Original Review Article Autistic Spectrum Disorder: Current Perspectives in a Nutshell Suraj Gupte, MD, FIAP Professor & Head, Postgraduate Department of Pediatrics, MMC & General & Superspeciality  Hospitals, Khammam, Telangana, India ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Until recently i.e. 2013 when DSM-5 (5th edition  of the Diagnostic and Statistics Manual of Mental Diseases ) got released (1),  autism  was considered one of the pervasive developmental disorders (PDDs), others being Asperger disorder, disintegrative developmental disorder, PDD-NOS and Rett syndrome. Now the term PDD stands dropped.

Instead a single designation , ASD, that covers under its umbrella remaining conditions (except Rett syndrome), has been suggested. Rett syndrome is  left out since its developmental…