What is Autism? What Causes Autism?

Autism is known as a complex developmental disability. Experts believe that Autism presents itself during the first three years of a person's life. The condition is the result of a neurological disorder that has an effect on normal brain function, affecting development of the person's communication and social interaction skills.

People with autism have issues with non-verbal communication, a wide range of social interactions, and activities that include an element of play and/or banter.

Genomic research is beginning to discover that people with autism spectrum disorders probably share genetic traits with individuals with ADHD (attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder), bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, or clinical depression. A team at the Cross Disorders Group of the Psychiatric Genomic Consortium suggests that the five mental disorders and illnesses have the same common inherited genetic variations.  

What is ASD?

ASD stands for Autism Spectrum Disorder and can sometimes be referred to as Autistic Spectrum Disorder. In this text Autism and ASD mean the same. ASDs are any developmental disabilities that have been caused by a brain abnormality. A person with an ASD typically has difficulty with social and communication skills.

A person with ASD will typically also prefer to stick to a set of behaviors and will resist any major (and many minor) changes to daily activities. Several relatives and friends of people with ASDs have commented that if the person knows a change is coming in advance, and has time to prepare for it; the resistance to the change is either gone completely or is much lower.

Autism is a wide-spectrum disorder

Autism (or ASD) is a wide-spectrum disorder. This means that no two people with autism will have exactly the same symptoms. As well as experiencing varying combinations of symptoms, some people will have mild symptoms while others will have severe ones. Below is a list of the most commonly found characteristics identified among people with an ASD.

Social skills

The way in which a person with an ASD interacts with another individual is quite different compared to how the rest of the population behaves. If the symptoms are not severe, the person with ASD may seem socially clumsy, sometimes offensive in his/her comments, or out of synch with everyone else. If the symptoms are more severe, the person may seem not to be interested in other people at all.

It is common for relatives, friends and people who interact with someone with an ASD to comment that the ASD sufferer makes very little eye contact. However, as health care professionals, teachers and others are improving their ability to detect signs of autism at an earlier age than before, eye contact among people with autism is improving. In many cases, if the symptoms are not severe, the person can be taught that eye contact is important for most people and he/she will remember to look people in the eye.

A person with autism may often miss the cues we give each other when we want to catch somebody's attention. The person with ASD might not know that somebody is trying to talk to them. They may also be very interested in talking to a particular person or group of people, but does not have the same skills as others to become fully involved. To put it more simply, they lack the necessary playing and talking skills.

Empathy - Understanding and being aware of the feelings of others

A person with autism will find it much harder to understand the feelings of other people. His/her ability to instinctively empathize with others is much weaker than other people's. However, if they are frequently reminded of this, the ability to take other people's feelings into account improves tremendously. In some cases - as a result of frequent practice - empathy does improve, and some of it becomes natural rather than intellectual. Even so, empathy never comes as naturally for a person with autism as it does to others.

Having a conversation with a person with autism may feel very much like a one-way trip. The person with ASD might give the impression that he is talking at people, rather than with or to them. He may love a theme, and talk about it a lot. However, there will be much less exchanging of ideas, thoughts, and feelings than there might be in a conversation with a person who does not have autism.

Almost everybody on this planet prefers to talk about himself/herself more than other people; it is human nature. The person with autism will usually do so even more.

Physical contact

A number of children with an ASD do not like cuddling or being touched like other children do. It is wrong to say that all children with autism are like that. Many will hug a relative - usually the mother, father, grandmother, grandfather, teacher, and or sibling(s) - and enjoy it greatly. Often it is a question of practice and anticipating that physical contact is going to happen. For example, if a child suddenly tickles another child's feet, he will most likely giggle and become excited and happy. If that child were to tickle the feet of a child with autism, without that child anticipating the contact, the result might be completely different.

Loud noises, some smells, and lights

A person with autism usually finds sudden loud noises unpleasant and quite shocking. The same can happen with some smells and sudden changes in the intensity of lighting and ambient temperature.

Many believe it is not so much the actual noise, smell or light, but rather the surprise, and not being able to prepare for it - similar to the response to surprising physical contact.

If the person with autism knows something is going to happen, he can cope with it much better. Even knowing that something 'might' happen, and being reminded of it, helps a lot.

Speech

The higher the severity of the autism, the more affected are a person's speaking skills. Many children with an ASD do not speak at all. People with autism will often repeat words or phrases they hear - an event called echolalia.

The speech of a person with ASD may sound much more formal and woody, compared to other people's speech. Teenagers with Asperger's Syndrome can sometimes sound like young professors. Their intonation may sound flat.

