As the other little boys drive their cars around and crash into each other, the autistic child sits by himself or puts his cars into a row, over and over again. He may spin his top obsessively and become distraught if it's taken away. If the daily schedule changes, he cries a lot. It's a neurological and genetic condition. Research indicates that a cluster of up to 10 genes may be involved.
Autistic people lack the normal capacity for coherence.
They can't see the bigger picture or get the gist of a situation. The autistic world is overwhelmed by detail. It's like living in a dream where nothing makes sense. Children with autism require specialised long-term education, and this doesn't come cheap. A low pupil-teacher ratio is essential if any progress is to be made.