Observational studies of autistic children: the sort of children this book is about

Mrs High’s observations are preceded by a short extract from Leo Kanner’s original description of the syndrome he called Early Infantile Autism, a syndrome he pioneered, differentiating it from other forms of mental handicap. Here is Kanner’s description of such a child whom he called Paul:

There was on his side, no affective tie to people. He behaved as if people as such did not matter or even exist. It made no difference whether one spoke to him in a friendly or harsh way. He never looked at people’s faces. Whether he had any dealings with persons at all, he treated them or rather parts of them, as if they were objects.