| The symptoms of autism typically include - lack of eye | | | | five in number, autism or classic autistic disorder being |
| contact, lack of interest in objects or things or even | | | | one of them. The others are Rett's syndrome, |
| people, lack of communication skills, disinterest in | | | | Pervasive Developmental Disorder Not Otherwise |
| relationships and social interaction, restricted interests in | | | | Specified (PDD-NOS), Asperger's syndrome, and |
| activities and play, mental retardation in several cases, | | | | Childhood Developmental Disorder (CDD). |
| and occasional savant skills. | | | | What distinguishes one disorder from the other is the |
| Autism is a disorder that affects the social, emotional, | | | | severity of the autism symptoms that are present in |
| and behavioral development of children, marked by | | | | the sufferers of each. In some cases, the symptoms |
| serious difficulties in interacting and communicating with | | | | are more severe, leading to loss of control over bodily |
| other people; and with other symptoms like constantly | | | | functions, as is the case with Childhood Developmental |
| repeating certain actions or behaviors, and having | | | | Disorder. |
| intense interests restricted to only particular things or | | | | Rett's syndrome is particularly of interest because it |
| topics. | | | | appears to occur only in girls and can be relentless |
| However, autism is one of a range of similar diseases | | | | enough to result in death. In some cases, the patient |
| that constitute the autism spectrum disorders. They | | | | only has a few of the symptoms that characterize |
| are referred to, professionally, as Pervasive | | | | autism, but not enough for a full diagnosis. These are |
| Developmental Disorders (PDDs), and they are about | | | | given the PDD-NOS designation. |