This means that they barely notice sensory input that would overwhelm non-autistic peers. So an autistic person in a crowded concert hall might find the music physically painful, enjoyable, or barely noticeable. Autism spectrum disorder is clinically diagnosed by specialists or teams of specialists who usually have significant experience. They use various tests to help determine if someone has ASD traits. Then they select one of three levels indicating the amount of support the autistic person needs, and they can select from a slew of specifications that may or may not be present.
Symptoms
Autism is not a medical condition with treatments or a “cure”. But some people need support to help them with certain things. If you think you or your child may be autistic, get advice about the signs of autism. These typically involve over- or under-sensitivities to sounds, lights, touch, tastes, smells, pain and other stimuli. Specialized healthcare providers diagnose autism using a checklist of criteria in the two categories above.
Diagnosing ASD
Read more about Autism here.
Deficits in ASD are often linked to behavior problems, such as difficulties following directions, being cooperative, and doing things on other people’s terms. Symptoms similar to those of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder can be part of an ASD diagnosis. Oxidative stress, DNA damage and DNA repair have been postulated to play a role in the aetiopathology of both ASD and schizophrenia. Despite this, misplaced parental concern has led to lower rates of childhood immunizations, outbreaks of previously controlled childhood diseases in some countries, and the preventable deaths of several children.
Among these approaches, interventions either treat autistic features comprehensively, or focalize treatment on a specific area of deficit. There is no treatment as such for autism, and many sources advise that this is not an appropriate goal, although treatment of co-occurring conditions remains an important goal. Several interventions can help children with autism, and no single treatment is best, with treatment typically tailored to the child’s needs. Studies of interventions have methodological problems that prevent definitive conclusions about efficacy, but the development of evidence-based interventions has advanced. Gastrointestinal problems are one of the most commonly co-occurring medical conditions in autistic people. These are linked to greater social impairment, irritability, language impairments, mood changes, and behavior and sleep problems. A 2015 review proposed that immune, gastrointestinal inflammation, malfunction of the autonomic nervous system, gut flora alterations, and food metabolites may cause brain neuroinflammation and dysfunction.
People with Asperger’s do not have the same learning disabilities that many people with autism have, but they might have a specific learning difficulty. What often differentiates the traits of an autistic person from the same traits in a non-autistic person is how they are expressed. And while some autistic people have rare savant traits, these are not typical of being autistic. There are many autistic traits that are shared by people who are not autistic. They become markers of autism based not on their existence but on the degree to which they vary from what non-autistic society considers neurotypical. It’s easy to think that unusual autistic abilities, behaviors, or interests are actually universal among autistic people.
Anxiety is a real difficulty for many autistic adults, particularly in social situations or when facing change. It can affect a person psychologically and physically and impact quality of life for autistic people and their families. Autistic people may not recognize jokes at all or may have a very different idea of what’s funny.