Autism trailblazer Schopler dies at 79

He inspired shift in field's outlook

CHAPEL HILL -- Eric Schopler, an international pioneer in the humane and effective treatment of autism, died from cancer Friday at age 79.

Forty-one years ago, the UNC-Chapel Hill psychologist co-founded a program that rejected the notion that destructive parents caused autism. Instead, he recognized autism as a brain disorder -- one that could be managed.

He observed that people living with autism did not learn in traditional ways but were capable of learning, especially with customized interventions from therapists, family and teachers.

Those insights led to the development of Division TEACCH -- Treatment and Education of Autistic and Related Communication-Handicapped Children -- a network of nine state-funded clinics that are still operating. To this day, families stream to North Carolina to enroll in the TEACCH programs, which have inspired autism therapy programs in countries throughout the world.

"He influenced tens of thousands of people," said Catherine Lord, a prominent University of Michigan psychologist who worked with Schopler in Chapel Hill early in her career.

"Not only did he develop treatment, he had this understanding about what autism is and how it could be treated in the family and broader context of the community and in the schools. That was unique," Lord said.

The child of German parents forced to flee Hitler in the 1930s, Schopler was deeply motivated by injustice, friends and family said Friday. He saw stark unfairness while training in psychology at the University of Chicago with the Freudian psychoanalyst Bruno Bettelheim, who compared the parents of autistic children to concentration camp guards.

But while working with those families, Schopler saw instead caring people who frequently raised normal children in the same household. As a young professor at UNC-Chapel Hill, he and child psychiatrist Richard Reichler started a research project that described autism as a brain disorder, not an emotional problem, and developed strategies to help parents accommodate their child's disabilities.

"It was very courageous of him. He came as an assistant professor and took on the whole establishment in his department as well as the whole country," said Gary Mesibov, who took over as executive director at TEACCH after Schopler retired from that post in 1993.

When the federal grant that Schopler and Reichler used to start their research dried up, families who had benefited from their help lobbied the North Carolina legislature to fund and expand the program. It did so in 1971.

'Father of it all'

Betty Camp's son, Norman, was among Schopler's first patients in the 1960s. At age 7, the boy did not speak. He attended preschool but didn't play with other children. Even at home, he preferred to be alone.

After two years of work at home with his parents, with Schopler and others at TEACCH, Norman started connecting with others a little, though he never spoke. He could attend public school, Camp said, only because TEACCH trained teachers to work with autistic children. Today, at age 45, Norman Camp lives at home and has a job putting together electric meter components.

"I have nightmares about what would have happened if we had not met," said Betty Camp, one of the parents who lobbied for state funding to continue TEACCH. "He will be remembered as the father of it all."

Country gent

A gentleman farmer who lived with his second wife, Margaret, in the country outside Mebane, Schopler raised miniature buffalo, ducks, chicken and sheep. He was not caught up in appearances. Colleagues say he would sometimes arrive on campus with mud on his clothes collected during chores at home. Several remember seeing socks through holes in his shoes.

Schopler kept working in the autism field after releasing TEACCH's helm at age 65, Mesibov said. A soon-to-be-published book will include the refinement of a diagnostic strategy for autistic adolescents and adults that Schopler finished recently.

In addition to his wife, Schopler is survived by two sons, Bobby and Tom, and one daughter, Susie, all living in or near Chapel Hill. He is also survived by seven grandchildren.

Schopler was surrounded by family at his home when he died Friday from esophageal cancer. Family members intend to hold a public memorial service in his memory in September, though details weren't firm Friday.

If anyone wishes to make a donation in Schopler's name, his family asks that three causes be considered: the Eric Schopler Endowed Chair for Autism Research at UNC-Chapel Hill, the Piedmont Wildlife Center and Friends of the Tarheel Angels, which helps children with cancer.

(Staff writer Jean Fisher contributed to this story.)