All are features of autistic disorder except
Typically, the onset of autistic disorder occurs before the age of 2 1/2 years though in some cases, the onset may occur later in childhood. The characteristic features of the autistic disorder are:1. Autism (marked impairment in reciprocal social and interpersonal interaction):i. Absent social smile.ii. Lack of eye-to-eye-contact.iii. Lack of awareness of others' existence or feelings; treats people as furniture.iv. Lack of attachment to parents and absence of separation anxiety.v. No or abnormal social play; prefers solitary games.vi. Marked impairment in making friends.vii. Lack of imitative behaviour.viii. The absence of fear in presence of danger.2. Marked impairment in language and non-verbal communication:i. Lack of verbal or facial response to sounds or voices; might be thought as deaf initially.ii. In infancy, the absence of communicative sounds like babbling.iii. Absent or delayed speech (about half of autistic children never develop useful speech).iv. Abnormal speech patterns and content. Presence of echolalia, perseveration, poor aiculation and pronominal reversal (I-You) is common.v. Rote memory is usually good.vi. Abstract thinking is impaired.3. Abnormal behavioural characteristics:i. Mannerisms.ii. Stereotyped behaviours such as head-banging, body-spinning, hand-flicking, lining-up objects, rocking, clapping, twirling, etc.iii. Ritualistic and compulsive behaviour.iv. Resistance to even the slightest change in the environment.v. The attachment may develop to inanimate objects.vi. Hyperkinesis is commonly associated.4. Mental retardation:Only about 25% of all children with autism have an IQ of more than 70. A large majority (more than 50%) of these children have moderate to profound mental retardation. There appears to be a correlation between severity of mental retardation, an absence of speech and epilepsy in autism.5. Other features:i. Many children with autism paicularly enjoy music.ii. In spite of the pervasive impairment of functions, ceain islets of precocity or splinter functions may remain (called as Idiot savant syndrome). Examples of such splinter functions are prodigious rote memory or calculating ability, and musical abilities.iii. Epilepsy is common in children with an IQ of less than 50. Ref: A Sho Textbook of Psychiatry, Niraj Ahuja, 7th Edition, pg. no.163 Third person halluciantion is the component of First Rank Symptoms of Schneider for Schizophrenia.
Mental retardation
Absent social smile
Onset before 2 1/2 years
Third person hallucination
Child psychiatry