The cause of autism is unknown, but scientists believe factors of autism may include genetics, infections, and problems occurring at birth. Many of the most recent studies suggest that some people have a genetic tendency to have autism which may be passed from parents to children. Scientists are looking for different clues that show which genes contribute to increasing the vulnerability of autism. Some researchers think environmental factors may also play a role in the cause of autism. Many studies of people with autism have shown abnormalities in certain regions of the brain that suggest that autism is a result from disruption in early brain development while still in the uterus. Another theory for the cause of autism is that the body's immune system may inappropriately produce antibodies that attack the brains of children. There is also a theory that says children with autism have an abnormal timing of the growth in their brains and in early childhood the brains of autistic children grow faster and larger than those of normal children and then later on when normal children's brains get bigger and better organized the autistic kids' brains grow more slowly. Many parents believe that vaccines are the cause of autism, but there is no evidence that proves vaccines cause autism or any other type of behavioral disorder. Parents believe that there is some sort of link between measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccine that causes their child to receive autism. Parents believe this because the MMR vaccine is given between the ages of 12 to 15 months and a few weeks after the vaccine many parents start noticing the symptoms of autism. Although there are many theories suggesting what causes autism but there is no absolute cause. Scientists are still looking for the cause and hopefully one day they will find the cause and a cure.…
Autism can be described in many ways; it is an illness that can affect the communication, intelligence and socialization of an individual. According to the article The Immune System’s Role in the Biology of Autism by Paula Goines and Judy Van de Water states, “Neurodevelopmental diseases characterized by restricted interests, repetitive behaviors, and deficient language and social skills. While there are no concrete biological markers for the disorder, immune anomalies are frequently described among individuals with ASD and their family members.” There is new research regarding this disorder but at the present time the cause of ASD is largely unknown.…
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), while not a specific diagnostic category, describes a spectrum or range of cognitive and communicative abilities with consequential patterns of behaviour in areas of social interaction, communication, interests and activities within the range of Pervasive Developmental Disorders, which include Autism and Asperger syndrome. ASD impacts across the lifespan on an individual’s life functioning. (Attwood, 2007). It is estimated that Autism occurs in approximately 1-2 individuals in every 1000 people, and Aspergers syndrome in [at least] 1 individual in every 500 people. Interestingly, there are four times as many males as females…
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a range of complex neurodevelopment disorders, characterized by social impairments, communication difficulties, and restricted, repetitive, and stereotyped patterns of behavior. Autistic disorder, sometimes called autism or classical ASD, is the most severe form of ASD, while other conditions along the spectrum include a milder form known as Asperger syndrome, and childhood disintegrative disorder and pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified (usually referred to as PDD-NOS). Although ASD varies significantly in character and severity, it occurs in all ethnic and socioeconomic groups and affects every age group. Experts estimate that 1 out of 88 children age 8 will have an ASD (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, March 30, 2012). Males are four times more likely to have an ASD than females.…
“One health epidemic at the forefront of public consciousness is autism, a grain disorder that impairs a person’s ability to communicate, socialize and participate in group behavior.” In reading about autism, the diagnostic criteria require that symptoms become apparent before a child is three years old. As stated in Wikpedia under Autism, [2] Autism affects information processing in the brain by altering how nerve cells and their synapses connect and organize; how this occurs is not well understood. [3] Some say that Autism has a strong genetic basis, although the genetics of autism are complex and it is unclear whether ASD is explained more by rare mutations, or by rare combinations of common genetic variants. [5] In rare cases, autism is strongly associated with agents that cause birth defects. [6] Controversies surround other proposed environmental causes, such as heavy metals, pesticides or childhood vaccines.…
Autism is a condition that effects the development and behavior of a person. It is usually identified in early childhood and is diagnosed by recognizing three deficiencies. These include; impaired social skills, communication and repetitive behaviors. Children with autism show limited interest in people and have difficulties identifying emotions. Autism is a condition that children are born with, although the cause is still unknown. The dramatic increase of autism over the past two decades, has raised many questions to weather it is an epidemic. It is evident that numbers of people being diagnosed are rising, although there are still not justifiable reasons as to why. Many Scientists believe that autism is in fact fiction because the diagnosis criteria for autism broadened in the 1990’s, epidemiology is not an accurate way of testing and because there were records of children with autism before the 1990’s.…
