Autism Is A Pervasive, Lifelong Neurodevelopmental Disorder

Autism Spectrum Disorder is a growing problem throughout the entire globe. Autism Spectrum Disorder is defined as deficits in social reciprocity and communication, as well as unusual, restricted and repetitive behaviors (Lord). Such behaviors may include running back and forth, excessive cleaning, noises, and clapping. These also vary greatly with age and ability, and the notion of ASD has been introduced to recognize these diversities (Firth). Autism was first discovered in 1943 when Leo Kanner observed 11 children with several common traits such as, impairments in social interaction, anguish for changes, good memory, belated echolalia, over sensitivity to certain stimuli (especially sound), food problems, limitations in spontaneous activity,

Autism disorder is an issue facing many people today. It’s an issue widely discussed in the news and social media. In Gale’s data from 2015 defines autism as a general term for a group of complex disorders of the brain development that are grouped together under the broader term of autism spectrum disorder also known as ASD. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), as of 2014, about 1 in 68 out of 1,000 children were diagnosed with ASD. This was a dramatic increase from 1 in 150 children in 1992. The CDC also

To understand the etiology of Autism one must understand that Autism belongs to a group of developmental disabilities that have been identified as Autism Spectrum Disorders. The name "spectrum” indicates that the disorder is broad and it affects each individual differently. Autism Spectrum Disorder commonly referred to as (ASD) encompass delays in the development of many basic skills. These delays in development include but are not limited to: limited or inability to properly socialize or establish relationships with others, effective communication skills, restricted interests and repetitive behaviors. Individuals with Autism may also have (ID) intellectual disabilities,

As research into autism spectrum disorders has increased over recent years and this has resulted in changes to the way that American psychiatry diagnoses autism spectrum disorders. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) is used by clinicians as a guide to diagnoses of mental health illnesses and since its first publication in 1930’s it has been updated every 20 years, and these updates reflect on new research and discoveries.

The term Autism has been used for over one century. Early 1900’s the term Autism was used to refer to children with some social or emotional symptoms that cause those children to be isolated from others. Since Bleuler, E. from Switzerland in 1911 [3] until present days researchers has done tremendous efforts in: diagnosing, treating, and recording their researches.

Autism is a word that every modern parent is aware, and even afraid of. This word autism, however, has become common quite recently. It first appeared in 1943-1944 when Leo Kanner in Baltimore and Hans Asperger in Vienna, published articles describing a childhood disorder named “autism”. They actually borrowed this term from Kraepelin and Bleuler, who used it to “describe the escape from reality and withdrawal seen in schizophrenia” (Catherine and Frédérique 2431-2443). Now the term “autism spectrum disorder”(ASD) refers to a “condition of early childhood characterized by multiple impairments in socialization and communication, as well as unusual interests and repetitive behavior”(Lawrence and Karen 51-53). According to Dr.Jose Cordero, director of the National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities, autism has become an “urgent public health issue”(Caroline). It is a global phenomenon occurring in industrialized countries. Statistics shows a huge increase of autism in children: in 2000 every one in 150 children was autistic compared to one in 68 now(Alice). The most well known causes of autism are the use of vaccines, the increasing age of parents, and genetically modified foods. In addition, most researchers now believe that autism is caused by a complex interaction of genetic and environmental triggers and possibly the use of

Autism is a developmental disorder in which an individual has problems with communication and interaction. Autism Spectrum Disorder was adopted as a categorization in 2013 and begins in childhood and follows throughout the course of a child’s life and is actually a collection of developmental brain disorders. There is a copious difference between autism and Asperger syndrome, the main difference appearing to be language development. “The first documented case of autism was published in 1943 by Dr. Leo Kanner” (Introduction to Autism). This disorder is extremely difficult to diagnose because of the copious different presentations of the symptoms, which leads to misdiagnoses such as ADHD and Rett syndrome.

