#403 Should Autism be a phenotype? and other social interactions
Autistic behavior: A disorder beginning in childhood. It is marked by the presence of markedly abnormal or impaired development in social interaction and communication and a markedly restricted repertoire of activity and interest. Manifestations of the disorder vary greatly depending on the developmental level and chronological age of the individual (DSM-IV).
subclass: Austism: Autism is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by impaired social interaction and communication, and by restricted and repetitive behavior. Autism begins in childhood. It is marked by the presence of markedly abnormal or impaired development in social interaction and communication and a markedly restricted repertoire of activity and interest. Manifestations of the disorder vary greatly depending on the developmental level and chronological age of the individual (DSM-IV).
Also 'impaired social interactions' should not be a subclass of Austism
Also 'Abnormal social behavior' should be merged with 'impaired social interactions'
These are all valid points. The disease Autism is characterized by various kinds of autistic behavior. I do not think that "Autistic behavior" should itself be a disease, whatever the DSM says. Ideally, it would include all of the relevant types of features of autism as subclasses. Autism is left for now as a convenience, because it is used so often to annotate patients. Perhaps, someday, we can obsolete it and people will annotate the true phenotype, but we cannot for now (especially because of the legacy literature).
Abnormal social behavior includes some items as subclasses that are distinct from impaired social interactions, and I disagree that it is a synonym.
That said, the entire behavior section needs revision, as we all know. But I would prefer to do this in a concentrated way starting with a jamboree and input from a number of specialists.