Register to read the introduction…
969). In the late 15th century, a story describing what may have been a severely autistic boy was included in the writings of the German monk, Martin Luther. The description Luther gave of the child was that he “was a soulless mass of flesh possessed by the devil” (“Autism Spectrum, 2008). This child, the well-known feral child Victor of Aveyron, was “found” and showed the same symptoms of what we now call autism. In the 1800s, the term “idiot savant” was used for these children. Almost 100 years later, Treffert suggested people with this condition be categorized as having “savant syndrome” or being “autistic” (2010, p.
…show more content…
As he wrote in his 1944 paper, the four children in his study had what he called “autistic psychopathy”, which means autism (self) psychopathy (personality disease), later termed autistic personality. Coates noted that these children were said to have had a “lack of empathy, little ability to form friends, one-sided conversations, clumsy movements and intense absorption in a special interest (usually in natural sciences, complex calculations or calendar calculating, according to Treffert, 2011). It was that absorption in a special interest that inspired Asperger to call those children his “little professors”, because of their “ability to talk about their favorite subject in great detail” (Coates, n.d.). Asperger believed the individuals he described “would be capable of exceptional achievement and original thought later in life” (Veloso, 2012). Asperger followed one of his “little professors” into adulthood, and according to Coates, “Fritz” became “a professor of astronomy and solved an error in Newton’s work that he originally noticed as a child” (n.d.). In 1981, a year after his death, Asperger’s syndrome was coined by Lorna Wing in a medical …show more content…
The strengths of Asperger’s, according to James, include “the ability to think in unusual and enriching ways, concentration for long periods of time on a single activity, sole attention to a task and persistence with it far beyond the point at which other people would have given up” (2006, p. 11). A number of authors have speculated about historical figures that had characteristics of this disorder. According to Frith (as cited in James, 2006, p. 9), “Twelfth-century Italian Brother Juniper, one of the original followers of Saint Francis of Assisi”, probably has Asperger’s. The list of deceased geniuses that may have had Asperger’s syndrome keeps growing based only on speculation and vague descriptions of the habits and lifestyles of those geniuses. Some have proposed that Albert Einstein and Isaac Newton also had some form of Asperger’s, although Einstein has been disputed. Well known neurologist Oliver Sacks (as cited in James, 2006) postulated that, “Pathologizing genius and diagnosing historical figures has become an obsession with us”. He continued to suggest, “It seems to me extremely unlikely that Wittgenstein or Einstein were significantly autistic, as compared to [Henry] Cavendish [the discoverer of hydrogen], who showed a near total incomprehension of common human behavior, social relationships and states of mind” (p.
As he wrote in his 1944 paper, the four children in his study had what he called “autistic psychopathy”, which means autism (self) psychopathy (personality disease), later termed autistic personality. Coates noted that these children were said to have had a “lack of empathy, little ability to form friends, one-sided conversations, clumsy movements and intense absorption in a special interest (usually in natural sciences, complex calculations or calendar calculating, according to Treffert, 2011). It was that absorption in a special interest that inspired Asperger to call those children his “little professors”, because of their “ability to talk about their favorite subject in great detail” (Coates, n.d.). Asperger believed the individuals he described “would be capable of exceptional achievement and original thought later in life” (Veloso, 2012). Asperger followed one of his “little professors” into adulthood, and according to Coates, “Fritz” became “a professor of astronomy and solved an error in Newton’s work that he originally noticed as a child” (n.d.). In 1981, a year after his death, Asperger’s syndrome was coined by Lorna Wing in a medical …show more content…
The strengths of Asperger’s, according to James, include “the ability to think in unusual and enriching ways, concentration for long periods of time on a single activity, sole attention to a task and persistence with it far beyond the point at which other people would have given up” (2006, p. 11). A number of authors have speculated about historical figures that had characteristics of this disorder. According to Frith (as cited in James, 2006, p. 9), “Twelfth-century Italian Brother Juniper, one of the original followers of Saint Francis of Assisi”, probably has Asperger’s. The list of deceased geniuses that may have had Asperger’s syndrome keeps growing based only on speculation and vague descriptions of the habits and lifestyles of those geniuses. Some have proposed that Albert Einstein and Isaac Newton also had some form of Asperger’s, although Einstein has been disputed. Well known neurologist Oliver Sacks (as cited in James, 2006) postulated that, “Pathologizing genius and diagnosing historical figures has become an obsession with us”. He continued to suggest, “It seems to me extremely unlikely that Wittgenstein or Einstein were significantly autistic, as compared to [Henry] Cavendish [the discoverer of hydrogen], who showed a near total incomprehension of common human behavior, social relationships and states of mind” (p.