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Autism Defined
"Autism" was first defined in 1908 to describe schizophrenic patients who were very withdrawn and self-absorbed. -
Prevalence
In the 1940's the prevalence for Autism was considered to be 4 to 5 in 10,000 families. -
Leo Kanner M.D
Child psychiatrist published a report on children who were extremely bright, but lacked desire to be around others and would rather be alone. Kanner later named their condition "early infantile autism. -
Hans Asperger
A German scientist who found a milder form of Autism, later known as Asperger's Syndrome. Hans Asperger found in some of his cases that boys were extremely intelligent, but lacked social skills and became obsessive over interests. -
Bernard Rimland
Rimland published a book "Infantile Autism: The Syndrome and Its Implications for a Neutral Theory of Behavior" which stated that Autism is caused by biology instead of cold or poor parenting. -
Bruno Bettelheim
Bruno Bettelheim a psychologist, made the popular theory that mothers who were cold to their children are the reason they had Autism. During this time, a large amount of research was done on Autism and the impact of life experiences. At that time they did not consider genetics or biological, that now is understood to be the main cause. -
Research
While doing research on a set of twins, researchers found that Autism is caused by genetics and biology differences in brain development. -
Lorna Wing
Wing conducted one of the first epidemiological studies of Autism and reported that the prevalence rate is 1 or 2 to 1000 people. -
Infantile Autism
Infantile Autism is listed in the "Diagnostic and Statistic Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM)" for the first time and it is now separated from childhood schizophrenia -
Autism in Education
Autism is now a special education category mandated by the federal government. After this, public schools started identifying student with Autism. -
Thimerosal
There is no link between Thimerosal and Autism. Thimerosal was never in or suggested to be removed from vaccines in 1999 by the Public Health Services and the American Academy of Pediatrics. -
1 in 68
Tracking 11 communities across the United States, 1 in 68 children are identified with Autism. -
Treatments
A study completed by Missouri Guidelines Initiative found that Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA), Early Intensive Behavioral Intervention, Pivotal Response Training, and Discrete Trial are all effective treatment interventions for children with Autism.
