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Autism
Autism is a developmental disorder that manifests itself in the first years of life. Characteristics of this disorder include impaired social interaction, repetitive behavior and delayed language development. Ask questions about disorders in the autism spectrum here.
1,402 Questions
She was deprived of oxygen at birth and suffered mild brain damage.
She's a smart lady, very quick, and doing very well.
I'd like to see anyone else do as well as she is considering what she's been through.
Autistic disorder is a neurological and developmental disorder that usually appears during the first three years of life. A child with autism appears to live in their own world, showing little interest in others and a lack of social awareness. The focus of an autistic child is a consistent routine and includes an interest in repeating odd and peculiar behaviors. Autistic children often have problems in communication, avoid eye contact and show limited attachment to others.
Why give an IQ test to a child?
School services or curiosity. Knowing an IQ profile can detect learning disabilities, mental retardation, or giftedness. Many special education and gifted learner programs require test scores to gain access. Or parents may just want to know their child's cognitive strengths and weaknesses.
Autism is a condition that you learn to live with. It isn't an illness that disapears over time. Autism affects a persons life almost forever. There are mild forms of autism on the spectrum that get easier as the person gets older. If a child with autism is assesed at being 6years behind their peers development wise, when the child reaches adult age, the differences may become less aparent. However, the same autistic traits will remain. And these are symptoms the person needs to learn to live with and find coping stratergies for. On the other hand, children who have severe levels of autism may never change. For example, a child who looses bowel/bladder control, looses speech and communication and who has an inability to behave appropriately may have these issues for the rest of their lives.
What is the current rate of children born with autism in the US?
New Jersey. New Jersey autism rates appear to be the highest in the country reaching. According to recent statistics released by the CDC, 1 in 23 boys are diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders within the state. Coincidentally, or maybe not so coincidentally New Jersey is known to have the most available resources and autism treatment programs in the country. It is unclear whether the concentration of autism services is a result of a larger autistic population in need of those services, or if, at least in part, the autistic population is larger due to those services. Many families have moved to New Jersey in order to seek the best and most varied resources for their children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders.
What is a good attention grabber for autism?
do you know someone with autism? you can start by telling a story.. or with the shocking statistics
What is the chance of passing Rett syndrome on to a child?
According to the Rett syndrome association (a UK charity), Rett syndrome is caused by a random genetic mutation and is not hereditary. As such it cannot be passed onto your child.
Please see the related link.
It is highly unlikely but is possible to have Rett syndrome and due to X inactivation not show any symptoms. Therefore, you could pass on the same mutation/deletion to your daughter who may show symptoms even though you do not. Again, highly unlikely.
Is there any record of someone with autism giving birth to a child with autism?
Yes, there are known situations of persons with autism having children with autism. There is a genetic component to autism. Some people with autism get married and have children. Some of those children have autism, but some do not.
Autism varies in its severity, so other people might not recognize that a person has autism. Sometimes a parent with autism or Asperger's Syndrome is not diagnosed until after having a child with a more severe case that is diagnosed.
Asperger's Syndrome is an autism spectrum disorder. The diagnostic difference between autism and Asperger's Syndrome is that autism has delayed language development while Asperger's Syndrome does not. (However, some people with Asperger's Syndrome displayed delayed language development.) Often, people with the symptoms who have below average intelligence are diagnosed with autism, while those who have average or above average intelligence are diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome.
As conditions, Asperger's Syndrome is not worse than autism nor is autism worse than Asperger's Syndrome. Both disorders can range from mild to severe, so one person with autism might have a much more severe case than another person with Asperger's Syndrome, while another person with autism might have a much less severe case than another individual with Asperger's Syndrome. Severe retardation is a significant impairment that occurs in some cases of autism, so that combined with severe symptoms of autism might be worse than cases of Asperger's Syndrome.
