After consulting the pediatrician, if your child is diagnosed with autism, consult a therapist based on the severity of your child’s condition. These are just a few of the symptoms linked with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
The diagnosis of autism is more common among boys than girls, and girls often get their diagnosis later in life. Some girls reach adulthood before being diagnosed, after many years of diffuse personal difficulties. Many autistic people perceive sensory experiences differently, especially when eating or drinking.
In general, culture can include language, social interaction, and knowing how to behave in certain situations. More specifically, camp cultures can encompass varying traditions and can include special songs, themes, and routines alongside behavioral expectations. The culture of ASD can include challenges in understanding social rules, accessing language especially in unusual/stressful situations, and behaviors that may be out of the norm. My best advice is that if you notice any of these “red flags” for autism, or if you have a “gut-feeling” that your child is having delays or differences in their development, reach out to your doctor. If you feel that the doctor isn’t hearing what you are saying, reach out to a local speech/language pathologist, your local Birth to Three program, or the early childhood program in your school district. If you have concerns, they are probably warranted and worth checking out further. Autistic children may struggle with verbal and nonverbal communication, have difficulty with social interactions, and exhibit repetitive behaviors or interests.
The term “autism masking” is used to describe behaviors used by people with ASD to suppress or hide the signature characteristics of the disorder. It can also mean mirroring the behavior of neurotypical people and developing “scripts” that work in social situations. The study, published in October in the journal Neuron, tracked 39 participants’ eyes as they looked at 700 different images.
How Does Autism Present Across the Lifespan?
If so, it may be possible to treat the symptoms by changing brain activity, for example, by applying magnetic stimulation to the scalp. The brains of people with autism process information differently to those of people without autism. The brain as a whole shows less coordinated activity in autism, for example. But whether individual brain regions themselves also work differently in autism is unclear.
With a willingness to learn, we can build our understanding and view the world through an autism lens. One study found that children diagnosed with both conditions were more likely to have a combined type of ADHD, which includes hyperactive and impulsive symptoms plus trouble paying attention. Different kinds of therapy — behavior, speech, sensory integration, and occupational, for example — can help kids with autism communicate and get along better. Medicine can’t cure autism, but it may make related symptoms like trouble focusing or high energy easier to manage.
And the study we’re doing now is starting at 6 months of age and then following babies longitudinally. And then we’re repeating the app over time, and then we’ll see whether this can be used to eventually pick up on signs in babies who then will have a diagnosis of autism. So, even something like a conversation requires the frontal lobe, the visual cortex, the speech areas and auditory cortex, the motor cortex. And so, we do think that autism affects the ability of the different brain regions to be coordinated in a way to allow us to engage in these very complex behaviors.
Early diagnosis and identification can assist a person in acquiring the support, services, and opportunities to live optimally. In March 2023, the CDC released a new prevalence report increasing the occurrence of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) to one in 36 (2.6%) 8-year-olds as compared to the 2020 data findings of one in 44 8-year-olds. While there isn’t a direct cause or definitive explanation noted by the CDC, the suspicion surrounding the prevalence increase may be due to an increased awareness of ASD which is leading to more children being identified and diagnosed. If you want to treat how someone thinks, you must understand how they think.
When it comes to romantic relationships, though, autistic people may have more difficulty connecting. Dating involves many subtle social cues that autistic people often miss. Autistic people are sometimes said to lack empathy (the ability to feel along with others) and/or sympathy (the ability to feel for others). While this stereotype is often used to describe all autistic people, these challenges are not experienced by everyone on the spectrum. The takeaway for parents is to tell your doctor if you notice the signs of Asperger’s or autism.
Scientists believe that autism stems from a combination of genetic and environmental factors. If one identical twin has autism, the other twin has a 60 to 90 percent chance of also having the condition (in non-identical twins, the rate is about 3 percent). In families with one autistic child, the chance of having a second child with the condition is about 2 to 8 percent times greater than among the general population.
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