The Netherlands and Autism

Historical Background – Legal Aspects – Current Practice

Van Krefeld introduced the concept of autism in the Netherlands in the 1950s from Leiden who, interestingly, referred both to the work of Kanner as well as to that of Asperger! And though the work of the Creak party and Lotter and Rutter was known in this country, most of the research and clinical practice focused on what was then referred to as “developmental psychosis” (Utrecht: Profs Kamp, Van Engeland). At the end of the 1970s, the primacy of psychoanalysis in child and adolescent psychiatry was replaced by a far more scientific and empirical and pragmatic approach. The introduction of DSM III had a great impulse on the scientific approach spread over the country: Rotterdam Epidemiology (Frank Verhulst) Utrecht Developmental Disorders Autism and ADHD and Multiplex Developmental Disorders (Herman van Engeland) and PDD-NOS Groningen (Ruud Minderaa). The greatly inspiring and dynamic Donald Cohen closely linked the two latter...