Understanding Autism

Autism was first described and named in 1943 and was said to comprise three common characteristics: 1. Autistic children prefer to relate to objects over people. 2. They're obsessed with maintaining routines and sameness in their lives. 3. They tend to seek complete aloneness, shutting out the world around them.

While the disorder has always been said to represent a "spectrum" or range of problems, today more children than in the past whose symptoms show both more-and less-severity are included. For instance, kids with Asperger syndrome, which refers to high intelligence without language deficits but with social impairments, are placed on the spectrum, as are those whose symptoms are so sever that a generation ago they would have been termed mentally retarded.
No one disputes that the number of children diagnosed with an autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) has gone way up compared with statistics from 30 years ago. But as widespread as ASD appears to be- affecting as many as 1 in every 150 children. The fact is, it's impossible to compare how common autism is today with 10 or 20 years ago.

Understanding Autism and Your Child

Credit: Joanna Stauffer

Copyright: Joanna Stauffer