by Arjun Walia, The Pulse:

When I ask “what exactly is autism?” I do so because autism, or autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is exactly that, an extremely wide spectrum.

On one end of the spectrum you have people and children nobody would ever guess would be on the spectrum. And on the other end you have people and children who cannot speak or have very limited speech and social communication skills. These people and children may have severe sensory processing issues and extreme difficulty with changes in routine.