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Autism affects the way an individual perceives the
world and makes communication and social interac-
tion diffcult. Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are
characterized by social-interaction diffculties,
communication challenges and a tendency to engage
in repetitive behaviors. However, symptoms and their
severity vary widely across these three core areas.
Taken together, they may result in relatively mild
challenges for someone on the high functioning end
of the autism spectrum. For others, symptoms may
be more severe, as when repetitive behaviors and
lack of spoken language interfere with everyday life.
While autism is usually a life long condition, all
children and adults beneft from interventions, or
therapies, that can reduce symptoms and increase
skills and abilities. Although it is best to begin inter-
vention as soon as possible, the benefts of therapy
can continue throughout life. The long term outcome
is highly variable. A small percentage of children
lose their diagnosis over time, while others remain
severely affected. Many have normal cognitive
skills, despite challenges in social and language
abilities. Many individuals with autism develop
speech and learn to communicate with others.
Early intervention can make extraordinary differ-
ences in your child’s development. How your child
is functioning now may be very different from how
he or she will function later on in life.
- Social symptoms
Typically developing infants are social by nature.
They gaze at faces, turn toward voices, grasp a
fnger and even smile by 2 to 3 months of age. By
contrast, most children who develop autism have
diffculty engaging in the give-and-take of everyday
human interactions. By 8 to 10 months of age, many
infants who go on to develop autism are showing
some symptoms such as failure to respond to their
names, reduced interest in people and delayed
babbling. By toddlerhood, many children with autism
have diffculty playing social games, don’t imitate the
actions of others and prefer to play alone. They may
fail to seek comfort or respond to parents’ displays
of anger or affection in typical ways.
Research suggests that children with autism are
attached to their parents. However, the way they
express this attachment can be unusual. To parents,
it may seem as if their child is disconnected. Both
children and adults with autism also tend to have diff-
culty interpreting what others are thinking and feeling.
Subtle social cues such as a smile, wave or grimace
may convey little meaning. To a person who misses
these social cues, a statement like “Come here!”
may mean the same thing, regardless of whether the
speaker is smiling and extending her arms for a hug or frowning and planting her fsts on her hips.
Without the ability to interpret gestures and facial
expressions, the social world can seem bewildering.
Many people with autism have similar diffculty
seeing things from another person’s perspective.
Most fve-year-olds understand that other people
have different thoughts, feelings and goals than they
have. A person with autism may lack such under-
standing. This, in turn, can interfere with the ability to
predict or understand another person’s actions.
It is common – but not universal – for those with
autism to have diffculty regulating emotions. This
can take the form of seemingly “immature” behavior
such as crying or having outbursts in inappropriate
situations. It can also lead to disruptive and physically
aggressive behavior. The tendency to “lose control”
may be particularly pronounced in unfamiliar, over-
whelming or frustrating situations. Frustration can
also result in self-injurious behaviors such as head
banging, hair pulling or self-biting.
Fortunately, children with autism can be taught how
to socially interact, use gestures and recognize facial
expressions. Also, there are many strategies that
can be used to help the child with autism deal with
frustration so that he or she doesn’t have to resort
to challenging behaviors. We will discuss this later.
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