History of Autism

By agrawunder

  • First Research

    Dr. Down, researched mental retardation. His description of “developmental retardation” describes individuals who would be classified as having Autism.
  • Period: to

    History of Autism

    Sources used: http://projectautism.org/history-of-autism

  • Autism and Schizophrenia

    Eugene Bleuler described a symptom of Schizophrenia by using the word Autism. It was believed that Autism was a mental illness.

  • Kanner's Syndrome aka Early Infantile Autism.

    American researcher Leo Kanner conducted research describing individuals with social, and emotional limitations that also demonstrated withdrawn behavior. Kanner would refer to this condition as Kanner’s syndrome-later Early Infantile Autism.

  • Asperger Syndrome

    German researcher, Hans Asperger, conducted a similar research to Kanner. Hans Asperger named the condition Asperger syndrome.

  • Refrigerator Mother

    Kanner did another study and concluded that Autism resulted in lack of mothering. He coined the term “refrigerator mother”.

  • psychological harm

    Bruno Bettleheim claimed that Autism was an emotional disorder that developed in some children because of psychological harm brought upon them by their mothers.

  • Biological > mother bonding

    The father of a son with Autism, Bernard Rimland, presented the first solid argument that Autism is not related to parent child bond, but rather a biological condition.

  • University of North Carolina

    Treatment and Education of autistic and Related Communication Handicapped Children (TEACCH) program started at the University of North Carolina thanks to Schopler. TEACCH is to provide training and other programs for individuals with Autism.

  • Diagnose

    The addition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-Third Edition as “Infantile Autism

  • Autistic Disorder

    Autistic Disorder replaced “Infantile Autism” in the manual and gave a more expansive explanation of the diagnosis.

  • Public schools

    Schools begin to identify and serve students with Autism following the federal government decision to make Autism a Special Education category.

  • Diagnostic reference

    Both Asperger’s Syndrome and Pervasive Developmental Disorder-Not otherwise Specified were added to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. This is the main diagnostic reference of mental health professionals in the United States.

  • Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)

    Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) will be used as the new diagnosis name. There will no longer be different diagnoses such as Asperger syndrome. Two main areas to determine diagnosis in social communication/interaction and restricted repetitive behavior.