Asperger’s syndrome is a mental disorder that was discovered by the Austrian child psychiatrist Hans Asperger. Children are most likely to have this disorder. He gave a clear explanation of autistic psychopathy for the first time. For his work on autistic psychopathy, he did research on 400 children with mental problems who were also autistic. As a child, he showed signs of the condition that was named after him. Even though he was good at languages, he was lonely and had trouble making friends. He grew up and went to the University of Vienna to study medicine. Later, he was in charge of the special education section at the university’s children’s clinic. He wrote a definition of “autistic psychopathy” after World War II, but he died before his work on mental disorders was widely known. After he died, his works were translated into English, which showed how important he was to medicine. In addition to doing important work in the medical field, he was also a soldier in Croatia at the end of World War II. Asperger’s syndrome is still hard to diagnose because it is not clear how it fits into the autism spectrum. Asperger’s syndrome is called “a disorder of uncertain nosological validity” by the World Health Organization’s ICD, and most psychiatrists agree that it should be taken out of the American Psychiatric Association’s diagnosis manual.
Early years and childhood
Hans Asperger was born in Austria-Hungary, in the town of Hausbrunn, on February 18, 1906. He had one brother who was younger.
He was an only child who found it hard to make friends. He became interested in languages, and Franz Grillparzer’s poetry in particular drew him in. He was also smart when it came to science.
He grew up to be a smart young man who went to the University of Vienna to study medicine with Franz Hamburger. In 1931, he became a doctor of medicine.
Hans Asperger’s Career
In 1932, Asperger became the director of the play-pedagogic station at the University Children’s Clinic in Vienna. This was part of the special education section.
From 1934 on, he was a part of the Leipzig psychiatric clinic. He was especially interested in children who were “psychologically abnormal.”
In 1943, he gave a journal a research paper that he had written. This study was based on his studies of more than 400 autistic children with psychopathy.
In 1944, Grunya Sukhareva, a Russian neurologist, published a definition of autistic psychopathy that was very similar to what he had said in 1926.
He said that people with autism often don’t care about other people, don’t know how to talk to them properly, and do the same things over and over. He called these kinds of actions by people with autism “autistic psychopathy.” “Autism” in this case meant “self,” and “psychopathy” meant “personality disease.”
He also talked about some common ways that autistic children act, such as not being able to make friends, having one-sided conversations, not showing empathy, and moving in an awkward way.
Also, it was hard for them to figure out what was being said between the lines or to understand nonverbal signs like body language. The change was hard for them. Most of the time, they seemed to be in their own world and couldn’t talk to their parents.
All of these problems that an autistic child has don’t go away when they grow up. The unique thing about these kinds of kids is that they usually learned a lot about their favorite subject, and by using their special skills, many of them went on to be successful in their careers as adults.
Asperger also called children who behaved in this way “little professors.” The reason was that each of these kids could talk very in-depth about their favorite topics.
Asperger’s behavior when he was a child showed that he had all of these symptoms. As an example, he was good with words. He was especially interested in the Austrian poet Franz Grillparzer, and he often talked about himself in the third person.
In 1944, he became the chair of pediatrics at the University of Vienna.
In 1946, he was put in charge of the clinic for children.
In 1957, he worked as a professor at the University Children’s Clinic (Universitats-Kinderklinik) in Innsbruck. He was made a professor emeritus in 1977.
From 1964 on, he was in charge of the medical station at Hinterbruhi’s SOS Children’s Village.
Asperger’s contributions to medicine were not recognized during his lifetime because all of his writings were in German.
In her 1981 paper “Asperger’s syndrome: a clinical account,” British researcher Lorna Wing used the term “Asperger’s Syndrome” for the first time. It came out a year after Hans Asperger passed away. This piece of writing questioned the widely accepted model of autism that Leo Kanner put forward in 1943.
In 1991, Uta Farah turned the works of Asperger into English. After Hans Asperger died, his works were translated into English. This showed how much he had done for the medical field.
His Works of note
Most people remember Hans Asperger for his work on “autistic psychopathy.” Asperger syndrome (AS), which is part of the autism spectrum disorder (ASD), is named after him because he studied and wrote about the symptoms of the disorder while working with children.
Personal History and Legacies
In 1935, he got married and had five kids.
Hans Asperger died in Vienna on October 21, 1980. He was 74 years old.
A number of governments have made his birthday, February 18, International Asperger’s Day.
Estimated Net worth
Unknown.