What is Autism? | Cincinnati Children's
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Hello! I'm Dr. Meg Stone-Heaberlin, a Licensed Clinical Psychologist at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center and you're probably wondering...
What is Autism?
Well, a quick explanation is that Autism Spectrum Disorder or "Autism", for short, is a term that describes a variety of developmental differences in social interaction, communication, and behavior.
The Autism spectrum represents a diverse group of people with various skills and interests.
For example, some people with Autism can speak fluently while others may have difficulty communicating. Some people with Autism might communicate using pictures or devices.
Research suggests that Autism develops from a combination of genetic and environmental influences. These influences increase the risk that a child may have Autism.
Factors that may increase a person’s risk for Autism include: Family history of Autism, advanced parental age, pregnancy and birth complications and pregnancies spaced less than one year apart.
However, keep in mind that risk is not the same as known cause and there is no known cause for Autism.
Diagnosis comes from a medical doctor or psychologist after evaluating a child’s development history, social interaction, behavior, social-communication skills, and developmental or intellectual skills.
Direct assessment and caregiver report are both important components of comprehensive Autism evaluations.
Autism can be detected as young as 18 months of age. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends routine early screening by each child’s primary care doctor because early detection and intervention lead to improved outcomes.
Autism symptoms can vary from one person to the next and may present as difficulties in the following areas:
Speech and non-verbal communication, making eye contact, understanding facial expressions or other people’s feelings, playing or engaging interactively with peers, initiating pretend or imaginary play, sensory processing, including sensitivities to sounds, touch, or movement, flexibility and adjusting to changes in routine.
For example, some individuals with Autism show a strong preference for routine or repetitive behaviors, or a tendency to hyper-focus on topics of interest.
People with Autism also have many strengths that are unique to each person, but might include: learning and remembering facts, events, and stories, sisual problem solving like doing math problems, puzzles, and figuring out how things work. Following routines and schedules, thinking about the world from a different perspective, leading to innovative and creative ideas or solutions to problems
The three most common myths about Autism are:
People with Autism don’t feel empathy or emotions.
This is not true.
In fact, people with Autism have empathy, emotions, and feelings. They may just have a harder time showing their feelings or will demonstrate their emotions differently.
Another myth is that people with Autism can’t handle change.
That's not true either
The reality is, predictable routines and structure help all people feel safe and comfortable. Change can cause anxiety for anyone. People with Autism may be more likely to perseverate or “get stuck” when something unexpected happens.
Preparation, planning ahead, and time to adjust are three easy tools that can help people with Autism cope with change.
And the last one is people with Autism are not interested in having friends.
Nope, that’s not right!
Children and adults with Autism are often very interested in interacting with their communities and making friends.
Just like everyone else, people with Autism have a wide variety of interests and talents and particularly enjoy connecting with others with similar experiences and interests.
So, remember..
Autism affects the development of social interaction, communication, and behavior. No two individuals with Autism are alike. People with Autism have different strengths and challenges, just like all people. This is why it’s called “Autism Spectrum Disorder”.
Some factors that may increase the risk of Autism have been identified through research. Just because a factor has been associated with an increased risk of Autism does not mean that it causes Autism. More research is needed to understand the causes of Autism.
People with Autism have many strengths and view the world from a different perspective, adding rich neurodiversity to our world.
For more information, go to Cincinnati Children's dot org and search for "Autism"
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