Autism is a developmental disability caused by neurological dysfunction. It affects the way a person understands and responds to the world, how they hear, see, feel, sense, perceive and interpret everything around them. This may affect how they eat, sleep, dress, work, spend leisure time etc. They are likely to have repetitive behaviour patterns and restricted repetitive interests. Individuals with an autistic spectrum condition can have difficulties with language and communicating with others and with social interactions and relationships because there is an impairment of 2 way verbal and non verbal communication and impairment of flexible thinking and social imagination. People with autism can often have accompanying learning difficulties but everyone with the condition shares a difficulty in making sense of the world. Inflexibility and restrictiveness in activities and interests can lead to a person on the autistic spectrum having difficulty relating to others and making friends, an inability to engage in imaginary play, it can lead to ritualistic behaviours , obsessions and fears.…
The autism/autistic spectrum describes a range of conditions classified as neurodevelopmental disorders. These disorders are characterised by social deficits and communication difficulties, stereotyped or repetitive behaviours and interests, and in some cases, cognitive delays. These disorders include Autism, Asperger’s syndrome and Rett Syndrome.…
The primary features of autism are uncommunicative, extremely unresponsive, rigid, repetitive and cannot handle changes.…
Autism is classified as a neurodevelopmental disorder that affects 1 in 500 people. It impairs three main areas of human development. The three areas are speech, communication, and social interactions. All impairments can range from mild to severe. Some symptoms include lack of awareness of feelings of others and the expression of emotion, such as laughing or crying. People with autism also insist on following routines and resisting change.…
It is found in the category of neurodevelopment disorders. The symptoms of Autism vary according to severity. Some are more noticeable in children, while others it may be not noticeable at all. The symptoms of having autism include the following: impairment in social interaction, fixation on inanimate objects, inability to communicate normally, and a resistance to change in daily routine. Characteristics traits associated with Autism are the following: repetition of words or phrases, lack of eye contact, unmotivated tantrums, inability to express needs verbally, and insensitivity to pain. Also an individual with autism will react differently to stimulations like light or noise, than other children would. The symptoms and characteristics vary from child to child and change over time from very severe, subsequently less…
Autism is generally accepted that it is caused by abnormalities in the brain structure or function. In many families, there appears to be a pattern of autism or related disabilities supporting the theory that autism has a genetic basis. Some of the characteristics of an autistic child are, does not babble or coo by 12 months, does not gesture or say a single word much less can speak two word phrases by 12-24 months of age as the child grows he or she may have difficulties communicating or relating to events or people around them, they often play with toys and objects in unusual ways and have difficulty adjusting to changes to their lives such as familiar surroundings or in their daily routine. These characteristics are evident by the age of three.…
Autism also known as Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a group of disorders of brain development. These disorders are described such as difficulties in social interaction, verbal and nonverbal communication and repetitive behaviors. People with Autism can have problems with intellectual disability, difficulties in motor coordination and attention and physical health issues such as sleep and gastrointestinal disturbances.…
The symptoms of Autism. The behavior of children with this disorder has a wide range from mild to severe in nature. What we need to know is that there are three major categories of symptoms, social reaction, communication, and behavior. In the social reaction category you will see a narrow range of facial reactions. They will also have poor eye contact with the people that they are communicating with. They will have difficulty with relationships with their peers. By not having relationships with their peers will result in a decreased quality of relationships, and this can lead to social avoidance altogether when they are severely affected. The next thing that will be noticed about a child with Autism is their communication problems. You will notice that they lack or have a delay of the spoken language. They will not have a very good conversation skills. They will have a lack of appropriate developmental play, and they will have diminished gestures. The behavior problems is repetitive including the motor mannerisms, like hand flapping, their interests is restricted, they must have the same routines, and the preoccupation for parts of objects. For an example a child with Autism may want to hold a toy fire engine and roll the wheels with his other hand instead of playing like he is driving it and putting fires out. Another thing you can find that causes agitation and tantrums is…
Autism itself can be broken down into more diagnoses such as; childhood disintegrative disorder, pervasive developmental disorder and asperger syndrome (Inc). Autism signs begin to show more prominently in children ages two to three (Inc). However, children can show signs of Autism before two and three but it is incredibly uncommon (“Clinical Trials”). Some signs of Autism are; no babbling or pointing by age one, no single words by sixteen months, no two word phrases by age two, no response to name, loss of language or social skills previously acquired, poor eye contact, excessive lining up of objects (ie. toys), no smiling or social responses, impaired ability to make friends with peers, impaired ability to initiate or sustain a conversation with others (“Clinical Trials”). Autism does not just affect the social aspect of the child's life or even the child's life alone, having Autism increases the risk of having epilepsy (“Clinical Trials”). 20 to 30 percent of people with Autism develop epilepsy by the time they reach adulthood (“Clinical Trials”). Emotional disorders like bipolar disorder or schizophrenia also are more prevalent in families of people with Autism rather than families that have no history of Autism (“Clinical Trials”). While many studies have been done on Autism, scientists have be unable to figure out what causes a child to develop Autism (Inc). However, they have been…
