Definition of Autism, Essay Example

Among developmental disorders that may cause problems for children throughout their whole lives autism fairly occupies one of the most significant places. This disease is also called autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) or pervasive developmental disorder (PDD) (National Institute of Child Health and Human Development). It is diagnosed in the early childhood and cannot be cured, although medical treatment enables the patient with autism to reduce the impact of the illness on the normal flow of his or her life and to let them live more comfortably with the illness.

The essence of the illness lies in the fact that people having this brain disorder experience hardships in establishing social relationships and communicating with people in general. Their perception mechanisms differ much from those of normal people, so they have hardships with sensing the world surrounding them and may at times show highly challenging behavior requiring special medical assistance (About Autism).

As for the distribution of the disease, it is hard to make any conclusions so far as autism was first diagnosed only in the middle of the 20^th century, so research in the given field is comparatively young. However, it has been already found out that there are no racial priorities in the occurrence of the disease, and all races, nationalities and ethnicities are vulnerable in this respect. Speaking about gender, the statistics of occurrence of autism in children showed the prevailing figures for boys that turned out nearly 4 times higher than for girls (About Autism).

It has not yet been found out what exactly causes autism and there are several opinions that exist concerning its origin. Some studies suggest that the main problem occurs in the period of the embryo development, and the main cause is genetics; however, the genes that possess the threat of causing autism have not been found yet. Another opinion concerns the hormone influence on the embryo development:

“People with ASD have abnormal levels of serotonin or other neurotransmitters in the brain.  These abnormalities suggest that ASD could result from the disruption of normal brain development early in fetal development caused by defects in genes that control brain growth and that regulate how brain cells communicate with each other, possibly due to the influence of environmental factors on gene function” (Autism Fact Sheet).

There are various symptoms that may allow parents and doctors to diagnose autism in early childhood, and here are some of them:

• Children do not show the development of social activities such as speaking (simple words and phrases by the age of 16 months up to 2 years old)
• Children do not smile and do not establish social relationships
• Avoidance of eye contact becomes evident
• Absence of response to the name is frequent
• Children do not learn to bubble and point by the age of 1 (Autism Fact Sheet).

Later on the symptoms change and evolve, being expressed in some of the following ways:

• People turn out unable to establish social contacts such as making friends or sustaining an ordinary social conversation
• Patients with autism usually show extreme attachment to certain things and objects
• Attachment to certain rituals and routines is highly evident, also being too tensely expressed
• If people with autism have a particular interest for something or someone, they focus on it too intensely
• The use of language that they apply is too limited and patterned (Autism Fact Sheet).

Unfortunately, autism cannot be treated but medical interaction at the early stages of the disease is essential for the kid with the disorder to become more or less adjusted to living socially. The most important action at which medical treatment is directed is to teach the child with autism the spoken language – it is the main vital human ability that will further on allow the individual to communicate and to establish social relationships (Burdo-Hartman 3). Surely, there are some more serious cases of the disorder when children will need help in learning some routine living skills like brushing their teeth, taking a shower or cleaning the flat). Under the conditions of assistance, understanding and help there is a much greater chance that children with autism will be able to live their own social lives and will do it successfully.

Works Cited

About Autism. The Autistica Site, 2010. 24 February 2010. <http://www.autistica.or g.uk/about_autism/ index.php>

Autism. MedLine Plus, 2009. 24 February 2010. <http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medline plus/autism.html>

Autism Fact Sheet. National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Strokes, 2009. 24 February 2010. <http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/autism/detail_autis m.htm>

Burdo-Hartman, A. Wendelin. Autism, 2008. 24 February 2010. <http://kidshealth.o rg/kid/health_problems/brain/autism.html>