What Is Considered Mild Autism?
Autism the PDD Autism is a neurological disorder that affects the development of a child's social, language and communication skills. A child with autism experiences significant developmental delays in areas such as speech and cognitive skills. He may not talk or talks less than other children the same age. He often does not understand verbal and nonverbal communication. He prefers to be alone and not socialize with parents or other children. He does not play "pretend" games like other children his age. Due to the developmental delays, autism is generally diagnosed before a child's third birthday. The Diagnostic Statistical Manual, Fourth Edition (DSM-IV), the standard classification system of American mental health professionals, categorizes autism as one of five pervasive development disorders (PDD). The five PDD disorders are autism, Asperger's Syndrome, Rett's Syndrome, childhood disintegrative disorder and pervasive development disorder-not otherwise