Symptoms of Autism

When you first hear the word Autism it conjures up a lot of images and none are good, in this article we hope to explain exactly what is Autism and also to offer so positive images of Autism and Autistic behaviour.

Autism is described in almost every medical book as an acute or severe developmental disorder, which begins at birth or between birth and the age of two and a half.

It is the case that almost all Autistic children and adults look absolutely normal and appear on the surface to be like everyone else ‘ordinary.’ However for the majority of Autism sufferers the world is an odd place full of confusion, and puzzlement and they spend their time busy in their own world exhibiting strange, odd and often disturbing behaviour. These displays of strange behaviour are radically different to the behaviour of ordinary people.

Autism is a condition that is not very well understood by the medical profession and layman alike and misdiagnosis often occurs because there are basically three differing types of Autism. Less acute cases if correctly diagnosed should either be labelled PDD (Pervasive Developmental Disorder) or indeed Asperger's Syndrome.

Sufferers of Pervasive Developmental Disorder or indeed Asperger's Syndrome usually or typically display Autistic problems such as social or behavioural problems that may include aggressiveness and antisocial behaviour, however the sufferers of Pervasive Developmental Disorder or Asperger's Syndrome usually have normal speech.

One advance that has arrived as a result of the study of Autism is the belief that Autism is not just something that you have to live with. Several biomedical treatment options have been developed which though of course don’t offer a cure will help to reduce the impact of Autism on the sufferer and of course their family.

It is as well that the treatment of Autism is becoming ever more useful to patients because the disorder appears to be increasing at an alarming rate. Before the last decade of the previous century Autism was considered to be rare, indeed at one case in every 2,000 births it was close to being statistically non-existent, but things have changed.

Since the 1990’s the number of cases in new born babies has increased five fold with the number of girls being born with the disorder being four times less than in boys.

And it appears to be getting worst figures from the US Centers for Disease Control reported that "one in 150 children is diagnosed with Autism," and that is a worrying level for a brain disorder.

Can Autism be treated? The sad and irrefutable fact is that today’s medical science cannot treat Autism so there isn’t a pill for Autism, however there are some drugs that have been developed that may be effective in some cases. Autistic people treated with therapies include Seratonin Reputake Inhibitors a range of behaviour controlling drugs.

Not all drug treatments are well received by the groups that have been set up to defend Autistic people’s rights and welfare, they offer other treatments and these include diet, speech therapy, social skills therapy and probably most important of all integration into the community.