According to the Mayo Clinic, autism is a neurodevelopment disorder that is part to a group of developmental problems called autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Autism affects a child’s ability to socially interact and communicate. Overt symptoms surfacing 6 months after infancy commonly become more established by the age of three.
Symptoms of autism include:
- Impairments in social interaction
- Impairments in communication
- Repetitive movement (head rolling, body rocking, hand flapping, making sounds)
- Ritualistic behavior
- Resistance to change
- Self-injury (hand biting, head banging, skin picking, eye poking)
Compulsive behavior such as arranging objects in stacks or lines The contributing causes of autism may include:
- Environmental factors – research is being done on links between viral infections and air pollutants
- Genetic problems – increase susceptibility, may affect brain development and brain cell communicaton
Risk factors that contribute to autistic behavior include:
- Boys are 3 to 4 times more likely to develop autism than girls
- Family history
- Having other disorders – fragile X syndrome, tuberous sclerosis, Tourette syndrome and epilespy
- Parents age – having a father (40 or older), research still being done on mother’s ages
