From autism-society.org/site/Page … atisAutism
[i]There is no known single cause for autism, but it is generally accepted by the medical community that it is caused by abnormalities in brain structure or function. Brain scans show differences in the shape and structure of the brain in autistic versus non-autistic children. Researchers are investigating a number of theories, including the link between heredity, genetics and medical problems. While no one gene has been identified as causing autism, in many families there appears to be a pattern of autism or related disabilities, further supporting a genetic basis to the disorder. Researchers are searching for irregular segments of genetic code that autistic children may have inherited. It also appears that some children are born with a higher susceptibility to autism, but researchers have not yet identified a single “trigger” that causes autism to develop.
Whatever the cause, it is clear that children with autism and PDD are born with the disorder or born with the potential to develop it. Bad parenting does not cause it. It is not a mental illness. Children with autism are not unruly kids who choose not to behave. Furthermore, no known psychological factors in the development of a child have been shown to cause autism.
Autism is a spectrum disorder, and although it is defined by a certain set of behaviors, children and adults with autism can exhibit any combination of these behaviors in any degree of severity. Two children, both with the same diagnosis, can act completely different from one another and have varying capabilities.
You may hear different terms used to describe children within this spectrum, such as autistic-like, autistic tendencies, autism spectrum, high-functioning or low-functioning autism, more-abled or less-abled; but more important than the term used to describe autism is understanding that whatever the diagnosis, children with autism can learn and function normally and show improvement with appropriate treatment and education.
Every person with autism is an individual, and like all individuals, has a unique personality and combination of characteristics. Some individuals mildly affected may exhibit only slight delays in language and greater challenges with social interactions. They may have difficulty initiating and/or maintaining a conversation. Their communication is often described as talking at others instead of to them. (For example, monologue on a favorite subject that continues despite attempts by others to interject comments).
People with autism also process and respond to information in unique ways. In some cases, aggressive and/or self-injurious behavior may be present. Persons with autism may also exhibit some of the following traits:
* Insistence on sameness; resistance to change
* Difficulty in expressing needs, using gestures or pointing instead of words
* Repeating words or phrases in place of normal, responsive language
* Laughing (and/or crying) for no apparent reason showing distress for reasons not apparent to others
* Preference to being alone; aloof manner
* Tantrums
* Difficulty in mixing with others
* Not wanting to cuddle or be cuddled
* Little or no eye contact
* Unresponsive to normal teaching methods
* Sustained odd play
* Spinning objects
* Obsessive attachment to objects
* Apparent over-sensitivity or under-sensitivity to pain
* No real fears of danger
* Noticeable physical over-activity or extreme under-activity
* Uneven gross/fine motor skills
* Non responsive to verbal cues; acts as if deaf, although hearing tests in normal range.
For most of us, the integration of our senses helps us to understand what we are experiencing. For example, our sense of touch, smell and taste work together in the experience of eating a ripe peach: the feel of the peach’s skin, its sweet smell, and the juices running down your face. For children with autism, sensory integration problems are common, which may throw their senses off they may be over or under active. The fuzz on the peach may actually be experienced as painful and the smell may make the child gag. Some children with autism are particularly sensitive to sound, finding even the most ordinary daily noises painful. Many professionals feel that some of the typical autism behaviors, like the ones listed above, are actually a result of sensory integration difficulties.
There are also many myths and misconceptions about autism. Contrary to popular belief, many autistic children do make eye contact; it just may be less often or different from a non-autistic child. Many children with autism can develop good functional language and others can develop some type of communication skills, such as sign language or use of pictures. Children do not “outgrow” autism but symptoms may lessen as the child develops and receives treatment.
One of the most devastating myths about autistic children is that they cannot show affection. While sensory stimulation is processed differently in some children, they can and do give affection. However, it may require patience on the parents’ part to accept and give love in the child’s terms.
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An autistic’s perspective from nas.org.uk/nas/jsp/polopoly.jsp?d=120&a=2202:
Myth…: High-functioning and low-functioning autism are completely different things
I have been told that as a high functioning autistic, able to express myself, I know nothing about what it’s like to be really autistic. I started out quite severe and non-verbal, but “moved along the spectrum”. A very recent study shows that there is no difference between Asperger Syndrome and autism other than IQ. The core deficits are the same; it’s only the presentation that is different.
Myth…: All autistics are the same
Sometimes people know about one or more autistic people and believe that everything they say applies to all of us. Aside from the fact that we share a few traits, and some experiences as a direct result of those traits, we are as individual as anyone else. From the assumption that we are all the same come a number of other myths:
a) All autistics think in pictures. (Thanks to Temple Grandin, author of ‘Thinking in pictures and other reports from my life with autism’.) While visual thinking may be more common in autistics than in the general population, it is certainly neither universal nor exclusive. I’ve also found that it is very common among dyslexics and others. I, for one, don’t think in pictures.
b) All sensory issues are hypersensitivities to touch or sound. Sensory issues can also be hyposensitivities, where nothing gets in unless it is very loud or painful; synaesthesia, where one sense is perceived as another; or sometimes extreme fluctuations. They can affect any sense including proprioceptive (sense of one’s body in space), and vestibular (movement). I am mostly hyposensitive with a few specific hypersensitivities.
c) All autistics have “special skills” or savant abilities. Savant skills appear in about 10% of autistic people. This is thousands of times higher than the general population, but still the exception rather than the rule. I had some savant abilities when I was little, but they faded as I learned to communicate. Savant skills are not “useless” as they are sometimes made out to be. I know at least two autistics who have used their savant abilities in employment situations.
