Autism in TV fiction? The "Night Gallery" episode "Brenda"

A very weird tale of a lonely girl and the monster she befriends one summer in the Night Gallery segment “Brenda.” The show seems hokey now. It was an attempt to cash in on Rod Serling's popularity; he only hosted this anthology horror series. This episode isn't particularly scary but an interesting "social story" with maybe heavy-handed psychological content. I'm sure at least some of us were or still are weird Brenda. A lot of us grew up in this horrific situation: people (such as parents) noticed what we now know is autism but didn't know how to handle it, so they handled it badly.