Abstract
In 1983, Dr. Eric Schopler asked whether an adolescent or adult could have autism. Following that question he wrote:
When that question was asked one or two decades ago, most people familiar with the term ‘autism’ would have said ‘Certainly not.’ They had heard of Leo Kanner’s work (Kanner, 1943). He had used the term ‘infantile autism.’ It meant a psychiatric disorder of early childhood including severe disturbances of human relationships, speech, communication, and cognitive functions. It also involved all kinds of behavior problems, including repetitive behaviors and resistance to their change.
According to that definition the only way the diagnosis could be made for an adult was retroactively, from a person’s early history. But if you met an adult whose early history you did not know, most people had no idea what characteristics and current behaviors might be expected to make up the diagnosis of autism.
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Mesibov, G.B. (1988). Diagnosis and Assessment of Autistic Adolescents and Adults. In: Schopler, E., Mesibov, G.B. (eds) Diagnosis and Assessment in Autism. Current Issues in Autism. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-0792-9_15
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-0792-9_15
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