Autism is one of those things that you hear about but unless you know someone with an autistic child or have one yourself, you really don’t think much about it, right? Autism is much more common than most people realize and although tons of research is being done on this disorder, it still remains, for the most part, a mystery as far as what causes it or how to cure it.
Autism is one of the rare conditions that occur at the rate of 4 out of 10,000 births. It is more prevalent among boys than among girls. The word autism is derived from the Greek word “autos” which means self. Autism therefore can be defined as a ‘self-concerned’ state or ‘independent’ or ‘withdrawn’ state. Autism is a brain disorder that manifests early in life. It can be detected as early as 12-18 months. The condition becomes very clear about the age of three. Autistic children exhibit social withdrawal and communication problems. Autism, which is also known as spectrum disorder, disturbs the normal life of the affected individual.
What Is Autism?
Autism or Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD) or Autism Spectrum Disorder is a neurologic abnormality. This condition is linked to metabolic and immunologic factors, congenital infections, and developmental brain abnormalities including cerebral dysgenesis, macrocephaly and microcephaly. The cause of autism is not fully and clearly established yet. There are many theories that relate autism to genetic issues and environmental factors tied to metabolic problems. This is also sometimes referred to a high functioning autism or HFD.
Autism spectrum disorder is normally noticed by parents as the non-responsive behavior elicits the parents’ attention. These children have normal early development processes until they are about two and half years. At this stage, the social response faculties and speech development are affected. Symptoms of autism include bizarre behavior, stereotypical movements and self-occupying movements. During infancy, the baby does not cuddle normally.
Other autism symptoms include problems with verbal and non-verbal communications, body language, expressions, emotions and gestures. Autistic children withdraw themselves from society and prefer to be alone and are often non-responsive to verbal cues. Speech development is severely affected and they also exhibit echolalia. These children lack imagination and abstraction skills. As a result of this, they do not gain pleasure from playing with toys. They exhibit compulsive behavior and movements. Some of them remain mute and deaf though the corresponding sense organs function normally. It has to be noted here that not all children with autism exhibit all these symptoms and signs. Each child exhibits unique symptoms and signs.
Autism results in low IQs that are in subnormal ranges in general. However, it has to be noted here that about 25% of the autistic children are above average and exhibit excellence in some specific area such as science, mathematics, memorizing, problem solving, mimicking, etc.
Does Autism Affect Only Children?
Autism is not limited to children; it persists even to later ages. This condition continues in adolescence and further into adulthood. There are successful autistic adults, in spite of their deficiencies in interpersonal skills and social response patterns. Since this spectrum disorder does not show physiological evidence, it is difficult to spot autistic adults unless one interacts with them. Both autistic children and adults cannot read the expressions and emotions of others. As a result they cannot develop friendships, so they are often left alone. One of the problems is that they do not know ‘fear’. They also engage in self-destructive behavior as they cannot associate pain and the corresponding actions or exhibit inappropriate responses to external sensory stimuli. As a result, those affected by autism have to be closely monitored and cannot be left alone.