People in Autism: Hans Asperger

Hans Asperger (February 18, 1906 – October 21, 1980) was an Austrian pediatrician who described in 1944 what he referred to autistic psychopathy as “a lack of empathy, little ability to form friendships, one-sided conversation, intense absorption in a special interest, and clumsy movements.”

Hans Asperger with a child with “autistic psychopathy”

Although he was one of the first to describe the symptoms related to today’s well-know Autism Spectrum Disorder, his work was little known during his lifetime. Perhaps the first acknowledgment of his work was done posthumously by Lorna Wing‘s 1981 article Asperger’s Syndrome: A clinical account and later on he became known in the scientific community due to Uta Frith’s 1991 translation of his work from German to English.

In the paper ‘Autistic psychopathy’ in childhood, Hans Asperger reports several cases of a type of children that he describes as “particularly interesting and highly recognizable”. He ends the paper stating that “autistic people have their place in the organism of the social community. They fulfill their role well, perhaps better than anyone else could, and we are talking of people who as children had the greatest difficulties and caused untold worries to their caregivers”.

Other people in autism: 
– Lorna Wing

How many people have autism in the US?

Source: Advancing Futures for People with Autism (January 2013)

 

Does vaccination cause autism?

Scientific research has been repeatedly proving that vaccination does not cause autism.

In this video Dr. Celine Saulnier explains why parents shouldn’t stop vaccinating their children.

For a detailed explanation on how this myth has started and why this is not true watch these videos:

Does Asperger’s syndrome exist?

It has been almost one year since the release of DSM-5 where Asperger’s syndrome is no longer listed as a disorder. However, the discussion on whether Asperger’s syndrome can be considered a disorder is still ongoing. This change in the autism spectrum disorder diagnostic criteria has had an impact on several people affected by the disorder and in their families and friends. Their identification to a specific disorder suddenly disappeared. There even are several Asperger’s and “aspies” communities, forums and associations created to support people affected by that disorder.
The question is then if Asperger’s syndrome does really exist or not. On an article published in 2001 (a while before the change on autism’s new diagnostic criteria) the authors reviewed the history of Asperger’s syndrome evolution and origin and conducted a study in order to investigate the validity of Asperger’s disorder as defined by the DSM-IV. The conclusion of the study was that on a sample of 157 children with a diagnostic of Asperger’s disorder, all met the criteria for autistic disorder but none met the criteria for Asperger’s disorder (even those with average intelligence and normal speech onset). The reason for this was that all had a communication impairment (which was not present on Asperger’s syndrome criteria). The authors finally concluded that Asperger’s disorder, at least as it was defined in DSM-IV, is unlikely or even impossible.

Source: Mayes, S. D., Calhoun, S. L., & Crites, D. L. (2011). Does DSM-IV Asperger’s disorder exist? Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 29(3), 263-271.

Interventions for Autism: Floortime therapy

Floortime is a therapy derived from the Developmental, Individual-differences, Relationship-based (DIR) model. This developmental therapy has for its core precept to understand the child’s sensory differences and to use these to help children with ASD in their development. The emphasis is placed on the creation of emotionally meaningful learning experiences that will encourage developmental abilities.

The idea behind the therapy is that children can expand their circles of communication and their strengths when the requests are made at their developmental level.

Floortime sessions emphasize play interactions in a calm setting. Parents or professionals will establish the foundations for shared attention, engagement, and problem solving while playing with the child.

Floortime outlines 6 developmental stages that children with autism have often missed or not mastered:

• Regulation and Interest in the World
• Engagement and Relating
• Two way intentional communication
• Continuous Social Problem solving
• Symbolic Play
• Bridging Ideas

Other interventions for Autism: 
– Applied Behavior Analysis
– Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
– Speech-Language Therapy
– Peer-Mediated Instruction
– Sensory Integration Therapy
– SCERTS model
– Early Start Denver Model (ESDM)
– Augmentative and Alternative Communication

What’s the life outcome of an adult with autism?

Over the years, since Leo Kanner’s account of 11 children with autism (1943) and its posterior account of their outcome (1971), researchers have devoted their attention to the outcome of adults with autism.

In a review of the literature analysing data from 1900 to nowadays (1) the authors tried to find the different criteria used across time to measure life outcome in adults with autism and the results obtained by these.

Overall, the outcome depended on the degree of intellectual impairment of the individual – individuals with average IQ had better outcome than individuals with lower than average IQ; and the definition and scope of “outcome” – evaluations taking into consideration the relationship between the person and the surrounding environment demonstrated better outcome.

One of the criteria to measure life outcome in adults with autism is the ability to be independent.

In general, the results demonstrate that adults with autism who have intellectual impairments have a poor to very poor outcome: most of them live with their parents or in some kind of supported living arrangement; only a few are independently employed; and less than half have significant friendships.
However, the results are more optimistic for those individuals with autism who do not have intellectual impairments. Most of them are independently employed and are involved in social activities but most of them still live with their parents.

Although results seem not very optimistic for individuals with autism with low IQ the authors of the review point out the benefits of intensive early interventions that are more common nowadays. These interventions may result in a more positive outcome in adulthood and children who benefited from these therapies are just now entering adulthood. Therefore, the long-term effects of these interventions are yet to be determined.

Article: (1) Henninger, N. A. & Taylor, J. L. (2013). Outcomes in adults with autism spectrum disorders: a historical perspective. Autism: the International Journal of Research and Practice, 17(1), 103-116.

The cost of autism

In the United States, caring for an individual with autism can cost more than 3$ million in their lifetime. This represents a total bill to US society of about 35$ billion a year.

Source: autismspeaks.org

The prevalence of autism

In the United States, about 1 in 88 children has been identified with an autism spectrum disorder. The disorder is reported to occur in all racial, ethnic and socioeconomic groups but is more common among boys (1 in 54) than girls (1 in 252).

Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

The first case of autism in history

It is believed that one of the first documented references to a case of autism was made by Jean Itard (1774-1838), a French physician working at the French National Institute of the Deaf.

In 1800 a boy of approximately 12-years-old who had spent the majority of his childhood in the woods was brought to the Institute. The boy was named Victor of Aveyron and although he could hear he made no direct communication and was very self-absorbed. Recently, autism expert Uta Frith, declared she believes Victor displayed signs of autism.

Victor of Aveyron was, probably, the first documented case of Autism in history

The history has been dramatized in the movie The Wild Child

The history of Victor of Aveyron dramatized in the movie “The Wild Child”

The word Autism

The word was first coined around 1910-1912 by the Swiss psychiatrist Eugen Bleuler while describing the symptoms for schizophrenia. The word derives from the Latin autismus, and the ancient Greek autos, meaning “self”. Bleuer used this term to describe the morbid self-absorption characteristic in patients with schizophrenia, their detachment from the outer reality along with a relative or absolute predominance of inner life.

This fact led for the autism spectrum disorders to be classified as “childhood schizophrenia ” in two consecutive editions of the DSM (DSM-I: 1952-1968; DSM-II: 1968-1980).

The term gained its modern meaning in 1938 when the Austrian pediatrician Hans Asperger described what we now call Asperger’s syndrome.

Later on, in 1943, Leo Kanner, an American psychiatrist popularized the term Autism in his famous account of eleven cases of children with similar patterns of behavior. The first case he describes is that of Donald T., a five-year-old boy from Forest, Mississipi that was brought to him in 1938.