Autism spectrum disorder is a general term for the complex neurological diseases that affect brain development. The common characteristics of the disease are difficulties in social interactions, speech communication and repetitive sounds and movements. In May of 2013, the DSM-5 diagnostic manual placed all autism disorders under one umbrella known as ASD or autism spectrum disorders. This merged all of the sub-types like Asperger syndrome, autistic disorder, childhood disintegrative disorder, pervasive developmental disorder-not otherwise specified (autism speaks, 2014). Common characteristics of autism are intellectual disability, challenges in motor coordination, attention span issues, physical issues like sleep and gastrointestinal disturbances. Some children with autism spectrum disorders have excellent visual skills, music, math and art abilities. Autism is born in early brain development. Evident signs of autism emerge between the age of two and three years of age. If a child is diagnosed at an early age behavioral therapies can be used to improve the development of the child. In our society the number of autism disorder is increasing in number of cases reported. However, it is not clear whether this is due to better detection and reporting or is it a real increase in the number of cases of children with autism spectrum disorder. Autism spectrum disorder is a heterogeneous condition which means no two children or adults with autism have exactly the same symptoms, but challenges fall into core domains that are reliably measured and normally consistent across time, even though specific behaviors may change with development (Lord, 2000).…
Before you learn about the causes and statistics of autism, you must first have a basic understanding of what autism is. Autism is a complex disorder that affects each person differently. Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs) are a group of developmental disabilities that can cause significant social, communication, and behavioral challenges. ASDs are "spectrum disorders," meaning that it affects each person in different ways, and can range from very mild to very severe. People with ASDs share some similar symptoms, such as problems with social interaction.…
Autism is one of the most common developmental disabilities. People with autism, also called autism spectrum disorder (ASD), have differences in the way their brains develop and process information. As a result, they face significant communication, social, and behavior challenges. Autism affects about 1 in 88 children.…
The cause for autism remains unclear to scientists, although most neurological studies seem to indicate a dysfunction in the brain as a possible reason. Autism has been found in children with brain abnormalities such as congenital rubella syndrome, neurofibromatosis, and tuberous sclerosis (“Autism Fact Sheet”). Autism can also be present in genetic syndromes such as the Fragile X syndrome and phenylketonuria (“Autism Fact Sheet”). Autism affects the normal development of the brain in the areas of social interaction and communication skills. Children and adults with autism have difficulties in verbal and non-verbal communication, social interactions and leisure or play activities. It is hard for them to relate to the outside world and to communicate with others. Aggressive and/or self-injurious behavior may be present in some cases. They may…
The cause of autism is unknown, but scientists believe factors of autism may include genetics, infections, and problems occurring at birth. Many of the most recent studies suggest that some people have a genetic tendency to have autism which may be passed from parents to children. Scientists are looking for different clues that show which genes contribute to increasing the vulnerability of autism. Some researchers think environmental factors may also play a role in the cause of autism. Many studies of people with autism have shown abnormalities in certain regions of the brain that suggest that autism is a result from disruption in early brain development while still in the uterus. Another theory for the cause of autism is that the body's immune system may inappropriately produce antibodies that attack the brains of children. There is also a theory that says children with autism have an abnormal timing of the growth in their brains and in early childhood the brains of autistic children grow faster and larger than those of normal children and then later on when normal children's brains get bigger and better organized the autistic kids' brains grow more slowly. Many parents believe that vaccines are the cause of autism, but there is no evidence that proves vaccines cause autism or any other type of behavioral disorder. Parents believe that there is some sort of link between measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccine that causes their child to receive autism. Parents believe this because the MMR vaccine is given between the ages of 12 to 15 months and a few weeks after the vaccine many parents start noticing the symptoms of autism. Although there are many theories suggesting what causes autism but there is no absolute cause. Scientists are still looking for the cause and hopefully one day they will find the cause and a cure.…
Autism or Autistic Disorder as it is also often called is a neurobehavioral disorder that falls under the umbrella of Pervasive Developmental Disorders (PDD). It and several others including; Asperger’s and Rett’s Disorders, Childhood Disintegrated Disorder, and Pervasive Developmental Disorder Not Otherwise Specified (PDD-NOS) fall under the general category of PDD. Each has slight variations in the symptoms (National Dissemination Center for Children With Disabilities, 2007).…