<P> A few examples of autistic symptoms and treatments were described long before autism was named . The Table Talk of Martin Luther , compiled by his notetaker , Mathesius , contains the story of a 12 - year - old boy who may have been severely autistic . Luther reportedly thought the boy was a soulless mass of flesh possessed by the devil , and suggested that he be suffocated , although a later critic has cast doubt on the veracity of this report . The earliest well - documented case of autism is that of Hugh Blair of Borgue , as detailed in a 1747 court case in which his brother successfully petitioned to annul Blair 's marriage to gain Blair 's inheritance . The Wild Boy of Aveyron , a feral child caught in 1798 , showed several signs of autism ; the medical student Jean Itard treated him with a behavioral program designed to help him form social attachments and to induce speech via imitation . </P>
<P> A few examples of autistic symptoms and treatments were described long before autism was named . The Table Talk of Martin Luther , compiled by his notetaker , Mathesius , contains the story of a 12 - year - old boy who may have been severely autistic . Luther reportedly thought the boy was a soulless mass of flesh possessed by the devil , and suggested that he be suffocated , although a later critic has cast doubt on the veracity of this report . The earliest well - documented case of autism is that of Hugh Blair of Borgue , as detailed in a 1747 court case in which his brother successfully petitioned to annul Blair 's marriage to gain Blair 's inheritance . The Wild Boy of Aveyron , a feral child caught in 1798 , showed several signs of autism ; the medical student Jean Itard treated him with a behavioral program designed to help him form social attachments and to induce speech via imitation . </P>
when was autism first recognised as a condition
when was autism first recognised as a condition
1747
1747