ABSTRACT
Autism was recognised by Leo Kanner in 1943. He believed that autism resulted from problems occurring in the developing brain. His work (Kanner 1943) described the case histories of 11 children who had in common an unusual pattern of behaviour. Kanner described them as having: Difficulty with social relationships, Difficulty with social communication, and rigidity of thought and impaired imagination. To get a diagnosis a paediatrician or multidisciplinary team assess the child through a variety of ways—observing the child in different settings, talking to the child, talking to parents about their child’s development and behaviour, reports from educational settings. The DSM-5 includes autism within the neurodevelopmental disorders category. In the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-5 diagnostic criteria, the emphasis is on identifying an individual’s needs and how much their autism affects their ability to function in everyday life.
