Autism: Eugen Bleuler's Autistic Spectrum Disorder

The term autism was first used by Eugen Bleuler, in 1908, to describe a set of severely withdrawn schizophrenic patients. It would be nearly four decades before the term would be used in America. Leo Kanner, an American psychiatrist, is credited with first studying and publishing articles about autistic children. Coincidentally, he is often called the father of child psychiatry. In 1943 Kanner published his seminal work, “Autistic Disturbances of Affective Contact”, in which he does a case study of 11 children (8 boys and 3 girls). Kanner outlines key aspects of each child 's life and personality. He carefully documented their severe anti-social behaviors (Kanner 217-220). Kanner defined their “autistic” condition as follows. “ The outstanding, “pathognomic,” fundamental disorder is the children 's inability to relate themselves in the ordinary way to people and situations from the beginning of life” (Kanner 242). Although Bleuler coined the term “autism” from the Latin word autos meaning self. Kanner 's diagnosis above is the classical definition, early psychiatrist used to define autism. Today, the term“Autism” refers to Autistic Spectrum Disorders (ASD). ASDs are a group of severe developmental disorders that affect social development, and which cause very specific, atypical social behaviors (Hollander, xix). As noted

Often they like the daily life skills, such as self hygiene, preparing a meal, or even shopping, that they need to be independent. This lack of preparedness combined with each individual 's autistic impairments, means a high percentage of individuals with Autistic Spectrum Disorders live with their families well into their adult lives. Consequently, the burden on families can become overwhelming as the primary care givers start to age (Billstedt & Gillberg