Learn About these Children
What is autism?
Autism Spectrum Disorder (autism) is a developmental disorder that impacts how people communicate, learn, and interact with others. Even though it can be developed at any age, it is called a “developmental” disorder because symptoms will generally appear as young as age 2-3. About 1 in 44 or just over 2% of children living in the United States struggle with autism.
Some common symptoms of Autism Spectrum Disorder include:
Difficulty adjusting to social behavior/maintaining a conversation
Being unable to stay still for long periods of time
Body language that may not match verbal statements
Slow to respond to one’s name being called
Inconsistent eye contact/appearing to not look at other people while speaking
Talking at length about a subject of interest while neglecting other people’s remarks
It is labeled as a “spectrum” because of the non-binary nature of the disorder. People cannot be labeled as either strictly or not strictly “having difficulty adjusting to social behavior”. There is a continuum in the degree of severity of autism present within all people.
Why do people have autism? What is different about their bodies/brains?
The biology behind autism is complex and still under intense research. We know more about the physical symptoms than the underlying causes.
Many autism-risk or autism-associated genes may impact neighboring neural genes, increasing or decreasing their growth and expression. Neural networks may be affected as well, thus changing the way these children think and communicate.
There is some research to suggest that autism is genetic. An analysis of 7 twin studies suggests that 60-90% of the risk for autism comes from your genome, or the set of all genetic information within us. If your parents have autism, then you are more likely to have it as well.
A popular idea popularized by the internet meme of “Karens” suggests that vaccines cause autism. This is a myth, and there is no scientific evidence to prove causation between vaccines and autism. It might be true that vaccines may be given at similar times to when children commonly get checked for autism, but this is simply a correlation and not causation.
How are people diagnosed with autism?
There is no single definitive metric or tool that can be used to diagnose autism. With that being said, there are two main sources of information that doctors use to assess the severity of autism.
First is the parent’s or caregiver’s descriptions of a child’s behavior. This comes from the everyday experiences that the caretaker witnesses and the difficulties the autistic children may have. The second is from the observations of a professional who will analyze social patterns, tendencies, and dynamics. Symptoms are analyzed and are often rated on a degree severity from 1 to 3 - highlighting the fluidity of the spectrum and the non-binary status of autism.
Autism tests also exist and are moderately accurate but cannot automatically diagnose autism among patients.
Is there anything we can do to help alleviate autism?
Autism is a disorder and not an “illness”, meaning there is no sort of “medical cure” for autism. However, that doesn’t mean there’s nothing we can do.
There is a self-fulfilling prophecy problem among these children. They may not feel comfortable talking with other people beyond close friends and parents out of fear of being judged, and other people may not want to talk with them either because it may take more effort than usual. Thus, these autistic children have limited opportunities to practice their oral expression skills, which may only make them even more frightened and nervous and unwilling to speak. Being uncomfortable speaking decreases the opportunities to speak, which only makes them more uncomfortable speaking due to a lack of practice.
When interacting with these children, we should stay patient. It may take more than one attempt of repeating yourself to allow them sufficient time to comprehend your statement. We should also be supportive of the things they say, and celebrate and cheer with them. This will gradually give them the self-esteem to try practicing speaking more.
Speaking to them isn’t the only way to lift them up, however! Treat them as your friends; playing sports and watching funny videos/movies is a great way to branch out to them as well. Some friendships are forged over simply spending time and getting comfortable with the people around you - it doesn’t always necessitate being about speech and conversation.