i recently learned autism is actually a spectrum disorder, with many characteristics like social skills
Really?  did not know that. I knew that there is usually a presence of repetitive behavior. 
The CDC estimates autism’s prevalence as 1 in 59 children in the United States, 1 in 37 boys and 1 in 151 girls.
growth restriction, and autoimmune diseases. Controversies surround other proposed environmental causes; for example, the vaccine hypothesis, which has been disproven. Autism affects information processing in the brain by altering connections and organization of nerve cells and their synapses. How this occurs is not well understood. In the DSM-5, autism and less severe forms of the condition, including Asperger syndrome and pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified (PDD-NOS), have been combined into the diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder (ASD).
Early behavioral interventions
whether prevalence has actually increased; and as-yet-unidentified environmental risk factors cannot be ruled out. The Centers for Disease Control’s Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring (ADDM) Network reports that in 2014, approximately 1 in 59 children in the United States (1 in 37 boys, and 1 in 151 girls), has been identified with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This estimate is a 15% increase from the 1 in 68 rate in 2010, 86% increase from the 1 in 110 rate