Autistic disorder

This paper is a discussion of autistic disorder, a developmental disorder that is characterized by severe impairment in social interaction and communication exhibited before the age of 3. First identified in the early 1940s, autism is often described as a state of siege, in which the child, unable to control or derive satisfaction from the world, retreats from reciprocal contact with others and creates a strictly regulated fantasy world in which to exist. Frequently misdiagnosed in its original manifestations, autism can be especially frustrating for parents and therapists to deal with. Only about a third of autistic children can be taught to become partially independent. Autism is relatively rare, occurring in two to five cases of 1,000, but it is a remarkably striking disorder, offering interesting insights into normal childhood development and the establishment of individual personality.

The term "autism" was first introduced by psychiatrist Eugen Bleuler in 1911 to refer to a schizophrenic disturbance (Bleuler also coined the term "schizophrenia"), "namely the narrowing of relationships to people and to the outside world, a narrowing so extreme that it seemed to exclude everything except the person's own self" (Frith, 1989, p. 7). Although the psychiatric community now classifies autism as a developmental disorder, the name, derived from the Greek autos (self), persists. Both Leo Kanner and Hans Asperger, publishing independent studies of autistic children in 1943

Related Essays

Autistic Disorder This paper is a discussion of autistic disorder, a developmental disorder that is characterized by severe impairment in social interaction and communication .... (2520 10 )

Parents of Children with Autistic Spectrum Disorder Pressures on Parents of Children with Autistic Spectrum Disorder One of the positive aspects of the TEACCH model is the philosophical stance of that program. .... (5277 21 )

Autism .... He looked at 30 adults (27 men and 3 women) with autistic disorder in a 12-week double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of the potent and selective serotonin .... (2772 11 )

Physiological Aspects of Autism .... He looked at 30 adults (27 men and 3 women) with autistic disorder in a 12-week double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of the potent and selective serotonin .... (2744 11 )

CHILDHOOD LEARNING DISORDERS ADHD: Primary Clinic .... Autistic Disorder and Diagnostic Features Autistic Disorder is a developmental disorder usually occurring early in childhood, and characterized by severe .... (2580 10 )

to be severely retarded. Autism is diagnosed in two to five cases per 1,000 children and is more likely to occur among siblings. The DSM-IV estimates that about a third of all patients will eventually be able to function on a partially independent basis but will continue to exhibit problems. Current study of autism is still unable to isolate its causes. Bruno Bettelheim (1967), who conducted extensive early research with autistic patients, believed that the roots of the problem could be found in the first two or three critical stages of personality development, though he refused to argue conclusively whether such roots were likely to be primarily biological or the result of imperfect parenting. His experience did lead him to suggest that nurturing mistakes might contribute to the problem: "The experience that [the child's] own actions (cry or smile) make no difference is what stops him from becoming a human being, for it discourages him from interacting with others and hence from forming a personality through which to deal with the environment" (p. 25). However, he notes that many autistic children apparently never exhibit the instinctive types of behaviors that allow the individual to begin to test out the limits of the wo

Category: Psychology - A