AUTISM AND SAVANT-- HELP PLEASE

[Princess_Red_Wing]

Hey guys!!

I'm very very new and need some major help here. Working on a novel. Protagonist in the novel is autistic {specifically HFA}. So guys?? Here is my question. Today we call autism a handicap or a disability. In plain language how was autism defined in 1965??

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[slappy]

Autism was originally defined as a part of schizophrenia. It was around the time you've mentioned that it was identified as a separate entity to define socially withdrawn children. It was also around the same time where two, now shocking, treatments were tried for autism - LSD and shock therapy.

 

[splik]

the concept of high-functioning autism did not exist in the 1960s. Although Hans Asperger's first described his eponymous syndrome is the 1940s this was not connected to autism (which was often regarded as a form of childhood schizophrenia especially in the US) it wasn't until the early 80s that the british psychiatrist Lorna Wing (whose own daughter was autistic) developed the concept of autistic spectrum disorders. Asperger's writings were not translated in English at the time, so no one would have regarded your protagonist as autistic or schizophrenic at the time. put simply it didn't exist.

 

[slappy]

Splik's post is entirely accurate with regards to Asperger's Sydrome, a diagnostic term that was formerly used to describe a syndrome clinically indistinguishable from HFA. That was actually the title of the paper Dr. Lorna Wing published in the early 80s. However, the concept of autism existed in the US before that, thanks to Dr. Leo Kanner's descriptive paper published in the 40s and Dr. Rimland's book published in the 60s. It wasn't until the 80s that it found a place in the DSM though. The 60s and 70s were also when autism was identified as a separate entity distinct from schizophrenia and as a disease with biological causes rather than "cold parents", so it could make for an interesting characterization with the backdrop of the changing landscape of psychoanalysis/psychiatry if you do your research well.

 

[Princess_Red_Wing]

Hmmm...ok. I'm actually going to be using the term "condition" in my novel. Mainly because I think that it will be a lot easier. Btw. How did they define the term "savant" back in 1965??

 

[SmallBird]

You might find this helpful:
http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp1306380