what does it mean to be autistic?

Question

i know a women with two boys that are but i dont know the boys what does it mean

Answer 1

Autistic
Students who exhibit impaired social interaction and communication skills and who engage in activities, behaviors, and interests that are repetitive, restricted, and stereotyped. In addition, they often experience unusual reactions to sensory stimuli. The majority of students with autism also exhibit significant cognitive disabilities (mental handicaps), although some have normal or above normal intelligence.

Answer 2

Autism is a developmental disability. Put into English, it means that these boy have areas in thier lives where they will either develop much slower , or in some cases, not at all. Communication skills and social relatinships are the two main areas of delay in most autistic children. Many autistic children have a hard time learning, using and responding to spoken language. In some severe cases of autism, they may not be able to speak at all. It can take many years to get autistic children to use speech that is understandable to the world around them...many have odd tones, volume control issues, problems with sentence structure and often have thier own private vocabularies or rapidly switch from one subject to another. Socially, autistic children often have a hard time reading the bodylanguage, vocal cues, facial exspressions and the other subtle clues we all interrpret without thought. This means they often fail to understand how a person is reacting to them, don't understand the need to give people "personal space" and can be be touchy even to people they may not know. Eye contact can be a huge challange...many autistic children will look out of the corners of thier eyes. Social issues can be compunded when the child has issues with enviromental sensitivies to noise levels, smells, textures and even temperature.

All of this sounds like it would be very overwhelming and difficult to live with and, in some ways, it can be. Autism does not have a cure, so families with autistic kids will have a life time of adaptations and challanges. Some autistic children have behavioral issues...odd sleeping patterns, limited diets, limited reactions to pain, kids who like to climb or run off indiscriminitly..that can make things even more challanging. We know now that the key to seeing growth and progress in autistic kids is early intervention. The early the child is diagnosed and put into early ed programs, the better. We know that these children are as smart as their peers, but often do not test or come across that way because of the communication issues, so it is imperitive to begin speech and language therapies as soon as possible.

Autistic children can be as loving and social as any other child...just in different ways. The belief that autistic children willing isolate themselves, can never relate to the world around them or that they have no interest in other people is a myth. It just takes time, education and often a lot of trial and error to find the key to getting the child to connect. My son is 10. He is verbal, does well in the special school he attends, loving and just a joy. Yes, there are challanges. Yes, there are even moments when I am tired of cooking the same four foods for him that I wonder what life would be like if he was "normal". But then I realize that if he wasn't autistic, he wouldn't be the child he is...and I wouldn't want him to be anyone else.

Answer 3

There is a wonderful saying "if you have met one child with autism, you have met ONE child with autism". Each autistic child is different, has different needs and issues. Autism is a pervasive developmental disorder where people affected can have issues ranging from fine and gross motor skill impairments/delays, communication issues, social issues, sensory issues, etc. My youngest is severely autistic and non-verbal. He has motor skill delays that have made learning sign language slow and difficult for him, but he is making progress. He has many food issues, especially involving smell and texture (he prefers hard, crunchy and firm textures while another child in his class cannot tolerate the texture of solid foods and only eats pureed things). He has sensory issues that are set off by many things ranging from lighting, sounds, feel of clothing, smells, temperature and too many other things to count. He is very affectionate (many autistics cannot stand to be touched). If you want to know what autism means to the woman you know and what having autistic children means...you will need to get to know her better and know her children. You could ask her, she may be very open and willing to talk about it.

Answer 4

Every person with autism is different, you can't really read about autism and know anything about her two boys. If you were really interested, she probably wouldn't mind explaining to you what particular strengths and weaknesses her sons have.

In general, people with autism have some deficit in social interaction. For many people with autism, there is also a component of language and sensory integration issues. Could go all the way from completely nonverbal rocking in the corners (like my daughter), to very high functioning, appears totally typical (like my son).

Answer 5

Autism is a processing delay. It is a part of a wider spectrum called Pervasive Development Disorder, and it can be severe (think Rain Man) to very mild. However, even a mild case of autism can have profound effects, socially and emotionally, when compated to non-autistc children.

As others have mentioned, autism can manifest itself in many different ways, but there are some common elements:

1) DIfficulties expressing (or dealing with) emotions.
2) A lack of social language or ability to relate to others in an expected manner.
3) DIfficulties in some areas of academics (such as writing) but may excel in other areas (math).

Autistic children may often be interpreted as "weird", and many parents of mildly autistic children prefer to not use the autisitic label altogether, allowing them to be "quirky".

There is no cure for autism, though treatment can be effective in helping autistic children join in and feel comfortable with maninstram society. Often, students are given visual schedules to keep any fear of the unknown about the class day under wraps (they get their own schedule to "check off" activities as they go". Scheduling is often very important.

In aworld of video games and killer apps, these are some of the scariest things for kids with autism, as excesses of color, light, sound, or emotion can easily overstimulate them, and they may have difficulty getting back to a calm state. I've witnessed a autism teacher take a child who was angry and tantruming and unable to settle down get "squished"...they lay down on their stomach on a map and have a large therapy ball pressed against their back. The pressure releases the anxiety they are unable to process in their brain.

The last child I watched go through this immediate got up, sat down, and started doing his math after spending 15 minutes in tears, not knowing why.

Incidentally, autism is much more prevelant today. It used to be estimated that 1 in 10,000 births were diagnosed with autism. Now it is closer to 1 in 150.

Answer 6

Autistic children are living in their own world. They have little or no contact with the world around them. Its usually very difficult to break through the wall tehy have. And if you are able to do so, the contact is very short. I have great respect for people who are working with these people. Its mostly a born disease, sometimes they give medication to cope isolation. Try to understand the people around them and offer some help. They might highly appreciate that! Even only bringing their shopping things as well if you go shopping, to mention one....

Answer 7

These boys could have little to no speech or be very verbal. They may or may not have sensory issues, but most definitly will have some kind of social issues. My son like a previous responder is very literal. We cant use idioms because he thinks that is what you really meant. Most kiddos with autism I have met are very nice jsut very literal in their speech and dislike changes in routine.

Answer 8

It can mean many things they may be in ther own world but they still hear u. it depends onthe severity. My son is he has just started speaking he uses phrases he steals this is common he has senosry issues chews all the time some are biters rockers, tip toers, flappers, spinners. they have issues with understanding certian things. Like I told my son this ships leaving trying to get him into the car and he freaked out think i really had a ship in the driverway..

Answer 9

I consider you. some human beings think of Autism skill the guy is sluggish or mentally handicapped in some way. there are countless levels and categories of Autism. My daughter has Autism. She is what they call extreme Functioning. She feels like a number of generic new child, and is quite especially. She is quite clever AND gifted, very sharp. the section the place she struggles in life is in her habit. She gets relatively mad sometimes and has a harder time coping together with her anger. She might desire to examine whilst she grow to be 4 years previous, on her very own, with out everyone coaching her. Academically, she is forward for her age. yet you're so authentic. There desires to be extra coaching on Autism so human beings will comprehend that many are very gifted, and lots from stupid. yet bullies many times do no longer care approximately that. A bully is a bully in the event that they discover somebody they might push around. that's unhappy to take heed to your mom does that, if I comprehend you properly. some youngsters bully, yet an grownup, might desire to be style and expertise to any new child or everyone with a incapacity. It feels like your mom desires to take a lesson from you. you're way forward of her. desire sometime she catches up.

Answer 10

Autism is a disability just like any other. Children with Autism have strengths and weaknesses. Check out these website for more information.