History of Autism

  • 1797

    1797

    Autistic traits were first recorded by Jean Marc-Gaspard Itard, concerning “the wild boy of Aveyron.”
  • 1851

    1851

    Biography of philosopher and scientist Henry Cavendish, described the characteristics of what is now called Asperger’s syndrome.
  • 1908-11

    1908-11

    Autism the “Inner life” is first used by Eugen Bleular to describe children with symptoms related to schizophrenia.
  • 1925

    1925

    Russian psychiatrist, Grunya Sukhareva described the children that were cared for at her clinic as having a neurobiological condition with “autistic thinking”.
  • 1930s

    1930s

    Hans Asperger’s studied intellectually able children with an “authentic psychopathy”, known today as Asperger’s Syndrome.
  • 1938

    1938

    Leo Kanner worked with young children, recognizing a unique condition.
  • 1943-44

    1943-44

    Asperger and Kanner publish four months apart.
  • 1955

    1955

    It is first recognized in Britain that autistic children labeled as “maladjusted” are not defective and need better care.
  • 1962

    1962

    NAS is formed as a parent advocacy group
  • 1967

    1967

    Bruno Bettelheim hypothesizes the false theory that autism is caused by “refrigerator mothers”, who do not love their children enough.
  • 1977

    1977

    Further research on twins shows that autism is in fact largely caused by genetics.
  • 1979

    1979

    Lorna Wing and Judith Gould put forward the idea of a “triad of impairments” to diagnose autism. We
  • 1980

    1980

    DSM-lll: Infantile Autism is separated from childhood schizophrenia.
  • 1980

    1980

    Lorna Wing introduces the concept of the “Autism Spectrum”, including Asperger’s Syndrom.
  • 1985

    1985

    Simon Baron-Cohen researched autism in terms of differences kin “theory of mind”.
  • 1987

    1987

    DSM-lll: infantile Autism becomes “Autism Disorder”.
  • 1994

    1994

    DSM-lV is released, included Asperger’s Syndrome.
  • 1998

    1998

    A false link is made between the MMR vaccine and Autism. The research was later retracted.
  • 2006

    2006

    A study estimates that 1 in 100 children are artistic
  • 2009

    2009

    The Autism Act 2009: Act of parliament making provisions for autistic adults.
  • 2013

    2013

    DSM-V: Autism Spectrum Disorders
  • 2014

    2014

    A study conducted in the US suggest That Autism prevalence is 1 in 59.
  • 2016

    2016

    Nearly half of children with autism are shown to have cognitive skills that far exceed their verbal abilities.
  • 2016

    2016

    Evidence of regression in language, social and play skills in 1 in 5 children with autism
  • 2017

    2017

    Brain scans accurately predict autism in babies at 6 months.
  • 2019

    2019

    Large study indicates that “ High functioning” is a misnomer, due to the lack of social skills in high IQ autistic people.
  • 2020

    2020

    Research demonstrates the”female protective effects”, indicates that males are more genetically susceptible to autism than females.