L'autisme et la redéfinition du développement de l'enfant

Autism and the Redefinition of Child Development since 1970


Bonnie Evans (Queen Mary, University of London)

Birmingham University History of Medicine & Health Seminars

Thursday 22nd October


College of Medical and Dental Sciences
Institute of Applied Health Research

The second seminar of the 2015 Autumn Term will take place in WF38 on the first floor of the Medical School at 5.30pm

In the 1960s and early 1970s, the meaning of the word autism underwent a radical shift that was contemporaneous with a growth in epidemiological and statistical studies in child psychiatry. This paper explores theories of childhood autism as a sensory and social impairment from the 1970s onwards and looks at how these theories replaced earlier models of autism within human relations psychology. It examines the historical reasons for these changes, in particular concerning the administration and schooling of children with special educational needs. The paper focuses on work supported by the British Medical Research Council and argues this work was most influential in shifting conceptions of autism and in shaping new psychological categories to describe children’s development in the latter half of the 20th century. Researchers such as Michael Rutter, Lorna Wing and Uta Frith argued that theories of sensory and social impairment presented a legitimate challenge to psychoanalytic theories of sensory and social deprivation as the cause of many psychological presentations in infants and children and created a revolution in the approach to children who presented with these problems. The paper examines the impact of these changes in the applied domains of psychological knowledge such as schools, child guidance clinics, pediatric departments, and the wider National Health Service in England. It also reflects on their significant global impact on approaches to child mental health.

ALL ARE WELCOME TO ATTEND

Details of future seminars are available from: Dr Vanessa Heggie, Institute of Applied Health Research, College of Medical and Dental Sciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT.
Email: v.heggie@bham.ac.uk Tel: 0121 415 8184-