When people hear the diagnosis of Autism spectrum disorder (ASD), they think of an individual that has a hard time integrating into to today’s society. A lot of people don’t know that Autism is actually classified as a group of complex disorders associated with brain development. Each of these specific disorders is characterized into different degrees. The first is the one that most people associate with autism, which is trouble with social integration. The other classifications are verbal and non-verbal communication, also repetitive behaviors. With all of these subtypes, in 2013 a manual was published connecting these sub groups into one diagnosis called autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a hereditary neurodevelopmental disorder. Like many other psychological disorders, it is commonly misunderstood in popular culture. Many allude to it casually, often equating it with crippling social awkwardness and disability when it is in fact a spectrum disorder with many degrees of severity. It is somewhat of an enigma within the scientific community as well; there are many things we do not know about ASD and there is ongoing research to learn more about the disorder. The purpose of this paper is to explain what is currently known about ASD: general facts, symptoms, prognosis, treatment, and demographics.

Autism is a fascinating disability because of its inherent variability. In fact, often times the term autism is deemed outdated. It is more currently said the individual has an autism spectrum disorder (although this is not yet recognized by by IDEA (Loiacono, 2009)), indicating that the disorder is not the same and can not be treated the same as another disorder under this umbrella term. Because autism contains a variety of unique conditions with perhaps similar hallmarks, its incidence is higher than that of disabilities with very specific symptoms. With an increasing number of children being screened for different disorders, more children are being identified and diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder. This increase in numbers has brought about questions regarding the

Autism spectrum disorder first became a diagnosed disorder when it was described by a psychiatrist named, Leo Kanner in 1943. As a result of a study he conducted involving 11 children, he developed a diagnostic criteria based on observations of repetitive, stereotyped behavior with consistent impairment in social interactions (Volden, 2017). Over time however, autism became synonymous with Asperger’s disorder and pervasive developmental disorder that included similar, but widely different diagnostic criteria in social interactions. Not until 1994 did the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) of Mental Disorders 4th edition recognize autism as a distinct disorder, being classified today in the 5th edition of DSM as autism spectrum

Autism is a pervasive developmental disorder which many people claim to understand, but few fully do. The extent of most people’s knowledge about autism is seven-year-old white boys who will only talk about cars, Sheldon Cooper of The Big Bang Theory, or “Rain-man”. These people claim to understand the condition and believe that fighting to “cure” these people of their autism is the right thing to do. They believe they are good people for speaking for the people “who can’t speak for themselves” (see Autism Speaks, the autism “charity” widely considered in the autistic community to be a hate group). However, autistic individuals are capable of “speaking”, for themselves and their community, groups and people like Autism Speaks just are not

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), is the umbrella diagnosis for all disorders ranging from Asperger’s to autism itself. There are varying degrees of autism, and people can describe this as being “on the spectrum”. Autism is a mental disorder that is characterized by difficulty in both communication and with forming relationships with peers (Autism Speaks). Researchers believe that before the pattern of symptoms now known as autism existed within societies, people did exist with this disorder but were instead classified as mentally retarded and deemed insane (Bettelheim). Autism itself was not named a disorder until around the year of 1943 by Leo Kanner when he published a paper describing how he had noticed a certain pattern of symptoms within children who had previously been diagnosed as either disturbed or mentally insane

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a relatively new diagnoses within the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders fifth edition (DSM-5) created by the American Psychiatric Association (APA). ASD is a combination of multiple disorders that were deemed to have similar criteria and therefor too difficult to adequately give different diagnoses. The original discovery and diagnostic criteria for autism was by Leo Kanner around 1943 and remained unchallenged for the next two decades (Verhoeff, 2013, p. 449). Since then the topic has received a large increase in research on etiology and significant changes of the

The term autism has become a hot topic in recent years. The increasing number of children being diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) coupled with the uncertainty of the cause and treatment methods has only added fuel to the fire. The Center for Disease Control currently reports the rate of diagnosis at 1 in 68 children (Baio, 2014). This number is a startling when you consider the studies conducted in Europe in the 1960’s and 1970’s reported the prevalence of autism to be 1 in 2,500 children (Baio, 2014).