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On the surface, individuals who have autism are physically indistinguishable from those without. Some studies show that autistic children tend to have larger head circumferences but the significance in the disorder is unclear. Sometimes autism co-occurs with other disorders, and in those cases outward differences may be apparent.
Individuals diagnosed with autism can vary greatly in skills and behaviors, and their response to sensory input shows marked differences in a number of ways from that of other people. Certain stimulations, such as sounds, lights, and touch, will often affect someone with autism differently than someone without, and the degree to which the sensory system is affected can vary greatly from one individual to another.
Key behaviors
Autistic children may display unusual behaviors or fail to display expected behaviors. Normal behaviors may develop at the appropriate age and then disappear or, conversely, are delayed and develop quite some time after normal occurrence. In assessing developmental delays, different physicians may not always arrive at the same conclusions. Much of this difference between diagnosis is due to the disputed criteria for autism. Deciding how a child should behave is also difficult because diagnostic tests have to be objective, which is not a simple thing to accomplish. Because of this practitioners and researchers in pediatrics, child psychology, behavior analysis, and child development are always looking for early indicators of autism.
The diagnosis of autism must meet specific criteria but there are also many characteristics that are idiosyncratic. Thus, Autism is not a "one size fits all" label. In other words the spectrum disorder encompasses a very wide range of behaviors and symptoms.
Some behaviors cited by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (listed below) may simply mean a normal delay in one or more areas of development, while others are more typical of ASDs—Autistic Spectrum Disorders.
Noted Behaviors in Children
* stares into open areas, doesn't focus on anything specific.
* does not respond to his/her name.
* cannot explain what he/she wants.
* language skills are slow to develop or speech is delayed.
* doesn't follow directions.
* will fuss if didn't get what wanted.
* at times, the child seems to be deaf.
* doesn't point or wave "bye-bye."
* doesn't understand the concept of pointing; will look at the hand pointing rather than the object being pointed at.
* used to say a few words or babble, but now he/she doesn't.
* throws intense or violent tantrums.
* has odd movement patterns.
* likes to spin around in a circle.
* likes being in a place well known.
* hands on ears often.
* is overly active, uncooperative, or resistant.
* doesn't know how to play with toys.
* doesn't smile when smiled at.
* has poor eye contact.
* gets "stuck" doing the same things over and over and can't move on to other things.
* seems to prefer to play alone.
* gets things for him/herself only.
* is very independent for his/her age.
* does things "early" compared to other children.
* seems to be in his/her "own world."
* seems to tune people out.
* is not interested in other children.
* dislikes playing pretend.
* walks on his/her toes.
* shows unusual attachments to toys, objects, or schedules (e.g., always holding a string or having to put socks on before pants).
* spends a lot of time stacking objects, lining things up or putting things in a certain order.
* unconcerned about - or completely oblivious to - dangers around him/her (e.g., standing in the middle of the street without worrying about getting hit by a car).
The list above is not all-inclusive, and generally applies to children and not adults. Furthermore, while some of these behaviors might be seen in a person with autism, others may be absent.
Social development
Typically developing infants respond socially and will look at faces or orient towards voices. In contrast, most autistic children show little interest in faces and must learn to engage in social interaction. Even in the first few months of life, many autistic children seem indifferent to other people, lacking the eye contact and interaction with others that non-autistic children exhibit naturally. Some infants with autism may appear very calm and may cry less often or fail to seek parental attention. Other children may develop normally for the first two years of life, but then regress unexpectedly and fail to pass developmental milestones without intervention.
Autistic children often seem to prefer being alone and may passively accept such things as hugs and cuddling without reciprocating, or resist attention altogether.[citation needed] Later, they seldom seek comfort from others or respond to parents' displays of anger or affection in a typical way. Research has suggested that, despite popular belief, many autistic children have bonded with their parents - and anecdotal evidence certainly supports this notion. However, this bond may be difficult for others to recognize because an autistic child's particular ways of expressing this attachment may differ from the patterns of expression used by their typical peers. Though social deficits are common, autistic children may vary significantly in their levels of social attachment and interaction.
