The term autistic disorder was first coined in 1943 by psychiatrist Leo Kanner. He used it to describe how eleven disturbed children behaved in ways that were not similar to mental retardation or schizophrenia. He named the syndrome early infantile autism as he observed that "there is a from the start an extreme aloneness that, whenever possible, disregards, ignores, shuts out anything that comes to the child from the outside". He found that these eleven children …showed first 75 words of 799 total…

…showed last 75 words of 799 total…TEACCH) approach. The TEACCH approach identifies that we must respect the culture of autism. It postulates that interventions should play to strengths by providing prosthetic supports in the way information is presented. Structured teaching is central and emphasises visual over verbal information. Life-long support may be necessary. Parents must act as co-therapists and behavioural teaching principles should be used. This approach is less well validated than behavioural treatment but it is now a world-wide application.