EARLY SIGNS OF AUTISM AND FAMILY FILMS

Infantile autism was described by Leo Kanner in 1943. Beginning in the 1970s, research studies became interested in the early signs of this syndrome through the use of interviews and questionnaires for parents. Direct observation of these signs did not seem possible until the app earance of films taken by the parents themselves by means of home movi e cameras. Some children who had been filmed from the very first days of their existence were later diagnosed as autistic. It was then possi ble to exploit this material relating everyday life in order to observ e the first signs of autism. In the United States, based on, this mate rial were conducted by Massie and Rosenthal. They brought to light dif ficulties in interaction and attachment. Another result of these studi es was to show that this method furnished objective data which were no t influenced by time and memory. Some authors compared the sensory-mot or development of autistic and normal infants and others, their behavi or at their first birthday. We discuss the studies carried out in the city of Tours On an infant who was later diagnosed as autistic. They c oncerned the observation of the child himself and his first troubles a s revealed through films taken by the parents from his birth lsp to th e age of two years. The first part two of the study was descriptive, d ealing with all behaviors, exchange capacities and suggestive symptoms taken from selected film sequences. Quantitative studies of observed behaviors were then carried out with the scale Infant Behavioral Summa rized Evaluation (IBSE), demonstrating the existance of precocious and specific symptoms among these children filmed by their parents. This was followed by an analysis of children disturbed functions revealed b y the Behavior Function Inventory (BEI), which made it possible to bri ng to light the presence of important troubles as early as the first y ear of life in regard to two functions: intention. and imitation, whic h are as important at this stage as are the functions of contact and c ommunication.