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Autism Identified
In 1943, Leo Kanner published the first paper identifying what we know today as autism. He observed children who did not fit the patterns of other known disabilities and invented a new category called "early infantile autism". -
Hans Asperger
in Germany conducted research describing individuals with social, and emotional limitations that also demonstrated withdrawn behavior and named the disorder Asperger's Syndrome. -
Bruno Bettleheim
claimed that Autism was an emotional disorder that developed in some children because of psychological harm brought upon them by their mothers. He wrote many books, articles and appeared on TV discussing the theory. -
Bernard Rimland
the father of a son with Autism presented the first argument that Autism is not related to the parent-child bond but is a biological condition. He founded the Autism Society of America. -
The Autism Society of America
was founded by Bernard Rimland and other parents of children with autism. http://www.autism-society.org/about-us/ -
Eric Schopler and Robert Reichler
studied the effects of parent involvement in the treatment of children with Autism. -
TEACCH Program
Schopler started the Treatment and Education of Autistic and Related Communication Handicapped Children (TEACCH) program at the University of North Carolina. -
Autism added to the DSM-III
Autism was added to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders- Third Edition (DSM-III) as "infantile autism". -
Autistic Disorder
Autistic Disorder" replaced "Infantile Autism" in the manual and gave a more expansive explanation of the diagnosis. -
Period: to
Many more autism spectrum labels were assigned
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Amendments to IDEA
Schools begin to identity and serve students with Autism following the federal government decision to make Autism a special education category. -
PDD-NOS and Asperger's Syndrome
were added to the DSM-IV -
National Alliance for Autism Research
was founded by parents of children with autism as the first organization in the U.S. devoted to funding biomedical research focusing on autism spectrum disorders. http://www.ncpad.org/16/Organizations/2304#sthash.RDkznVNX.dpuf -
Period: to
Number of school-age children
classified as being on the spectrum increased from 22, 664 to 211, 610. -
Cure Autism Now (CAN)
was founded by Jonathan Shestack and Portia Iversen to raise awareness and funding for research. -
Autism Speaks
was founded by Bob and Suzanne Wright. http://www.autismspeaks.org/about-us -
Center for Disease Control and Prevention
released data indicating that about one in 150 eight-year old children in the U.S. was on the autism spectrum. -
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)
The DSM was updated. Significant changes to the Autism criteria occurred in this update. The diagnosis will now be referred to as Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). There will no longer be sub diagnoses such as Asperger syndrome, PDD-NOS, etc. The new criteria will now only have 2 areas to determine diagnosis rather than 3. The new areas are social communication/interaction and restricted and repetitive behavior.