Hans Asperger
Encyclopedia
Hans Asperger was an Austria
n pediatrician, after whom Asperger syndrome
(AS) was named. He wrote over 300 publications, mostly concerning autism in children.
, just outside of Vienna
. He was the elder of two sons. In his youth he showed particular talents for language, frequently quoting Franz Grillparzer
He had difficulty finding friends and was considered a lonely, remote child. Asperger studied medicine in Vienna and practised at the University Children's Hospital in Vienna. He was conferred doctor of medicine in 1931 and assumed directorship of the play-pedagogic station at the university children's clinic in Vienna in 1932. He married in 1935 and had five children.
In the later years of World War II
he was a medical officer in Croatia
; his younger brother died at Stalingrad. In 1944, after the publication of his landmark paper describing autistic symptoms, he found a permanent tenured post at the University of Vienna
. Shortly after the war ended, he became director of a children's clinic in the city. He was appointed chair of pediatrics at the University of Vienna, a post he held for twenty years. He later held a post at Innsbruck
. Beginning in 1964, he headed the SOS-Kinderdorf
in Hinterbrühl
. He became professor emeritus in 1977.
Asperger died before his identification of this pattern of behaviour became widely recognized because his work was mostly in German
and little-translated. The first person to use the term "Asperger's Syndrome" in a paper was British researcher Lorna Wing
. Her paper, Asperger's syndrome: a clinical account, was published in 1981 and challenged the previously accepted model of autism
presented by Leo Kanner
in 1943. It was not until 1989 that his reports were translated into English. Unlike Kanner, Hans Asperger's findings were ignored and disregarded in the English
-speaking world in his lifetime. Finally, from the early 1990s, his findings began to gain notice, and nowadays Asperger syndrome
is recognized as a diagnosis in many countries of the world.
in 1944 that was nearly identical with the definition that a Russian neurologist Grunya Sukhareva (Груня Ефимовна Сухарева) had published already in 1926. Hans Asperger identified in four boys a pattern of behavior and abilities that he called "autistic psychopathy," ( Die "Autistischen Psychopathen" im Kindesalter). The pattern included "a lack of empathy
, little ability to form friendship
s, one-sided conversation
s, intense absorption in a special interest, and clumsy movements." Asperger called children with AS "little professors" because of their ability to talk about their favorite subject in great detail.
Asperger noticed that many of the children he identified as being autistic managed to use their special talents in adulthood and had an excellent career. One of them became a professor of astronomy
and solved an error in Newton
’s work he originally noticed already as a student. Asperger’s positive outlook contrasts strikingly with Leo Kanner
's description of autism
, of which Asperger's syndrome
is often considered to be a high-functioning form. In his 1944 paper, as Dr. Uta Frith
translated it from the German in 1991, Asperger wrote:
Near the end of World War II
, Asperger opened a school for children with autistic psychopathy
, with Sister Victorine Zak. The school was bombed towards the end of the war, Sister Victorine was killed, the school was destroyed and much of Asperger's early work was lost.
As a child, Asperger himself appeared to have exhibited features of the condition subsequently named after him. He was described as a lonely
and remote
child, who had difficulty making friends
. He was talented in language
; in particular he was interested in the Austrian poet Franz Grillparzer
, whose poetry he would frequently quote to his uninterested classmates. He also liked to quote himself and often referred to himself from a third-person perspective.
One of Asperger's patients was Austrian writer and Nobel Prize in Literature laureate
Elfriede Jelinek
.
Asperger's birthday, February 18, was declared International Asperger's Day by Aspergers Services Australia and is observed by various autism-related organizations.
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
n pediatrician, after whom Asperger syndrome
Asperger syndrome
Asperger's syndrome that is characterized by significant difficulties in social interaction, alongside restricted and repetitive patterns of behavior and interests. It differs from other autism spectrum disorders by its relative preservation of linguistic and cognitive development...
(AS) was named. He wrote over 300 publications, mostly concerning autism in children.
Biography
Hans Asperger was born on a farm in HausbrunnHausbrunn
Hausbrunn is a town in the district of Mistelbach in the Austrian state of Lower Austria.-Personalities:Famous pediatrician Hans Asperger, the doctor after whom Asperger's Syndrome is named after, was born here....
, just outside of Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
. He was the elder of two sons. In his youth he showed particular talents for language, frequently quoting Franz Grillparzer
Franz Grillparzer
Franz Seraphicus Grillparzer was an Austrian writer who is chiefly known for his dramas. He also wrote the oration for Ludwig van Beethoven's funeral.-Biography:...
