ABSTRACT
Reading Leo Kanner’s 1943 article now, it is impossible not to notice that one element of the children in his study appears to fascinate Kanner almost as much as the research subjects he was observing. This is the family stories, and especially the details of the parents of the children in his clinic. These stories form a distinct parallel narrative to that of the main research being undertaken. Kanner seems unable not to comment on the parents of the children he worked on, noticing that they were all “highly intelligent” for example, and that “there is a great deal of obsessiveness in the family background.” He then went on to write six sentences that were to have a significant impact on the way autism was seen for the next 30 years:
One other fact stands out predominantly. In the whole group, there are few really warmhearted fathers and mothers. For the most part, the parents, grandparents, and collaterals are persons strongly preoccupied with abstractions of a scientific, literary, or artistic nature, and limited in genuine interest in people. Even some of the happiest marriages are rather cold and formal affairs. Three of the marriages were dismal failures. 54The question arises whether or to what extent this fact has contributed to the condition of the children.
(Kanner 1943, 250)