Autism is a serious brain developmental disorder of childhood characterized by impaired social interaction, communication and repetitive behavior. The disorder with all the signs manifests before a child turns three years old.
Causes and risk factors
Autism is a complex disease yet to be fully understood by medical science and so there are more than one theory as causes for autism. Some of the reasons cited include:-
Genetics – These are mainly genetic errors which may either inherited or may occur spontaneously. Certain genes may make a child more prone to develop autism while there are some other genes that affect brain development and/or the way brain cells communicate.
Environment – Recent research studies have pointed to air pollution responsible for triggering autism.
Infections – Research is on to also check the theory of neurogenic viral infection being responsible for triggering autism.
Other causes – All these are currently under investigation and nothing can corroborate as fact. This other factors include problems during labor and delivery, damage to the amygdale (brain’s danger detector) and possible role of the immune system.
Certain factors are shown to have higher autism risk for a child like gender (autism is three to four times more common amongst boys than girls), a positive family history of autism, being parents (especially father) at an older age, certain medical conditions (fragile X syndrome, tuberous sclerosis, Tourette syndrome and autism).
An autistic child has problems in three crucial areas viz. social interaction, language and behavior. No two autistic children will act the same and there will also be variance of symptoms, however, some of the common signs of disorder are as follows:-
Social skills:
Failure to respond when called upon by name
Appears unawares of the feelings of other people
Preference to stay aloof, lonely and within one’s world
Resists expression of love, affection and eye contact etc
Language:
Late development of faculties of speech or speaks with an abnormal rhythm
Repetition of words or phrases verbatim but fails to understand their usage
Difficulty in initiating conversations or continue an ongoing conversation
Loss of ability to stitch together proper sentences even though it was a possible previously
Behavior:
The affected individual develops specific daily routines or rituals
Exhibits involuntary repetitive movements like hand flapping etc
Gets disturbed in the slightest change in the daily routine or ritual
May be highly sensitive to stimuli of light, sound or touch yet oblivious to any pain
Most of the affected children are slow to acquire new skills and may also show signs of low overall intelligence, however, a minority of them has exceptional skills in a specific area such as art, math or music, and they are referred to as “autistic savants”.
There is no medical test to pinpoint that a child may be autistic. A child health expert routinely observes for signs of any developmental delays during pediatric check ups.
If the child health expert has any suspicion then the child is referred to autism specialists who done do many specific tests to confirm the diagnosis of autism like speech, language, behavioral.
Taking care of an autistic child can be a 24x7 job and immensely taxing and exhausting and may put stress on the whole family and many a times even on the marriage.
If your child shows any developmental delays by 18 months with regards to social skills, language or behavior try and get in touch with your child health care provider for an initial assessment.
