Download Leo Kanner, by Shaina Grossman

Leo Kanner:
Changing the Way People
Viewed Mental Disorders
Shaina Grossman
Akiba-Schechter Jewish Day School
March 25, 2015
1
“Kanner thought what nobody has yet thought, about that which everybody sees.”
By Erwin Schrodinger
In the 1940’s, mental retardation was viewed as synonymous with low intelligence.
People assumed that if someone had a mental disorder, that person was “stupid.” During this era
Leo Kanner devoted his life to the study of children and childhood disorders. Through his
discovery of specific traits, he was able to shed new light on the field of child psychology and
identified patterns in these children that he referred to as Autism. His research showed in fact
that these children had normal to higher intelligence; they just presented differently than typical
children. Leo Kanner explained to the world that mental retardation was a lot more complicated
than simply having lower intelligence or being “stupid.” He changed the way people looked at
children who were referred to as mentally retarded and he inspired a new curiosity about mental
disorders.
Leo Kanner (pronounced “Conner”) was born on June 13, 1894, in Klekotow, Austria.1
Kanner had a mother, father, and four siblings. He was born Chaskel Leib Kanner and was raised
in an Orthodox Jewish home. Kanner always disliked the sound of his name so he changed it in
adulthood to Leo Kanner. Kanner’s mother knew they had to leave Klekotow to be able to
achieve anything in life. At the age of 12 years old Kanner went to live with his uncle in Berlin
and the rest of the family followed soon after.2
1
2
(Goode 2004)
(Autism Therapist 2010)
2
At the age of ten, Kanner started writing poetry. 3 He enjoyed books and knowledge. He
attended the University of Berlin in 1913.4 In college he had a reputation as a literary critic, but
the reason he did not pursue a literary career is because no one would publish his poems.5
Kanner said not having a literary career saved his life because he would have stayed in Germany
and been killed in the Holocaust. He served in the Austrian army in World War I and then
received his medical degree in 1919.6
The actions of Kanner’s father and other family members may have caused his interest in
childhood mental disorders. He described his father as “abnormally short, socially awkward,
excessively dedicated to Talmudic studies but also eager to absorb large amounts of useless
information on just about anything in the world.” Kanner also described his paternal grandfather
as “socially awkward, emotionally flat to a fault, matter of fact, seemingly incapable of showing
much emotion.” Had his family members lived in the twenty first century they would have likely
been diagnosed with autism.7
In 1924 Kanner immigrated to the United States and became an assistant physician at a
mental hospital in Yankton, South Dakota. In 1928 Adolf Meyer and Edward Park invited
Kanner to join the Johns Hopkins Medical School in Baltimore8 and in 1930 Kanner became
Director of Child Psychiatry at the Johns Hopkins Hospital. 9
By 1935, Kanner was the first physician to be identified as a psychiatrist and wrote the
first textbook ever written on child psychology. The textbook, Child Psychiatry, was translated
3
(Goode 2004)
(Autism Therapist 2010)
5
(Goode 2004)
6
(Bird 1981)
7
(Autism Therapist 2010)
8
(Bird 1981)
9
(Autism Therapist 2010)
4
3
into four different languages.10 Leo Kanner retired from Johns Hopkins University in 195911 and
died on April 3, 1981 at his home in Sykesville, Maryland; he died at the age of 86 because of
heart failure.12
Leo Kanner’s interest in children and mental disorders helped him explain how these
children were far more complex than originally thought. He helped people to understand autism.
In 1943 Donald T’s father wrote Kanner a letter explaining his five year old son. The letter
explained Donald as “happiest when he was alone... drawing into a shell and living within
himself... Oblivious to everything around him.” He liked spinning his toys, shaking his head, and
spinning around; he got upset when things did not go his way; Donald used irrelevant words; he
referred to himself in third person; and he repeated what people said to him. As soon as Kanner
read the letter he wanted to know more. He felt a personal connection to this father and child
because of the connection with him and his own father.13
Kanner described Donald and ten other children in a 1943 paper entitled, “Autistic
Disturbances of Affective Contact.”14 The paper described eleven children, eight boys and three
girls, between the ages of two and eight. The children all had similarities: they did not like
playing with others; their language consisted of naming nouns and objects; they echoed the
spoken word (echolalia); they had difficulty with feeding; they did not care for loud noises and
moving objects; they insisted on sameness; they dreaded change; and their relationships to other
people were different. They existed in their own shell. Kanner indicated that all of these children
were at one time looked upon as “idiots” or “feebleminded,” but in fact they were all extremely
10
(Bird 1981)
(Autism Therapist 2010)
12
(Bird 1981)
13
(Fishbach 2004)
14
Ibid
11
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intelligent and had normal cognitive abilities. Kanner noted that physically the children were all
normal and all came from highly intelligent families.15
Some of these children were believed by other professionals to be schizophrenic, but
Kanner disagreed completely. In schizophrenia, the individual has at least two years of normal
development before showing signs of the disturbance. These children, however, all had extreme
aloneness from the beginning of life and never responded to the outside world. Kanner “assumed
that these children have come into the world with innate inability to form the usual, biologically
provided affective contact with people, just as other children come into the world with innate
physical or intellectual handicaps.” Kanner felt these children had autism.16 Kanner took the term
autism from Eugene Bleuler, who had coined it to describe the inward, self-absorbed aspects of
schizophrenia in adults.17 To this day, the term autism has remained primarily a disorder that is
first diagnosed in childhood.
