The History of Autism Spectrum Disorder

The History of Autism Spectrum Disorder

Pioneer Views of ASD before the 1900s

A man from Massachusetts performed various tests and measures on Billy, a 59-year-old man, in 1846. It is Billy’s strange behavior that inspired this meeting. In the language of the early-1900s, Billy was referred to as an “idiot,” a name that physicians and professors purposely used without cruelty but with an indication of a notion that was in the clinical vocabulary what most people now term as intellectual disability (Kapp, 2020).

Doctor Eugen Bleuler used the word autism for the first time in 1908. He used the term to explain a patient who has schizophrenia who had departed into his private planet. The pioneers in the exploration of autism in the 1940’s worked separately in research into autism (Kapp, 2020). Their observations were useful for doctors for the next three decades.

The American child psychiatrist, Leo Kanner, conducted a study on 11 children in 1943. The selected children had various problems in communicating, difficulty adjusting to stimuli, good recalling, sound sensitivity, echolalia, allergic to a certain food, and mental uprightness. Though Kanner believed the children’s difficulty relating to others was inborn, he also emphasized what he perceived to be the cold, particularly from their mothers (Lynøe & Eriksson, 2020). He attached it with devising the term “refrigerator mother” to define the mothering of autistic children as if from a fridge that didn’t melt.

Autism Spectrum Disorder with “Refrigerator Mothers” and Childhood Schizophrenia

In 1944, Hans Asperger, working individually, examined some children. In his study, the children also were similar to Kanner’s observations. However, the children he conducted a study on studied lacked echolalia as a language difficulty though they could speak like adults. He further stated that several children were inelegant and differed from normal children in playing abilities.

Bruno Bettelheim argued that the complications in autistic children resulted from the coldness of their mothers and isolated them from parental care for some time. Both Kanner and Bettelheim worked to hypothesize that children who have autism had chilly mother-care environments. However, Bernard Rimland, a parent and a psychologist, disagreed with Bruno Bettelheim. He did not collaborate that the root reason for his son’s condition was from parenting abilities.

Through his research, Rimland discovered that the “refrigerator mother” theory was established on nothing more than incidental and unreliable evidence. In his publication in 1964, Rimland doubted the theory that autism was an outcome of uncaring parent-child relationships and gave substantial arguments that autism is a biological disorder (Lynøe & Eriksson, 2020). Advanced studies helped the parents to understand that cold was not a cause of autism in their infants; this enlightenment gave a different picture of autism from what was initially believed. Rimland provided a breakthrough for further research on the disease. Because of the advanced studies, there is now a better understanding of autism.

Diagnostic Criteria for ASD and Ivar Lovaas’ Intensive Behavior Therapy Results

Autism Diagnostic comprises many criteria. The following are the ways to identify children with autism: Deficits in emotional mutuality, from strange interacting style ordinary to decreased involvement of concerns and feelings to failure to start or react to social communications. Shortages in nonverbal, talkative activities used for interaction, varying from poorly integrated verbal and oral communication; to anomalies in eye and body contact or shortages in comprehension and involvement of signals; to an entire absence of countenance representations, difficulties in creating and sustaining relationships, ranging, for example, from problems in adapting trait to fit many social situations (Mure, n.d.).

In the history of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), early diagnosis of autism has benefits that have helped doctors handle the cases more competently. Early discovery provides an autistic child with the potential for an improved life. Also, parents of autistic children can study early how to support their child’s development intellectually, psychologically, and physically during the growing steps with help from experts and governments (Lynøe & Eriksson, 2020).

Ole Ivar Lovaas aimed to create actual behavioral involvements to help children with ASD avoid existing. The goal was to start behavioral treatment intercession with young children at the age of two to assist them in acquiring skills in talking and learning activities (Kapp, 2020). Dr. Lovaas conducted research and advanced interactive analysis on the treatment of autistic children. Lovaas attained limited achievement in his first trial behavior study. He conducted it aiming at children under the age of 5, employed treatment at home, and added the intensity to approximately 40 hours per week.

