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. 2021 Apr;51(4):1157-1172.
doi: 10.1007/s10803-020-04602-4.

Autism in Baltimore, 1938-1943

Marga Vicedo  1 , Juan Ilerbaig  2
Affiliations

Autism in Baltimore, 1938-1943

Marga Vicedo et al. J Autism Dev Disord. 2021 Apr.

Abstract

This paper examines the genesis of Leo Kanner's 1943 seminal paper on autism. It shows that describing children as autistic or lacking affective contact with people was not new by this time. But Kanner's proposal that infantile autism constituted a hitherto unidentified condition that was inborn and different from childhood schizophrenia was new. It also shows that Georg Frankl's influence on Kanner was important, but Kanner did not misappropriate his ideas or his research. Kanner developed his views on the basis of his observations of several children, his knowledge of the literature on childhood conditions, and his interactions with many scholars.

Keywords: Autism; Georg Frankl; History of autism; History of psychiatry; Leo Kanner.

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References

NOTE: The following abbreviations have been used in this Reference List: AMC-AMCMA: Adolf Meyer Collection. The Alan Mason Chesney Medical Archives of The Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions. LKP-APA: Leo Kanner (1894-1981) Papers. American Psychiatric Association Foundation, Melvin Sabshin, M.D. Library & Archives, Washington, D.C. NCHMC-MHS: Nursery and Child’s Hospital Manuscript Collection, 1879-1970 (MS3180). H. Furlong Baldwin Library, Maryland Historical Society.
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