What Is Autism? The Asperger Syndrome

A lot has recently been said about autism. What is autism exactly and how does it manifest itself?

Autism is a medical condition that stems from a disorder in the process of brain development. This causes abnormal, repetitive or restrictive behavior, often affecting social development of the individual, such as communication and interaction of the sufferer with the society at large.

The word ‘autism’ has been coined by Hans Asperger, when he was investigating the symptoms and causes of the Asperger Syndrome.

Causes of Autism

There is no one reason for autism, but most researchers believe that it might be inherited. It is unclear, though, as to which set of genes might exactly be responsible for triggering autism.

In rare cases, experts aver, autism could occur as the result of birth defects.

A particular school of thought is of the view that some vaccines could induce autism, but this is a highly controversial subject, which has not been able to produce substantial evidence to back the claim.

Beginnings of Autism

The early symptoms of autism can set in an infant as young as six months. All the behavior patterns of autism set in by the time the child is three years old. These early signs will be very different and can be easily distinguished from those of milder autistic varieties such as the Asperger syndrome.

If caught early enough, the symptoms of autism might come under control with treatment and therapy. But there is no cure yet for this condition. Those afflicted by severe autism might find it impossible to live independently, though there are those who are fighting and winning against milder forms of the disorder. There are yet many other sufferers who consider autism as merely a condition and not an actual disorder to be treated.

Symptoms of autism

Autism is a disorder that keeps continuing without respite or remission. This condition is regarded as one of the five major Pervasive Development Disorders (or PDD), which severely inhibit the development of the human brain, restricting the sufferer’s social activities, interaction and communication.

One of other four PDD is the Asperger Syndrome, which, though similar to autism, is a much milder version. This condition does not result in tremendously delayed language development in the child and is also much more responsive to treatment.

Autism spectrum

The range of autistic behavior varies widely, from merely exhibiting odd social or repetitive behavior, to having very few interests, remaining abnormally silent, gazing blankly or even showing symptoms of severe mental impairment or being actually mentally challenged.

This condition has such a wide spectrum that it has been classified into three categories, namely, low-, medium- and high-functioning autism – LFA, MFA, HFA respectively.

Surprisingly, some autistic patients exhibit above-average sharp skills, such as memorization and other skills.

Incidence of autism
The recent statistics of autism reveals the prevalence of one or two cases per thousand people, which seems to indicate a rise in the incidence of the condition. Of course, this cannot be used as a definite yardstick to measure what is the autism incidence range, as the chances are that diagnosis and treatment of the disease has now improved with the advancement in Medicine.

Article Source: http://www.articlemonk.com

Melissa Fox is a health professional very interested in the question What is Autism?. She enjoys writing inspirational articles for Real Living. To learn more about Autism Symptoms please visit www.CausesOfAutism.org

Please Rate this Article

5 out of 54 out of 53 out of 52 out of 51 out of 5 

Not yet Rated