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Definition
Autism is classified as a neurodevelopmental disorder with three common characteristics: impairments in social functioning, impairments in communication, and restrictions in behavioral repertoire or repetitive behaviors. The definition of autism has changed over time and is still controversial. Currently, the DSM V calls for a diagnosis of “Autism Spectrum Disorder” (or ASD) for people who previously would have fallen into any of three categories in the DSM IV. Those categories included (a) autism, (b) Asperger’s Syndrome, and (c) Pervasive Developmental Disorder-Not Otherwise Specified.
Introduction
When the movie “Rain Man” came out in 1988, there was a scene in which a medical professional was so unfamiliar with the term that he assumed that Tom Cruise’s character Charlie Babbit had said “artistic.” Clearly, autism had not yet really penetrated the cultural consciousness. Since then, autism has been a topic of increasing interest to...
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References
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Niehaus, J. (2016). Autism. In: Shackelford, T., Weekes-Shackelford, V. (eds) Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_2498-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_2498-1
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