ABSTRACT
At much the same time that Kanner was writing about children with autism in the United States (Kanner 1943) Asperger, in Austria, was describing the group of children who eventually came to be named after him (Asperger 1944). With an ocean and a world war between them, collaboration was hardly to be expected. However, gradually clinicians and researchers began to recognise the striking similarities between these two conditions. Both authors described difficulties with reciprocal social interaction, communication, and ritualistic and stereotyped routines, usually beginning within the first two years of life. Both stressed the contrast between the children’s profound social deficits and their ‘purposeful, and intelligent relation to objects’ (Kanner 1946). Behavioural problems such as aggression, destructiveness and outbursts of temper were also noted, as were various developmental problems. Interestingly, too, both accounts contained descriptions of other family members who exhibited ‘autistic’ traits. It is true that Asperger’s accounts tend to focus on more able individuals, whilst many of Kanner’s children were seen to have intellectual impairments. Nevertheless, Asperger also referred to individuals ‘with considerable intellectual retardation’ and noted that ‘The fate of (these) cases is often very sad’. Likewise, Kanner described some individuals who had achieved highly, both in terms of education and employment, in adult life.