Andrew Wakefield’s Publication in 1998 Suggesting that (MMR) Vaccine Causes Autism

In 1998, Andrew Wakefield and his 12 friends published a case study that claimed that the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine could influence attitude deterioration and persistent, progressive conditions among children. Because of this, MMR vaccination numbers drastically dropped because parents were worried about the danger of autism after vaccination. Straightaway after Andrew Wakefield’s publication, epidemiological studies were carried out and countered the relationship between MMR immunization and autism. MMR jab protects young ones against measles, mumps, and rubella and inhibits problems caused by these infections (Mure, n.d.). Andrew Wakefield’s publication could act as a total misguide to people and cause miss out on this important vaccination, meaning several people were to be vulnerable to measles, mumps, and rubella diseases had not this study been refuted that early.

Revision of the DSM-5

There has been a clear need for the arrangement of mental disorders throughout the history of medicine. Lately, there has been little settlement on which mental disorders are to be incorporated and the best method for their organization. The task of the revision  DSM-5 started in 2000, and work groups were made to conduct a research program for the fifth key revision of the DSM (Boelen et al., 2020). These working groups generated papers, theses, and journal articles providing a summary of the science applicable to the psychiatric diagnosis of mental disorders and letting it discover where gaps existed in the current study; APA formed the DSM-5 research experts to commence revising the guidebook and thirteen specialists to focus on different disorder parts. DSM-5 was printed in 2013.

Conclusion

In conclusion, people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) generally have difficulties with social interaction and relations and limited or uninteresting conduct or concerns. They also have various strange ways of hearing, playing, and paying consideration. Parents need to identify autism at the early stages of their children and take necessary steps to help their children improve as early as possible. Throughout the history of autism, different researchers have tried to enlighten the general public about what autism is and its cause. Out of these studies, parents have come to understand the cause of the disease and not what early researchers had published. Diagnostic methods for autism were discovered, but there is also a need for intensive research for the same, which is why DSM is being revised after a certain period.

References

Boelen, P. A., Eisma, M. C., Smid, G. E., & Lenferink, L. I. M. (2020). Prolonged grief disorder in section II of DSM-5: A commentary. European Journal of Psychotraumatology, 11(1), 1771008. https://doi.org/10.1080/20008198.2020.1771008

Havdahl, A., Wootton, R. E., Leppert, B., Riglin, L., Ask, H., Tesli, M., Bugge Askeland, R., Hannigan, L. J., Corfield, E., Øyen, A.-S., Andreassen, O. A., Tilling, K., Davey Smith, G., Thapar, A., Reichborn-Kjennerud, T., & Stergiakouli, E. (2022). Associations Between Pregnancy-Related Predisposing Factors for Offspring Neurodevelopmental Conditions and Parental Genetic Liability to Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, Autism, and Schizophrenia: The Norwegian Mother, Father and Child Cohort Study (MoBa). JAMA Psychiatry, 79(8), 799. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2022.1728

Kapp, S. K. (Ed.). (2020). Autistic Community and the Neurodiversity Movement: Stories from the Frontline. Springer Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-8437-0

Lynøe, N., & Eriksson, A. (2020). No similarities between the Wakefield report on measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine and the Swedish report on traumatic shaking. Acta Paediatrica, 109(7), 1326–1329. https://doi.org/10.1111/apa.15122

Mure, M. (n.d.). THE EUROPEAN DISCOURSE ON MEASLES-MUMPS-RUBELLA (MMR) VACCINATION. 16.

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Purpose:

The historical and theoretical foundations of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have greatly influenced the understanding of ASD. Understanding how ASD was diagnosed and viewed throughout key historical events is important when considering how to assist children with ASD today.

The History of Autism Spectrum Disorder

Directions:

For this assignment, you will write an informative essay to analyze five historical and theoretical events.

The five historical and theoretical events are:

Pioneer views of ASD prior to 1900s
Clinicians and researchers associated autism spectrum disorder with “refrigerator mothers” and childhood schizophrenia
The standardization of diagnostic criteria for ASD, including a discussion of Ivar Lovaas’ intensive behavior therapy results
The study published by Andrew Wakefield in 1998 suggesting that the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine causes autism
Revision of the DSM-5
Your informative essay should include the following:

Title page in current APA style
Provide information on each historical event
Explain how each event was important to the study of ASD
Explain how perceptions of ASD have changed over time
Explain how this knowledge will help support children with ASD
Conclusion summarizing the information
Reference page in current APA style