Autism is a spectrum disorder, encompassing several developmental disorders with similar symptoms. Also, an individual can be mildly to severely affected by autism. Autism spectrum includes different types of development delays which affect an individual’s communication, motor and language skills to varying degrees. The different forms are discussed here.

Asperger’s syndrome is the highest functioning form of autism, which impairs an individual’s ability to form relationships, or understand social cues and norms. Such people speak in flat tones, and have trouble understanding others emotions. They are often very sharp but quirky. Rett’s syndrome is a disorder that affects girls exclusively, which impairs their ability to talk properly and form social relationships. In addition, it also disables them to make proper use of their hands. So far this is the only disorder in ASD that can be medically diagnosed. Another category is PDDNOS (Pervasive Developmental Disorder Not Otherwise Specified), a term used to describe individuals who suffer from autistic symptoms, but cannot be clearly categorised into any specific syndrome. The degree of symptoms also varies. Often the terms like mildly autistic and severe autism are used to explain the degree of