According to Kanner it is an essential feature of the clinical picture of early infantile autism that autistic behaviour can be observed in the second half of the first year of life. He described in particular an inadequate show of interest through looks and a lack of friendly advances on the part of the children, e. g. not stretching out their arms when being dressed or picked up, and the lack of gestures with which normal children draw attention to themselves. Similar observations were also made in our cases: