Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a developmental disorder created by the dissimilarity in the brain. However, scientists are yet to find substantial reasons that cause these differences, mainly for people with ASD. Moreover, some people with ASD have a familiar difference, such as genetic condition. There are several causes of ASD, but most of them are unknown.
There are no defined characteristics about people with ASD that make them distinctive from other people, but the way they communicate, learn or interact is significantly different from other people. The learning, reasoning, and problem-solving capacities of people with ASD can vary from severely challenged to gifted. Some people with ASD might need a lot of assistance in their daily lives. On the other hand, some might don’t need it. There is no such fixed pattern.
ASD starts before the age of 3 and impacts people throughout life, though symptoms may improve over a while. Some people exhibit the signs of problems within the first few months of their birth. In others, symptoms are not displayed within 24 months and so on. Some children with ASD tend to grow generally until 18 to 24 months of age, and then they suddenly stop attaining new skills or lose one they had learned. A recent study has shown that one-fourth to half of the parents of kids with ASD observed a problem before their child turns one and approximately 70 to 80% saw the problems within 24 months of age.
Therefore, it becomes crucial to observe these symptoms in your child because some people without ASD may have all these mentioned symptoms.
SOCIAL SKILLS
Lack of social skills is the most common symptom in all types of ASD. Besides “shyness,” people with ASD suffer from social issues such as- avoiding eye contact, prefer to be alone, avoids physical contact, has blank expressions on the face, etc. They might feel hesitant with displaying or expressing feelings. They may not be interested in being friends with others or, in some cases, they don’t know how to make friends. Self-stimulatory behavior is typical to observe in people with ASD. Anxiety and depression can be seen in them. Thus, all these symptoms can be observed in children with ASD.
- COMMUNICATION
Each person with ASD has different communication patterns and skills. Some can speak well, and others cannot or very little for that matter. They face difficulty in putting words more coherently, and they usually say one word at one time. They tend to repeat words that they just said or later. In some cases, it is also seen that some ASD patients are fluent in their communication skills, but they have a hard time listening to others. Facial expressions, hand movements, and gestures may not match with what they are conversing.
- BEHAVIOUR PATTERN
They usually display a different set of behavior patterns on different says. For example- on some days, they are thriving, full of energy, and do their routine courses on time. While on some days, they seem to be irritated, lose control, or very upset. These are common behavior traits found in them. To control these to a limit, parents must see take a therapy session with a doctor to converse with the child and get to know more about these attributes.