In 1980, autism appeared for the first time as a diagnosis in the third edition of the DSM III Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, which listed infantile autism along with three other types of ‘pervasive developmental disorder.’ Autism was also removed as a feature of adult Rain Man coverschizophrenia.

Autism was originally described as a form of childhood schizophrenia and the result of cold parenting, then as a set of related developmental disorders, and finally as a spectrum condition with wide-ranging degrees of impairment. Along with these shifting views, its diagnostic criteria have changed as well.