Autism has through history, and will continue to cause widespread debate over many aspects, terminology, associated co-morbid conditions, diagnostic criterion, interventions, therapies and treatments to name just a few. It has been faced with both negative and positive media attention, those affected with Autism have been misunderstood, parents of those with Autism have been subject to criticism about their parenting skills or lack of. Since the 1940’s research has continued to develop, it is clear to see that the understanding of Autism has radically changed our understanding of it, the treatments available and care of people with Autism. This research continues to develop providing many discussion points and will more than likely continue …show more content…
The word is derived from the Greek autos (self) and ismos (a suffix of action or of state). Bleuler used the word to describe idiosyncratic, self-centred thinking that led to a withdrawal into a private world of patients with schizophrenia, defining it as a morbid self-admiration and self-withdrawal. (Cremone, 2015, p. 3). The term has since been attributed to other historical accounts of children and young people suffering psychiatric disorders. In his paper “The History of Autism” Wolff (2004) claims that Uta Frith convincingly argues that Hugh Blair had Autism, Blair 1747 when he was 39 years old appeared in court in in order to make a decision on his mental capacity to contract a marriage. Signs exhibited by Blair included social relationship impairment, abnormal gaze, severe learning difficulties and language problems in particular echolalia. In 1798 Jean Itard found Victor "the wild boy of Aveyron" - described as the enfant sauvage, he was found naked and covered in scars in the woods in 1798 aged about 11/12. Itard a young French physician spent 5 years educating and humanising Victor. Itard devised a behavioural program for Victor, which he graded, encouraging social attachments initially, then awakening his nervous sensibilities, extending out to the induction of …show more content…
John Haslam in 1807 published "Observations on Madness and Melancholy" in the chapter titled "cases of insane children" His account names some traits we now associate with Autism - Obsessive preoccupations, poor grasp of distance, speaking in the third person; and referenced associations to Asperger syndrome. Henry Maudsley in the 1879 edition of The Pathology of Mind, made reference in some detail of a 13-year-old boy who may have has Asperger Syndrome. However, most notably it was Leo Kanner, an Austrian-American psychiatrist and physician known for his work related to autism, who borrowed Bleuler’s word to first define
Some of the characteristics of those who have autism consist of repetitive thinking and compulsive attention in things like symbols, languages and numbers. The cause of autism is not yet known as of now, however, many people consider it a genetic disorder which takes place at birth. Christopher Boone has one specific form of autism known as Asperger’s syndrome, his disorder is reflected through his fascination with mathematics, detail, astronomy and colours; his thoughts on routine and violent hatred to interaction, even though it is not specified in the book. In 1943 Leo Kanner a psychiatrist published a paper surrounded around the research of 11 young patients that fit into a fine variety of diagnostic principles that he measured out to be autistic. During Kanner’s career he has seen fewer than 150 cases that go with the description he came up with of the syndrome, he theorised that autism was very unsupported and rare. Autism turned out to be a foundation of embarrassment and several of those who were diagnosed were certified; in the 1970s everything started to change (Kennedy Krieger Institute and the Simons Foundation, n.d.). Hans Asperger and Leo Kanner both used the word autism, in the 1940s when they were doing
In the mid 1900s, psychiatrist Leo Kanner and a pediatrician Hans Asperger used the same word “autism” for a condition where children had deficits in socializing and forming contact. Stemming off the greek word “autos” meaning self, Kanner stated that autistic children had good cognitive potential yet they had islets of ability meaning their intelligence was focused in silos. There was an assumption that autistics were incapable of intelligence and were mentally disabled. Later, Laurent Mottron discredited the theories that autism is caused parents or “refrigerator mothers” and shed light on the fact that neurotypicals lack the abilities of autistic savants. The view of individuals with autism is skewed and as Amanda Baggs shows in her vivid video describing her behaviour, it
Autism has undergone significant definition changes in the past. The term was first used in 1912 by the Swiss psychiatrist Eugen Bleuler from the Greek word for self—autos—in his description of patients with “schizophrenic thinking divorced from both logic and reality” (Rorvik 249). However, an established set of guidelines for diagnosis would not be established until 1943, when Leo Kanner, a German émigré to the United States, wrote “Autistic Disturbances of Affective Content”, a landmark essay in which he “described eleven children who, from infancy, had seemed to cut off from their parents…[and] existed in their own, often impenetrable world” (Pollak 250). The common features that he noticed in those eleven children were
In the early 1900’s autism was a completely misunderstood concept and any child who was living with it was assumed to be living with “childhood schizophrenia” and developed much slower than children without autism. A four year study of Donald Triplett gave Dr. Kannar a better understanding of what autism was and what it caused certain people to do. The main question was, does it affect the child’s development? Living with autism can affect a child’s development due to the fact that they don’t have a long attention span, can cause them to have a repetitive behavior, along with trouble in social situations whether it be verbal or non verbal.
