History of Autism

By facebooker_1370073843

  • Leo Kanner

    Kanner published a paper “Autistic Disorders of Affective Contact” where he first recognised a unique syndrome in eleven case studies. This syndrome would later be called early infantile autism disorder. Refrigerator Mother was a term coined by Kanner describing the coldness of the parents, especially mothers of those who are autistic.

  • Hans Asperger

    Asperger published the first clinical description of Asperger disorder.

  • Bruno Bettelheim

    Bettelheim attributed the symptoms of autism to uncaring and detached mothers who did not love their children enough.

  • Einseberg and Kanner

    After Kanner’s article (1943), 120 children were with ‘reasonable certainty’ diagnosed with early infantile autism at Johns Hopkins Paediatric Psychiatry unit.

  • Bernard Rimland

    Rimland published the book "Infantile Autism: The Syndrome and Its Implications for a Neural Theory of Behavior". This attributed the cause of autism to biology rather than poor parenting.

  • Dr Eric Schoppler

    Dr Eric Schoppler founded the TEACCH approach (Treatment and Education of Autistic and Communication handicapped Children) at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine, where the child and their parents learn strategies and skills to enable the child to function as independently and meaningfully as possible.

  • DeMyer et al.

    DeMyer et al. found
    that ‘Most autistic children remained educationally
    retarded and 42% were institutionalized…. (their
    findings) indicated the following prognosis in autism: 1–
    2% recovery to normal, 5–15% borderline, 16–25% fair,
    and 60–75% poor’.

  • Rutter and Folstein

    Michael Rutter and Susan Folstein conducted a twin study of 21 pairs (11 MZ 10DZ) with one of the pair being already diagnosed with autism. It was found that there was a 36% concordance between MZ twins compared to a 0% concordance with DZ twins. The concordance for cognitive abnormality was 82% in MZ twins and 10% in DZ. It was concluded that there is a genetic influence towards cognitive abnormality, which incorporated autism.

  • Wolff and Barlow

    Wolff and Barlow argued that Asperger's "autistic psychopathy" should be labelled as a Schizoid personality disorder as Asperger’s symptoms of lack of empathy, poor communication, isolation from others as this is similar to a Schizoid personality.

  • DSM III

    DSM III was launched putting Autism under Pervasive Developmental disorders.

  • Lorna Wing

    Wing argued that there is no question that the Asperger’s is a form of Schizoid personality but she was uncertain whether its grouping was of any benefit.

  • Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule

    The introduction of the Autism Diagnostic Observation
    Schedule. The first widely accepted and
    validated instrument for diagnosing autism,
    substantially more children were found to meet the
    diagnostic criteria than in the past, leading to the
    erroneous conclusion that actual autism cases were
    increasing.

  • DSM IV

    The Autistic Spectrum Disorder is defined today as a group of neurodevelopment syndromes characterized by defective social interactions, communication and stereotyped behaviours and interests.

  • Asperger's Syndrome

    Asperger's syndrome to be entered into the DSM-IV.

  • Gastroenterologist Andrew Wakefield

    A lawyer hired Wakefield to conduct research on behalf of families having children with autism to support litigation against the MMR vaccine.

  • A study published in The Lancet

    The study reported there might be a connection between the MMR vaccine and autism.

  • Medical Research Council of Britain

    Medical Research Council of Britain set up a panel to study the link and found no association between vaccines and autism.

  • Thimerosal

    A study revealed that the preservative thimerosal caused several infants to have levels of mercury in their blood that exceeded recommended guidelines by the EPA. CDC recommended removal of the preservative. The preservative was changed.

  • A study published in The Lancet

    10 of 13 scientists of the 1998 study retracted their conclusions conceding that they did not have enough evidence at the time to tie the MMR vaccine to autism.

  • British Times

    Britain experienced a MMR epidemic.

  • Lee Watchell

    Watchell proposed the use of electoconvulsive therapy (ECT) as a technique to stop an autistic boy from self-harming. The child was known to punch himself an average of 109 times/hour. None of the cognitive behavioural therapy they used was being effective. ECT is still used today and the primary use is to treat depression. According to the study, the therapy was a success and the boy had marked improvements in his behaviour.

  • Andrew Wakefield

    Wakefield had his license revoked by Britain's medical council.

  • DSM V

    The DSM V (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorder) is published in 2013. All the neurodevelopmental conditions have been removed except autistic spectrum disorder.