Created By: Riley Quijano
http://autism.emedtv.com/autism/autism-symptoms.html
Autism Symptoms
Autism Symptoms: An Overview
There are three distinctive symptoms of
autism:
- [1] Difficulties with social interaction
- Problems with verbal and nonverbal communication
- Repetitive behaviors or narrow, obsessive interests.
Autistic children
can also develop symptoms that include reduced sensitivity to pain but
increased sensitivity to sound, touch, or other sensory stimulation.
Symptoms can range from mild to disabling.
Symptoms of Autism: Social Interaction
The hallmark symptom of autism is impaired social interaction. Parents
are usually the first to notice possibly symptoms in their child.
[2] As early as infancy, a baby with autism symptoms may be
unresponsive to people or focus intently on one item to the exclusion of
others for long periods of time.
[3] A child with autism may appear to develop normally and then withdraw and become indifferent to social engagement.
Autism Symptoms: Verbal and Nonverbal Communication
The second most common symptom of autism is problems with verbal and nonverbal communication.
[4] Children with autism may fail to respond to their name and often
avoid eye contact with other people.[5] 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.
Autism Symptoms: Repetitive Behaviors or Narrow, Obsessive Interests
[6] Many children with symptoms of autism
engage in repetitive movements, such as rocking and twirling, or in
self-abusive behavior, such as biting or head-banging.[7]They also tend to
start speaking later than other children and may refer to themselves by
name instead of "I" or "me."
[8] 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.
Autism Symptoms: Sensitivity
[9]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.
Symptoms of Autism and Other Medical Conditions
[10] Children with autism symptoms appear to have a higher-than-normal risk for certain coexisting conditions, including:
- Fragile X syndrome (which causes mental retardation)
- Tuberous sclerosis (in which tumors grow on the brain)
- Epileptic seizures
- Tourette syndrome
- Learning disabilities
- Attention deficit disorder (ADD).
[11] 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.
Progression of Autism Symptoms
For many children, symptoms of
autism
improve with treatment and with age. Some children with the condition
grow up to lead normal or near-normal lives.
[12] Children whose language
skills regress early in life, usually before the age of three, appear to
be at risk of developing epilepsy or seizure-like
brain activity. [13] During adolescence, some children with autism may
become depressed or experience behavioral problems. Parents of these
children should be ready to adjust treatment for their child as needed.
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