The Evolution of Autism as a Diagnostic Concept: From Kanner to DSM-5: A commentary

Abstract

The growth of research in the field, particularly over the past two decades has been remarkable. For example, in the two decades following Kanner's 1943 report there were, on average, about 2.5 scientific papers a year. Between 2003 and 2012, well over 10,000 papers were published-i.e., about 1,000 papers per year or 2.5 papers per day! This dramatic rise in research productivity reflects greater awareness of the condition and, in particular, its official recognition (first provided in Diagnostic and Statistical Manual-III (DSM-III)). The growth of research has been particularly dramatic over the past decade reflecting, in part, a stability of diagnostic approach and the convergence (in DSM-IV) of the American DSM and international (International Classification of Disease, ICD) diagnostic approaches. This convergence, unique in some ways to autism, has also encouraged cross-national collaborations both in research and clinical work and service. The explosion of interest and knowledge has not been an unmixed blessing. A recent search on one of the standard Internet search engines for "autism" yielded more than 70 million hits. Research on website information has shown a convergence of search engines in their yield of the most popular sites although, unfortunately, a substantial number are either pushing a "cure" or providing questionable information. A new study showed that websites that provide references or were from government agencies (e.g., NIMH, CDC) were more likely to be of high quality with reliable information to have a higher quality rating score than websites without references or websites with a .com top-level domain. Happily, good sources of information are increasingly available-including some with a degree of quality control either through peer review or some other such mechanism. Although historically oriented in many respects, the present review does not provide a comprehensive history of autism. In this chapter, we provide a concise and selective summary of these issues. It is appropriate that we begin with Kanner's initial description of infantile autism. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)