Newtown Shooting One Month Later

NEWTOWN, Conn. -- His parents remember Dylan Hockley as such a happy child.

He was 6 and full of joy, his mother, Nicole Hockley, says.

She said he was always smiling and described his laugh as infectious. When his dad would return to their Newtown, Connecticut, home each day, Dylan would run to his father, Ian, saying,"Daddy!"

Autism Does Not Cause Violence; It's a Developmental Disorder, Not a Mental Illness

Much has been made of Adam Lanza, the 20-year-old shooter at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., who took so many innocent lives, as having Asperger Syndrome, a high functioning condition on the autism spectrum which has recently been reclassified as autism. Experts and parents who have children with Asperger Syndrome want everyone to know that there is no correlation between autism and violence and express concern that autism is a developmental disorder and NOT a mental illness. Parents of those with autism, who are already too often stigmatized in our society, are worried that this will lead to their kids being further shunned and misunderstood.

Speculation Over the Shooter's Disorder

Adam Lanza as a middle school
student.

I hesitate to post this, because it is still hearsay that Adam Lanza had any form of autism. There have been reports of mental illness and it just seems to early to speculate. There have been so many errors in the media's coverage of this tragic story. So perhaps that's why I am so reluctant to even address this issue. Please share your thoughts on this.

 

Among the details to emerge in the aftermath of the Connecticut elementary school massacre was the possibility that the gunman had some form of autism.

Adam Lanza, 20, had a personality disorder or autism, his brother reportedly told police. Former classmates described him as socially awkward, friendless and painfully shy.

While those are all traits of autism, a propensity for premeditated violence is not. Several experts said that at most, autism would have played a tangential role in the mass shooting -- if Lanza had it at all.