What are the symptoms of autism?

Question

I was asigned a one page report about autism in PE but dont know what it is!!!

my PE teacher asigned a one page report on autism and I have until tommorow to do it

Answer 1

I'm autistic and I'll try to answer this for you, but try reading writing by other autistics for even more information. The autistics.org library is a good place to start. (I've used this answer before for the same question, so you may have seen it around Yahoo Answers in the past few days.) I use "we" and "us" to refer to the others in the autistic community and me. As far as I know, you aren't autistic.

Being autistic means that one has a neurological configuration different from the norm (those of us in the autistic community call non-autistics neurotypicals or NTs). It doesn't mean that one is wired defectively, just differently.

Our senses are different from NT senses: we tend to be either hypo- or hyper- sensitive to sensory stimuli of different sorts, have an increased incidence of synesthesia (a crossing between senses, to use an example from my experience, the ring of a telephone looks like a red spiraling corkscrew), have difficulty parsing speech (central auditory processing disorder), hear pitches that most people can't, and have difficulty reading text because of various visual processing issues collectively known as Irlen Syndrome. (Those aren't all of the sensory oddities autistics can have, just a few of the most common.) Some of our sensory sensitivities can put us at a disadvantage in a society designed for NTs - for example, many of us can see fluorescent flicker, which can result in anything from minor irritation, to headaches, to falling asleep. We do something called stimming, which includes things like flapping our hands, rocking back and forth, listening to the same piece of music repeatedly, and jumping up and down. This allows us to deal with sensory stimuli so that we don't become overloaded, and also lets us get the extra stimulation we may need. Lots of NTs try to stop us from stimming, but while bigots may dislike it, it's necessary for us to function in this world.

Most NTs and many autistics think that being autistic means that one has poor social skills and lacks empathy. In reality, we have autistic social skills and so have trouble interacting with NTs, but are usually just fine with other autistics. While NT social interaction generally takes the form of intrusive give and take interactions, we do better in parallel. We can be successful with NTs, so long as they are willing to do their half of the work to communicate with us, and we can have trouble interacting with other autistics if they have been trained to pretend to be NT or if we have not been allowed opportunities to interact with our own kind, but as a general rule we're better at interacting with other autistics, just as NTs are better at interacting with other NTs. We're also just fine at empathizing with other autistics, and no more lacking in empathy than neurotypicals. Most normal-brained people have difficulty empathizing with autistics. That's why they bully us, why they think that a particular therapy (ABA) that invalidates who we are and tries to replace us with a neurotypical person is helpful, and why they so often excuse the murder of autistics. (Not saying that all neurotypicals are like that, just that many are.)

We also tend to have 1-3 very intense interests, called perseverations. Mine is autism, specifically autistic advocacy, if you couldn't tell already. *g* These are a good thing, and we need to have time to focus on these interests. Monologuing on them isn't bad, in fact, it's one of the parts of natural autistic interaction. If one can't do that, though, it doesn't mean that they're non-autistic. I'm the same way with sharing my interests through speech, I learned to hide them from the time I was about 8 years old. I just don't consider that a good thing, since I would like to be able to discuss my perseverations in real life and not just online.

Oh, and we tend to have difficulties with spoken communication as well, though some of us are eventually fine with it. While some of us begin talking at the normal time, many are generally delayed, and some of us develop normally and then "regress." In the case of so-called regression, it is important to remember that we were always autistic and that we didn't just suddenly become autistic. Autistic developmental patterns follow different trajectories than NT development, and we tend to experience skill shifts throughout our lives. We're almost always better with text than with speech and usually have trouble with telephones. We have trouble with the figurative language that NTs use, often have trouble with slang, are straightforward in our words, and are often echolalic, meaning that we repeat things that we've heard over and over again.

So far, it seems that autism is genetic - our parents tend to have autistic traits themselves, and we usually have relatives on the autistic spectrum. Autism is not mercury poisoning, and not food allergies. We are more prone to things like allergies than NTs, and we may act differently when those allergies are treated, but we're still just as autistic as we were.

Also, I highly recommend reading all the way through www.gettingthetruthout.org and reading some of the entries in ballastexistenz.autistics.org. You'll both get more information on autism and learn that autistics, even those designated "low-functioning" (I don't believe that functioning levels are useful myself) don't necessarily want to be cured.

Answer 2

There is so much information and so many different levels. It is called the autism spectrum. Look up symptoms of autism on the internet though. It will typically say at about 18 months, children will show signs (boys higher percentage than girls) of autism. There is no known reason what causes autism. There are many theories out there, but basically it seems that there is no rhyme or reason as to why it occurs (as far as heredity, if it is some external facotr, etc.). There are no cures for this, only therapy, and it all depends on the child as to how they will develop. I don't think it is smart of your teacher to ask you to write such a short paper because it is way more complicated than anyone realizes and there is so much misconception. But maybe you shouldn't only ask on here...do research on the subject, you might actually get something out of it and hopefully it will impact you. I have a nephew that is autistic and believe me, it is a very hard thing to accept and understand, so please try not to take this too lightly. Its an important subject, especially with the unbelievably high numbers of children that are being diagnosed with this disease that is a total mystery.

Answer 3

Autism is a neurological disorder that is marked by atypical development of cognitive, social, and language skills. The range of severity can be mild to sever and it can concommit with several other conditions including mental retardation, seizure disorder, tourette's, cerebral palsy, Obsessive compulsive disorder, adhd, etc. It is wide ranging and affects individuals across race, culture, and social status.

Autism is too hard to try to summarize in a few short sentences. Check out these websites to get a better idea.

Answer 4

Below is a link this is your best bet. There are different forms and different severities of it so this will help you. I will tell you this much people with autism have trouble in social situations and often do nto make eye contact. The second site will give you characteristics. Good luck hope this helps

Answer 5

Im an Autism specialist..let me help you out:

Repetative behaviors such as spinning
speach delay
social eomtional delay
extreme lack of fear
extrmeme sensativity to touch (deep pressure sensativity/lack of sensativity)
lack of eye contaact
innapropriate attachments to objects

Answer 6

change freaks people with autism(e.g. a certain routine for someone changes with out warning will cause them to cry and throw fits). also a sign of certain high intelligence with an odd way of showing it also

Answer 7

pay attention are some "crimson flags" for autism in early adolescence communication • No babbling with the aid of 11 months of age • No uncomplicated gestures with the aid of twelve months (e.g., waving bye-bye) • No single words with the aid of sixteen months • No 2-word words with the aid of 24 months (noun + verb – e.g., “toddler napping”) • No reaction while call is noted as, inflicting subject approximately listening to • loss of any language or social skills at any age Behaviour • unusual or repetitive approaches of shifting hands or palms • Oversensitive to exhibit textures, sounds or lights • loss of pastime in toys, or performs with them in an unusual way (e.g., lining up, spinning, establishing/last areas somewhat than making use of the toy as an entire) • Compulsions or rituals (has to accomplish events in a definite way or specific sequence; is vendors to tantrums if rituals are interrupted) • Preoccupations with unusual pursuits, alongside with easy switches, doorways, followers, wheels • unusual fears Social • infrequently makes eye touch while interacting with people • would not play peek-a-boo • Doesn’t ingredient to tutor issues he/she is attracted to • infrequently smiles socially • greater attracted to watching products than at people’s faces • Prefers to play on my own • Doesn’t make tries to get ascertain’s interest; would not save on with/seem while somebody is pointing at some thing • seems to be “in his/her very own worldwide” • Doesn’t respond to ascertain’s tries to play, whether comfortable • Avoids or ignores different toddlers while they attitude