What is Autism?

Question

What is it? Can anyone explain it to me like I am from another planet? I don't necessarily want to know about the most extreme cases, just how it affects people in general. I looked it up on the internet and all I got was either how for families to deal with autistic children or articles talking about autistic people like they were wild animals. I realized that next weeks House MD deals with autism and I know absolutely nothing about it. Is it something you grow out of? I have absolutely no idea. Can someone maybe direct me to a FACTUAL web page, preferably not designed for the parents of autistic children?

Answer 1

There are three distinctive behaviors that characterize autism. Autistic children have difficulties with social interaction, problems with verbal and nonverbal communication, and repetitive behaviors or narrow, obsessive interests. These behaviors can range in impact from mild to disabling.

The hallmark feature of autism is impaired social interaction. Parents are usually the first to notice symptoms of autism in their child. As early as infancy, a baby with autism may be unresponsive to people or focus intently on one item to the exclusion of others for long periods of time. A child with autism may appear to develop normally and then withdraw and become indifferent to social engagement.

Children with autism may fail to respond to their name and often avoid eye contact with other people. They have difficulty interpreting what others are thinking or feeling because they can’t understand social cues, such as tone of voice or facial expressions, and don’t watch other people’s faces for clues about appropriate behavior. They lack empathy.

Many children with autism engage in repetitive movements such as rocking and twirling, or in self-abusive behavior such as biting or head-banging. They also tend to start speaking later than other children and may refer to themselves by name instead of “I” or “me.” Children with autism don’t know how to play interactively with other children. Some speak in a sing-song voice about a narrow range of favorite topics, with little regard for the interests of the person to whom they are speaking.

Many children with autism have a reduced sensitivity to pain, but are abnormally sensitive to sound, touch, or other sensory stimulation. These unusual reactions may contribute to behavioral symptoms such as a resistance to being cuddled or hugged.

Children with autism appear to have a higher than normal risk for certain co-existing conditions, including fragile X syndrome (which causes mental retardation), tuberous sclerosis (in which tumors grow on the brain), epileptic seizures, Tourette syndrome, learning disabilities, and attention deficit disorder. For reasons that are still unclear, about 20 to 30 percent of children with autism develop epilepsy by the time they reach adulthood. While people with schizophrenia may show some autistic-like behavior, their symptoms usually do not appear until the late teens or early adulthood. Most people with schizophrenia also have hallucinations and delusions, which are not found in autism.

Answer 2

It's a phenomenon.

While many cases look similar, the symptoms may not warrant the same remedies.

It has to do with difficulties or inabilities in concentration, social interactions, focusing on taks and usually some type of obessive, complusive behaviors or actions.

There are some indications it can be a problem with sensory reception and processing and brain chemistry.

The process is a deviation from the norm, but that, alone, does not mean it is deviant behavior. By this I mean, a person with Autism does act like everyone else. That doesn't mean they are abnormal in the strict sense. It just means they don't behave like the average John and Sue.

Like hyperactivity is affectsly more boys than girls.

Because of the process it is hard to get the person to lead a "normal life" but that alone does not mean they are abnormal. By this I mean, what's so normal about going 12 years to school and working you butt off for 50 years after that to get so little money you can't live on it. But, that is called normal. Autistics will require someone to watch over them and provide for common normalities, such as bathing, eating, changing clothes and sleeping.

It is possible they are abnormal or defective.

They can't function as readily as some other slightly related problems, such as Tourettes syndrome, which is another chemical brain triggered phenomenon.

Hyperactivie is also a distant cousin.

No one with autism has yet to write a first person journal that sheds any light on the affliction from the inside out.

They are not retarded.

They are not, as far as science can tell, schizphrenic.

It is possible it could be conected to Schizophrenia in some cases.

There is a definate multifacited persona. One that can react, but shifts into evasive or non-reactive.

Attention Difficient Disorders are also similar.

As such, anti-psychotic medications are often provided as a quick fix. The same kinds that work for Schizophrenia and ADD work for some Autism cases.

Differences is that ADD subjects don't always have social interaction problems or communication problems. Neither do Schizophrenics.

Austism can manifest into epileptic like seizsures, but the aren't as a general rule, dangerous to themselves or other as are many Schoizophrenics, except through fits or seizures.

