Q: What is the clinical phenotype of autism?

A: Because of the similarities and differences among people with different forms of autism, health care professionals now view autism as having a broader clinical phenotype than was once thought.  The expanded phenotype goes beyond the standard definition for autism, to include, as the DSM-IV states, a range of impairments rather than the absolute presence or absence of a certain behavior or symptom (DSM 1994).The DSM-IV uses the terms “pervasive developmental disorder (PDD)” and “autism spectrum disorder (ASD)” to describe five variations of autistic behavior; the International Classification of Disease (ICD), published by the World Health Organization (WHO) , has eight variations of PDD.

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