A study of infantile autism

Autism is a word known well to the parents of an autistic child and to individuals in a professional field that work with autistic children. The professionals who most commonly come in contact with autistic children are psychiatrists and psychologists. The autistic child can be described by his behavior, which is active withdrawal.1 Autistic children have one common denominator from the beginning of life: an inability to relate themselves in the ordinary way to people and situations. The number of autistic children in the United States is unknown. This is partly due to the fact that parents interpret the child's mannerisms as deafness or mental retardation. Therefore, specialists in these fields are sought and the child is tested for these syndromes and is labeled accordingly. When the child does not respond to the treatment for deafness or mental retardation, he is usually placed in an institution and classified as severely mentally retarded. Because an autistic child can demonstrate in part some of the same syndromes as a mute or mental retardate, careful consideration should be given to children brought in for such testing. Professionals who work with children should be able to recognize autism whether or not they specialize in it. The purpose of this study was (1) to review the syndromes of autism; (2) to describe the two theories of origin; (3) to discuss the different forms of therapy used in treatment of the autistic child; and (4) to propose one method of educational therapy for the autistic child.