Answer 3

Soulstore gave the best non-scripted, real life answer so far. My son is not as severe as his, so I'll give you the other end of the spectrum. Sorry if I repeat some of what he says. My son showed signs of sensory issues the first day home from the hospital, but I had no clue that's what was going on. He had small seizures if he saw blinking lights, was very colicky and clingy. While a lot of kids don't want to be touched, show now affection or emotion, a lot of them go overboard on those areas, can't get enough. For my son, the most marked sign that something wasn't right was severe delays in speech, although he could speak, and SEVERE tantrums. I'm not talking about normal 2 yr old tantrums that you can just ignore or discipline, but serious tantrums in which nothing we did got through to him. We were up to 20 of these a day! While some don't make any progress, or only a little, some DO recover to varying degrees, but they usually will have some aspects of autism for the rest of their lives, it just depends on the individual. For my son, I started doing my own therapies, put him on some supplements, and just worked with and loved him, and he's made tremendous progress in a little over a year. He is 4. He still obviously has traits of autism, but he is very high-functioning. We do deal with symptoms of ADHD, sensory issues (as explained by soulstore), tantrums but not as severe as they were, strict routines, and speech issues. Every day is a challenge, but because it's my child, I wouldn't give it up for anything in the world. More than likely the episode on the show you're talking about will highlight a more severe child, as they usually do. A good book to read if you're really interested is called Son Rise. It's an old book, from the 70's, about a child that was SEVERELY autistic and how his family helped bring him back into our world. It only takes him up to the age of three, but just to let you know, he is now an adult and is a fully functioning member of society who gives motivational speeches. Amazing. Hope this helps! Feel free to contact me if you have direct questions that I didn't answer.

Answer 4

Autism is a neurological disorder. There are many different degrees of autism. This is called the autistic spectrum.

Autism is not the same as being mentally retarded, however many severly autistic people are suspected to also be mentally retarded.

A severly autistic person seems disconnected from the world around them. They cannot carry on a conversation and may engage in repetative activities such as rocking. They do not use language in any productive manner though they may perfectly repeat things they have heard on the TV or radio. They are though to be hyper sensitive to touch and noises and do not like any changes in their routines. They seldom acknowledge the presence of another person unless the person constitutes a change in their routine.

A moderately affected person may use language somewhat productively but often has a difficult time grasping syntax. For example, if they are hungry they will often say "Are you hungry" because that is what they hear say to them and the concept of "I" is eluding. They can often learn how to better interact with the world around them through intensive therapy but routine is still integral to their life and they may not acknowledge people all the time. Both severly affected and moderatly affected individuals may respond with tantrums to any alteration to their routines and some may harms themselves. Dustin Hoffman's character in Rainman was moderatly autistic.

People with high functioning autism often start out as appearing moderatly autistic but progress to lead fairly normal lives. They are often late bloomers when it comes to speaking and preffer sameness in their lives, for example, specific types of clothing, or the same meal every Monday and have difficult times socializing with others. A similar disorder is Asperger's Syndrome, however people with Asperger's Syndrome do not have language delays and tend to be of above average intelligence compared to the general population.

There is such a thing as late onset autism, where a child appears lucid and starts speaking very well at a very young age, such as 2, and then regresses to becoming severly or moderatly autistic. The cause of this is debated and some feel it is linked to vaccinations.

People with autism are thought to have an abnormal brain structure at the microscopic level and a markedly different distribution of perkenje cells compared to non-affected individuals.

Answer 5

My son is severally autistic, for you to maybe get a better understanding of autism. May be this will help. First think about your most stress full day and picture it as everything is bombarding you and your mind at one time, you continuelly hear and see and smell and feel and taste everything there could ever possiable be all at once muliply your senses by10000 times greater hitting all of your senses, until your mind just can not take any more and completely shuts down, then at that moment when your mind shuts down, you can no longer relate to the outside world, you can not speak with words, you can not achieve to have any of your needs full fill because you have shut down completely. then you remian in a world way to overwhelming to cope with, you may begin to rock back and fourth because it is comforting. Your world became full of fear and darken and not being have one want or need full filled, due to you can not longer communicate to the world. I hope this help you with an idea of what autism is and how it may affect a person. If I can be of any more help, my Yahoo ID messengers is soulstore

Answer 6

Autism is a disorder of brain function that appears early in life, generally before the age of three. Children with autism have problems with social interaction, communication, imagination and behavior. Autistic traits persist into adulthood, but vary in severity. Some adults with autism function well, earning college degrees and living independently. Others never develop the skills of daily living, and may be incorrectly diagnosed with a variety of psychiatric illnesses. The cause is unknown.
www.autism-society.org/
www.autism-platinuminfo.com
www.ClayForAutism.com

Answer 7

hope these sites help. I looked at them and they seem informative just have to dig deeper into their sites. it is also a neurological disorder.which is linked to tuberous sclerosis, and epilepsy.