Leo Kanner Autism Spectrum Disorder

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

Secondary causes of autism include pre-natal care, environmental factors, chromosomal abnormalities and genetic disorders. Environmental factors most notably, are the role of vaccinations, specifically those with the preservative thimerosal (Caronna, Milunsky, & Tager-Flusberg, 2008). The most common genetic disorder associated with autism is fragile X syndrome. Scientists continue to investigate the etiology of ASD. Current research seems to support two etiologies of autism: Early Onset of Autism vs. Regressive Autism (Bristol-Power, 2006). There is optimism that specific causes and risk factors will be identified. The results of future investigations will facilitate enhanced screening, prevention, and therapy for "at risk" and autistic patients (CMN, 2010).

Autism may appear to be a new topic because of its prevalence in recent years. But autism has been a thought for more than 70 years. Historically autism was originated by a Swiss psychologist and psychiatrist named Eugen Bleuler in the 1912. Autism first appeared in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM I) in 1952, under Schizophrenia and classified as extreme isolation or withdrawal from social life. By 1968, the term autism was removed from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM II) and replaced with the word autistic but still under the diagnosis of schizophrenia. In 1980, Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of

Autism, as a diagnosis, did not exist until early 1908. Doctors began to notice that they had several patients who had been diagnosed with schizophrenia, but did not exhibit all of the same symptoms and characteristics that supported that diagnosis. They were more distant from their peers and did not interact well in social settings, along with other misaligned characteristics. They started diagnosing these people as being "autistic". The word

First off, Autism has countless number of symptoms that occur at an early age and these include difficulty in socializing with peers, uninterested in conversations, difficulty in making eye contact, and focusing on random objects. In most autism cases, children do develop normally until the second or even third year of life, but then start to act completely different to social engagement (NIH, 2016). And most of these symptoms usually last all the way to adulthood. Moreover, in severe cases of ASD is the lack of communication, practicing and insisting on the same activities, and repetitive patterns of behavior affect the daily functioning of the individual (NIH, 2016). Therefore, diagnosing autism disorders solely off of these symptoms can be very

Autism spectrum disorder is a complex disorder of brain development characterized by early onset difficulties in social communication, behavior, and sensory processing (Webb, 2009). Although, based on the child, symptoms can vary widely within each of these areas. Characteristics of autism often begin to surface between the ages of 8-10 months old, and continue to become more apparent as the child ages. Symptoms of ASD in infants include, failure to respond to their names, delayed babbling, and lack of social interaction. Other red flag characteristics include failure to meet normal milestones, and low muscle tone. As the child grows, characteristics of autism spectrum disorder may become more prominent, and include symptoms such as lack of eye contact, sensory difficulties or self-stimulatory behavior (Webb, 2009). Based on the severity of the diagnoses, children with autism could have other medical conditions including intellectual disabilities, seizures, anxiety disorders, and issues pertaining to the gastrointestinal tract. Autism is referred to as a spectrum, because not all people will experience, or exhibit the symptoms in the same way.

The term Autism has been used for over one century. Early 1900’s the term Autism was used to refer to children with some social or emotional symptoms that cause those children to be isolated from others. Since Bleuler, E. from Switzerland in 1911 [3] until present days researchers has done tremendous efforts in: diagnosing, treating, and recording their researches.

According to Peterson, Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a group of neurodevelopmental disorders characterized by difficulties in social interaction and communication, repetitive behaviors, and stereotyped interests and activities (as cited in Leifer, 2015, p. 748). However, symptoms and their severity vary greatly in each child. There are three types that have been identified: Classic autism, Asperger syndrome, and Pervasive developmental disorders. The cause of autism is unknown. According to Lockwood (2013), Childhood Autism Risk from Genetics and Environment (CHARGE) studied preschool children with autism and has shown the roles of prenatal vitamins in early pregnancy. There is the possibility that ASD might be prevented with the

Historically, Autism as a word was introduced from the Latin word Autos, which means self. Back in 1911, Eugene Bleuler; a Swiss psychiatrist, adopted Autism as a medical term to identify

Autism has been around for the past hundred years, however previous to the 1980's, psychiatrists and researchers associated the term autism with schizophrenia. Between 1960 and 1980, treatment for autism included electric shock, LSD, and pain/punishment. It wasn't until 1980 when intervention techniques like behavior therapy and learning through positive reinforcement was introduced and autism was recognized as a separate diagnosis from other syndromes and disorders. Autism is a larger disorder with autistic disorder, pervasive developmental disorder and Asperger syndrome falling under the general category of autism.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is the fastest growing category in special education. It is a neurodevelopmental disorder generally diagnosed before the age of three. Its main factors include: repetitive stereotyped patterns of behavior, impairment in communication, and impairment in the area of social interaction (Heward, 1996). The DSM-IV “identifies ASD as part of a larger grouping, pervasive developmental disorders (PDD). According the DSM-IV-TR there are five subtypes of PDD: autistic disorder, Aspergcr 's syndrome (AS), childhood disintegrative disorder (CDD), Rett 's syndrome, and pervasive developmental disorder-not otherwise specified (PDD-NOS)” (Meadan, Halle, & Ebata, 2010).

Autism is a pervasive, lifelong neurodevelopmental disorder or disability that is behaviourally described. It is often presented early on in the individuals life and affects how they communicates with and relate to other people. The term Autism was first coined by doctor and Austrian American psychiatrist Leo Kanner in the 1940’s (Kanner, 1943). The naming of this disorder has changed many times over the years from Childhood Schizophrenia to Psychosis to Pervasive Developmental Disorder, which has led it to land on the current language; ‘Autism Spectrum Disorder’. It is important to understand that we are labelling the individuals with Autism as such after looking at symptoms and trying to define them because it becomes necessary for diagnosis as well as to provide services. Autism was first included in the DSM-III 30 years ago which was when we first recognised Autism as a distinctive category. Since then it has undergone a series of changes, one of which is the revised DSM-III in 1987 that first provided the inclusion of pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified. These continuous changes are normal and needed within the diagnostic criteria, and as research continues, it is likely that changes will occur in the future. The revised DSM-5 Criteria for Autism spectrum disorder defines and classifies the disorder not solely on the presence of impairments or deficits, but also by the severity to which these impairments are present (American Psychiatric

The word “autism” was first used by a Swiss psychiatrist Eugene Bleuler in an article written in the American Journal of Insanity in 1912. It comes from the Greek word meaning self. Bleuler used it to describe the schizophrenic’s seeming difficulty in connecting with others (“Autism”).

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)

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