Diagnosing autism spectrum disorder (ASD) can be difficult because there is no medical test, like a blood test, to diagnose the disorder. Doctors look at the child's developmental history and behavior to make a diagnosis. ASD can sometimes be detected at 18 months of age or younger.
Commonly a multidisciplinary team will include a paediatrician (or child and adolescent psychiatrist), a psychologist and a speech pathologist, but other health professionals may provide input if required. A single health professional may be able to diagnose a child with obvious signs of autism.
Signs of autism in young children include: not responding to their name. avoiding eye contact. not smiling when you smile at them.
Signs and Symptoms of Autism Spectrum Disorder
People with ASD often have problems with social communication and interaction, and restricted or repetitive behaviors or interests. People with ASD may also have different ways of learning, moving, or paying attention.
Although the exact cause of autism is still unknown, there is evidence to suggest that genetics play a significant role. Since autism is less prevalent in females, autism was always thought to be passed down from the mother. However, research suggests that autism genes are usually inherited from the father.
The Diagnostic Process
It is advisable to go to your GP armed with as much information as possible so make a list of everything which causes concern or that you have observed. Your GP will make a referral to a diagnostic team to assess your child.
Level 1 is the mildest, or “highest functioning” form of autism, which includes those who would have previously been diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome. Individuals with ASD level 1 may have difficulty understanding social cues and may struggle to form and maintain personal relationships.
Autism is not an illness
It means your brain works in a different way from other people. It's something you're born with. Signs of autism might be noticed when you're very young, or not until you're older. If you're autistic, you're autistic your whole life.
finding it hard to understand what others are thinking or feeling. getting very anxious about social situations. finding it hard to make friends or preferring to be on your own. seeming blunt, rude or not interested in others without meaning to.
Some children show ASD symptoms within the first 12 months of life. In others, symptoms may not show up until 24 months of age or later. Some children with ASD gain new skills and meet developmental milestones until around 18 to 24 months of age, and then they stop gaining new skills or lose the skills they once had.
Autism is very distinct from ADHD, but the core symptoms of ADHD-Combined type, i.e., attention deficit, impulsivity, and hyperactivity, would appear to also be features of autism. ASD and ADHD are neurobiological disorders characterized by similar underlying neuropsychological “deficits”.
Can Adults Develop Autism? ASD can't develop later in life. As we've discussed, autism is a developmental disorder that occurs during brain development in childhood.
If someone in your family has autism spectrum disorder (ASD), you may be more likely to have a child with ASD. ASD can look very different from person to person, so taking a careful family health history can be important for early diagnosis.
ASD Level 1 – Level 1 ASD is currently the lowest classification.
These children are often notably awkward, and they find nonverbal interaction especially complicated, specifically in situations involving eye contact, sensory sensitivity, spatial awareness, and interpersonal communications.
Long-term research that involved following a group of individuals with autism for two decades indicates that the average life expectancy for some autistic people is about 39 years. Furthermore, this population generally succumbed to health complications about 20 years earlier than individuals who do not have autism.
This formal evaluation is a more in-depth look at a child's development and is usually done by a trained specialist such as a developmental pediatrician, child psychologist, speech-language pathologist, occupational therapist, or other specialist.
Autism is a serious developmental disorder that's best handled with good support systems provided to the person diagnosed. These support systems could get significantly harder to find and acquire without a diagnosis. On its own, a diagnosis opens up greater avenues for people to treat illness and other disorders.
Autism is a neurological developmental disability with an estimated prevalence of one to two percent of the American and worldwide population. The diversity of the disability means that each person's individual experience of autism and needs for supports and services can vary widely.
For starters, a recent study, partly funded by Autism Speaks, found that in families with one or more children with ASD, the chances that a baby sibling will develop autism are much higher than previously thought. In fact, the odds were around one in five, or 20 percent.
Autism Prevalence
Boys are four times more likely to be diagnosed with autism than girls. Most children were still being diagnosed after age 4, though autism can be reliably diagnosed as early as age 2.
According to the CDC, the prevalence of autism in the United States is approximately 1 in 54 children. This means that the odds of having a child with autism are less than 2%.
Some developmental health professionals refer to PDD-NOS as “subthreshold autism." In other words, it's the diagnosis they use for someone who has some but not all characteristics of autism or who has relatively mild symptoms.