Autism Autism is a rare mental disorder that impairs a person's abilities. They have the largest problem talking and socializing with others. Autism is usually diagnosed within the first 30 months of life. Autistic children usually appear to be normal as far as their looks are concerned. Autism occurs in 4.5 children out of every 10,000 births, and effects 3 times as many boys as it does girls. Any form of trauma does not cause it; it is something that a person is born with. In 1911 a psychiatrist named Eugene Bleuer, was the first to discover autism, but he referred to it as a basic disturbance in schizophrenia. In the early 1940's two pioneers named Leo Kanner and Hans