Today, psychiatrists have expanded on Leo Kanner’s knowledge about autism and
psychology. Autism Spectrum Disorder is understood to be a lifelong disability that affects the
way a person communicates and relates to people around them. According to The National
Association of Mental Health “Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a range of complex
neurodevelopment disorders, characterized by social impairments, communication difficulties,
and restricted, repetitive, and stereotyped patterns of behavior.”18
Today, Autism and Autism Spectrum Disorder are one mental disability. The term
“spectrum” refers to a wide range of symptoms, skills, and levels of impairment that children
15
(Kanner 1943)
Ibid
17
(Fishbach 2004)
18
(National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke--Niational Institute of Health 2014)
16
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with autism can have. Some children are mildly affected while others are severely impaired. The
spectrum used to include Asperger’s syndrome and Pervasive Developmental Disorder as part of
the autism spectrum. In both, symptoms were on the milder end of the autism spectrum. Males
are four times more likely to have autism than females.19 Autism is the most commonly
diagnosed childhood developmental disorder. Children are typically diagnosed between the ages
of two and three years of age. Autism affects 1 in every 68 children in the United States.20
As of, May 2013, the latest edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental
Disorders (DSM-5) no longer includes Pervasive Developmental Disorder- Not Otherwise
Specified (PDD-NOS) and Asperger’s Syndrome as separate conditions of autism. They are now
all considered part of the autism spectrum.21
There is no known cure for autism, but early intervention (therapy for young children 0 to
3 years old) has played a key role in improving symptoms and quality of life. There are many
therapies that are now available for children with Autism Spectrum Disorder that were not
available or understood at the time that Leo Kanner first observed and diagnosed children. The
therapies now provided are physical therapy, occupational therapy, developmental therapy,
speech therapy, play therapy, floor time therapy, and applied behavioral analysis (ABA). There
are also schools, rather than mental institutions, that now educate these children and have a better
understanding of this disorder.
Leo Kanner changed the way people looked at children who were referred to as mentally
retarded and he left a new curiosity about mental disorders. Since Leo Kanner’s 1943 paper,
“Autistic Disturbances of Affective Contact,” diagnosis and treatment of autism has come a long
19
(National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke--Niational Institute of Health 2014)
(Center for Desease Control 2014)
21
(National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke--Niational Institute of Health 2014)
20
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way. Children with autism are no longer viewed as “idiots” or “feebleminded,” rather as
individuals that see the world through a different lens. They used to be sent to mental institutions
and hidden from the rest of the world. Today there is a greater understanding of the autistic mind
and autistic children are no longer pushed away from society. Autistic children are now accepted
into the world and are looked at with regard for what they can do rather than what they cannot
do. Leo Kanner had a great impact on the field of autism and psychology. He helped people learn
more and research more about these children. His life and legacy brought attention to the field of
autism, and he himself indicated that more research was needed to identify and treat autistic
children. Research has continued since Leo Kanner’s 1943 paper was first published. Leo
Kanner is responsible for the way autism is understood today.
7
Bibliography
Primary
Kanner, Leo. "Autistic Disturbances of Affective Contact." 1943.
Secondary
Autism Therapist . Autism UK Independence. 2010. http://www.autismuk.com/?page_id=1171
(accessed March 17, 2015).
Bird, David. "Leo Kanner, 86, child psychologist." New York Times, April 7, 1981.
Center for Desease Control. Center for Desease Control. March 27, 2014.
http://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2014/p0327-autism-spectrum-disorder.html (accessed
March 20, 2015).
Fishbach, Gerald D. Simons Foundation Autism Research Initiative . December 7, 2004.
sfari.org/news-and-opinion/classic-paper-reviews/2007/leokanner-1943-paper-on-autism
(accessed March 19, 2015).
Goode, Erica. "Lifting the Veils of Autism, One by One by One." New York Times, February 24,
2004.
National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke--Niational Institute of Health. National
Institute for Neurological Disorders and Stroke. November 6, 2014.
http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/autism/detail_autism.htm (accessed March 20, 2015).