Autism Spectrum Disorders

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Autism Spectrum Disorders
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Definition

• Autism is a neurobehavioral syndrome marked by
  qualitative impairments of social interaction,
  communication, and restricted, repetitive and
  stereotyped patterns of behavior

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Background

• The disorder was first recognized by Leo Kanner,
  a psychiatrist at John Hopkins Hospital in 1943
• The children displayed behaviors so markedly and
  uniquely from anything reported so far, that each
  case meritsa detailed consideration of its
  fascinating peculiarities.

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And now

• Autism is broken down into 5 disorders (Autistic
  Spectrum)
• Autistic Disorder
• Asperger Syndrome
• Rett Syndrome
• Childhood Disintegrative Disorder
• Pervasive Developmental Disorder

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Autistic Disorder

• Marked by 3 main characteristics with onset
  before age 3
• Social interactions impaired
• Behavioral issues
• Restricted
• Repetitive stereotyped patterns
• Excesses
• Impairments of Communication
• Mute
• Echolalia (verbatim repetitions of others)

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Asperger Syndrome

• Many characteristics overlap, but most
  distinctive feature is impairment in all social
  areas (facial expressions, posture, eye contact,
  etc.)
• Intense interests, often becoming obsessive
• Motor function problems
• Most have average or above average intelligence

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Asperger Syndrome cont.

• Extensive vocabulary
• Perfectionist tendencies
• Inflexible schedules
• Speech and language impairments
• Problems with speech and language semantics,
  pragmatics and prosody
• Superior rote memory (movie)

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Rett Syndrome

• Begins between 5 months and 3 years of age
• Severe language impairments
• Commonly suffer from seizures
• Primarily affects females
• Slow of head growth, hands have stereotypic
  movements
• Considered to be part of the Spectrum, however
  considered distinct neurological condition

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Childhood Disintegrative Disorder

• Shares similar behavioral characteristics with
  autistic disorder, however does not begin until
  after the age of 2 and sometimes not until age 10
• Common medical complications
• Poor prognosis for significant improvement

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Pervasive Developmental Disorder

• Those diagnosed meet some, but not all, criteria
  for autistic disorder
• Difficulty in communication or restricted
  interests
• Children with socialization problems may be
  misdiagnosed
• Boundaries not well defined

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Causes

• In early autism research (1950s), it was believed
  to be the fault of the parents
• Debate over childhood vaccinations being possible
  cause
• NO KNOWN CAUSE, but thought to be related to
  abnormal brain development and disruption in
  neurochemistry
• Genes make children susceptible, but
  environmental factors may trigger it
• Retts syndrome believed to be caused by an
  abnormality on one of the X chromosome genes
• Girls have two X chromosomes

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Statistics

• 2-6 per 1,000 births
• Approx. 3,000 new cases per year
• Fastest growing developmental disability

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Sources

• http//www.autism-society.org
• http//www.autismspeaks.org/
• Heward, Willam. Exceptional Children
• An Introduction to Special Education. 8th ed. New
  Jersey Pearson, 2006.