He had difficulty finding friends and was considered a lonely, remote child. Asperger studied medicine in Vienna and practised at the University Children's Hospital in Vienna. He was conferred doctor of medicine in 1931 and assumed directorship of the play-pedagogic station at the university children's clinic in Vienna in 1932. He married in 1935 and had five children.
In the later years of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
he was a medical officer in Croatia
Independent State of Croatia
The Independent State of Croatia was a World War II puppet state of Nazi Germany, established on a part of Axis-occupied Yugoslavia. The NDH was founded on 10 April 1941, after the invasion of Yugoslavia by the Axis powers. All of Bosnia and Herzegovina was annexed to NDH, together with some parts...
; his younger brother died at Stalingrad. In 1944, after the publication of his landmark paper describing autistic symptoms, he found a permanent tenured post at the University of Vienna
University of Vienna
The University of Vienna is a public university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world...
. Shortly after the war ended, he became director of a children's clinic in the city. He was appointed chair of pediatrics at the University of Vienna, a post he held for twenty years. He later held a post at Innsbruck
Innsbruck
- Main sights :- Buildings :*Golden Roof*Kaiserliche Hofburg *Hofkirche with the cenotaph of Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor*Altes Landhaus...
. Beginning in 1964, he headed the SOS-Kinderdorf
SOS Children's Villages
SOS Children's Villages is an independent, non-governmental international development organisation which has been working to meet the needs and protect the interests and rights of children since 1949. It was founded by Hermann Gmeiner in Imst, Austria...
in Hinterbrühl
Hinterbrühl
Hinterbrühl is a town in the district of Mödling in the Austrian state of Lower Austria. It is home to the Seegrotte, a system of caves including Europe's largest underground lake. During World War II, a satellite camp of Mauthausen concentration camp was opened inside the caverns, producing parts...
. He became professor emeritus in 1977.
Asperger died before his identification of this pattern of behaviour became widely recognized because his work was mostly in German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
and little-translated. The first person to use the term "Asperger's Syndrome" in a paper was British researcher Lorna Wing
Lorna Wing
Lorna Wing, MD, FRCPsych, is an English psychiatrist and physician.As a result of having an autistic daughter, she became involved in researching developmental disorders, particularly autism spectrum disorders. She joined with other parents of autistic children to found the National Autistic...
. Her paper, Asperger's syndrome: a clinical account, was published in 1981 and challenged the previously accepted model of autism
Autism
Autism is a disorder of neural development characterized by impaired social interaction and communication, and by restricted and repetitive behavior. These signs all begin before a child is three years old. Autism affects information processing in the brain by altering how nerve cells and their...
presented by Leo Kanner
Leo Kanner
Leo Kanner was a Jewish American psychiatrist and physician known for his work related to autism. Kanner's work formed the foundation of child and adolescent psychiatry in the U.S. and worldwide....
in 1943. It was not until 1989 that his reports were translated into English. Unlike Kanner, Hans Asperger's findings were ignored and disregarded in the English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
-speaking world in his lifetime. Finally, from the early 1990s, his findings began to gain notice, and nowadays Asperger syndrome
Asperger syndrome
Asperger's syndrome that is characterized by significant difficulties in social interaction, alongside restricted and repetitive patterns of behavior and interests. It differs from other autism spectrum disorders by its relative preservation of linguistic and cognitive development...
is recognized as a diagnosis in many countries of the world.
Asperger syndrome
Hans Asperger published a definition of Asperger syndromeAsperger syndrome
Asperger's syndrome that is characterized by significant difficulties in social interaction, alongside restricted and repetitive patterns of behavior and interests. It differs from other autism spectrum disorders by its relative preservation of linguistic and cognitive development...
in 1944 that was nearly identical with the definition that a Russian neurologist Grunya Sukhareva (Груня Ефимовна Сухарева) had published already in 1926. Hans Asperger identified in four boys a pattern of behavior and abilities that he called "autistic psychopathy," ( Die "Autistischen Psychopathen" im Kindesalter). The pattern included "a lack of empathy
Empathy
Empathy is the capacity to recognize and, to some extent, share feelings that are being experienced by another sapient or semi-sapient being. Someone may need to have a certain amount of empathy before they are able to feel compassion. The English word was coined in 1909 by E.B...
