MODULE THREE

HISTORICAL DEFINITIONS
OF AUTISM

www.narpaa.org
 MODULE THREE

HISTORICAL DEFINITIONS OF
AUTISM
 MODULE THREE

As a result of completion of this module, the

participant will be able to:
• Identify people and organizations that have
played and play an important role in Autism
research.
• Recall why Autism is considered to be a
biological condition.
 EARLY DESCRIPTIONS

Throughout history, people have probably lived

with what we know today as Autism Spectrum
Disorder. Some of the earliest published
descriptions of behavior that resemble Autism
date back to the 18th century.
 EARLY DESCRIPTIONS

The term Autism was, for years, only used in some

circles of psychiatrists and psychologists. It is
believed to have been first introduced around
1911 by noted Swiss psychiatrist Eugen Bleuler,
who used the term to describe an individual's
exclusion of the outside world and virtual
withdrawal from social life. The words "autistic"
and "autism" are developed from the Greek word
"autos" meaning "self."
 KANNER AND ASPERGER

TheAutism was first described as a specific

condition by Dr. Leo Kanner, who published his
famous paper on the disorder in 1943. In 1944,
 KANNER AND ASPERGER

Dr. Hans Asperger, of Vienna, Austria, published

another famous paper that first described a
similar condition that later became known as
Asperger Syndrome.
 KANNER AND ASPERGER

Dr. Hans Asperger, of Vienna, Austria, published

another famous paper that first described a
similar condition that later became known as
Asperger Syndrome.
 KANNER AND ASPERGER

These landmark papers featured the first

theoretical attempts to explain these
complex disorders.

Despite the papers published by Kanner and

Asperger in the 1940s, Autism has long
been a mystery to the medical community
– even today.
 MID-20TH CENTURY DESCRIPTIONS

In the 1950s and 1960s, the medical community

generally incorrectly believed Autism was a
psychological disturbance caused by detached
or uncaring mothers (refrigerator mothers). This
belief, later completely disproved, was based on
the observations and opinions of Dr. Bruno
Bettleheim, one of the first child development
specialists to focus on Autism.
 CHANGING THOUGHT

For decades, generations of mothers of children

with Autism were unfairly accused of causing
their child's disorder. In the early 1960s, a few
people in the medical community, such as Dr.
Bernard Rimland and Dr. Eric Schopler, began to
challenge Bettleheim's opinion. In 1964, Dr.
Rimland provided a definitive review of evidence
that established Autism as a biological condition
– thus demonstrating Bettleheim's theory was
wrong.
 CHANGING THOUGHT

Soon after Autism was proven to be a biological

condition, Dr. Andreas Rett first described Rett
Syndrome as a specific condition in a paper
published in 1966.
 CHANGING THOUGHT

In 1977, Dr. Susan Folstein and Dr. Michael Rutter

published the first Autism twin study, which
revealed evidence of a genetic basis for Autism.
Over the next ten years, researchers conducted
additional studies that further yielded evidence of
a genetic component to Autism as well as refined
the symptoms of Autism.
 CHANGING THOUGHT

In 1991, Drs. Catherine Lord, Michael Rutter and

Ann LeCouteur published the Autism
Diagnostic Interview. In 1992, the American
Psychiatric Association released the Diagnostic
and Statistical Manual (DSM-IV), which refined
diagnostic criteria for autistic disorder. The
World Health Organization released a similar
diagnostic manual
 GENETIC LINKS

In 1994, the National Alliance for Autism Research

in the United States was established, becoming
the first organization in the U.S. dedicated to
funding and accelerating biomedical research
into the Autism Spectrum Disorder. Founded by
Karen and Eric London and other parents of
children with Autism, NAAR allocates millions of
dollars each year to funding the finest Autism
research worldwide and has played a key role in
increasing federal spending on Autism.
 GENETIC LINKS

In the early to mid 1990s, genetic researchers

began to link Autism to people with abnormalities
on chromosome 15. In 1998, researchers had
reported evidence of a link between Autism and
chromosomes 15q and 7q. By 2001, several
researchers had completed genetic screens that
identified several genomic regions containing
genes that could be associated with Autism.
 AUTISM TISSUE PROGRAM

The Autism Tissue Program was initially

established and funded in 1998 by NAAR and
the Autism Society of America Foundation. Later,
the M.I.N.D. Institute (Medical Investigation of
Neurodevelopmental Disorders) at the University
of California at Davis joined as a co-sponsor of
the program.
 AUTISM TISSUE PROGRAM

The Autism Tissue Program is the first parent-led

brain tissue donation program dedicated for
Autism research. Post-mortem brain tissue is the
most fundamental, rare and precious resource
that allows scientists to go far beyond the
constraints of other technologies to study Autism
on both a cellular and molecular level.
 AUTISM TISSUE PROGRAM

Recent epidemiology studies have shown that

Autism Spectrum Disorder is ten times more
prevalent than it was just ten years ago. Autism
is the second most common developmental
disability, next to intellectual disability. Autism
Spectrum Disorder occurs in an estimated one in
every 110 births.