Childhood Disintegrative Disorder

Childhood disintegrative disorder (CDD), also known as Heller's syndrome and disintegrative psychosis, is a rare (1.7 cases per 100,000) condition characterized by late onset (>3 years of age) of developmental delays in language, social function, and motor skills. Researchers have not been successful in finding a cause for the disorder.

CDD has some similarity to autism, and is sometimes considered a low-functioning form of it, but an apparent period of fairly normal development is often noted before a regression in skills or a series of regressions in skills. Many children are already somewhat delayed when the disorder becomes apparent, but these delays are not always obvious in young children.

The age at which this regression can occur varies, and can be from age 2-10 with the definition of this onset depending largely on opinion.

The regression can be so dramatic, that the child may be aware of it, and in its beginning he may even ask, vocally, what is happening to him. Some children describe or appear to be reacting to hallucinations, but the most obvious symptom is that skills apparently attained are lost. This has been described by many writers as a devastating condition, affecting both the family and the individual's future. As is the case with all pervasive developmental disorder categories, there is considerable controversy about the right treatment for CDD.

The syndrome was originally described by Austrian educator Theodor Heller in 1908, 35 years before Leo Kanner and Hans Asperger described autism, but it has not been officially recognised until recently. Heller used the name dementia infantilis for the syndrome.