What is Autism? Autism is when our brains are wired differently from others. Our social and communications skills are not the same as a normal person. Having autism doesn t mean we are not smart individuals; it just means we think quite different. There are different spectrums with having autism. Some spectrums are from having childhood disintegrative disorder, pervasive developmental disorder-not otherwise specified (PDD-NOS) and Asperger s Syndrome (ASD). The knowledge of a child being diagnosed with autism is now more prevalent. Early diagnoses are the best diagnoses. For example, failure to diagnose a child at an early age versus when he/she turns five causes this child to miss out on valuable opportunities for development.