Childhood Disintegrative Disorder (CDD)

Childhood disintegrative disorder (CDD), also called Heller’s syndrome and disintegrative psychosis, is a neurological condition now formerly part of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in DSM-5. A child with CDD develops normally for two years, then starts losing some of their language, social, and motor skills when 2-4 years old. Overall, social, communicative, and behavioral features of this form of autism don’t resemble the severe symptoms of autistic disorders (also replaced as a term by ASD). There’s no known cause for CDD.