What is Autism Spectrum Disorder?
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurological disorder that affects function and development of the brain. Autistic individuals may not look any different from you or me, but they see, hear and sense things differently. This can affect their ability to reason, to communicate and to interact with others.
Autism is a spectrum disorder, which means there is a wide variation in how it affects individuals. Some have an obsession with certain activities, an aversion to certain food textures, or difficulty in making friends. Others are completely withdrawn into their own little world, unable to communicate or even say the names of family members.
ASD occurs in approximately 1 in 132 children in NL and is on the increase. That means every 20 minutes there is an individual in Canada receiving a diagnosis of ASD. It is four to five times more common in males. While most forms are usually evident before three years of age, one form Asperger's Syndrome is not usually apparent until late childhood. There is also a form called Regressive Autism. Children develop and achieve all typical mile stones of development then start to "regress". The causes are still unknown, and, for now, there is no cure.
ASD is not a mental disorder, nor is it a form of mental retardation. Intellectual capacity may or may not be affected. ASD is not a childhood disorder. Children with ASD grow to become adults with ASD.
How are people with ASD affected?
People with ASD are generally affected in a number of the following areas:
Communication: Language development is delayed, or words are used without attaching the usual meanings to them. Some autistic individuals never speak. Sometimes the language delay is initially misinterpreted as deafness or a speech program. Some children's communication seems to develop typically and then regresses, or completely stops.
Social Interaction: Individuals with ASD often show different and decreased socialization with others, and may spend more time alone than usual. They may be unresponsive to social cues like smiles or eye contact. Many relate better to adults than to their peers.
Sensory Impairment: Individuals with ASD may exhibit unusual reactions to normal stimuli. These may include stong over to under reactions to pain, sound, smell, taste, or other sensations.
Activities: There is often a lack of spontaneous or imaginative activity, as well as an inability to imitate others. Repeated, ritualistic actions such as spinning objects or repeated rocking or a restricted pattern of interests and an adherence to routines may occur.
Early Warning Signs
~ Reduced shared enjoyment with others (e.g. laughing during peek-a-boo)
~ Reduced pointing; by the time a child is 18 months, he or she should start to point at objects to get other people's attention, and be able to follow other people's pointing.
~ Reduced showing objects to other people (E.g. handing mom a toy for the sole purpose of sharing the experience with her)
~ Reduced social orienting; unable to give cues
~ Difficulty making eye contact
~ Children not responding to their name or to the parent's voice
~ Not showing interest in their parents' faces
~ Reduced use of gesture or subtle social communications; child may be able to wave "bye-bye," but is not initiating the wave
~ Kids who are inconsolable; some are comforted by parents holding them, and some are not
~ Inconsistent response to sounds; deafness may be suspected
~ Reduced environmental exploration; some infants who are at risk for autism are passive and lack an intense curiosity to explore a large number of toys and objects
~ Developmental delay in language, or the regression of language after it seems to have typically developed.
Autism Spectrum Disorder
~ Childhood Disintegrative Disorder (CDD)
~ Rett's Disorder (RD - most common in girls)
~ Autistic Disorder on Autism (AD)
~ Pervasive Developmental Disoder - Not Otherwise Specified (PDD-NOS)
~ Asperger's Syndrome (AS)