What Is Autism?
Autism is a spectrum disorder in neural development of a person. It may affect both child and adults. Its most common symptoms and characteristics include difficulty in social interaction and lack of communication skills. Let us discuss further about these symptoms and characteristics as we read along this article.
Autism consists of group of compound brain disorders that develop progressively. Such disorders are known as Autism Spectrum Conditions (ASC), Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), or Pervasive Developmental Disorders (PDD). Autism come in different types of non-verbal disorder, low functioning autism, and high functioning autism. All of these types have characteristics of delays in behavioral and social skills. There are also different levels of autism, which can be profound or mild, and subtle or obvious. Other characteristics of autism maybe noticeable such as delayed sexual interest and development, no eye contact during communication, difficulty in understanding and interpreting instructions, mood swings, forgetfulness, and more.
Symptoms and Characteristics of Autism
Here’s a list of physical and behavioral symptoms and characteristics that can be noticed in children and adults with autism:
Children with Autism
- Compulsive focus and play with one object
- Bizarre eating habits
- Lack of motivation and intuition to please others
- Not capable of understanding communication
- Lack of social understanding and body language communication
- Without or limited attention to social stimuli
- Lack of desire for cuddling
- Have no interest in sharing experiences
- Purposeless or stereotype movement
- Weak muscle tone and motor skills
- Instances of throw tantrums, aggressiveness, destructive, or self-injury
- Having epilepsy or other types of seizures
- Language impairment or difficulty in initiating conversation
- Inferior response to name
- Abnormal vocal patterns and gestures
- Dislike changes and perform repetitive routines
- Weak concentration and attention span
- Always pretend-play or make-believe skills
Adults with Autism
- Difficulty in starting a conversation and communicating verbally
- No face-to-face communication and no eye contact
- Cannot control emotions and often toss tantrums like a child
- Delayed sexual interest and development
- Difficulty in sleeping
- Depression and anxiety
- Hypo or hyper sensitive to crowds, sounds, and light
- Moody and forgetful
- Lack of motor skills in athletic coordination and writing
- Cannot perform activities requiring coordination with other people
- Communication problems and social awkwardness
- Difficulty in managing time and engaging themselves in repetitive activities
- Obsessive behavior
- Passionate about one or more objects
- Get troubled when routine is disturbed
The accurate cause of autism is still unknown up to this time, however most experts believe that genetic disposition has something to do with the cause. Other possible causes associated to autism are brain chemicals or neurotransmitters. Along with genetic problems, other diseases, environmental factors such as heavy metals, cognitive problems, drugs, and neural developmental disorder can lead to autism. During pregnancy, heavy smoking, and drug or alcohol abuse can also contribute to autism.
The symptoms and characteristics of autism may vary depending on the age group. However there are some symptoms and characteristics that are clear or visible enough to identify as autism. As a parent, you need to be observant on the behavioral and developmental skills of your child especially if the child is below three years of age. Once you have clear visibility of the possible autism symptoms or characteristics then it’s time to seek for medical assistance, which can be a treatment or therapy.
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