Because people with Asperger's Syndrome have average to high intelligence, they are more likely to have developed techniques to avoid or cope with their difficulties and thus make it appear that they have fewer problems. This means that Asperger's Syndrome can go undetected for years, even into adulthood, so the person does not understand why he or she is experiencing so many difficulties.
Can a autistic child who eats salt all the time for no reason be considered having pica?
many people within the autistic spectrum disorders have pica, most will eat non edible objects such as labels fluff string underlay from the carpet zippers tags and buttons, because some autistic children or adults will eat indiscriminatley; they dont have a preference for particular items they may choke on large objects or swallow sharp or dangerous things, autistic people who have pica should have regular checks with their gp and loss of weight, sudden illness or bowell abnormality should be investigated promptly. i hope this helps
Is a autistic person mentally ill?
No, Autism is a neurological difference.
We Autistic people have different neurology to Neurotypical people - our brains work differently and are 'wired' differently. Just because our brains are different doesn't mean that they are ill or in any way inferior to the brains of Neurotypical people, we are not neurotypical gone wrong.
How many nobel prize winners are autistic?
90% of males show signs of autism but may not have the social "negative" affects (this is commonly thought and my doctor has told me). I have autism. It is less likely that a female will develop or be born with autism for reasons unknown today. Most successful people show signs of dedication, persistace and tenacity but those with autism may just see this as obsession or life.
Unfortantly I cant asnwer your question because methods of diagnosis change over time and in todays society we are pretty quick to label someone who previously would have been seen as abit escentric. Now escentric behaviour is thought to be on the Autism spectrum.
But as a guess I would say most of them. As many people who are successful tend to be "loners" and obsessive with their work.
What are some signs and symptons of Autism?
There is a large gap between the diagnosis of autism. Your child's autism could range from mild to severe. In many cases, the symptoms of autism are; being completely mesmerized by t.v. and movies, stacking and organizing things into rows, showing extreme sensitivity to light, touch, taste, and sound, avoiding eye contact, or physical contact, not being able to process or convey emotion, speaking in monotone, showing possible signs of O.C.D., depending on a schedule, and in cases of Aspergers, the child will be extremely smart, and possibly be able to memorize things such as movie credits, or a page in the dictionary at a single glance. They will however become extremely agitated when their usual schedule is interrupted or changed.
NO, Autism is nothing like dyslexia, Dyslexia is a trouble with percieving reading, autism is a completely different mindset
Can someone have more than one autism spectrum disorder?
No. The descriptions of the autism spectrum disorders are such that you cannot have more than one. However, with more information, the diagnosis might change from one autism spectrum disorder to another.
A person with an autism spectrum disorder can have other conditions or disorders, such as ADHD, epilepsy, or bipolar disorder.
Is it possible for only one twin to develop autism?
Yes, it is possible. In one study, the chance that an identical twin has autism when the other does is 82%. That means that 18% of the identical twins did not have autism. It is much more likely that an identical twin will have autism if the other does than that a fraternal twin or other sibling will, but it does not happen every time.
Is there any way to prevent autism?
Because autism is genetic, it cannot be prevented in most cases. In some cases, when a family has a history of autism, they may choose not to have a baby; but this is preventing the birth of a child, not preventing autism directly.
How do you recognise Aspergers in adults?
Looking at the diagnostic criteria of Asperger's Syndrome and lists of characteristics commonly found in people with Asperger's Syndrome is a start on recognizing Asperger's Syndrome in adults. However, adults can learn accommodations, so it can be harder to recognize. You can get additional information from family who might be aware of childhood characteristics or of adult idiosyncracies that would not be noticed under most circumstances. One more source of information is the person himself or herself, who might share thoughts and feelings that he or she is able to camouflage in most situations.
Is attachment disorder in any way similar to autism?
You will find some good answers to that question here; www.radfad.blogspot
Where is Asperger's syndrome on the autism spectrum?
Asperger Syndrome is at the higher functioning end of the spectrum.
