About Autism

Now let’s consider the meaning of Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD). ASD is a disorder with many causes, multiple symptoms, divergent prognosis and manifestations. ASD is a complex developmental disability that usually appears during the first three years of life. The words “Autistic” and “Autism” come from the Greek word “autos”, which means “self”. Apparently, this word is used to describe this group of people because of their isolation from normal social behavior. ASD results from a disruption in the normal process of brain development and function. This disruption or alteration results in impairment in 3 major areas of a child’s development namely:

• Language and Communication
• Behavior
• Social interaction/play

Communication
In children with Autistic Spectrum Disorder, Language development may be abnormal, slow or static. They may use words inappropriately- without attaching the correct meaning to them. Some will make the same sound, say the same word or phrase repeatedly. Receptive language- the ability to understand what is being communicated is also affected. ASD kids at times do not respond to verbal stimuli. For instance, a child may not be able to respond to his/her name even though he/she is being called audibly by someone near. Another language/communication challenge seen in ASD individuals is the difficulty or inability to initiate conservations or even take part in one.

Behaviour
Autistic Spectrum kids may be very passive or overactive and all over the place. You can’t get them to sit still or pay attention. They jump from one place to the other, throwing things around. Meaningless temper tantrums are common. Some hold on to objects, e.g. dolls for several hours. Another common feature observed in ADS children is the insistence on sameness and resistance to change. They often want things to follow a ritualistic pattern. If a child is used to putting on the right leg first might cause extreme distress. Imaginative or pretend play is also a difficult task for autistic children. They may not be able to pretend that a biro can be a gun or that a match box can be a car. Another deficit is in imitation. Autistic children have to be taught to imitate other people’s actions.

Some autistic children engage in repetitive acts like spinning an object round and round, hand flapping and starring into space. Others enjoy rocking and excessively tight hugging. Self injurious behaviors like biting self, head banging, and scratching may be present. Others include walking on tip toe, screaming and laughing inappropriately. Interestingly, a certain percentage of people with ASD may have exceptional abilities compared to their overall functioning and sometimes in relation to their non-autistic peers. For example, some have outstanding memory abilities.

Social Interaction
Children with ASD usually spend time alone, avoid eye contact and show little interest in making friends or responding to social cues such as eye contact or smiles. The most severe forms are aloofness and aversion to being cuddled or touched. In less severe forms, the child may not make significant response to social contact but passively enjoys and allows it. They may have serious difficulty in forming relationships.

You can see that the symptoms of ASD are numerous. There are also great differences among people. While some people are severely affected, others may be mildly affected and may show slight delays in language and impaired social interaction skills. It is a spectrum that anybody can fall anywhere within. Those who are severely affected may continue to need assistance with dressing, eating, crossing the street or defecating. Nevertheless, if the disorder is detected early and an intensive intervention programme is put in place, chances are that significant improvement can be made. It is not easy to determine who will get better. It is not easy to determine who will get better or not, but two determining factors are (1) age at onset of intervention and (2) appropriateness of individualized educational programme and child’s IQ level.