I am confused by this story. The hallmark of autism used to be an inability to connect emotionally with people; autistics were more likely to be zombies than brats. Yet this story describes an out-of-control kid who would more likely be diagnosed as OCD or as having oppositional defiance disorder.
Nothing worse than a spoiled special ed kid. I teach special ed; I see a lot of them.
But this article doesn't give enough information - there's no way to tell what was going on.