What are the effects of autism?
- There are many effects of autism. Many symptoms of autism are not observed until the child would normally learn to speak, and sometimes not until the child enters school. However symptoms of autism are not usually found until he or she turns 3 years old, and sometimes it can be diagnosed as early as birth. Sometimes, autism is very hard to diagnose. In order for a diagnosis to occur, the child is given a mental evaluation, as well as evaluations on behavior, writing, listening, as well as speaking. Parents should also include documents that show the past behavior which includes pictures, and videos from the child's past. Autism can be diagnosed at birth, however, it has been diagnosed at later ages.
Some effects may include but are not limited to:
-Difficulties with behavior, learning,reading, writing, speaking, and socialization.
- Some inabilities to control themselves physically, mentally, and emotionally
- Mental Retardation (Not present in all autistic person). Autism does not mean the person is mentally retarded.
- Self- Injurious Behavior(SIB) (Not present in all autistic persons)
- Inability to speak. (Non-Verbal)(Also not present in all autistic persons)
- Tantrums and Meltdowns which are common in most persons with autism.
- Hurting others or destruction of objects, which is also common in most persons with autism.
- Not aware or have no fear of dangers. (Not present in all autistic people)
- Inappropriate language- very common for people with autism.
- Some autistic persons do not like to socialize or communcate with others,even if they are able to, because they are sensative, and can have more anxiety attacks, which is caused by sensory overload.
- Some autistic people do NOT like to be touched or bothered.
-Some Individuals with autism also have difficulty making friends.
- Autism patients also do not like the change in routines, and some are obsessed with their routines.
-Some autistic patients also have very few, but intensive interests.
ALSO: Autistic people may do strange things, like rocking back-and-forth, flapping their hands in front of their eyes, humming, talking to themselves, spinning in circles, or repeating things. Some of this is just for fun, or out of excitement or distress. These behaviors are usually referred to as stimming or Self-stimulation. Sometimes, strange behaviors are to compensate with sensory problems. The repetitiveness is related to the natural repetitiveness and narrow focus of the autistic mind. Talking to oneself or giggling for no apparent reason is often the result of intense daydreaming or remembering, but may sometimes result from disregulated emotion, or be a form of echolalia. (Some estimated 25% also suffer from epileptic seizures of various kinds, some of which may cause strange behavior.) These things are harmless, and do not result from total disorientation or hallucinating. Some may injure themselves with such behavior, but it should not be assumed that such behavior is self-injurious.
ALSO: Autistic people are often alert, and may be seen as extremely shy. However, while some may be very socially anxious, others are not anxious about people, but either uninterested, or are unaware of how to interact with or approach others. Some may not notice people, because of being absorbed by other things. Some are very interested in getting to know others, some may not care, and other may actively avoid social contact. However, it is a mistake to assume autistic people lack affection; some can be very affectionate toward those they know and care about. The lack of normal body language may make them seem more distant or unemotional than they actually are. Autistic people may also show emotions, because of a sudden surprise or emergency, as well as minor things,(i.e, Dropping a Pencil).
Autistic people lack normal non-verbal communication and body language, and may thus seem more literal minded or unemotional than they actually are. Autistic people may also have trouble with verbal communication. This usually involves what is called a semantic-pragmatic component. This means that an autistic person may take a statement or question in a very literal or unusual way; like the comic character Amelia Bedelia from Peggy Parish's children's book series. This could include things like interpreting "I'd like coffee with my cereal" to mean cereal with coffee in it. Another example could be innocently answering "what do you do when you get cut" with "bleed," instead of describing what should be done about the cut. Many autistic people have other communication difficulties, such as trouble remembering vocabulary, or trouble pronouncing words. Some may have Apraxia of Speech, meaning difficulty coordinating speech movements. Others have characteristics of speech disorders called aphasias. Some autistic people may be mute, or may occasionally lose the ability to speak, and can be temperarily or permanently. Some may have odd pronunciation, inflection, or vocal qualities. Many autistic people may pause and need extra time to process verbal comments or questions, and to formulate replies. Repeating things that have been heard (echolalia), is not uncommon, nor is repeating ones own words.
Autistic people tend to have unusual sensory experiences. These experiences may involve a sense being too sensitive, less sensitive than normal, and/or difficulty interpreting a sense ("agnosia"). These experiences do not involve hallucinations; autistic people have sensory experience based on real experiences, like normal people, but the experience may feel or sound different, or the autistic person may have difficulty interpreting the experience. No two autistic people appear to have the exact same pattern of sensory problems.
It is not uncommon for an autistic person to avoid being touched. This is usually because of a heightened sense of touch and a gentle touch to most people may hurt or shock some autistic people. Others may experience confusion, due to difficulty interpreting the sensation or insufficient sensation reaching the brain to interpret. Another, not an uncommon pattern is to have the strength of the sensation inverse from that of the stimulation, so that a gentle touch may feel like an electric shock, but firm contact may not be a problem.
Some autistic people may be insensitive to pain, and fail to notice injuries. Hearing may also be heightened, so that noises that don't bother others may hurt an autistic person's ears. That's why you may see some autistic people cover their ears. Many autistic people have trouble making out what is said to them, as they have trouble processing sound. Vision may also be affected.
Some autistic people are prosopagnostic ("face-blind"), that is, having trouble recognizing people. This means that learning to recognize someone is hard, recognition may be slow, faces tend to be analyzed rather than recognized automatically, and many normal effects of seeing a person may be absent. Sometimes when an autistic person looks at someone, it is like their body being a "camera" that takes about "1,000 pictures per second", when they look at someone. The exact effects and severity may vary between different autistic people. Other autistic people may have their eyes hurt by bright light or certain flickering or vibrating frequencies, as a result of sensory issues.
One common effect of these heightened senses, is that autistic people are vulnerable to sensory overload with continued low-level bombardment. This may also result from too much emotional or social stimulation. Autistic people may become overloaded in situation that would not bother (or might even entertain) a normal person. When overloaded, autistic people have trouble concentrating, may feel tired, confused, or frustrated, and some may experience physical pain. Too much overload may lead to tantrums or emotional outburst. Another result of too much sensory overload may be "shutdown," in which the person looses some or all of the person's normal functioning. Shutdown may feel different to different people, but is extremely unpleasant. Shutdown can be either permanently or temporarily, and sometimes, the autistic person can regain function. Sensory overloads can also cause regression.