Autism is diagnosed when the patient meets the criteria in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th edition – Text Revision. At least six characteristics from the following three categories must be present, including at least two from the social interaction category and one each from the communication and patterns categories.
Social interaction
Patient displays impairment in social interaction, as shown by at least two of the following:marked impairment in the use of multiple nonverbal behaviors, such as eye-to-eye gaze, facial expression, body postures, and gestures to regulate social interaction
failure to develop peer relationships appropriate to developmental level
no spontaneous sharing of enjoyment, interests, or achievements with others
lack of social or emotional reciprocity
gross impairment in ability to make peer friendships.
Communication
Patient displays impairment in communication, as shown by at least one of the following:
delay in or total lack of development of spoken language
in individuals with adequate speech, marked impairment in initiating or sustaining a conversation with others
stereotyped and repetitive use of language or idiosyncratic language
lack of varied, spontaneous make-believe play or social imitative play appropriate to developmental level.
Patterns
Patient displays restricted, repetitive, and stereotyped patterns of behavior, interests, and activities, as manifested by at least one of the following:
encompassing preoccupation with one or more stereotyped and restricted patterns of interest that’s abnormal either in intensity or focus apparently inflexible adherence to specific nonfunctional routines or rituals stereotyped and repetitive motor mannerisms persistent preoccupation with parts of objects.
Additional criteria
Patient displays delays or abnormal functioning in at least one of the following before age 3:
social interaction
language as used in social communication
symbolic or imaginative play.
The disturbance isn’t better accounted for by Rett’s syndrome or childhood disintegrative disorder
Social development
Social deficits analyze autism and the accompanying autism spectrum disorders (ASD; see Classification) from added adorning disorders.[20] Bodies with autism accept amusing impairments and generally abridgement the intuition about others that abounding bodies booty for granted. Noted autistic Temple Grandin declared her disability to accept the amusing advice of neurotypicals, or bodies with accustomed neural development, as abrogation her activity "like an anthropologist on Mars".
Unusual amusing development becomes credible aboriginal in childhood. Autistic breed appearance beneath absorption to amusing stimuli, smile and attending at others beneath often, and acknowledge beneath to their own name. Autistic toddlers alter added conspicuously from amusing norms; for example, they accept beneath eye acquaintance and about-face taking, and do not accept the adeptness to use simple movements to accurate themselves, such as the absence to point at things. Three- to five-year-old autistic accouchement are beneath acceptable to affectation amusing understanding, access others spontaneously, imitate and acknowledge to emotions, acquaint nonverbally, and booty turns with others. However, they do anatomy accessories to their primary caregivers.[25] Most autistic accouchement affectation moderately beneath adapter aegis than non-autistic children, although this aberration disappears in accouchement with college brainy development or beneath astringent ASD. Earlier accouchement and adults with ASD accomplish worse on tests of face and affect recognition.
Children with high-functioning autism ache from added acute and accepted bareness compared to non-autistic peers, admitting the accepted acceptance that accouchement with autism adopt to be alone. Making and advancement friendships generally proves to be difficult for those with autism. For them, the affection of friendships, not the cardinal of friends, predicts how abandoned they feel. Anatomic friendships, such as those consistent in invitations to parties, may affect the affection of activity added deeply.
There are abounding anecdotal reports, but few analytical studies, of assailment and abandon in individuals with ASD. The bound abstracts advance that, in accouchement with brainy retardation, autism is associated with aggression, abolition of property, and tantrums. A 2007 abstraction interviewed parents of 67 accouchement with ASD and appear that about two-thirds of the accouchement had periods of astringent tantrums and about one-third had a history of aggression, with tantrums decidedly added accepted than in non-autistic accouchement with accent impairments. A 2008 Swedish abstraction begin that, of individuals age-old 15 or earlier absolved from hospital with a analysis of ASD, those who committed agitated crimes were decidedly added acceptable to accept added psychopathological altitude such as psychosis.
Communication
About a third to a bisected of individuals with autism do not advance abundant accustomed accent to accommodated their circadian advice needs.[31] Differences in advice may be present from the aboriginal year of life, and may accommodate delayed access of babbling, abnormal gestures, beneath responsiveness, and articulate patterns that are not synchronized with the caregiver. In the additional and third years, autistic accouchement accept beneath accepted and beneath assorted babbling, consonants, words, and chat combinations; their gestures are beneath generally chip with words. Autistic accouchement are beneath acceptable to accomplish requests or allotment experiences, and are added acceptable to artlessly echo others' words (echolalia) or about-face pronouns. Collective absorption seems to be all-important for anatomic speech, and deficits in collective absorption assume to analyze breed with ASD: for example, they may attending at a pointing duke instead of the pointed-at object, and they consistently abort to point at altar in adjustment to animadversion on or allotment an experience. Autistic accouchement may accept adversity with artistic comedy and with developing symbols into language.
In a brace of studies, high-functioning autistic accouchement age-old 8–15 performed appropriately able-bodied as, and adults added good than, alone akin controls at basal accent tasks involving cant and spelling. Both autistic groups performed worse than controls at circuitous accent tasks such as allegorical language, apperception and inference. As bodies are generally sized up initially from their basal accent skills, these studies advance that bodies speaking to autistic individuals are added acceptable to aggrandize what their admirers comprehends
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