Autism can be traced back to 1911 when Eugen Bleuler, a Swiss psychiatrist, first coined the term. At the time, the term was used to describe what is now known as adult schizophrenia.
Early Observations of Autism
Dr. Leo Kanner of John Hopkins University described autism for the first time in 1943. He used observations of eleven children in his care. These children had withdrawn from human contact as early as the age of one. They also exhibited the following symptoms:
- good memory
- echolia
- hypersensitivity to stimuli
- impaired social interaction
In 1944, Hans Asperger wrote about a group of children that he referred to as autistic psychopaths. They exhibited the same symptoms that were observed by Kanner (as listed, above). In addition, he added that these children lacked the physical skills shown by other children of the same age. Asperger’s work did not become well known until the late 1980s when his book was translated into English.
Another individual by the name of Bruno Bettelheim directed the Chicago based Ortho-Genetic School for children with emotional problems. He wrote about three therapy sessions he conducted. Through these sessions, he labeled the children as autistic and believed that the coldness of their mothers was to blame. It should be noted that the parents were not allowed to be involved, whatsoever, in the therapy.
It wasn’t until the 1960s that autism was recognized as a separate syndrome. It was proven to be lifelong, separating it from other conditions such as mental retardation and schizophrenia. From the 1960s through the 1970s, treatments for autism focused on medications such as LSD, behavior change therapy, and electric shock. From the 1980s and 1990s, behavior therapy became the treatment of choice, along with use of controlled learning environments.
In looking at the line plot below, the number of autism cases has been on a dramatic rise since 1992, when the number of cases was around 15,580. We see a rise to 259,705 cases in 2006. It wasn’t until the the early 1990s that special education programs were required to report how many children receive services for an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), which some feel is part of the reason the numbers you see below rise so drastically.
Based on 2007 statistics from the Center of Disease Control and Prevention, 1 in 150 births are autistic children, equating to 1-1.5 million autistic Americans. We are seeing a 10-17% annual growth rate in new cases.
Current Research
As doctors and scientists continue to delve into autism and seek to unravel its mysteries, ongoing projects at the Autism Research Centre are available to help in the process.
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