History of Autism Spectrum Disorder

By bmarti25

  • Leo Kanner

    Leo Kanner systematically observers a small group of children with similar symptoms. These children lacked social behaviors and expressed extreme rigid behavior. He named the condition Infantile Autism.

  • Hans Asperger

    Hans Asperger expounded on Lep Kanner's observations of children with similar symptoms, but he noted two exceptions: the children had average intellegence with an area of obsessive interest and the children had normal language abilities.

  • DSM-I

    Autism like charisteristics were classified under childhood schizophrenia. Autism, was not given its own seperate criteria for diagnosis.

  • "Refrigerator Mothers"

    Autism was beleaved to be due to a cold/unloving parental upbringing (placing the blame for the child's disability on the parents). Kanner is quoted saying (when desribing how parental behavior causes autism in their children) that "[mothers of autistic children] have defrosted only enought to have a child" https://matthewlnaylor.wordpress.com/2011/04/10/history-of-autism/

  • TEACCH (Treatment and Education of Autistic and Communication handicapped Children

    Dr. Eric Schoppler founded TEACCH at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine. There, children and their parents learned strategies and skills to enable the child to function as independently as possible.

  • The Developmentally Disabled Assitance and Bill of Rights Act

    Known as the DD act, this act revised the definition of developmental disability to include autism and established a system of agencies meant to protect the rights of people with developmental disabilities in the US.

  • Education for all Handicap Children

    P.L. 94-142 guarenteed a free appropriate public education to all children with a disability

  • Bernard Rimland: 'Infantile Autism'

    Dr. Bernard Rimland, after his own son was diagnosed with autism, proposed in his paper, 'Infantile Autism: The Syndrome and its Implications for neural theory of behavior' that autism was a cognitive defect. His paper was not well received by the audience of his time.

  • Rutter & Folstein Twin Study

    By comparing 21 pairs of twins, the data showed that their is a genetic influence towards congitive abnormalities- including autism. These findings went against the theory of the time that autism was psychogenetic, not neurological.

  • DSM III

    Austism is labled under Pervasive Developmental Disorders in the DSM III.

  • Dr. Ivar Lovass

    In his article "Behavioral Treatment and Normal Educational and Intellectual Functioning in Young Autistic Children", Lovaas reported that with rigorous early traning, some children with autism were able to catch up to thie rpeers and function in general education class rooms. Lovass took a behavioral approach in "training" the children.

  • DSM- III-R

    Autism relaces Infantile Autism with a more expansive definition and check list of diagnostic criteria.

  • Diagnostic Advances

    Two widely accepted and validated diagnostic instruments were created in order to reliably distringuish individuals with autism spectrum disorders from those with other mental health consitions or developmental disorders: Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS) and Autism Diagnostic Interview Revised (ADIR-R)

  • Individuals with Disabilities Education Act

    A revamp of EHA, IDEA focuses more on the individual with a disability rather than focusing on the disability the individual has. Autism was added as a new category of eligibility for special education. Transition procedures were added to the child's IEP.

  • DSM-IIII

    Asperger's Syndrome is introduced to the DSM as a "milder" form of autism. It is added to the DSM as an expansion of Autism

  • IDEA Amendments

    Shifted the focus of children protected under IDEA from seperating from the general education classroom to inclusion.

  • Andrew Wakefield: Vaccination

    A researcher at the Royal Free Hospital in London, Dr. Wafefield published a paper that showed a possible link between the MMR vaccine and autism. He looked at 12 children with pervasive developmental disorders and discovered that the onset of symptoms for 8 of the 12 children began after receiving the MMR vaccine.

  • Wakefield debunked

    Reporter Brian Deer released an article conveying his findings after investigating Wakefield's "study" which connected MMR vaccine and autism. Deer discovered that Wakefield had distorted the true findings of the researcher. There were inaccuracies across all 12 study subjects.

  • CDC says Autism on the rise

    The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that 1 in 110 children have autism spectrum disorders,

  • Wakefield paper retracted

    Wakefields paper which connected MMR vaccine and autism was retracted after the GMC declared there was clear musconduct and ethical problems with the paper.

  • DSM-IV

    All subcategories of Autism are eliminated to make way for one encompassing diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder. ASD included two categories: impaired social behaviors and restricted/repetitive behaviors