Kanner autism, or classic autism, is an outdated neurodevelopmental diagnosis which is now considered part of autism spectrum disorder. The term autism was historically used to refer specifically to classic autism, but it is now more commonly used for the spectrum at large.Parents often noticed signs of autism during the first three years of their childs life.Autism was hypothesized to be caused by a combination of genetic and environmental factors, with genetic factors thought to heavily predominate. Controversies surround other proposed environmental causes; for example, the vaccine hypothesis, which although disproven, continues to hold sway in certain communities. Contemporary diagnostic manuals include only one diagnosis - autism spectrum disorder (ASD) - which includes classic autism along with Asperger syndrome and pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified (PDD-NOS).Globally, classic autism was estimated to affect 24.8 million people as of 2015. Characteristics
Classic autism is a highly variable neurodevelopmental disorder whose symptoms first appear during infancy or childhood, and generally follows a steady course without remission. Autistic people may be severely impaired in some respects but average, or even superior, in others. Overt symptoms gradually begin after the age of six months and become established by age two or three years. Some autistic children experience regression in their communication and social skills after reaching developmental milestones at a normal pace. It was said to be distinguished by a characteristic triad of symptoms: impairments in social interaction, impairments in communication, and repetitive behavior. Other aspects, such as atypical eating, are also common but are not essential for diagnosis.
Asperger was investigating Asperger syndrome which, for various reasons, was not widely considered a separate diagnosis until 1981, although both are now considered part of ASD. Leo Kanner of the Johns Hopkins Hospital first used autism  in English to refer to classic autism when he introduced the label early infantile autism in a 1943 report. Almost all the characteristics described in Kanners first paper on the subject, notably "autistic aloneness" and "insistence on sameness", are still regarded as typical of the autistic spectrum of disorders. Starting in the late 1960s, classic autism was established as a separate syndrome.It took until 1980 for the DSM-III to differentiate autism from childhood schizophrenia. In 1987, the DSM-III-R provided a checklist for diagnosing autism. In May 2013, the DSM-5 was released, updating the classification for pervasive developmental disorders. The grouping of disorders, including PDD-NOS, autism, Asperger syndrome, Rett syndrome, and CDD, has been removed and replaced with the general term of Autism Spectrum Disorder. References


== External links ==