What is Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD)?
Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs) are the result of a neurological disorder that has an effect on normal brain function, affecting the development of a person’s communication and social interaction skills. ASDs are experienced on a spectrum comprising of the following conditions :
- Asperger’s syndrome – this is a milder form of autism. Key characteristics include social isolation and eccentricity, difficulty with verbal communication and a narrow range of interests. A lack of responsiveness may be accompanied by an inability to communicate appropriately and by a persistent failure to develop two way social relationships. Language skills may be poor, even non-existent and pointing and gestures may be used instead of words. However, grammatical language abilities may be average or superior. People with Asperger syndrome may have sensory difficulties. These can occur in one or all of the senses (sight, sound, smell, touch, or taste). The degree of difficulty varies from one individual to another. Most commonly, an individual's senses are either intensified (over-sensitive) or underdeveloped (under-sensitive). For example, bright lights, loud noises, overpowering smells, particular food textures and the feeling of certain materials can be a cause of anxiety and pain for people with Asperger’s syndrome.
- High Functioning Autism – People with high functioning autism have autism but have normal learning and cognitive learning skills. Language development is difficult initially but they become proficient eventually.
- Pervasive Development Disorder – These children/adults have autism but not to the extent whereby they meet the definition of high functioning autism.
- Retts Syndrome – Affects females only and is extremely rare, affecting only one in 100,000 children. Characteristics include handwringing movements and the criteria for autism.
- Childhood Disintegrative Disorder – This term defines children whose development appears normal for the first few years but then regresses, with the loss of speech and other skills, until the characteristics of autism are conspicuous.
The higher the severity of autism, the more affected speech becomes. However, all those with any form of ASD experience difficulties in three main areas:
- Social Difficulties –including taking longer to learn to speak and finding it difficult to begin and continue conversations
- Communication Difficulties – including finding it difficult to understand facial expressions, body language and to share things and feelings with others
- Imagination Difficulties – finding it difficult to abstract
Furthermore, a person with ASD will typically prefer routine and therefore stick to a set of behaviours and will resist any major and minor change to daily activities. In more severe cases, symptoms include being socially clumsy, offensive comments and a lack of interest in other people. People with ASD can also :
- Often miss cues given by others to catch someone’s attention.
- Find it more difficult to understand others feelings and practice empathy.
- Dislike un-planned physical contact.
- Find sudden loud noises shocking (it is probably the suddenness rather than the noise that is problematic).
- Have facial ticks.
- Be prone to having obsessions.
Overall, the core diagnostic criteria for ASD is impaired social interaction, plus impaired communication and a restricted range of interests and behaviours , however development of the disorder in different individuals may not be uniform. Cognitive and language skills can develop fast, whilst social and motor skills trail behind. Learning can also be unpredictable. Furthermore, the manifestation of ASD can change over time with age, with patterns of behaviour and impairments become more or less marked over time. Individual capacity may fluctuate at different times and in different circumstances, with the severity of symptoms varying widely across the autistic spectrum.
A recent survey of adults with autism and their families, ‘I Exist: The Message from Adults with Autism’, carried out by The National Autism Society has recently published some of its findings, including:
- 63% of adults with autism do not have enough support to met their needs, of those, 82% say that with more support they would be less isolated.
- Of those who do not have enough support, 79% say that with more support they would be able to do the things they want to do and 70% say that with more support they would be more independent.
- 92% of parents are either very worried or quite worried about their son or daughter’s future when they are no longer able to support them
- Only 15% of adults with autism are in full-time paid employment
- 49% of adults with autism still live at home with their parents
- Of those adults who live on their own, 44% say that their families provide most of their support
- Over 69% of people with Asperger’s Syndrome or high functioning autism say that they have experienced problems in accessing health and social care services.