Even though this is no longer a diagnosis and is included with Autism Spectrum Disorder, Disintegrative Childhood Disorder would be a more accurate diagnosis for Caleb. This is because Caleb demonstrates full criteria for Autism, but he began to show symptoms for Autism in kindergarten instead of preschool. Autism has early onset by age three. According to his mother, Caleb was highly interested in his peers in preschool, an attitude which seemed to slowly vanish once Kindergarten started. This means when Caleb was three he demonstrated typical social behaviors for his age group, but by age five he started to decline in social interaction. Since Childhood Disintegrative Disorder no longer exists, Autism Spectrum Disorder is the next plausible option. Potentially, it also looked …show more content…
Furthermore, Caleb revealed how he avoids people so he does not get angry with them, only to learn something bad happened to them. His refusal to make eye contact, or talk to people are a result of wanting to protect others. Delusional Disorder is a reasonable explanation for these false beliefs because Caleb has not experienced any manic or depressive episodes in the past, and his beliefs cannot be better explained by anything else. This diagnosis gives new insight into why Caleb behaves the way he does socially. This results in some overlap between these two diagnoses, and due to this overlap I am keeping the Autism Spectrum Diagnosis. Delusional Disorder does not explain Caleb’s insistence on sameness in wearing gray every single day, his stereotyped and repetitive movements in playing with the twelve-inch string and making designs, and his hyperactivity to sensory input when his mother reached to give him a kiss and he reluctantly let her kiss him on the cheek. These cannot be explained by Delusional Disorder, and are still best explained by Autism Spectrum