Repetitive behaviors

A person with autism likes predictability. Routine is his/her best friend. Going through the motions again and again is very much part of his/her life. To others, these repetitive behaviors may seem like bizarre rites. The repetitive behavior could be a simple hop-skip-jump from one end of the room to the other, repeated again and again for one, five, or ten minutes - or even longer. Another could be drawing the same picture again and again, page after page.

People without autism are much more adaptable to changes in procedure. A child without autism may be quite happy to first have a bath, then brush his teeth, and then put on his pajamas before going to bed - even though he usually brushes his teeth first. For a child with autism this change, bath first and then teeth, could completely put him/her out, and they may become very upset. Some people believe that helping a child with autism learn how to cope better with change is a good thing, however, forcing them to accept change like others do could adversely affect their quality of life.

A child with autism develops differently

While a child without autism will develop in many areas at a relatively harmonious rate, this may not be the case for a child with autism. His/her cognitive skills may develop fast, while their social and language skills trail behind. On the other hand, his/her language skills may develop rapidly while their motor skills don't. They may not be able to catch a ball as well as the other children, but could have a much larger vocabulary. Nonetheless, the social skills of a person with autism will not develop at the same pace as other people's.

Learning may be unpredictable

How quickly a child with autism learns things can be unpredictable. They may learn something much faster than other children, such as how to read long words, only to forget them completely later on. They may learn how to do something the hard way before they learn how to do it the easy way.

Physical tics and stimming

It is not uncommon for people with autism to have tics. These are usually physical movements that can be jerky. Some tics can be quite complicated and can go on for a very long time. A number of people with autism are able to control when they happen, others are not. People with ASD who do have tics often say that they have to be expressed, otherwise the urge does not stop. For many, going through the tics is enjoyable, and they have a preferred spot where they do them - usually somewhere private and spacious. When parents first see these tics, especially the convoluted ones, they may experience shock and worry.

Obsessions

People with autism often have obsessions.

Myths about autism

A person with autism feels love, happiness, sadness and pain just like everyone else. Just because some of them may not express their feelings in the same way others do, does not mean at all that they do not have feelings - THEY DO!! It is crucial that the Myth - Autistic people have no feelings - is destroyed. The myth is a result of ignorance, not some conspiracy. Therefore, it is important that you educate people who carry this myth in a helpful and informative way.

Not all people with autism have an incredible gift or savantism for numbers or music.However, a sizeable proportion of people with an ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder) have high IQs and a unique talent for computer science. German software company SAP AG has become aware of this and announced in May 2013 that it planned to employ hundreds of people with autism as software testers, programmers and data quality assurance specialists.

Sleep Stages

Nothing ruins a good night's sleep like a child. Whether you're concerned about your teenager's dark under-eye circles or your toddler is the cause of your own, here are some of the most common sleep issues children have and how we can help them, so everyone is well rested.

Raising a child is full of surprises. No matter how many books, parenting forums, and articles you read, nothing can completely prepare you.

Most parents learn the hard way that sleep is terribly underrated. Before you had a kid, sure, you thought you cared about sleep, but it wasn't the most precious, elusive, one-thing-you-would-kill-for activity it becomes after the child is born. At the same time, infants, toddlers, school-age kids, and teenagers don't seem to appreciate sleep at all, even though it's critical for their development. While every child is different I've learned a few lessons over the years and tapped a couple of sleep professionals for advice on this most important subject.

Lets get these kids to go to sleep.

The "Will I Ever Sleep Again?" Phase: Birth to 1 Year Old

Newborns and infants need to feed every few hours because their tiny stomachs can only hold so much food. This is directly at odds with our need to sleep throughout the night. Unless you can afford to have someone else nurse your child, there's no way to escape the round-the-clock feeding. Here's what you might be dealing with during this most sleep-deprived time:

·      The baby wakes up screaming every few hours. That's actually by design. If you have a partner or other help, it's really important you tag team to make this more bearable—switch who has to get up every other feeding. (If you're breastfeeding, that means the mum has to pump "extra" milk to skip the feeding, which also sucks. There are ways to increase your milk supply, but it's still a labor of love.  Also, remember the mantra: "Sleep whenever the baby sleeps," and to hell with everything else.

