Autism

Alternative Names

Pervasive developmental disorder - autism

What is Autism

Autism - a serious alienation, the extreme form of self-isolation. It is expressed in leaving from contacts to the validity, poverty of expression of emotions. Inadequate reaction and deficiency of social interaction is peculiar to the autist.

Signs and symptoms

Gravity of symptoms differs very strongly, but all people, suffering autism, have the main symptoms:

Social interaction and mutual relations. Symptoms can include:

Appreciable problems in development of skills of nonverbal dialogue, for example, a habit to look in the face, looks, body position.
Inability to develop friendly relations with children at the same age.
Interest disadvantage to part pleasure, addictings or achievements with others.
Empathy disadvantage. To the people, suffering autism, it is difficult to understand feelings of other people, for example, a pain or grief.

Verbal and nonverbal dialogue. Symptoms can include:

The child studies much later or can't learn at all to speak. About 40 % of the people, suffering autism, never can speak.
It is difficult to them to begin conversation. To the people, suffering autism, also it is difficult to continue conversation after it has already begun.
Stereotypic and repeated use of tongue. The people, suffering autism, very often again and again repeat the same earlier heard phrase.
It is difficult to them to understand the interlocutor. For example, the person, suffering autism, cannot understand that the one who talks to it, uses humour. They understand dialogue literally and cannot understand the latent value.

The limited interests in kinds of activity and games. Symptoms can include:

Unusual concentration of attention on parts. The small children, suffering autism, often focus attention not on the whole toy, and on its details, for example, the wheels by the car, interest playing with the whole toy.
Enthusiasm for certain themes. For example, children are more senior also adults, can have a good time by means of video of games, games with cards or license plates on the car.
Necessity for uniformity and certain regimen. For example, the child suffering autism, can eat bread before eating salad, can insist, that every day it carried in school on the same route.

Possible complications

The main complications are:

Fragile X syndrome
Mental retardation
Tuberous sclerosis

What causes

There is no single, known cause of autism.

There are many causes such as:

Genetic problems. A number of genes appear to be involved in autism. Some may make a child more susceptible to the disorder; others affect brain development or the way brain cells communicate. Still others may determine the severity of symptoms. Each problem in genes may account for a small number of cases, but taken together, the influence of genes may be substantial. Some genetic problems seem to be inherited, whereas others happen spontaneously.

Environmental factors. Many health problems are due to both genetic and environmental factors, and this is likely the case with autism as well. Researchers are currently exploring whether viral infections and air pollutants, for example, play a role in triggering autism.

Prevention

There is no tool to prevent autism. Autism can be treated, and children can have improved language and social skills with treatments. If your child is diagnosed with autism, talk to your child's doctors about creating a treatment strategy for your child. Keep in mind that you may need to try several different treatments before finding the best combination of therapies for your child.

Treatment

The different types of treatments can generally be broken down into the following categories:

1.Behavior and Communication Approaches.

Sensory integration therapy is a type of behavior modification that focuses on helping autistic patients cope with sensory stimulation. Treatment may include having the patient handle materials with different textures or listen to different sounds.
Play therapy is a type of behavior modification that is used to improve emotional development, which in turn, improves social skills and learning. Play therapy involves adult-child interaction that is controlled by the child.
Social stories can also be used to improve undeveloped social skills. Stories are designed to help autistic patients understand the feelings, ideas, and points of view of others, or to suggest an alternate response to a particular situation. They also may be used to help patients understand and cope with their own feelings. Behavioral therapists can teach caregivers how to develop social stories.

2.Dietary Approaches.

Autism is not caused by diet and the use of dietary modifications and supplements to treat the disorder is controversial. Changing the diet or adding vitamin supplements may improve digestion and eliminate food intolerances or allergies, which may contribute to behavioral problems in autistic patients.

3.Medication.