Autism is a spectrum disorder, meaning that there is a wide degree of variation in the way it affects people, Gifted People Services wants to bring below some common concerns parents are always wondering about:
1- Where does your child fall on the autism spectrum?
The three autism spectrum disorders share many of the same symptoms, However they differ in their severity and impact:
- Classic Autism: is the most severe of the autism spectrum disorders and sometimes called autistic disorder.
- Asperger's Syndrome: it is a milder disorder and sometimes called high-functioning autism.
- Pervasive Developmental Disorder or not otherwise specified (PDD-NOS).
Note: The average majority fall in the middle range of the spectrum and only 20% of them have classic autism.
2- What are the signs and symptoms of autism spectrum disorders?
- Social Skills: such as lack of interest in other people, difficulty in making friends with children same age and unusual body language and facial expressions.
- Speech and Language: such as delay in learning or talking, doesn't understand simple words or phrases and difficulty communicating needs and desires.
- Restricted Behavior and play: such as repetitive body movements, a strong needs for routines and odd ways of moving.
3- The road to an autism diagnosis can be difficult and time consuming and this is due to high concerns about labelling or incorrectly diagnosing the child.
4- Some cases need more than one specialist to be involved in diagnosing your child autism such as:
- Child psychologists
- Child psychiatrists
- Speech pathologists
- Developmental paediatricians
- Paediatric neurologists
- Audiologists
- Physical therapists
- Special education teachers
5-The last but not the least, there is no single medical test that can diagnose it definitively, it needs multiple evaluations and tests in order to detect the child problem.
Source: http://www.helpguide.org