Kanner syndrome: what is it and how is it related to ASDs

Until relatively recently, autistic disorders received different names depending on the cognitive, emotional, relational and social characteristics of each individual.

In addition to Asperger syndrome, Kanner syndrome was one of the autistic disorders that were diagnosed, until the changes in the diagnostic manuals put an end to the concept of it.

Today we are going to discover a little more in depth what Kanner syndrome is, who discovered it, how it differs from Asperger, the story of its discovery and theoretical conceptualization as well as understanding why it is no longer diagnostic.

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What is Kanner syndrome?

Kanner syndrome is one of the names by which classical autism was known, as opposed to Asperger syndrome. If in the Asperger's we would speak of a highly functional autism at a cognitive level, in the Kanner syndrome we would speak of children with problems in different intellectual abilities, in addition to social, relational and empathy problems. This disorder was first described by the one who gave him his last name, Dr. Leo Kanner.

Although today the different syndromes and disorders associated with autism have been included within the category of Autism Spectrum Disorders, it is true that the names of Kanner syndrome and Asperger syndrome are still very important. Each person with autism is different and, depending on each case, it will be necessary to take into account how affected are cognitive abilities, in addition to emotional and communication skills.

Symptoms of this syndrome

The main symptom of Kanner syndrome or classic autism is abnormal or poor development of social interaction and communication. People with this syndrome give the impression that they are indifferent to the reactions of other human beings, even in front of people who are part of their closest circle, be they adults or are kids. As can be seen in Asperger's syndrome, the person has little empathy and affection.

Normally, babies without psychopathology smile at a moving human face, in addition to showing interest and curiosity about other people. Very soon they come to pay attention to what others are doing. In contrast, children with Kanner syndrome show an inordinate interest in inanimate objects, leaving very aside the people themselves. They can spend hours and hours doing ritualistic behaviors, such as spinning a top or playing or jumping a ball.

People with Kanner syndrome do not usually make eye contact with other people, and if they do, it appears that they are looking through them. What's more, present communication problems, with high language impairment or delayed language acquisition. His way of speaking is very anomalous, with a shrill, monotonic and metallic voice. There are cases of adults who manifest global aphasia, that is, a total restriction of speech, although there are also linguistic disabilities.

They also have language disorders, such as delayed echolalia, pronominal inversion and others linguistic phenomena, repetitive and stereotyped play activities, mostly developed in lonely. Kanner himself called these ritualistic phenomena "insistence on identity".

In addition, people diagnosed with this syndrome would be characterized by an important deficiency imagination, good mechanical memory and not present deformities or problems at the motor or physical. Kanner emphasized that these traits were already visible in early childhood, wanting to highlight their differences with other “autistic” disorders with later onset, such as schizophrenia.

Among the most serious symptoms that we find in Kanner syndrome we find those that provoke the aversion of others. Among these symptoms we find behaviors such as intense swaying, blows to the head, random aggressive behavior, and self-mutilation. Hypersensitivity and hyperresponsiveness to sensory stimulation can also be observed, which makes the people with Kanner syndrome express it through yelling, running away, covering their ears at a sound or not tolerating the touch.

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History of this concept in psychiatry

Since the beginning of psychology and psychiatry, autism has been seen as a concrete form of childhood psychosis.

Kanner syndrome It was first described in 1943 by Dr. Leo Kanner, who worked at John Hopkins Hospital.. She made his findings just a year before another leading doctor in the field, Mr. Hans Asperger, described his well-known syndrome. The first definition of Kanner syndrome corresponds to the traditional idea of ​​autism, it is that is, people who from a very young age show relational, empathy and disability problems cognitive.

In 1956 Kanner published a work on the syndrome that he had conceptualized together with his colleague Leon Eisenberg, known for being the inventor of the diagnostic label for ADHD. It is from then on that autism has acquired greater importance in scientific research, considering new autistic disorders and increasingly expanding knowledge about this type of psychological problem in the field pediatric.

Numerous authors, such as Lorna Wing, Michael Rutter, and van Krevelen described cases of autism that differed from what seen by Kanner, despite the fact that the main symptoms of lack of empathy and relational problems were still present. They saw that there were different levels of cognitive impairment, causing the Kanner-Asperger dichotomy to differentiate between cognitively dysfunctional and functional autism, especially in the eighties.

Likewise, it can be said that Kanner syndrome has not been such a popular expression to refer to classic autism, since that term is preferred over Kanner's. Kanner conceptualized his syndrome when Eugen Bleuler's definition of autism already existed in the early 20th century. Bleuler defined autistic subjects as people who were actively withdrawing into their fantasy world. Kanner related this definition to schizophrenia, with which he preferred to speak of Kanner syndrome as something different from the idea of ​​autism, although in essence it agrees.

Both Kanner and Asperger syndrome and other related disorders have been defined with some subjectivity and vagueness in the nomenclature. Other scholars of autism, such as Lorna Wing or Van Krevelen had some problems when defining objectively each autistic disorder, which called into question the robustness of these problems as constructs independent.

It is for all this that it is not surprising that autism spectrum disorders have ended up being united in the same category. Currently the labels of "autism", "Asperger syndrome" and "Kanner syndrome", among others, are collected in the relatively new category introduced in DSM-5 (2013), “Spectrum Disorders Autistic".

Kanner syndrome was conceptualized at a time when child psychology, psychiatry, and clinical pediatrics were immature disciplines. The scientific methods to demonstrate their constructs were still somewhat rudimentary, besides there being the problem that the The researchers themselves could have a high bias when interpreting their results and there was not as much control as today in day.

Regardless of the mistakes that Dr. Kanner might make, this psychiatrist has the merit of being a pioneer in research on traditional autism, its conceptualization and its treatment, in addition to expanding the knowledge of the child psychiatry. At that time children who were not like the rest, regardless of what specific symptoms they had, could end up in a orphanage or admitted to a psychiatric hospital without receiving specialized care, something that changed with the scientific study of autism and its varieties.

Reflection and conclusion

Kanner syndrome is a diagnostic label that, due to changes in the relatively recent DSM-5. Now autistic disorders are included under the same label And while the differences between people with relational problems are still taken into account, emotional and empathy depending on whether or not they are cognitively functional, it is agreed that they are, in essence, autistic

Classic autism matches the definition given for this syndrome by Kanner. Today there would not be, at least officially, a diagnosis with this syndrome, but of course the type of intervention that would be applied to the person would coincide with that of the rest of autistic people, focused on knowing how to interpret the emotional clues of the face and control of self-injurious behaviors and repetitive.

Although the term is obsolete, there is no doubt that the research carried out by Kanner and other scholars autism have contributed to a more scientific and humanitarian view of people who suffer from this disorder. Autistic children have been seen as impossible to "correct" or "cure" to go, little by little, including them in all kinds of activities and situations in which they can relate to children without any psychopathology, although, of course, with limitations.

Bibliographic references:

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