Answer: Response: The American Psychiatric Association in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders - IV-TR (2000) defines Autistic Disorder as a pervasive developmental disorder that is characterized by three major symptoms - impairment in social interactions, impairments in communication, and restrictive repetitive and stereotyped patterns of behavior.
For a diagnosis of Autistic Disorder, impairments in social interactions must include two of the following: lack of eye contact or other gestures to regulate social interactions, failure to develop developmentally appropriate relationships with peers, a lack of desire to share enjoyment with others, or a lack of social or emotional reciprocity.
Impairments in communication must be manifested in one of three forms of impairment including a delay of or complete lack of language development, inability to initiate or sustain conversation with others, repetitive use of language, or lack of spontaneous make-believe play or social imitative language.
Restrictive repetitive and stereotyped patterns of behavior must be manifested in one of the following ways: preoccupation with one or more stereotyped behaviors or interests that is disproportionally intense, extreme inflexibility with routine, stereotyped or repetitive movements, or a preoccupation with specific parts of objects.
One or more of these symptoms must be delayed or abnormally functioning prior to age 3. Response: Autistic Disorder is a Pervasive Developmental Disorder. The following notes are taken from the DSM-IV. There are various symptoms that, in certain combinations, indicate the presence of Autistic Disorder. What is given here is informational, and it is not sufficient to determine a diagnosis. Anyone who is concerned about a child should seek professional help before leaping to unfounded conclusions based on these general summarized notes.A child with Autistic Disorder may show:Marked impairment in the use of nonverbal behaviors such as eye-to-eye gaze, facial expression; Failure developing peer relationships; Lack of social or emotional reciprocity; Delay in, or total lack of development of spoken language; Impairment in ability to initiate or sustain conversations; Repetitive or idiosyncratic use of language; Restricted repetitive and stereotyped patterns of behavior; Inflexible adherence to routines or rituals; Preoccupation with parts of objects.Any of these may be caused by other conditions. Only professional assessment can lead to a meaningful diagnosis and course of treatment. As is the case with any interesting diagnostic information, there is a temptation to read symptomatology into ordinary behaviors, and the truth is that many ordinary people have done one or more of the above at one point or another in their lives.
