Statistics say that there are more than a half million people in the U.K. affected by autism, and the number of diagnosed cases is rising rapidly. It was seen that boys are four times more likely than girls to have autism, and twelve times more predisposed to have asperger syndrome.

The autistic disorder is a life lasting neurological disorder involving also the childhood disintegrative disorder, Asperger disorder, Rett disorder and the pervasive development disorder. Autism is registered as one of the five pervasive development disorders and is usually diagnosed around the age of three.