Autism

Abstract

Autism is a syndrome (Kanner, 1943) defined, not by etiology or pathology, but by particular behaviors and a characteristic natural history. The three clinical features essential for diagnosis are (1) deficits in the capacity to form relationships, associated with a poor appreciation of socioemotional cues, a lack of modulation of behavior according to social context, and a weak integration of social, emotional, and communicative behaviors; (2) deficits in the use of language for social communication, associated with poor synchrony and reciprocity in conversational interchange, impaired use of variations in cadence to reflect communicative modulation, together with abnormalities of language including stereotyped usages and delayed echolalia; and (3) restricted, repetitive, and stereotyped patterns of behavior, associated with abnormal preoccupations with part-objects or nonfunctional elements of play materials, and distress over changes in small details of the environment (Rutter & Schopler, 1986).