Autism is a neurological disorder, that typically appears during
the first 3 years of life.
It affects functioning of the brain what causes physical, social and
language skills.
Autism interferes with the normal development of the brain in the
areas of reasoning, social
interaction and communication skills.
The disorder makes it hard for autistic people to communicate with
others and relate to the
outside world. They are withdrawn and self preoccupied.
Autism knows no social, racial or ethnic boundaries. It is four times
more prevelant in boys than in girls. Autism is the third most common
developmental disability more common than Down´s Syndrome.
Although, the majority of public, including many professionals in
the medical, educational
and vocational fields are still unaware of how autism affects people
and how to work
effectively with induviduals with autism.
Our understanding of this disorder has grown tremendously since it
was first described in
1943, but it is still incompletely understood.
Historical background
In the past autism was called Dementia Praecox (= early
mental deficiency)
Induviduals with autism were excluded from the outside world and put
in madhouses.
In 1914 Eugen Bleuer (swiss psychatrist) coined the term AUTISM (greek
autos = self)
30 years later Hans Asperger (Austrian psychatrist) and Leo Kanner
(German psychatrist)
took the term autism up again. Both described, independent
from each other, for the first time the syndrome. Aspergr and Kanner
observed children with peculiar behaviour, children who were preoccupied
and withdrawn.
Continua >>>>>
|