Autism The term "autism was first used more than 50 years ago by psychiatrist named Dr. Leo Kanner. He was working at Johns Hopkins University’s, Child Psychiatric Clinic with a group of children who were most often classified as emotionally disturbed or mentally retarded. Dr. Kanner noticed a pattern of symptoms about these children. It noted that most were not mentally retarded but very slow learners. Another doctor named Hans Asperger made the same basic discoveries. Dr. Asperger noted that these individuals exhibited odd behavior. In 1944 Dr. Kanner published a paper based on similarities of case histories and behaviors of 11 children seen at th