Understanding Autism: An Essential Guide for Parents

Authors: Katrina Williams, Jacqueline Roberts

The descriptive terms used for autism have changed over the past few decades. For simplicity, we have used the term "autism" in this book. Other terms for the same condition that you may encounter elsewhere include autism spectrum disorder (ASD), autistic disorder, "classic" autism, autism spectrum condition, high-functioning autism, low-functioning autism, Asperger's disorder, Asperger's syndrome, Asperger's, or Aspergers. Children with autism may also be diagnosed with pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified (PDD-NOS) or atypical autism, while some authors refer to "autistic people." Throughout this book, we have used the term "child" in the earlier sections and then "young person" in the section concerning the high school stage. We acknowledge that in many cases where we used the word "child," the comment also applies to a young person, but we omitted the latter clarification to make the book easier to read.