Fritz V.
Fritz V. is a pseudonym that Hans Asperger used to refer to his first patient. This makes him the first person in history to be identified as having Asperger's Syndrome. Fritz displayed many behavioral problems in childhood and acted out at school but he had a strong interest in
mathematics and
astronomy, particularly the theories of
Isaac Newton. Fritz grew up to become a professor of astronomy and solved an error in Newton's work he originally noticed as a child. Much of what Asperger learned about the condition in its early days derives from his meetings with Fritz, whom he kept track of throughout his life. Fritz V. was born in June 1933 in
Austria and was sent to Hans Asperger in autumn of 1939. The school referred him as they considered him "uneducable" by his first day there. He had severe impairment in social integration. Hans Asperger gave a very detailed report of Fritz and his efforts to understand his problems in his case report '''Autistic psychopathy' in childhood''. Fritz was a first child of his parents. According to Asperger, his mother was a descendant of "one of the greatest Austrian poets" and she described her family as "in the mad-genius mould." Her family were intellectuals who wrote poetry "quite beautifully." Asperger noticed the genetic component of the syndrome here because Fritz's grandfather and several of his relatives had displayed similar traits and had been expelled from private schools numerous times. His grandfather lived as an eccentric recluse at the time of Asperger's report. He lived alone and was "preoccupied with his own thoughts." Fritz's mother also displayed similar behavior to him. She made poor eye contact, always looked unkempt, dressed rather poorly and walked in a very clunky,
military fashion with her arms behind her back. She had problems communicating with her family and when things at home became too stressful she would travel alone to the
Alps for weeks at a time and leave the rest of the family to deal with things themselves. Fritz's father was a civil servant and Asperger noted that he was 55 years old at the time of Fritz's birth. Fritz had a normal birth. However, his motor development was delayed and he was very clumsy which worried his parents. He only learned to walk at fourteen months. He also had problems with learning self-help skills such as washing and cleaning. However, he also learned to talk much earlier at ten months and quickly expressed himself in formal sentence structure "like an adult." Asperger noted that from a young age, Fritz never did what he was told and would often intentionally do the exact opposite. Punishment did not deter him. He was restless and fidgety and had "a destructive urge." Any toys left around him would soon be broken. He did not get along well with other children either. They "wound him up" and he once attacked one with a
hammer. He cared little for the danger posed to himself or others. He was kicked out of kindergarten on the first day. He attacked other children, paced about nonchalantly during the lesson and destroyed the coat-rack. Fritz did not care if people were upset with him and seemed to enjoy their angry responses to his disobedience. Despite this, he would also sometimes hug other classmates without provocation. Asperger noted that Fritz was indifferent to the authority of adults and would use abrasive, informal language when speaking to them (he used the informal "du" and never the formal "Sie"). He also displayed repetitive movements such as hitting, jumping and
echolalia. Fritz had poor eye contact and would never look at people when speaking to them. He also spoke in a dull, monotone voice. He did however, sometimes sing "I don't like to say that" in response to a question or beat rhythms on objects around him. He experienced serious stomach problems from eating non-edible things such as
pencils and from licking the tables. He did very poorly in
PE because he was very clumsy and never swung in any rhythm. He would frequently run away from class or begin hitting and jumping up and down. When it came to intelligence tests, it was impossible to get a good measure of his intelligence as his responses to test questions varied. Sometimes he would jump up and move around or just answer with nonsense (Asperger implies here it might be deliberate) and other times he might give an answer considerably advanced for his age. Asperger noted that it almost seemed up to chance. To some questions, he would give a very precise answer and to others he would mumble nonsense. Much of what Asperger learned about the syndrome and its effect on health and learning can be seen from his interactions with Fritz. He noted the many behavioral problems that Fritz faced and remarked that these problems he faced from a young age in making relationships with his parents would lead to later problems with his teachers and peers. Children's development relies quite heavily on things such as eye contact and understanding others which Fritz had problems with. Asperger believed Fritz could feel emotions very easily but the problems he had were with displaying them. Many of the traits that have came to be seen as key features of Asperger syndrome can be seen in Asperger's records of Fritz including, difficulty socializing and understanding the thoughts of others, trouble empathizing, special interests, motor problems, sensory issues, avoidance of other classmates and difficulty relating with peers. Asperger recommended to his mother that he would do better with a private tutor than he would in the full classroom but that even still, he would face some difficulties with keeping focus. Much of what Asperger had learned from Fritz has helped with the understanding of Asperger Syndrome today. == Relationship to Kanner's work ==