Lyric discussion by komplexnous 

Cover art for Solitary Shell lyrics by Dream Theater

I agree with Bryant the Great. It's not about an autistic person; although, it can seem as such with him not desiring to be held as an infant. However, the description is more towards schizophrenia and/or bipolar disorder (which can have the same "symptoms" in infancy/childhood as autism does psychologically), since he appeared healthy to everyone else (he was a danger to himself). On top of this, he wrote frequently, which implies that he did not have problems with communication/language (autistic people do have a hard time with communicating/language). The instrumentation is amazing in this song (very progressive IMO)! ;) I completely agree with Paradox.

And autism doesn't show delusion, dramatic and inappropriate mood change or response(Monday morning lunatic, catatonic maniac). Regardless of the writers intention, this story does fit the criteria of schizophrenia.

@komplexnous

People with autism don't have problems writing, that's not what the communication difficulties in the disorder describe.