Characteristics of Autism
(a) Impaired Social Interaction: Many of the social interaction problems that people with Autism exhibit involve deficits in social responsiveness. Parents often notice that their babies or toddlers don’t respond normally to being picked up or cuddled. The child might not show a differential response to parents , siblings, or teachers compared to strangers. The might not smile in social situations, or they might smile or laugh when nothing appears to be funny. Their eye gaze often differs significantly from that of others; they sometimes avoid eye contact with others or look out of the corners of their eyes. The might show little or no interest in other people but be preoccupied with objects. They might not learn to play normally. These characteristics persist and prevent the child form developing typical attachments to parents or friendships with peers.
(b) Impaired Communication: Most children with autism lack communicative intent. Or the desire to communicate for social purposes. As many as 50% are thought to be mute; they no, or almost no, language. Those who develop speech typically show abnormalities in intonation, rate, volume and content of their oral language. They may sound robotic or parroting what they hear.
(c) Repetitive Patterns of Behavior: Many people with autism display stereotyped motor or verbal behavior: repetitive, ritualistic motor behaviors such as twirling, spinning objects, flapping the hands, and rocking , similar to those that are evident in some people who are blind. Another characteristic frequently seen in autism and related disorders is extreme fascination or preoccupation with objects and very restricted range of interests. Children with autism might play ritualistically with an object for hours at a time or show excessive interest in object of a particular type. They can become upset by any change in the environment or a change in routine; some individuals with autism seem intent on the preservation of sameness and have extreme difficulty with change or transition.
(d) Impaired Cognition: Most individuals with autism display cognitive deficits similar to those of people with intellectual disabilities. However, some cognitive processing problem seems to be peculiar to autism: Children with autism are thought to display difficulty in coding and categorization of information, they rely on literal translations, and they seem to remember things by their location in space rather than concept comprehension. In fact it has been speculated that individuals with autism employ and “echo box-like memory store”. This would explain why children with autism may excel at putting puzzles together and building things out of blocks or drawing replicas. However, they tend to perform poorly on tasks requiring verbal comprehension and expressive language.
(e) Abnormal Sensory Perceptions: Some people with autism are either hyper responsive or hypo responsive to particular stimuli in their environment. For example, some experience hypersensitivity to visual stimuli, such as being overly sensitive to fluorescent lights, and others can be overly sensitive to tough. Interestingly, some people with autism are totally opposite of hype responsive. They very unresponsive to auditory, visual or tactile stimuli. Still others have a combination of hypersensitivity and hyposensitivity , for instance being oblivious to loud noises such as a fire alarm but reacting to some whistling at a great distance.
Exceptional Learners: An Introduction to Special Education
(a) Impaired Social Interaction: Many of the social interaction problems that people with Autism exhibit involve deficits in social responsiveness. Parents often notice that their babies or toddlers don’t respond normally to being picked up or cuddled. The child might not show a differential response to parents , siblings, or teachers compared to strangers. The might not smile in social situations, or they might smile or laugh when nothing appears to be funny. Their eye gaze often differs significantly from that of others; they sometimes avoid eye contact with others or look out of the corners of their eyes. The might show little or no interest in other people but be preoccupied with objects. They might not learn to play normally. These characteristics persist and prevent the child form developing typical attachments to parents or friendships with peers.
(b) Impaired Communication: Most children with autism lack communicative intent. Or the desire to communicate for social purposes. As many as 50% are thought to be mute; they no, or almost no, language. Those who develop speech typically show abnormalities in intonation, rate, volume and content of their oral language. They may sound robotic or parroting what they hear.
(c) Repetitive Patterns of Behavior: Many people with autism display stereotyped motor or verbal behavior: repetitive, ritualistic motor behaviors such as twirling, spinning objects, flapping the hands, and rocking , similar to those that are evident in some people who are blind. Another characteristic frequently seen in autism and related disorders is extreme fascination or preoccupation with objects and very restricted range of interests. Children with autism might play ritualistically with an object for hours at a time or show excessive interest in object of a particular type. They can become upset by any change in the environment or a change in routine; some individuals with autism seem intent on the preservation of sameness and have extreme difficulty with change or transition.
(d) Impaired Cognition: Most individuals with autism display cognitive deficits similar to those of people with intellectual disabilities. However, some cognitive processing problem seems to be peculiar to autism: Children with autism are thought to display difficulty in coding and categorization of information, they rely on literal translations, and they seem to remember things by their location in space rather than concept comprehension. In fact it has been speculated that individuals with autism employ and “echo box-like memory store”. This would explain why children with autism may excel at putting puzzles together and building things out of blocks or drawing replicas. However, they tend to perform poorly on tasks requiring verbal comprehension and expressive language.
(e) Abnormal Sensory Perceptions: Some people with autism are either hyper responsive or hypo responsive to particular stimuli in their environment. For example, some experience hypersensitivity to visual stimuli, such as being overly sensitive to fluorescent lights, and others can be overly sensitive to tough. Interestingly, some people with autism are totally opposite of hype responsive. They very unresponsive to auditory, visual or tactile stimuli. Still others have a combination of hypersensitivity and hyposensitivity , for instance being oblivious to loud noises such as a fire alarm but reacting to some whistling at a great distance.
Exceptional Learners: An Introduction to Special Education