According to Simon Baron-Cohen et al (1985), many autistic children appear to lack a "theory of mind". Theory of mind refers to representing epistemic mental states such as knowing, believing, deceiving or imagining, and tying them together "into a coherent understanding of how mental states and actions are related." This is a behavior cited as being exclusive to human beings above the age of five and possibly, to a lesser degree, to other higher primates such as adult gorillas, chimpanzees and bonobos. Typical 5-year-olds can usually develop insights into other people's knowledge, feelings, and intentions based on social cues (e.g., gestures, vocal tone and facial expressions). An autistic individual may lack these interpretation skills, leaving them unable to predict or understand other people's actions or intentions.
Many children with autism experience social alienation during their school-age years. As a response to this, or perhaps because their social surroundings simply do not "fit" them, many report inventing imaginary friends, worlds, or scenarios. Making friends in real life and maintaining those friendships often proves to be difficult for those with autism.
Although not universal, it is common for autistics to have difficulty regulating their behavior, resulting in crying, verbal outbursts, or self-injurious behaviors that seem inappropriate or without cause. Those who have autism may benefit from consistent routines and environments, and they may react negatively to changes in their surroundings. It is not uncommon for these individuals to exhibit poorly modulated behaviors, increased levels of self-stimulatory behavior, self-injury, or extensive withdrawal in overwhelming situations. However, as an affected individual matures and receives specific socialization education and training, skill may be attained in the recognition of behavioral triggers and more appropriate means of coping will be available for difficult social circumstances.
Sensory system
Indicators of autism include oversensitivity or under reactivity to touch, movement, sights, or sounds; physical clumsiness or carelessness; poor body awareness; a tendency to be easily distracted; impulsive physical or verbal behavior; an activity level that is unusually high or low; not unwinding or calming oneself; difficulty learning new movements; difficulty in making transitions from one situation to another; social and/or emotional problems; delays in speech, language or motor skills; specific learning difficulties/delays in academic achievement. However, it is important to remember that while most people with autism have some degree of sensory integration difficulty, not every person who has sensory problems is autistic.
Autistic individuals may sometimes also develop obsessions or routines around foods, restricting what is eaten to certain colors, textures or types of food; alternatively they may obsessively avoid certain foods with similar characteristics.
One common example is autistic hearing. An autistic person may have trouble hearing certain people while other people are perceived as speaking at a higher volume. Or the autistic person may be unable to filter out sounds in certain situations, such as in a large crowd of people. However, this is perhaps a part of autism that tends to vary widely from person to person, so these examples may not apply to every autistic person. Note that such auditory difficulties fall under auditory processing disorders, and like sensory integration dysfunction, are not necessarily experienced by all people with autism or indicative of a diagnosis of autism.
Autism and blindness
The characteristics of a person with both an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and a severe visual impairment (VI) may vary from a person with just ASD or just VI. Historically, many behaviors of blind children were seen as "autistic-like" but were attributed to their blindness rather than pursuing possibilities of autism.
Developmental trajectories of children with ASD-VI are often very similar as those followed by children with typical autism, but the child with ASD-VI will have particularly unusual responses to sensory information. The person may be overly sensitive to touch or sound, or be less responsive to pain. Typically, touch, smell, and sound are affected the most dramatically.
Communication difficulties
Some people with autism demonstrate advanced cognitive ability, but lack communicative skills or are not inclined to interact with others socially. An example of this is the noted autistic Temple Grandin, who holds a PhD and is a successful developer of livestock handling technologies. She describes her inability to understand the social communication of neurotypicals as leaving her feeling "like an anthropologist on Mars." Grandin's case was described by neurologist Oliver Sacks in his 1995 book titled An Anthropologist on Mars: Seven Paradoxical Tales. Another person with extreme autism is author Tito Mukhopadhyay, one of whose books is The Mind Tree.
Perhaps due to their difficulties communicating with other humans, some autistics have gravitated toward working with animals. Temple Grandin describes her observations and theories about animals, taken from her work with cattle. Dawn Prince-Hughes, diagnosed with Asperger's, describes her observations of gorillas in Songs of the Gorilla Nation.
