now I realize, and I acknowledge, that the right brain/left brain distinction is a tremendous oversimplification. We don't come neatly divided into right and left hemispheres, but the fact is that the two hemispheres of the brain do specialize in certain functions.

Darold Treffert
- Brain
- Two
- Hemisphere
The beginning of wisdom is to call things by their right names in research.

Darold Treffert
- Research
- Names
Not everyone who has a savant skill I would equate with a genius.

Darold Treffert
- Genius
- Skills
- Savants
With respect to why some acquired savants are musical, and some are good at the arts, and some are mathematical, why aren't they all the same; I think that has to do with this genetic endowment that all of us have.

Darold Treffert
- Thinking
- Art
- Musical
There does seem to be a higher educational level in parents of autistic youngsters, and I guess that's something that we need to look into.

Darold Treffert
- Parent
- Doe
- Educational
To some extent, we all have quirks or idiosyncrasies, and some geniuses, because of how bright they are and how focused they are, may have liberal eccentricities, but they're not at a disabling level.

Darold Treffert
- May
- Genius
- Levels

I think one of the problems with the definition of autism is we keep expanding it. It started as "early infantile autism", and then it became "autism", and now it's "autism spectrum disorder". I'm not opposed to that from the standpoint of trying to broaden our vistas, and so forth. But from a research point of view, the term autism is lost in specificity.

Darold Treffert
- Thinking
- Views
- Autism
Savant syndrome and autism, I think, are not disorders of brain structure, but they're disorders of brain function.

Darold Treffert
- Thinking
- Brain
- Autism