Autism Spectrum Disorder

Autism

a developmental disability that significantly affects verbal and nonverbal communication and social interaction is generally evident before the age of 3, and adversely affects a students educational performance

Boys to girls diagnosed with autism is

3:1 and 4:1

Social impairments in the following:

Social emotional reciprocity

nonverbal communication

building and maintaining relationships

repetitve restrctive behaviors and interests 

repetitive speech, body movement, interactions with objects

excessive or limited responses to sensory input 

hyper fixated on interests 

reliance on sameness and strict routines 

additional characteristics

“problem behaviors”

sensory and movement impairments

correlation between IQ levels and severity of autism symptoms

atypical language development

lower IQ

more severe autism

Academically

difficulty focusingl feeling overstimulated and sometimes intellectually impaired

Emotionally 

Feelings of anxiety and lack of control when the routine is changed; requiring that “sameness”

socially

increased risk of social isolation

behavorially

Self-injurious behaviors & aggression can cause physical harm

Causes of autism 

caused by brain or biochemical dysfunction that occurs before, during, or after birth.

Biomedical

primarily biological in its origin with multiple factors going into it including genes, brain structure, and neural pathways - brain grows at an accelerated rate during the first few years of their lives.

Enviromental

toxic exposure to chemicals and radiation, exposure in early pregnancy to prenatal medications, and maternal infection.