Autism

By stepheden

  • 1887

    Dr. John Landon Down researched children who at that time were suspected to be "mentally retarded" that would more than likely be on the autism spectrum today.

  • 1911

    Eugen Bleuler is the very first person to use the term "Autism". He uses it to refer to a group of symptoms related to schizophrenia.

  • 1920s

    There is suspected to be a connection between autism symptoms and the diet (specifically gluten). Scientists believed that changing the diet (removing gluten, etc.) would help relieve symptoms.

  • 1930s

    Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is used in attempt to correct self-harm and other schizophrenic-like behaviors.

  • 1943

    Leo Kanner is the first person to use "Autism" to describe a disease or set of symptoms completely separate from schizophrenia.

  • 1950s

    Psychologists now believe that Autism may be cause by caring, unloving parents, or lack of affection. They attempt to resolve this through parentectomy, which involves removing the child from the care of the parents for an extended period of time.

  • 1960s

    LSD is used to attempt to alleviate some of the schizophrenic/ autistic behaviors/ symptoms by changing how the patient is perceiving things.

  • 1980s

    Clinical trials DSM-III and DSM-III-R support that though they are similar, diagnostically autism and schizophrenia are separate from each other.

  • 1990

    Autism is added as a disability category under IDEA.