Some infants who later show signs of autism coo and babble during the first few months of life, but stop soon afterwards. Others may be delayed, developing language as late as the teenage years. Still, inability to speak does not mean that people with autism are unintelligent or unaware. Once given appropriate accommodations, some will happily converse for hours, and can often be found in online chat rooms, discussion boards or websites and even using communication devices at autism-community social events such as Autreat.
Since non-autistic people are often unfamiliar with the autistic body language, and since autistic natural language may not tend towards speech, autistic people often struggle to let other people know what they need. As anybody might do in such a situation, they may scream in frustration or resort to grabbing what they want. While waiting for non-autistic people to learn to communicate with them, people with autism do whatever they can to get through to them. Communication difficulties may contribute to autistic people becoming socially anxious or depressed or prone to self-injurious behaviors. Recently, with the awareness that those with autism can have more than one condition, a significant percentage of people with autism are being diagnosed with co-morbid mood, anxiety and compulsive disorders which may also contribute to behavioral and functioning challenges.
Repetitive behaviors
Although people with autism usually appear physically normal, unusual repetitive motions, known as self-stimulation or "stimming," may set them apart. These behaviors might be extreme or subtle. Some children and older individuals spend a lot of time repeatedly flapping their arms or wiggling their toes, others suddenly freeze in position. Some spend hours arranging objects in a certain way rather than engaging in pretend play as a typical child might, and becoming agitated if they are re-arranged or moved. Repetitive behaviors can also extend into the spoken word; perseveration of a single word or phrase can also become a part of the child's daily routine. Some may repeat words from movies and watch certain bits over and over again. Autistic children may demand consistency in their environment. A slight change in the timing, format or route of a routine or trip can be extremely disturbing to them.. Autistics sometimes have persistent, intense preoccupations. For example, the child might be obsessed with learning all about computers, television programs, lighthouses or virtually any other topic.
Effects in education
Children with autism are affected by their symptoms every day, which set them apart from unaffected students. Because of problems with receptive language and theory of mind, they can have difficulty understanding some classroom directions and instruction, along with subtle vocal and facial cues of teachers. This inability to fully decipher the world around them often makes education stressful. Teachers need to be aware of a student's disorder, and ideally should have specific training in autism education, so that they are able to help the student get the best out of his or her classroom experiences.
Some students learn more effectively with visual aids as they are better able to understand material presented visually. Because of this, many teachers create “visual schedules” for their autistic students. This allows students to concretely see what is going on throughout the day, so they know what to prepare for and what activity they will be doing next. Some autistic children have trouble going from one activity to the next, so this visual schedule can help to reduce stress.
Research has shown that working in pairs may be beneficial to autistic children. Autistic students have problems not only with language and communication, but with socialization as well. By facilitating peer interaction, teachers can help their students with autism make friends, which in turn can help them cope with problems or understand the world around them. This can help them to become more integrated into the mainstream environment of the classroom.
A teacher's aide can also be useful to the student. The aide is able to give more elaborate directions that the teacher may not have time to explain to the autistic child and can help the child to stay at an equivalent level to the rest of the class through the special one-on-one instruction. However, some argue that students with one-on-one aides may become overly dependent on the help, thus leading to difficulty with independence later on.
There are many different techniques that teachers can use to assist their students. A teacher needs to become familiar with the child’s disorder to know what will work best with that particular child. Every child is going to be different and teachers have to be able to adjust with every one of them.
Students with autism spectrum disorders sometimes have high levels of anxiety and stress, particularly in social environments like school. If a student exhibits aggressive or explosive behavior, it is important for educational teams to recognize the impact of stress and anxiety. Preparing students for new situations, such as through writing social stories, can lower anxiety. Teaching social and emotional concepts using systematic teaching approaches such as The Incredible 5-Point Scale or other cognitive behavioral strategies can increase a student's ability to control excessive behavioral reactions.
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The content is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other
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