Rethinking the origins of autism

Ida Frye and the unraveling of children's inner world in the Netherlands in the late 1930s

Bibliographic Data

ID4876876
AuthorsAnnemieke Van Drenth (0000-0002-7965-7632, corresponding author)
Year2018
Volume54
Issue1
Pages25-42
Publication date2018-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0022-5061 • E-ISSN: 1520-6696
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1002/jhbs.21884
PMID29244198
OpenAlexW2773701715
LanguageEN
Citations received18
References cited38

Historiographies on the phenomenon of "autism" display Leo Kanner and Hans Asperger as the great pioneers. The recent controversy on who was first in "discovering" autism urges research into the question of how scientific discoveries relate to processes of academic reflection and social intervention. The Netherlands provide an interesting case in pioneering work in autism, since Dutch experts described autism in children already in the late 1930s, preceding the first publications on autism in children by Kanner and Asperger. This paper examines the Dutch origins of autism by focusing on Ida Frye's contribution to the teamwork at the Paedological Institute in Nijmegen, which resulted in descriptions of children with autism. The theoretical aim of this paper is to underline the importance of the productive interplay between social interventions and scientific efforts concerning the complex inner world of special children

Autism · Developmental psychology · Intervention (counseling) · Psychiatry · Psychoanalysis · Psychological intervention · Historical Psychiatry and Medical Practices · Historical Studies on Reproduction, Gender, Health, and Societal Changes · Neurology and Historical Studies · Psychology

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