Courtney Cronin

Autism Table of Contents

• What Is Autism • The Adolescent Years with A
• Types of Autism • Problems that May Accompa
• Early Signs of ASD • Dietary Interventions
• • Possible Causes of Autism
Indicators of ASD
• Could Vaccines be the Cause
• Social Symptoms
• Communication Difficulties
• Repetitive Behaviors
 • Autism can be defined as;
“A psychiatric disorder of childhood
characterized by marked deficits in
communication and social interaction,
preoccupation with fantasy, language
impairment, and abnormal behavior, such as
repetitive acts and excessive attachment to
certain objects. It is usually associated with
intellectual impairment.”
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 • Autistic Disorder (Classic Autism)
• Asperger Syndrome
• Childhood Disintegrative Disorder (CDD)
• Rett Syndrome
• Pervasive Developmental Disorder Not
Otherwise Specified (PDDNOS)

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 Early Signs of Autism in
Children
• Parents can usually • Autism can often
notice that children are be detected by
the age of 3
“different” from birth.
years.
• Children are • In some cases
unresponsive to people Autism can be
or focusing keenly on detected as early
one item for long as 18 months.
periods of time.

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 Indicators of Autism Spectrum
Disorders
• Does not babble, point, or make meaningful gestures by 1 year of age
• Does not speak one word by 16 months
• Does not combine two words by 2 years
• Does not respond to name
• Loses language or social skills
• Poor eye contact
• Doesn’t seem to know how to play with toys
• Attached to one particular toy or object
• Doesn’t smile
• At times seems to be hearing impaired

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 Social Symptoms
• Children with
• Children with
ASD avoid eye
ASD also are
contact, do not slower to learn to
interact, resist interpret what
attention, hugs others are
and cuddling, thinking and
and seldom seek feeling. Without
comfort or the ability to
respond to interpret gestures
parents displays and facial
expressions, the
of anger or
social world may
affection in a seem too
typical way. perplexing.
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 Communication Difficulties
• Some children with ASD remain mute
throughout their lives.
• Some children may learn to use sign language
or communicate through pictures.
• Some ASD children parrot what they hear, but
usually pass through that stage by the age of
3.
• Facial expressions, movements, and gestures
rarely match what they are saying. Their tone
of voice also fails to reflect their feelings.
• A high-pitched, sing-song, or flat, robot like
voice is common.
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• People with ASD are at lose to let others know
what they need, so as a result they may
 Repetitive Behaviors
• Although children with ASD appear physically
normal and have good muscle control, odd
repetitive motions may set them apart from other
children.
• Some children and older people may spend a lot of
time repeatedly flapping their arms or walking on
their toes. Some suddenly freeze in position.
• When younger, children with ASD spend hours lining
up their cars and trains in a certain way, and if
someone moves them, they may become extremely
upset.
• ASD children need absolute consistency in their
environment. A slight change in routine- in
mealtimes, dressing, taking a bath, going to school
at a certain time and by same route- can be
tremendously disturbing. Next
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 The Adolescent Years with
ASD
• Some behaviors of children with
ASD improve through the teenage
years, but some worsen.
• When a person with ASD is in their
teen year they realize that they
lack friends, they aren’t planning
for for a career or dating. So for
some, the sadness that comes with
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such realization motivates them to
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 Problems that May
Accompany ASD
Many children with ASD are highly attuned
Sensory Problems or even painfully sensitive to certain sounds,
textures, tastes and smells.

Many children with ASD have some

Mental Retardation degree of mental impairment.

One in four children with ASD develops

Seizures seizures. Seizures are caused by abnormal
electrical activity in the brain and can lead to
unconsciousness.
Turberous Sclerosis is a rare genetic
Turberous Sclerosis disorder that causes bengin tumors to grow in
the brain. One to four percent of children
with ASD have Turberous Sclerosis
Fragile X Syndrome affects about two to five
Fragile X Syndrome percent of people with ASD.

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 • Dietary interventions are
based on the idea that food
allergies cause symptoms pf
autism and an insufficiency
of a specific vitamin or
mineral may cause some
autistic symptoms.
• The most common diet in
autistic children is the
gluten-free, casein-free diet.
This diet limits out milk and
milk byproducts and wheat,
rye, oat and barley.
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 Controversy exists about the exact origins of autism. There
are a variety of abnormalities that could be a possible
cause of autism.
• Some research suggest that autism is caused by an
underlying form of neurological or brain dysfunction
• Autism is NOT caused by psychological sources such as
mental illness or faulty child rearing
• Cerebellum is unusually small in autistic patients which
explains changes in language.
• Some autistic symptoms are caused by food allergies or
chemical deficiencies in the body
• Researchers have found that some forms of certain genetic
disorders lead to symptoms of autism.
• Factors during and after pregnancy, like infections, can
damage the brain leading to symptoms of autism
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 Could Vaccines be the
Cause of Autism?
• In 1998 there was an idea that Autism Spectrum
Disorders were caused by the Measles, Mumps, Rubella
Vaccine (MMR).
• In more recent studies there is still some concern that the
MMR vaccine could be a cause but the government has
dismissed the idea.
• Almost all doctors and researchers now say that there is
no link between MMR vaccines and Autism.
• Children with autism can be born with it but signs may
not be seen until up to 2 years later, so when a child is
given the MMR vaccine, and then the symptoms of ASD
appear soon after it, parents may be lead to think that
ASD is caused by the vaccine.
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