Brief History of Autism By: Jason Bunn-Parsons 4

Transcript:Brief History of Autism By: Jason Bunn-Parsons 4:
Brief History of Autism By: Jason Bunn-Parsons 4 Prominent Autism Researchers: 1940s - 60s Dr. Leo Kanner (1894-1981) Austrian Born (his home town is now in Ukraine) Child Psychologist, who immigrated to the US (1924) Director of Child Psychiatry, Johns Hopkins Hospital (1930-1959) Published 1st English text book on child psychiatry, “Child Psychiatry” (1935) 4 Prominent Autism Researchers Dr. Leo Kanner (1894-1981) Published, “In Defense of Mothers. How to Bring Up Children In Spite of the More Zealous Psychologists” (1941) Opposed euthanasia for the “feebleminded.” (1942) 4 Prominent Autism Researchers Dr. Leo Kanner (1894-1981) Published, “Autistic Disturbances of Affective Contact” (1943) https://simonsfoundation.s3.amazonaws.com/share/071207-leo-kanner-autistic-affective-contact.pdf 4 Prominent Autism Researchers This foundational work has since been cherry picked by those who focus solely on the struggles he reported, but neglect to take note of the fact that he also observed his patients tended to have superior abilities for memorization. 4 Prominent Autism Researchers Dr. Hans Asperger (1906-1980) Austrian Pediatrician in Nazi Germany Credited for saving the lives of his 4 Autistic patients, whom he referred to as his “little professors,” from the Nazis. Much of his research was lost due to the bombing of the hospital that he worked at during WWII. 4 Prominent Autism Researchers Dr. Hans Asperger (1906-1980) The stigma attached to any medical research done in Nazi Germany hinder the acceptance of his findings. The term, Asperger’s Syndrome, was coined by Dr. Lorna Wing (“Asperger Syndrome: A Clinical Account” - 1981). 4 Prominent Autism Researchers Did Dr. Kanner & Dr. Asperger Influence the Other? Would the governments of Nazi Germany & the United States allow dialog between professionals while they were at war with each other in 1943-44? How would the Nazi German government respond to one of its professionals “synchronizing” their theories with those of a Jew? 4 Prominent Autism Researchers Did Dr. Kanner & Dr. Asperger Influence the Other? Would a child psychologist in America go to Europe to attend a seminar hosted by a pediatrician, especially in 1936? Would a Austrian, and/or German, speaking pediatrician in Austria/Germany subscribe to an English language child psychology periodical published in America? 4 Prominent Autism Researchers Did Dr. Kanner & Dr. Asperger Influence the Other? Would a pediatrician send his patients to a child psychologist to continue the therapies & treatments? 4 Prominent Autism Researchers Bruno Bettelheim (1903-1990) Professor of Psychology, University of Chicago (1944-73) Director of the Orthogenic School (for “disturbed