Although Kanner in 1943 in a report titled ‘Autistic Disturbances of Affective Contact’, borrowed the term ‘autism’ from Bleuler he did not consider what he referred to as ‘infantile autism’ an early form of schizophrenia. The medical signs were distinguishable and, unlike schizophrenia, Kanner’s patients appeared to display symptoms from birth. In his report Kanner recorded conditions that were consistent in 11 young patients. The patients refused contact with parents or others and preferred to be alone, the displayed language disorders i.e. selective mutism and failure to from sentences correctly. He observed their excellent memory skills which he referred to as ‘mechanical memory’ and how they displayed abnormal behaviours along with
Eugen Blueler, a psychiatrist, was the first to introduce the name "Autism" but he diagnosed this disease to a schizophrenic adult. Leo Kanner distinguished the two later in order to clarify the understanding of the disability. (Forty-six)
Refrigerator Mother Theory. Initially, Leo Kanner (1943), a child psychiatrist at the Johns Hopkins University, introduced the term “early infantile autism” in 1943. He considered that the refrigerator mother triggered early infantile autism. In other words, he believed that the autism was developed after the birth, and lack of parental warmth triggered children to become isolated from the society. Consequently, those children who did not receive enough care exhibited autistic like feature, meaning “alone or self” in Greek. Furthermore, this idea was strongly supported by Bruno Bettelheim, Austrian-born American child psychiatrist, for two decades. He similarly claims that the autism was caused from mother withheld appropriate affection toward their children and failed to make a good connection with them during infancy (Bettelheim, 2010). Moreover, he states that weak or absent father would likely cause autism, since children would not receive enough paternal love. In both cases, psychiatrists in mid-twentieth century believed that the autism was developed from children not receiving enough love, warmth and care from their parents. Moreover, they believed that good parenting could alleviate children from becoming ASD.
Autism is a very complicated and though brain disorder that is been discussed in this handout.it was discovered in 1943 by Leo Kanner, who announced his discovery of eleven cases of a new mental disorder. This is a genetic disorder found mostly in young persons. Studies have come out with some result after MRI examinations, which show the affection of different part of the brain. Treatments and some precautions taken so far are cited in this essay. Autism is very complex, it affects people in different ways and very difficult to diagnose and treat. That is the reason why scientists still working and researching on it. There are follow up studies that describe autism in adolescents and adult and residual impairment in everyday life. Description
According to the CDC, autism is “a developmental disability that can cause significant social, communication and behavioral challenges (Facts About Autism, 2016)”. Autism was first discussed in 1943 by Dr. Leo Kanner, after he observed 11 children who had fixations on the inanimate environment rather than people (Quick Facts About Autism). It affects about one percent of the population, and is
autism was first described in the 1940s. Leo Kanner in the United States and Hans Asperger in Austria independently published papers describing children with severe social and communicative impairments. Both Kanner and Asperger used the term "autism" (meaning “alone”) to describe the syndromes they had identified. Kanner described children who had impoverished social relationships from early in life, employed deviant language, and were subject to behavioral stereotypies. Asperger’s description identified children with normal IQs and normal language development who suffered from social and some types of communicative impairments. (slaughter)
There have been several controversies regarding the cause of autism over the years. For example, the main cause was assumed by some to be bad parenting. Today, however, there is general agreement that the symptoms of autism, with the exception of those of abandoned children, are a behavioral response by young children to an organic disease affecting their brains. In fact, it is now generally understood that autism is a complex developmental syndrome representing a heterogeneous group of disorders with similar symptoms, but with different biological etiologies. Realizing that autism does not have a single cause has been important for enhancing the understanding of its etiologies, prevention and treatment.
It wasn’t until 1943 when the classification of autism was introduced by Dr. Leo Kanner. Dr. Kanner, a psychiatrist from John Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, reported on eleven child patients
Tens of millions of people have been diagnosed with Autism worldwide, effecting both genders, all races, ethnicities and people from all socioeconomic classes. In 2010 a Surveillance Summary was conducted in the United States, where it identified that one in 68 children are diagnosed with Autism (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2014). It has been recognised
The history of ASD; the word “Autism” was first used by a Swiss psychiatrist by the name of Eugen Bleuler. He began using the term to describe one group of symptoms for schizophrenia patients, (Wolff, 2004). “Autism” is a Greek word that comes from
The term “autism” has been used for approximately one hundred years. Autism comes from the Greek word “autos” which means “self.” Self applies to autism because people are taken away from their social life and isolate themselves. A Switzerland psychiatrist, Eugen Bleuler, was the first person ever to use the word autism in 1911 towards symptoms of schizophrenia. From 1940 through the 1990s, doctors have had many theories on how autism affects children. They came to the conclusion that autism medically affects each child differently. Towards the 1980s