“Autism is the most severe developmental disability. Appearing within the first three years of life, autism involves impairments in social interaction – such as being aware of other people’s feelings – and verbal and nonverbal communication.”http://www.apa.org

This article on How to Diagnose Autism will explain what signs to look for, the methods used for evaluation, and how a diagnosis is reached. Three categories of behaviors will be examined: “social skills, communication, and repetitive, restricted and stereotypical behaviors.”http://www.autismnetwork.org. For information on treatment, please read How to Treat Autism.

There is a huge spectrum of autistic spectrum disorders (ASDs) which are listed under the main category of Pervasive Developmental Disorders (PDDs). ASDs include not only autism, which is more severe, but also Asperger’s Syndrome and PDD-NOS, which is the everything else category for those that don’t fit in any other category. This article will only discuss autism.

Social Skills: Most autistic children lack eye contact. They prefer to be alone and are often unaware of others being present. They have an inability to share with others and seldom have relationships. Emotions are not reciprocated, and they do not imitate the actions of others.

Communication Skills: Autistic children often have delayed speech or no speech at all. Gestures they make are usually only for something they want, not pointing out something. If they are able to speak they cannot initiate a conversation or carry out a conversation. They often have repetitive speech called echolalia. The children with higher IQs generally have better language skills. Compared to their peers, they have little pretend play skills. If words have more than one meaning, they have difficulty understanding them (e.g. (clothes) iron or (the metal) iron. They also have problems with grammar.

Restrictive, Repetitive and Stereotypical Behavior: These children are often strongly focused or fixated. They are inflexible about routines and rituals. Changes have to be done slowly. Spinning, rocking back and forth, and finger flicking are common. They may show interest in only one part of an object and be fixated on it for long periods of time.http://www.autismnetwork.org

Other Impairments: Sensory problems are very common in autistic children, but there is a great variation in which senses are involved. Some children may have low reaction or overreaction to sounds, touch, smell, taste, and hearing. Children who cannot tolerate normal noises have a tendency to cover their ears, and they could throw a tantrum just to get away from the noise. Many autistic children cannot stand to be held and it is actually painful to them to be touched. Certain fabrics cannot be tolerated against their skin. They may also have either a low or high pain tolerance.

In addition to all these impairments, autistic children may suffer from mental retardation, seizures, Fragile X Syndrome, which is inherited, or tuberous sclerosis, which causes tumors to grow in the brain.http://www.nimh.nih.gov

There is so much difference in children with autism that not one cause can be pinpointed. Some of the suspected causes are genetic errors, environmental factors, and possibly problems in labor and delivery, or damage to the amygdala.

Genetic Errors: Errors in genes may cause more susceptibility to autism, lack of development in the brain, communication problems in the brain, or the degree of severity of the autism.

Environmental Factors: A combination of genetic factors and toxins in the environment, or just the environmental toxins alone may be the triggers that cause autism. Viral infections may also have an effect on causing autism.

Other causes: Problems with labor and delivery, the immune system, or damage to the amygdala in the brain may be other possible causes of autism.http://www.mayoclinic.com

Autism may not be diagnosed when it is mild or covered up by other handicaps. There are some initial signs to look for.

- If your child doesn’t babble by the age of one, or point to things; - If, by the age of 16 months, they are not saying any words, or two words by the age of 2; - If the child does not recognize his name or respond to his name; - If they start losing their language and social skills they previously had; - If they start lining up their toys or other objects; and, - If they don’t smile or respond to others.

There are other indications that may occur as the child develops. - If they don’t develop friendships with other children; - If they unable to start or have a conversation; - If they have no imagination or don’t play with other children; - If they develop echolalia or have a strange use of language; - If their patterns of interest are limited and are intense or very focused; - If they are preoccupied with objects; and - If they are unable to be flexible with routines or rituals.

Questionnaires may be used to test for symptoms. Information from parents and doctors may also be used for screening. If results indicate a possible autism spectrum disorder, further evaluation will be done by a team consisting of a psychologist, neurologist, psychiatrist, speech therapist, and other professional familiar with autism. A new assessment, cognitive and language testing, and a hearing test will be done. If there are not enough symptoms for autism, PDD-NOS may be the diagnosis. If behaviors are autistic but language skills are good, Asperger’s Syndrome may be the diagnosis. If a child starts losing skills they already had between the ages of 3 and 20, the diagnosis may be childhood disintegrative disorder. Girls may also be diagnosed with Rett Syndrome when they are withdrawn, wring their hands, and lack language skills.http://www.ninds.gov

A new test has been developed for genetic testing called chromosomal microarray analysis (CMA) that samples the entire genome. The results are three times more effective than prior testing for ASDs. It is believed that approximately 15% of cases of autism are genetic. This test is able to detect 7% of the cases of genetic autism, which is approximately 2,000 cases per year. Previously, there were only two tests that were used: the G-banded karyotype test which detected 2.2% of the cases, and the Fragile X test which detected 0.46% of the cases. This new test will be very helpful for early intervention.http://www.emaxhealth.com

Although there has been an attempt to link thimerosal in vaccines to autism, the special federal court just ruled that there is insufficient evidence to link the two. The question is still up for debate by many parents of autistic children.http://www.healthday.com

The content on this page is for information purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Speak with a qualified heath care professional to ensure that you have the most accurate information regarding any mental health diagnosis.