Autism
Autism is a neurological disorder that is characterized by problems in repetitive behavior, social skills as well as speech. Autism affects how an individual communicates or how one relates to other people around them. This condition starts during the childhood and can last through one’s lifetime. Autism is also known as spectrum disorder since people suffering from Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have a variety of symptoms, for instance, individuals suffering from autism can have problems while talking or they might fail to directly face you while you talk to them. It is suggested that nearly one-third of autism patients remain nonverbal and have a cerebral disability. Furthermore, there are different forms of autism caused by combinations of various environmental as well as genetic influences. In the United States, it is estimated that autism appears in 1 of 68 children which includes 1 in 189 girls and also 1 in 42 boys. Accordingly, it is important to comprehend the signs and symptoms of autism, effects and also the causes of this condition.
Signs and Symptoms of Autism
Autism is a developmental disorder that first appears during infancy. Evident signs gradually start to reflect when the child is six months old, and therefore they become reputable by the age of two or three years. Signs of autism continues in a muted form in adulthood. Some of the signs that are characterized by autism include social interaction problems, repetitive behaviors and communication challenges.
Social Interaction Problems
In nature, developing children are very social and they turn to voices, gaze at people and even smile as early as 2-3 months. Nevertheless, children who have autism develop problems when interacting with people. These children might be willing to closely interact with others, but do not know how to do it. Moreover, children with autism also have problems to understand social communication, and this symptom can be recognized when the child is 8-10 months old. Moreover, children who develop autism do not respond to their name, avoids physical contact, does not understand emotions and also prefers to stay alone. Also, these children do not play social games and display anger in typical ways because they do not interpret things according to other people’s perspective. People suffering from autism have problems understanding other people’s feelings and thought and therefore they cannot interpret or predict another person’s actions. It is suggested that children who develop autism get more attached to their parents in an unusual way.
Repetitive Behaviors
Children who develop autism have unusual behaviors where they tend to repetitively engage in a range of restricted activities. Many of the common repetitive behaviors portrayed by these children are like twirling, hand-flapping, arranging and rearranging things. In some cases, the repetitive behavior is a way of self-stimulating. However, some of the people with this condition develop routines that may seem unnecessary or unusual and when they are prohibited from following this routine, they become irritated and out of control. Many of the people with autism demand great dependability in their daily routines as well as their environment and slights changes causes them extreme stress and also result in outbursts. Furthermore, repetitive behaviors prove unusual obsessions for certain content and can also show a depth of knowledge.
Communication Challenges
People suffering from autism do not fully develop natural speech to meet their communication needs. Difficulties in communication can be present when a child is one year old, this includes unusual gestures, delayed babbling and also reduced responsiveness. However, nearly 40% of children who develop autism do not talk at all, while nearly 30% have some communication skills after birth but later lose them. Some of the people with autism might communicate in an unusual way that is hard for other people to understand because they fail to put words into understandable sentences. Also, some of these people might repeat one word over and over, or say one word at a time. Communications difficulty affects one’s ability to hear, and therefore, people with autism disorder have difficulties listening to what others say and also have difficulties understanding body language and gestures. Moreover, their movements and facial expressions might fail to match what these people say, for example, people with autism can smile while trying to talk about something bad. This makes it difficult for others to understand what people with autism need.
Causes of Autism
There are different proposed causes of autism, such as hereditability of autism. Genetic factors are therefore significantly related to autism disorders, where impulsive de novo mutations in the mother’s ovary or the father’s sperm highly contribute to their children developing autism. Researchers suggest that de novo mutations make one to develop autism when there are factors like a chemical imbalance or insufficient oxygen at birth. According to a study, 20% of de novo mutations are observed in people with autism compared to 10% of the unaffected people. In addition, in a family where one child develops autism, chances of the family relatives to develop autism are very high. Moreover, some children develop autism due to various medical conditions, for instance, in boys, the expansion of CGG trinucleotide replicate in the formation of FMR1 gene, resulting in fragile X syndrome. 20% of boys with this mutation develop behaviors that are consistent with autism disorder. Also, mutations that deactivate the MECPS gene in girls causes Rett syndrome which is related with autism behaviors.
Effects of Autism
Autism disorder is characterized by communication problems and social reciprocity a condition that continues up to adulthood. Nevertheless, there are many other challenges that come along with autism such as autism affects children’s emotion and typical development. Children who develop autism do not have the same development skills compared to other uninfected children. Little babies respond with smiles or signs of fear, although children with autism have difficulties to recognize facial expressions as well as emotions behind them. Children diagnosed with autism are slower in developing emotional reactions and this problem can still be there in adulthood. However, their emotional responses might sometimes be accompanied with severe anger than the typically developing children. Autism can also result in emotional trauma at an early age, particularly when there is a poor understanding between the child and the parent.
Conclusion
Autism is a development condition that affects the way an individual communicates, interacts with other people and how one behaves. Children who develop autism begins showing signs at an early age although some children can have a healthy development for years them develop autism. Parents are advised to seek medical help when their children develop unusual behaviors like been oblivious to surroundings or uncommunicative. Autism is diagnosed regarding the behavior that the child portrays. Typically, physicians carry out a preliminary evaluation of the child’s development history in order to help them.