[htag]

Grunya Sukhareva was studying (and published about, including in English) what we would now consider Autism in the 1920s. Perhaps it is because she was a woman, or because she was a Soviet, but histories often gives this credit to Leo Kanner or partial credit to Hans Asperger. I understand this is an obituary, but it does no one a service to indicate Donald Triplett was the first person to be treated for Autism.

[benatkin]

"case 1" is in quotes here and it says diagnosed, not treated. It doesn't make the claim you're suggesting.

[candiodari]

Indeed, one might even say the description on wikipedia clearly indicates he fared far better than many kids that did get treatment, even though they had much less symptoms than this guy.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Triplett

[BaudouinVH]

Aspie here. "treat" autism ? There is no treatment, only ways to adapt.

[romwell]

And accommodate.

Sometimes it's not us who should 'adapt'.

(MFW when learning that "strong sense of justice" was pathologized as a symptom of a disorder by allistics)

[coldtea]

There are several treatments. CBT is one, there are some drugs that are given, and of course there is always psychoterapy.

Doesn't matter if those "treat the symptoms", they're still treatments.

[solumunus]

Long ago there were probably (horrific) “treatments”. Lobotomy, etc.

[morelisp]

There is a subtle but critical distinction in medicine between describing a cluster of symptoms and diagnosing a new condition. AIUI Sukhareva did the former and Kanner (also citing Sukhareva in later publications) the latter.

In particular, I don't think anyone is claiming

> the first person to be treated for Autism.

(Which depending on how you approach the question must either have been thousands of years before this, or could not happen until after Kanner proposed its existence). Rather the article is quite explicit,

> The first man diagnosed as autistic