Autism
is known as a complex developmental disability. Experts believe that Autism
presents itself during the first three years of a person's life. The condition
is the result of a neurological disorder that has an effect on normal brain
function, affecting development of the person's communication and social
interaction skills.
People with autism have issues with
non-verbal communication, a wide range of social interactions, and activities
that include an element of play and banter.
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)
Autism and ASD mean the same is a
wide-spectrum disorder. This means that no two people with autism will have
exactly the same symptoms. As well as experiencing varying combinations of
symptoms, some people will have mild symptoms while others will have severe
ones. ASDs are any developmental disabilities that have been caused by a brain
abnormality. A person with an ASD typically has difficulty with social and
communication skills. A person with ASD
will typically also prefer to stick to a set of behaviors and will resist any
major (and many minor) changes to daily activities. Several relatives and
friends of people with ASDs have commented that if the person knows a change is
coming in advance, and has time to prepare for it; the resistance to the change
is either gone completely or is much lower. Below is a list of the most
commonly found characteristics identified among people with an ASD.
1.
Social
skills
The
way in which a person with an ASD interacts with another individual is quite
different compared to how the rest of the population behaves. If the symptoms
are not severe, the person with ASD may seem socially clumsy, sometimes
offensive in his/her comments, or out of synch with everyone else. If the
symptoms are more severe, the person may seem not to be interested in other
people at all.
It
is common for relatives, friends and people who interact with someone with an
ASD to comment that the ASD sufferer makes very little eye contact. However, as
health care professionals, teachers and others are improving their ability to
detect signs of autism at an earlier age than before, eye contact among people
with autism is improving. In many cases, if the symptoms are not severe, the
person can be taught that eye contact is important for most people and he/she
will remember to look people in the eye.
A
person with autism may often miss the cues we give each other when we want to
catch somebody's attention. The person with ASD might not know that somebody is
trying to talk to them. They may also be very interested in talking to a
particular person or group of people, but does not have the same skills as
others to become fully involved. To put it more simply, they lack the necessary
playing and talking skills.
2.
Difficulty to understanding and
being aware of the feelings of others
A
person with autism will find it much harder to understand the feelings of other
people. His/her ability to instinctively empathize with others is much weaker
than other people's. However, if they are frequently reminded of this, the
ability to take other people's feelings into account improves tremendously. In
some cases - as a result of frequent practice - empathy does improve, and some
of it becomes natural rather than intellectual. Even so, empathy never comes as
naturally for a person with autism as it does to others.
Having
a conversation with a person with autism may feel very much like a one-way
trip. The person with ASD might give the impression that he is talking at
people, rather than with or to them. He may love a theme, and talk about it a lot.
However, there will be much less exchanging of ideas, thoughts, and feelings
than there might be in a conversation with a person who does not have autism.
3.
Does’n to like Physical contact
A
number of children with an ASD do not like cuddling or being touched like other
children do. It is wrong to say that all children with autism are like
that. Often it is a question of practice
and anticipating that physical contact is going to happen. For example, if a
child suddenly tickles another child's feet, he will most likely giggle and
become excited and happy. If that child were to tickle the feet of a child with
autism, without that child anticipating the contact, the result might be
completely different.
4.
Bad smell, fear of loud noises and
lights
A
person with autism usually finds sudden loud noises unpleasant and quite
shocking. The same can happen with some smells and sudden changes in the
intensity of lighting and ambient temperature. Many believe it is not so much
the actual noise, smell or light, but rather the surprise, and not being able
to prepare for it - similar to the response to surprising physical contact.
5.
Poor Speech Skills
The
higher the severity of the autism, the more affected are a person's speaking
skills. Many children with an ASD do not speak at all. People with autism will
often repeat words or phrases they hear - an event called echolalia. The speech of a person with ASD may sound much more
formal and woody, compared to other people's speech.
6.
Repetitive behaviors
A
person with autism likes predictability. Going through the motions again and
again is very much part of his/her life. To others, these repetitive behaviors
may seem like bizarre rites. The repetitive behavior could be a simple
hop-skip-jump from one end of the room to the other, repeated again and again
for one, five, or ten minutes - or even longer. Another could be drawing the
same picture again and again, page after page.
People
without autism are much more adaptable to changes in procedure. A child without
autism may be quite happy to first have a bath, then brush his teeth, and then
put on his pajamas before going to bed - even though he usually brushes his
teeth first. For a child with autism this change, bath first and then teeth,
could completely put him/her very upset. Some people believe that helping a
child with autism learn how to cope better with change is a good thing,
however, forcing them to accept change like others do could adversely affect
their quality of life.
7.
A child with autism develops
differently
Child
with autism have cognitive skills may develop fast, while their social and
language skills trail behind. On the other hand, his/her language skills may
develop rapidly while their motor skills don't. They may not be able to catch a
ball as well as the other children, but could have a much larger vocabulary.
Nonetheless, the social skills of a person with autism will not develop at the same
pace as other people's.