In the DSM-IV, there are five conditions on the autism spectrum. Two of them (Rett Syndrome and Childhood Disintegrative Disorder) are extremely rare, so the majority of people on the autism spectrum have a diagnosis of either autism, PDD NOS or Asperger Syndrome.
Asperger Syndrome(AS) requires that the person said their first words by 2 and their first sentences by 3, and have no major delays in cognitive skills or adaptive functioning. (Although many psychologists ignore the adaptive functioning criteria, allowing kids with normal IQ and verbal skills to be diagnosed as AS even if they have significant nonverbal delays.) So therefore AS is at the higher functioning end.
Where it gets complicated is that autism and PDD NOS have no functioning requirements. Autism is typically diagnosed when the kid has a significant language delay. But whereas some autistic kids never learn to talk or speak very poorly even into adulthood, some overcome their early language delays and end up pretty much indistinguishable from AS kids. This is often referred to as high functioning autism or HFA, although others use that term to include anyone on the higher functioning end of the autism spectrum regardless of diagnosis.
PDD NOS is diagnosed when the kid doesn't meet criteria for a specific autism spectrum condition, but the psychologist feels they belong on the autism spectrum. As such, these kids are even more variable. PDD NOS is sometimes diagnosed in kids who are too young or low functioning to show some of the signs of autism, such as lack of pretend play (if they are below an 18 month old level they wouldn't play pretend anyway). As a result, PDD NOS can include the lowest functioning autistic individuals, such as someone who is unable to walk due to profound cognitive impairment.
On the other hand, it can also be used for people whose issues are too mild for an AS diagnosis, who would be the highest functioning kids. And it can be used for atypical autistic traits at any functioning level, such as a kid who has autistic-style social impairment but doesn't show any repetitive behavior.
For one example, kids with Newson Syndrome, a suggested new category of autism spectrum condition, are usually diagnosed with PDD NOS. These kids show social impairment, sensory issues and usually language delay, but also defiant behavior caused by a phobia of being controlled, and many are quite sociable. In addition, they often have increased pretend play and socially oriented obsessions. So psychologists think they probably fit on the autistic spectrum, but they're clearly atypical.
So, Asperger Syndrome has to be high functioning, but the other two common autism spectrum diagnoses can be at any level of functioning. (CDD and Rett Syndrome are always low functioning.)
Firstly it's important to point out that it is diagnosis rates that are rising, not cases of Autism - there is no evidence to support the idea that there are more cases of Autism.
Autism wasn't considered a diagnosis until 1980 when it was first listed as a diagnosis in the DSM-III under pervasive developmental disorders, in the 1987 revision of the DSM-III-R the diagnostic criteria were expanded and they also included PDD-NOS - both of these changes would have allowed more people to be diagnosed as Autistic.
In the 1994 edition of DSM-IV they included the diagnosis of Asperger Syndrome which was regarded [falsely] as a milder form of Autism - really the only difference between AS and ASD is that in AS there are no developmental delays, thus why the most modern edition of the DSM has removed the diagnosis. As AS allowed those who were not severely effected to be diagnosed as Autistic it opened up diagnosis to a significantly larger group of people. A typo in the DSM-IV also meant that a wider group of people could be diagnosed as Autistic because it allowed people with developmental problems or (instead of and) communication problems to be diagnosed.
So basically Autism became a diagnosis in 1980, and in 1994 the addition of a wider understanding of Autism increased Autism diagnosis - all these people are Autistic, it just made diagnosis easier.
No, the word autism is not capitalized. If it were named after a person, it would be capitalized. One of the first persons to study autism was Kanner, so sometimes there are references to "Kanner's autism", where Kanner is capitalized. Similarly, "Asperger's Syndrome", an autism spectrum disorder that is named after another doctor who studied autism, has Asperger's capitalized because it is the name of a person.
What percent of children that have not been vaccinated have autism?
The exact same percent as children that have been vaccinated. There is absolutely no link what-so-ever between vaccinations and Autism, a child is born Autistic and vaccinations cannot time-travel to change the childs development in the womb or change it's parents genes.