•  After the feeding, your baby won't go back to sleep. Babies don't know when it's nighttime or daytime—and they don't care.  You, warm and loving caregiver, come to nestle at 3 AM? It's time to play and keep you here! Try to be as boring as possible as you try to help the baby get back to sleep. Specifically: in the middle of the night, keep the light off and be as subdued, quiet, and quick as you can.
•  You fall asleep while breastfeeding. That's not a problem, that's a solution! Seriously, if you're breastfeeding, lying down to feed is one of the best ways to sneak in some rest.
•  Your baby won't go to sleep or nap when he/she supposed to.  First, check the obvious. Does the pamper need changing? Are you putting the baby down in a sleep-conducive environment (the same sort of the things we adults need for better sleep)? Is the baby over stimulated (e.g., a full day of activities and then playing horsy right before nap time)? Has the baby skipped a nap or stayed up too late?
• Your baby is not sleeping through the night.  This may be the most important milestone, perhaps, and parents' biggest question: When will my baby finally sleep through the night? Most infants will let you get a full night (seven or eight hours uninterrupted) sleep starting by three months of age, according to the British Academy of Pediatrics—but every baby is different. If your baby is not complying, you could try adding more active play during the day and setting up a more consistent bedtime ritual (e.g., bath, song, story, bed). One thing that will not help is skipping naps; it sounds like it would make sense to keep babies up as long as possible so they'll sleep longer at night, but naps are essential to the child’s growth, moods and night time sleep.  The average baby from 6 to 9 months old needs two naps a day; overstimulation and skipping naps can cause shorter naps, fighting bedtime, and night waking’s.  Also, know that "sleeping through the night" could mean anything—7 pm to 7 am or 10 pm to 6 am—but take what you can get, parents!
• Your baby keeps waking up.  Starting around eight months and well into the toddler stage, kids can start developing separation anxiety. This means that while great at sleeping through the night, he or she resists going to bed and wakes up more often looking for you. It's probably the roughest time, when your child is crying for you and you're not sure if you're supposed to let them "cry it out" or go and console the child. Sleep experts says it's like pulling a Band-Aid: do it the quick and harsh way or pull it off slowly but extend the experience; both are painful. It's pretty much up to you to decide which method to use. One special case is if your baby has colic. It's a special issue, but one that can seriously affect your sleep. Scott Siege, a board certified paediatrician and the medical director, says colic is generally diagnosed in kids from about 2 weeks to about 4 months of age as excessive crying due to no identifiable underlying causes. Crying because of formula intolerance, for example, shouldn't be explained as colic, because there's an identifiable cause. Doctors try to treat the causes before attributing the crying to colic. 
• However: Once the diagnosis of colic is made the first steps are reassure, reassure, reassure. I think it is helpful to understand that the baby is really OK and that it really might not be possible to stop the crying and that this is OK. I recommend that parents develop a routine to quickly assess the baby for a cause when crying starts. This can be "hold, rock, shush, check pamper, feed, etc.". If nothing helps then you might have to accept that the baby is going to cry and the parent must avoid becoming overwhelmed by it. I reassure parents that if they are overwhelmed they can place the baby in a safe place, like a crib, and walk away. This seems horrifying to many parents (and may be to your readers), but a parent can really benefit from a time to relax and then go back to their baby in a better mood, which makes them a much better parent at that moment.  Amazingly, colic frequent resolves over a short period of time, leaving that lovely baby the parent always expected to have.  That may be the most important message for all parents in this age range: This will pass (and, looking back, all too quickly). Try to stay patient and loving, but consistent as well. This will help teach your child the important skill of putting him or herself to sleep independently.

 The "What Happened to Your Nap?" Phase: Ages 1 to 6

Cultivate the Perfect Evening Routine to Avoid Insomnia and Fall Asleep Easier.  I've never had trouble waking up in the morning. When the alarm goes off, I'm up and ready to work, but falling asleep was always another.

In the previous phase, you have to just try to survive sleep deprivation and avoid instilling bad sleep habits if possible. Past the infancy stage, it's all about setting a consistent bedtime routine. This is easier said than done.

• Set up a bedtime routine.                                                                                                              As with adults, avoid digital screens during the wind-down time. Instead, dim the lights, cuddle your child, and grab a book. When I asked my then 7-year old son how parents could help their kids get to sleep, he mostly echoed those suggestions, adding his own conditions, of course: "Snuggle with mum all night, read the longest book you have, hear a story that goes on and on until he is asleep." More qualified experts say the routine should last between 30 minutes and an hour before the kid should be asleep. (Kids need around 10 to 11 hours of sleep plus naps for the first three years, then about 10 to 12 hours for big kids.
• Start the routine early enough.                                                                                          You can't actually control how long your child sleeps, but you should try to start the routine at around the same time, each day. If your child is showing signs of being frequently overtired, try moving the routine start time 30 minutes earlier.
•  Stay consistent.                                                                                                            Everyone in the family has to maintain the routine, which is hard if parents' schedules are irregular. This is also a time when toddlers start toddling out of bed and older kids start negotiating to stay up longer—just ten more minutes pleeeeease! Try to stick to the plan (perhaps even have a sticker chart or a drawing of the routine in the bedroom), because doing the same steps each night actually can help the child fall asleep more easily by giving her body cues it's time to induce sleep.
• But don't stress it.                                                                                                                      If you're stressing to get the kids to go to sleep on time, they'll pick up on it and it'll only make matters worse.  Other issues that might arise at this time are bedwetting.

