Autism is also known as autistic disorder. It is one of the autism spectrum disorders. Autism is a developmental disability and it is characterized by poor language development, social impairments, communication difficulties, and restricted, repetitive, and stereotyped patterns of behavior.
Autism spectrum disorder or ASD is a range of complex neurodevelopment disorders. They are lifelong developmental disabilities. The hallmark symptom of Autism spectrum disorder is impairment in language and communication skills, marked difficulties in social interaction, along with repetitive or restrictive patterns of thought and behavior.
Autism spectrum disorder includes the following different disorders.
This is a milder form of Autism spectrum disorder.
This is also known as atypical autism.
- Autistic Disorder
This is a severe form of Autism spectrum disorder. It is known as classical ASD or autism.
This is a neurodevelopmental disorder. This condition is extremely rare.
Incidence of Autism
This developmental disorder affects people from all ethnic backgrounds and races. Experts estimate that three to six children out of every 1,000 will have ASD. Males are four times more likely to be affected by autism than females.
Poor communication skills
People with autism often have poor language development. As a result of this they are likely to experience significant difficulties in expressing their needs, wants, ideas, experiences and opinions. They have difficulty in expressing their emotions. Their speech is robotic and monotonous. They are unable to read the expressions and body language of others. They cannot understand the feelings of others. They can use language in poetic way but are not able to communicate using appropriate grammar and vocabulary .They also have difficulty in constructing proper and meaningful sentences.
Social impairment
They are unable to understand the hints, tones and subtle nuances of speech. They take the speech of others by its literal meaning. They may have above average intelligence and are good at remembering facts and figures. But they are unable to express themselves in words.
They cannot look into the eyes of other people. They may also show a robotic or weird body language, making it difficult for other people to connect with them. This makes it difficult for them to mingle with friends and family. They are unable to form friendships and maintain them. They show excessive attachment to one person particularly a family member who takes care of them. But they are not interested in other people. They tend to talk only about themselves. So they are unfairly labeled as eccentric, egoistic and self centered.
Evaluation of Autism
Health care professionals will often use a questionnaire in order to assess and evaluate the thoughts and behavior patterns of the child. The evaluation of symptoms is based on the observation of parents as well as the physician. A comprehensive evaluation of autism spectrum disorder requires assessment by a range of health care professionals including a psychologist, neurologist, psychiatrist, speech therapist, and other professionals who diagnose children with autism spectrum disorders.