1:0 What is Autism ? Autistic disorder almost always develops before the age of threee and is characterized by impaired verbal and non-verbal communication, social interaction, some form of repetitive and restricted stereotyped interest, ritual, or other behaviour. Autistic children show abnormal responses to sensations. Any one or more of these senses may be affected. All these difficulties manifest themselves in behaviours, i.e., abnormal ways of relating to people, objects and events in the environment. Autism is also known as a ‘spectrum disorder’, because the severity of symptoms ranges from a mild learning and social disability to a severe impairment, with multiple problems and highly unusual behaviour. The disorder may occur alone, or with accompanying problems such as mental retardation or seizures. Autism is not a rare disorder, being the third most common development disorder. Typically, about 20 in a population of 10,000 people will be autistic or have autistic symptoms. 2:0