In today's world, there are a lot of misconceptions people have about autism. In this post, we'll look at the myths most people have about autism and the facts that counter them. We'll also look at some core characteristics used to identify Autism Spectrum Disorder, red flags that indicate autism in infants and the importance of early evaluation. Before we proceed, I would like to thank everyone who took part in our Autism awareness survey that we sent out earlier this week, as that would be used as our reference point during this post.
Myth 1: Autism is a disease. 33 out of 183 people believed this to be true.
Fact: Autism is not a disease. Autism spectrum disorders are a group of neurodevelopmental disabilities that impact development in two core domains: social communication and restricted repetitive patterns of behavior.
Myth 2: People with autism all behave alike. 122 out of 183 people believed this to be true.
Fact: Autism is a "spectrum" disorder because there are varieties of symptom expressions. That is, the severity and type of symptoms defer, and the amount of support an individual would require is based on the severity of symptoms. So autism is different for every person who has it.
Myth 3: People with Autism are intellectually disabled. 33 out of 183 people believed this to be true.
Fact: Autism does not affect everyone the same. Many people with autism have normal IQs!
Myth 4: Autism can be cured. 29 out of 183 people believed this to be true.
Fact: Autism cannot be cured. But despite this fact, the challenges that come with autism can be managed, and individuals with this disorder can live independent lives. Early diagnosis and intervention go a long way in ensuring this.
Myth 5: Autism only affects children. 13 out of 183 people believed this to be true.
Fact: It is a life-long disorder. Children with autism grow up to become adults with autism.
Note: Of all the people who participated in the survey used, 91.3% had some sort of prior knowledge about Autism, and 46.4% had met someone on the autism spectrum at least once in their lives.
Below we will identify core characteristics used to identify Autism Spectrum Disorder by looking into how it affects the two core domains.
Social Communication:
In the area of social and emotional reciprocity, there might be:
An abnormal approach and the failure of maintaining conversations.
Reduced share of emotions.
Failure to initiate or respond to social interactions.
In the area of non-communication, there might be:
Poor integrated verbal and non-verbal communication.
Abnormalities with eye contact and body language.
A deficit in understanding the use of verbal communication.
In the area of developing and maintaining appropriate relationships, there might be:
difficulty in adjusting behavior to suit different social situations.
difficulty in sharing.
difficulty in imaginary play.
absence of interest in other people.
Restrictive and Repetitive Patterns:
In this area, the individual might express some of these:
Stereotyped or repetitive motor movements, such as rocking, hand flapping, flipping objects, repetitive speech or presence of idiosyncratic speech.
Insistence on sameness with inflexibility to routine:
Ritualized patterns of behavior.
Highly restricted fixated interests.
Abnormal in either intensity or focus, or a hypo or hyper reactivity to sensory input.
Red flags indicated in Infant development.
No big smiles or warm joyful expressions by 6 months of age.
No back and forth sharing of facial expressions by 9 months of age.
No babbling by 12 months of age.
No use of back and forth gestures like pointing, waving, or reaching.
No words by 18 months.
Noted loss of speech, babbling and social interaction.
Importance of early evaluation and identification of autism.
The earlier Autism Spectrum Disorder is identified and treatment commences, the better the outcome. A reason for this is, in young brains there is so much more developmental plasticity. Plus, if diagnosis is delayed, a lot of secondary difficulties can occur.
Thank you for joining us in celebrating World Autism Awareness Day. Below are the links of sites and courses I used to conduct research:
Autism Spectrum Disorder Course offered by UC Davis on Coursera- https://www.coursera.org/
How did you do on the survey? Did you learn something new? Tell us now in the comments below and don't forget to subscribe!
Lovely😊
Lovely😊