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What is Autism?

Autism is a developmental disorder that, in the last few years, has come to refer to a wide range of different disorders. While five different conditions now fall under the umbrella of what’s called autism spectrum disorder, or ASD, most people who are diagnosed with it face behavioral, communication and social challenges.

Unlike some other developmental disorders, people with autism don’t look physically different from people who don’t have ASD. Instead, their disorder presents itself in how their brain processes things, which in turn, affects how they learn, how they communicate, how they feel in social situations and more.

There are different degrees of severity of ASD, ranging from “high-functioning autism” on the lower end to people who are non-verbal on the higher end.

Signs of autism can be spotted early today, with ASD being diagnosed in young children. Studies have shown that the earlier a child can be diagnosed, the more effective treatment for the disorder can be.

As autism can be confusing, we’ll provide an overview of what ASD is, how it can be spotted and how it is treated.

Table Of Contents

What is Autism?

Autism is a developmental disorder that ultimately affects how some people behave, learn, communicate and interact with other people. While ASD may be diagnosed at any age, it is typically thought to develop within the first two years of a child’s life.

People who are diagnosed with ASD typically have trouble interacting and communicating with people, exhibit repetitive behaviors and have restricted interests, and/or have other symptoms that affect how they function in life.

While autism was once a narrowly-defined disorder, it’s now described as a much more encompassing “umbrella” disorder that covers:

  • Asperger’s syndrome
  • Rett syndrome
  • Childhood disintegrative disorder (CDD)
  • Kanner’s syndrome
  • Pervasive developmental disorder-not otherwise specified (PDD-NOS)

While each of those individual disorders may be used colloquially nowadays, they are simply referred to as ASD by people in the medical and professional field.

What Are Some of the Signs of Autism?

There are many different signs and symptoms of autism in children.

One of the challenges of diagnosing ASD is that every child with autism is unique. Signs that some children display, other children will not.

Some of the most common signs of autism include:

  • Not making eye contact consistently
  • Not sharing emotion, enjoyment or interest in activities or objects
  • Not responding to their name
  • Displaying an emotion, gesture and/or movement that doesn’t match what’s going on around them
  • Having a robotic-sounding voice
  • Challenges adjusting their behaviors to different social situations
  • Repetitive or unusual behaviors (repeating phrases or words)
  • Having an intense interest in a specific topic
  • Being upset by even slight routine changes

If a child displays one of these signs and symptoms, it doesn’t automatically mean they have autism, of course. That’s why an in-depth evaluation must be performed by a trained clinical psychologist to accurately diagnose ASD.

What Are Some of the Common Risk Factors of Autism?

A natural question that many parents have are what are some of the common risk factors of autism for their children. It can be difficult to exactly pinpoint why some children have ASD but others don’t, since researchers haven’t landed on a primary cause for ASD just yet.

That being said, many studies have suggested that an individual’s genes can play a part, as well as other environmental aspects. Some factors believed to be associated with a person having an increased risk for ASD include …

  • Having one or more siblings who have ASD
  • Having parents who are older
  • Having a genetic condition such as Fragile X syndrome or Down syndrome
  • Having a birth weight that is very low

The prevalence of autism has risen dramatically in the last 20 years, with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reporting that 27.6 in 1,000 children were diagnosed with ASD in 2020 compared to only 6.7 in 1,000 children 20 years earlier — a more than three-fold increase.

Some of that may be due to the fact that doctors are getting better at identifying and diagnosing ASD. Some may be due to other environmental factors, such as parents typically being older today than they were even 20 years ago.

How is Autism Treated?

There are many different ways that autism can be treated, but one of the most effective ways is a practice known as applied behavioral analysis, or ABA therapy.

This treatment takes a science-based approach to teaching and learning, helping children with ASD gain the communication, social and life skills they need to succeed.

Using repetition of teaching skills, ABA therapists work one-on-one with children with autism to learn desired behaviors and responses to different cues. The children are then rewarded for displaying the desired behavior, which over time works to help the skills “stick.”

Blue Gems ABA Provides Best-in-Class ABA Therapy

Much progress has been made in the identification, diagnosis and treatment of autism in the last 20 years, to the extreme benefit of those children who are diagnosed with the developmental disorder.

At Blue Gems ABA, we have a team of licensed and experienced BCBAs who work hard every day with children with autism to help them build the social, emotional, behavioral and communication skills they need to succeed in life.

We also have experienced clinical psychologists who evaluate children for ASD and can provide an official diagnosis, if appropriate.

For more information, please contact us today.

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