Kanner's Autism

Kanner's Autism (classic autism) or Kanner's Syndrome

Kanner's Autism is characterized by an individual having significant speech delays in which they are basically non-verbal, exhibiting repetitive behavior, having abnormal social skills and different sensory sensitivities and often times, having a mental impairment such as mental retardation. This disorder is named for the researcher Leo Kanner, who  in 1943 diagnosed some of the first children with Autism.  Autism was an earlier psychiatric term meaning "an escape from reality".  Kanner noted that individual's with this syndrome behaved in ways that kept them drawn into themselves, thus escaping from reality. Autism was first called Kanner's syndrome and included every disorder on the Autism spectrum. More research has been done today and it is now known that people without mental retardation can be affected by Autism. Today's understanding of Autism  has divided Kanner's Syndrome into other Autism Spectrum disorders such as Asperger's Syndrome, Childhood Disintegrative Disorder, Rett Syndrome, Hyperlexia and PDD.NOS (Pervasive Developmental Disorder Not Otherwise Specified) to include all other difficult to diaognose cases.