To learn Chinese should pay attention to a few steps： ◆ Don't use only a CD. Find a native speaker and watch their mouth. See how they make sounds that don't exist in your language. ◆ Don't think of the tones as music. Think of them as syllable accents. Sometimes in English, syllable accent changes, and the same happens in Chinese. ◆ Pay attention to whole sentences instead of single word vocabulary. Practice whole sentences. Both high tones and low tones flatten out, or become midial, with speed. So concentrate on whole sentences. ◆ Learn to write the characters. As you practice each character 10 times, say the correct pronunciation. Because you are saying, seeing and doing, you will remember vocabulary much faster.

Hello Solomon, I understand that one of the main symptoms of pervasive developmental disorder is a difficulty in using and understanding language with delays in language development or cognitive development. It is better to consult someone in your case. Many people with your disorder were very successful in learning languages,but the best approaches and methods need to be recommended by a specialist, specially that Chinese in particular is not an easy language to learn.