when was autism added to the dsm

Autism was first officially included as a distinct diagnosis in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) in 1980 with the publication of DSM-III. It appeared under the category of Pervasive Developmental Disorders (PDDs) as "infantile autism," separating it from childhood schizophrenia. Later, in the DSM-IV released in 1994, autism was recognized as a spectrum disorder for the first time, including Asperger's syndrome and other related conditions. The DSM-IV was revised in 2000 but kept this spectrum concept. In 2013, the DSM-5 further refined the diagnosis by consolidating the spectrum into one umbrella diagnosis called Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).