The rate of Autism in our society is rapidly growing with time. More and more children are being diagnosed with this exceptionality. Autism is classified as a developmental disability that results from a disorder in the central nervous system. It causes impairments to social interaction, communication, imagination, interests, and activities. Most of the issues based around Autism are controversial because it is still not known what the cause of Autism is! Researchers strive every day to find why it is caused, but still nothing has been proven.…
Autism is a very unique disorder in that no two individuals with the disability are identical with regard to signs and symptoms. Because there is such variety in the behavior and level of functioning with this disability, there are several other diagnosis under the umbrella of Autism to include: Asperger’s disorder, Rett’s disorder, Fragile X Syndrome, Child Disintegrative Disorder, and Pervasive Development Disorder NOS. All of these disorders have similar characteristics; however, there are also so very distinct differences between them. Research shows that the world of Autism is changing but still has a long way to go.…
- Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a range of neurodevelopment disorders characterized by social impairments, communication difficulties, and repetitive patterns of behavior. These signs usually begin before a child is three years old. Some parents report the change as being sudden, and that their children start to reject people, act strangely, and lose language and social skills they had previously acquired. In other cases there is a plateau of progress so that the difference between the child with autism and other children the same age becomes more noticeable. It is important to note that not all signs of autism appear in all autistic children. The degrees in which they appear may vary as well. But in its mildest forms, autism is more like a personality difference linked to difficulties in understanding social conventions.…
The neurodevelopmental disorder of autism spectrum (ASD) is defined by the American Psychiatric Association 's Diagnosis and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) as a sole condition to include syndromes which are formerly regarded as individual, these were autism, asperger syndrome, children’s disintegrative syndrome and pervasive developmental disorder (Mayo Clinic Staff, 2014). The expression spectrum describes the varying ranges of symptoms and severity (2014).…
More than 3.5 million Americans live with an autism spectrum disorder (autism speaks 2014). Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a general term for a group of complex disorders that affect neurodevelopment. Social skills deficits are one of the three core impairments found in children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs) and are often considered to be the primary feature of ASDs (Kanner, 1943; Sevin, Knight, & Braud, 2007; Volkmar, Cohen, Bregman, Hooks, & Stevenson, 1989; Walters, Barrett, & Feinstein, 1990). The term “spectrum” from the diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorders refers to the wide range of symptoms, skills, and levels of impairment that individuals with ASD can have. Many individuals with ASD vary in severity…
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a complex developmental disability that typically appears during the first three years of life. “It is a result of a neurological disorder that affects the functioning of the brain and impacts the normal development of the brain, in areas of social interaction and communication skills” (Bee and Boyd 226). Research from 2009 suggests autism now affects every 1 in 110 children. Having a child with autism affects the entire family.…
Autism is a “lifelong, neurobiological condition that significantly affects how a person perceives the world, interacts with other people and communication” (What is Autism, 2003). Autism is said to cause significant impairments in areas including, but not limited to language and cognitive development, communication processes, social interaction, sensory processing, nutrition, agility and psychological well-being. Research has revealed that while the cause of Autism is unclear it is estimated that more that 90% of the cause is due to genetics, (Klauck, 2006) “no known psychological factors in the development of the child have been shown to cause autism” (What is Autism, 2003).…
One in 88 children in America will be diagnosed with some form of Autism. Autism is characterized by impairments in communication, language, and reciprocal social interaction and by patterns of restricted and repetitive interests or behaviors (APA, 2000). These symptoms of Autism are the result of a neurological disorder that affects the normal functioning of the brain which impacts the development of communication and social skills. Children and adults with Autism usually display difficulties in verbal and non-verbal communication, social interactions, and leisure or play. Autism Spectrum Disorder, or ASD, is a broader category characterized by the same set of core symptoms, with a lesser grade of severity, inclusive of pervasive developmental disorder, not otherwise specified (PDD-NOS) and Asperger Syndrome (American Psychiatric Association,…
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a developmental/neurocognitive disorder. It can effect a person’s social interactions, communication, and behaviors of daily living. It is named Autism Spectrum Disorder because there is not just one set of symptoms. The symptoms range from individual to individual. Some characteristics of autism include repetitive behaviors, issues with social skills, inappropriate affect or no affect, hypersensitivity to sound, and nonverbal tendencies (Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 2015). Within each of those characteristics there is also a range. People with autism can be high functioning or they can require assistance with activities of daily living. People with autism can exhibit obsessive or compulsive…