Victor

"Autism is not a new condition. It didn't suddenly appear in humans in 1943. The first ever recorded case of Autism was probably made in 1800 and the condition almost certainly has been around for centuries before that. That year, a Frenchman named Jean Marc Gaspard Itard wrote an account of a 12-year-old boy (his approximate age) who had been living for in a Forest until he was captured on Wednesday 8th January 1800. Itard named the boy Victor, who made no direct communication and was very self-absorbed. Itard assumed that Victor had grown up without any form of human contact as he never spoke, and would gesture if he wanted/needed something. According to Itard, Victor would pull someone by the arm to gain their attention and wanted items to be in the same place constantly. He was also very unhappy unless the object was moved back to its former place. Itard also described how, when Victor wanted to ride in a wheelbarrow, he would pull someone by the arm, put the wheelbarrow handles in their hands, then climb in and wait to be pushed. Itard's papers were published in 1801 and were titled the "Wild Boy of Averyon". Though Itard failed at teaching Victor language, he had a breakthrough emotionally. Victor lived with Itard and his housekeeper Madame Guérin. One night, while setting the table, Victor noticed Madame Guérin crying over the loss of her husband; he stopped what he was doing and consoled her. Victor died in Paris in 1828, but three years before his death, Itard was credited with describing the first case of Tourette syndrome in Marquise de Dampierre, a woman of nobility. Itard passed away ten years later, in 1838."