ABSTRACT
Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is described as the most prevalent of all neurodevelopmental disorders. ASD is formally characterised by a shared dyad of interacting challenges in social communication and repetitive behaviours, including difficulties interacting with others and making sense of the social and sensory world. During the Second World War Leo Kanner studied 11 children of normal physical development and was the first to identify a definition for autism. According to him, the main features of this condition include severe social impairment, delayed speech development, impairments in communication, rigid thought processes and ritualistic patterns of behaviour. Prevalence rates vary across countries and depend on diagnostic services, awareness amongst professionals and, ultimately, resources. Autism is potentially under-identified in females without co-occurring learning difficulties. In theory, research, policy and practice, autism is viewed from the medical perspective ‘as a situation of deficit compared to the norm of typical development’.
