ABSTRACT
Autism is a puzzling disorder. It is considered a severe psychopathology of development, but consensus on the characterization of that severity has eluded researchers (Gillberg, 1990; Waterhouse, Wing, & Fein, 1989). Current models define autism as a behavioral syndrome of multiple genetic and nongenetic etiology, determined by a neurological deficit or deficits whose locus is uncertain (Rapin, 1991). The severity of impairment lies in aberrant social affect, aberrant social cognition, aberrant social communication, and impairment in associated intellectual, motor, and vegetative functions (APA, 1987).