The "Ohhhh, Nice to Meet You Again, Sleep" Phase: Ages 7 to 12

As they get older, kids get better at sleeping well.  At this age, it's mostly a matter of maintaining the bedtime routine and practicing good "sleep hygiene."

• Maintain the bedtime routine.                                                                                            The routine will likely change when your kid gets older and he/she is able to put herself/himself to bed, but the basics of going from active to quieter activities, and unplugging from video games and TV still apply.
• Limit after-school activities.                                                                                            Extra-curricular activities are important, but too many of them coupled with lots of homework can push the bedtime later and later. Kids this age still need about 10-11 hours of sleep a day, although the average is only about 9 hours.
• Don't let weekends throw you off.                                                                           Sleeping in on the weekends doesn’t help anyone catch up on sleep and can, instead, throw off our internal clocks. A policy of staying up late "because it's the weekend" could jeopardize your child's sleep the following week, so try to avoid that if you can.

The "Wake Up, Sleepyhead" Phase: Ages 13+

Most teens don't get enough sleep. They need as much as 9 hours, but it's nearly impossible for them to get that. This is because teens' circadian rhythms get temporarily reset, so they become night owls—falling asleep later and waking up later. With most schools' early start times and more homework than even parents can handle, it's a terrible situation.

There are only a few things we can do to help:

•  Blue light therapy.                                                                                                               Blue light, we've seen before, can boost alertness. So blue light bulbs or lamps in the morning could help your teen adjust more easily.    
• Reserve the bed for sleep only.                                                                                     Advice your teen to have a good bedtime routine (yes, still!), which could include reading, but preferably not in bed, "The act of getting into bed can be used as a final trigger for the brain to say 'I am going to sleep now,' so getting into bed should be reserved for the actual moment when one is going to be actually going to sleep."
• Ban screens the hour before bed.                                                                           Encourage your teen to keep the mobile phone out of the bedroom.
• Set a bedtime.                                                                                                                         Even if it's 11:30, if you, the parent, set a bedtime for your teen, it could mean better sleep, according to one study reports that's because it gets the message across that parents feel sleep is important.

My child can't focus in school: Could it be ADHD?

Our child is having trouble focusing in school. We don't think this is ADHD because she can sit for hours in front of the computer or the television without being distracted. Is this kind of behavior common among kids in the elementary grades? Should we be worried?

Answer: 

One of the misperceptions about ADHD is that it always involves hyperactivity. There are actually three types of ADHD: the hyperactive type, where kids are bouncing off the walls and climbing on the furniture; the inattentive type, where kids have difficulty paying attention in highly structured environments; and the combined type, where kids show signs of both hyperactivity and inattention. 

Speaking very broadly, we find that ADHD in girls often assumes the form of inattention and lack of focus, whereas in boys it is more commonly associated with hyperactivity. This means that ADHD in girls is easily overlooked. Schoolteachers always know the boys, who have ADHD, because they can't sit still in class, can't wait their turn, blurt out answers, irritate their classmates and generally make a teacher's job a lot more difficult.

A girl with ADHD, on the other hand, may sit quietly in her seat but be unable to focus on class work, particularly when the task is routine or repetitive or the lecture is less than stimulating. Teachers don't realize that these girls are falling behind because they are usually well behaved and don’t rock the boat in the classroom.

If your child does have the disorder, it's not surprising that she seems to do just fine when watching exciting TV shows or playing computer games. As a matter of fact, kids with ADHD tend to get hooked on video and computer games because of the interactive stimulation and the regular reinforcement they receive from the game through points and ascending levels. Unfortunately, it's precisely this kind of reinforcement that is so often missing from the educational setting.

My advice would be to ask your child's teacher or principal to have her evaluated by the school psychologist. The psychologist will give you and your daughter's teacher a special questionnaire to fill out. He or she may also give your daughter some tests or observe her behavior in the classroom. If she is diagnosed with ADHD, the school psychologist will consult with you and your pediatrician about the best treatment options. He or she can also work with the teacher to design some educational interventions that will help your daughter in school.