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The Beginning of "autism"
A Swedish psychiatrist by the name of Eugen Bleuler is the first to use the term “autism”. Bleuler used it to describe a schizophrenic patient. -
Kanner Describes Autism
American child psychiatrist Leo Kanner studied 11 children and then describes the term autism in his paper “'Autistic disturbances of affective contact”. -
Discovery of Asperger Syndrome
Hans Asperger describes a milder form of autism, which is later called Asperger Syndrome. -
NAS Logo developed
The first logo for NAS was made and came in the form of a puzzle. The reasoning behind the choice for the design follows: "The Committee decided that the symbol of the Society should be the puzzle, as this did not look like any other commercial or charitable one as far as they could discover." Helen Allison wrote that "the puzzle piece is so effective because it tells us something about autism: our children are handicapped by a puzzling condition; this isolates them from normal human contact an -
Autism Society of America
Bernard Rimland, a U.S. psychologist, the first advocacy group for parents of children with autism. The group was called Autism Society of America. -
"Refrigerator Mothers"
Bruno Bettelheim popularizes the theory that “refrigerator mothers” causes autism. Theory was they didn’t love the child enough. -
Genetics and Biological Differences
Research on a set of twins shows that autism is largely caused by genetics and biological differences in brain development. -
"Infantile autism" is Listed for First Time
The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorder lists “Infantile autism” and separates childhood schizophrenia and autism. -
Changed to "autism disorder"
“Infantile autism” is replaced with “autism disorder” in the DSM. A checklist for diagnostics criteria is included. -
MMR Vaccine Rumor
Another big rumor on how autism is caused happened when a study from the Lancet wasreleased. The study suggest that the vaccine for measles-mumps-rubella vaccine causes autism. Later determined not true. -
Autism Becomes a Special Education Category
The federal government makes autism a special education category. Leading to special services provided in public schools. -
World Autism Awareness Day
This day was made with the hopes to help schools, education services,and local authorities in supporting children with autism. -
Increase of Cases
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and preventions states the amount of cases rose from 1 in 150 to 1 in 110. CDC also states it could be a result of better screening and diagnostic techniques. -
All Subcategories Put into One
All subcategories of condition into one umbrella of diagnosis autism spectrum disorder by the DSM-5.
