A neurodevelopmental disorder starting in early childhood, characterized by impairments in social interaction and communication and by restricted or repetitive patterns of behavior, with symptoms varying from mild to severe.
Children whose primary difficulty involves receptive language are more likely to have developmental cognitive disability or autism spectrum disorder.
Pervasive Developmental Disorder - Not Otherwise Specified (PDD-NOS) is another autism spectrum disorder that will no longer carry an official separate diagnosis in the DSM-V.
Another autism spectrum disorder that will not carry a separate diagnosis in the DSM-V, Childhood Disintegrative Disorder (CDD) is characterized by a loss of communication and social skills between the ages of two and four years.
This disorder has much in common with regressive autism, and it will be classified as a general autism spectrum disorder.
However, the odds your child will be diagnosed with autism-spectrum disorder despite the recent explosion in autism cases is low.