, little ability to form friendship
Friendship
Friendship is a form of interpersonal relationship generally considered to be closer than association, although there is a range of degrees of intimacy in both friendships and associations. Friendship and association are often thought of as spanning across the same continuum...
s, one-sided conversation
Conversation
Conversation is a form of interactive, spontaneous communication between two or more people who are following rules of etiquette.Conversation analysis is a branch of sociology which studies the structure and organization of human interaction, with a more specific focus on conversational...
s, intense absorption in a special interest, and clumsy movements." Asperger called children with AS "little professors" because of their ability to talk about their favorite subject in great detail.
Asperger noticed that many of the children he identified as being autistic managed to use their special talents in adulthood and had an excellent career. One of them became a professor of astronomy
Astronomy
Astronomy is a natural science that deals with the study of celestial objects and phenomena that originate outside the atmosphere of Earth...
and solved an error in Newton
Isaac Newton
Sir Isaac Newton PRS was an English physicist, mathematician, astronomer, natural philosopher, alchemist, and theologian, who has been "considered by many to be the greatest and most influential scientist who ever lived."...
’s work he originally noticed already as a student. Asperger’s positive outlook contrasts strikingly with Leo Kanner
Leo Kanner
Leo Kanner was a Jewish American psychiatrist and physician known for his work related to autism. Kanner's work formed the foundation of child and adolescent psychiatry in the U.S. and worldwide....
's description of autism
Autism
Autism is a disorder of neural development characterized by impaired social interaction and communication, and by restricted and repetitive behavior. These signs all begin before a child is three years old. Autism affects information processing in the brain by altering how nerve cells and their...
, of which Asperger's syndrome
Asperger syndrome
Asperger's syndrome that is characterized by significant difficulties in social interaction, alongside restricted and repetitive patterns of behavior and interests. It differs from other autism spectrum disorders by its relative preservation of linguistic and cognitive development...
is often considered to be a high-functioning form. In his 1944 paper, as Dr. Uta Frith
Uta Frith
Uta Frith FRS FBA is a leading developmental psychologist working at the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience at University College London. She has pioneered much of the current research in autism and dyslexia, and has written several books on these issues. Her book 'Autism: Explaining the Enigma'...
translated it from the German in 1991, Asperger wrote:
Near the end of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, Asperger opened a school for children with autistic psychopathy
Psychopathy
Psychopathy is a mental disorder characterized primarily by a lack of empathy and remorse, shallow emotions, egocentricity, and deceptiveness. Psychopaths are highly prone to antisocial behavior and abusive treatment of others, and are very disproportionately responsible for violent crime...
, with Sister Victorine Zak. The school was bombed towards the end of the war, Sister Victorine was killed, the school was destroyed and much of Asperger's early work was lost.
As a child, Asperger himself appeared to have exhibited features of the condition subsequently named after him. He was described as a lonely
Lonely
Loneliness, the state of "feeling lonely," describes a human state or feeling involving isolation, or the feeling of disconnection with others, etc. Often accompanied by a sense of yearning for connection...
and remote
Remote
Remote may refer to:* Remote control, commonly known as a remote* Remote broadcast, commonly known in broadcasting as a person or a live remote* Remote access* Remote desktop...
child, who had difficulty making friends
Friends
Friends is an American sitcom created by David Crane and Marta Kauffman, which aired on NBC from September 22, 1994 to May 6, 2004. The series revolves around a group of friends in Manhattan. The series was produced by Bright/Kauffman/Crane Productions, in association with Warner Bros. Television...
. He was talented in language
Language
Language may refer either to the specifically human capacity for acquiring and using complex systems of communication, or to a specific instance of such a system of complex communication...
; in particular he was interested in the Austrian poet Franz Grillparzer
Franz Grillparzer
Franz Seraphicus Grillparzer was an Austrian writer who is chiefly known for his dramas. He also wrote the oration for Ludwig van Beethoven's funeral.-Biography:...
, whose poetry he would frequently quote to his uninterested classmates. He also liked to quote himself and often referred to himself from a third-person perspective.
One of Asperger's patients was Austrian writer and Nobel Prize in Literature laureate
Nobel Prize in Literature
Since 1901, the Nobel Prize in Literature has been awarded annually to an author from any country who has, in the words from the will of Alfred Nobel, produced "in the field of literature the most outstanding work in an ideal direction"...
Elfriede Jelinek
Elfriede Jelinek
Elfriede Jelinek is an Austrian playwright and novelist. She was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2004 for her "musical flow of voices and counter-voices in novels and plays that, with extraordinary linguistic zeal, reveal the absurdity of society's clichés and their subjugating power."-...
.
Asperger's birthday, February 18, was declared International Asperger's Day by Aspergers Services Australia and is observed by various autism-related organizations.