Autism

Autism, a condition more precisely referred to as autistic disorder, is a lifelong developmental disability affecting social and communicative functioning. In the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders: DSM-IV, autistic disorder is the main pervasive developmental disorder (PDD), with other disorders in the PDD classification including pervasive developmental disorder, not otherwise specified (PDD-NOS), and Asperger's disorder.