Autism

Autism is the most common of the pervasive developmental disorders (because the impairments associated with them pervade the development of a child).  Moreover, it is one of the most confusing among the childhood disorders; for it has such a strong disruptive influence on apparently unrelated elements of a child's development.  Most children with autism never develop language, are unresponsive to people around them, engage in strange behaviours such as flapping their hands in front of their faces and become very upset if small changes are made in their environment.  Deficits associated with autism can be so specific.  For example, children with autism who can use the language may have troubles in using personal pronouns.  Current advancements in the research reveal some of the core features that may be influencing the range of autistic symptoms.  However, pace of the findings is slow, and more questions lay unanswerable.