ABSTRACT
Leo Kanner’s (1) classic description of “autistic disturbances of affective contact,” or early infantile autism, suggested that autism was an inborn, congenital disorder in which a child comes into the world lacking the usual motivation for social interaction. His use of the word “autism” was meant to convey this selfcontained quality but was, in some respects, an unfortunate choice of term since it introduced some confusion with the earlier use of the word, which described the idiosyncratic, self-centered thinking of schizophrenia. In addition to the problems in social interaction, Kanner noted the difficulties his patients had with many aspects of symbolization, abstraction, and communication. When language was present, it was remarkable for its literalness as well as other unusual aspects such as echolalia and pronoun reversal. In contrast to the child’s lack of interest in the social world, Kanner noted that there was often a remarkable oversensitivity to the inanimate world, e.g., oversensitivites to sounds or other stimuli and sensitivity to even minor environmental changes. Kanner’s description has proven remarkably enduring and remains the fundamental basis of current definitions of autism.
