Infantile Autism: Historical Term and Leo Kanner's 1943 Description

The term "infantile autism" was introduced by Leo Kanner in his seminal 1943 paper "Autistic Disturbances of Affective Contact". He described 11 children with a unique syndrome characterized by a triad of impairments:

1. Impaired Social Interaction: Profound aloneness, failure to anticipate being picked up, lack of eye contact, treating people as objects.
2. Impaired Communication: Delayed/absent speech, echolalia, pronoun reversal, literalness, inability to use language for social reciprocity.
3. Restricted, Repetitive Behaviors: Stereotyped movements, insistence on sameness, narrow intense interests, resistance to change.

Historical Significance

• First clear clinical delineation of autism as distinct from childhood schizophrenia or intellectual disability.
• Emphasized innate, biological origin ("inborn autistic disturbance")—countering later "refrigerator mother" psychogenic theory.
• Laid foundation for modern autism spectrum disorder (ASD) diagnosis (DSM-5, ICD-11).

Evolution of Terminology

• 1943: "Infantile autism" / "Early infantile autism"
• 1980 (DSM-III): "Infantile autism, childhood onset"
• 1987 (DSM-III-R): "Autistic disorder"
• 1994 (DSM-IV): "Autistic disorder" + Asperger's, PDD-NOS
• 2013 (DSM-5): Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)—single spectrum, severity levels.

Kanner's observations remain clinically resonant. Modern understanding encompasses broader heterogeneity but retains his core triad.