This actually interests me, and I am not willing to dismiss it out of hand. I am most intrigued by the part of the study that focused on weather patterns. That leads me to believe that, unless the study is a fluke or something else about being indoors more often is the cause, there may well be some tie between autism and early television viewing. It seems unlikely that more time spent indoors would cause a greater rate of diagnosis, and unlike the cable issue, weather patterns are independent of socio-economic status. One could argue, though, that access to cable TV and more time spent watching it (on rainy or snowy days) may have exposed parents to information that led them to recognize developmental delays or atypical behavior in their children and to seek out help for their children. If that mechanism were at work, though, I think one would expect a similar rise in other diagnoses, such as ADD, speech delays, etc.

At any rate, it is food for thought. Thanks for the link.