What is autism?

Autism is a complex neurological disorder that usually appears during the first three years of life. People with autism process and respond to information in unique ways. Most children with autism have:

• difficulty relating to others
• problems with speech and non-verbal communication
• limited and repetitive interests and behaviour, such as hand flapping and rocking.

What causes autism?

No one knows. Researchers all over the world are looking for the answer.

We do know that autism is not caused by the way a child is raised. There may be a physical cause which affects the development of parts of the brain. There are many theories as to why this might happen. Theories include genetics, viruses, poor immune system, chromosome abnormalities and pollutants.

How common is it?

• Autism is four times more frequent in boys than in girls.
• Characteristics associated with autism tend to run in families.
• It can occur in people of all ethnic, social, education and income groups.
• It affects nearly 1 in 165 children.
• According to Autism Ontario, there are about 70,000 people with autism in Ontario.

Are there different kinds of autism?

When using the term Autism Spectrum Disorders, most professionals are referring to the subset of Pervasive Developmental Disorders (PDD) that includes:

• Autistic Disorder (usually referred to as autism)
• PPD-NOS (Pervasive Development Disorders Not Otherwise Specified), and
• Asperger's Disorder.

Autistic Disorder is considered to be at the more severe end of the spectrum.

What are the characteristics of autism?

People with autism process and respond to information in unique ways. They can show a wide variety of symptoms and characteristics, from mild to severe. Even if they have the same disorder, they can act very differently from one another and have very different skills.

Here are some of the characteristics of autism:

• insists on sameness, resists change
• has difficulty in expressing needs, gestures or points instead of using words
• repeats words or phrases instead of typical, responsive language
• laughs, cries, shows distress for reasons that are not apparent to others
• prefers to be alone, seems aloof
• has tantrums
• has difficulty interacting with others
• may not want to cuddle or be cuddled
• makes little or no eye contact
• doesn't respond to normal teaching methods
• plays in a restrictive or repetitive manner
• spins objects
• becomes inappropriately attached to objects
• can be overly sensitive or under-sensitive to pain or other sensations
• has no real fear of danger
• is physically overactive or under active
• has an uneven profile of gross/fine motor skill development
• doesn't respond to verbal cues, acts as if deaf although tests indicate that hearing is within the normal range.

How is autism diagnosed?

There is no medical test for autism and you can't tell if a child has autism just by looking at him.

Because autism is a complex condition, assessments are usually done by a team of professionals, such as a speech-language pathologist, development pediatrician, clinical psychologist or psychiatrist. To diagnose autism, they watch the child's behaviour and ask parents about the child's development.