    <!-- notes: 1) please follow the wikipedia style guidelines for editing medical articles wp:medmos, and medical referencing standards at wp:medrs. 2) use for explicitly cited references. 3) reference anything you put here with notable references, as this subject tends to attract a lot of controversy.-->   autism is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by impaired social interaction, verbal and non-verbal communication, and restricted and repetitive behavior. the diagnostic criteria require that symptoms become apparent before a child is three years old. autism affects information processing in the brain by altering how nerve cells and their synapses connect and organize; how this occurs is not well understood. it is one of three recognized disorders in the autism spectrum (asds), the other two being asperger syndrome, which lacks delays in cognitive development and language, and pervasive developmental disorder, not otherwise specified (commonly abbreviated as pdd-nos), which is diagnosed when the full set of criteria for autism or asperger syndrome are not met. autism has a strong genetic basis, although the genetics of autism are comp
Autism Communication_disorders Mental_and_behavioural_disorders Neurological_disorders Neurological_disorders_in_children Pervasive_developmental_disorders Psychiatric_diagnosis