Today we had a chat with John’s teacher on how autism can be treated. She is experienced and said that whether a child will grow out of autism or not depends also on how severely autistic he/she is. We witnessed John as he was having social skills lesson, which is one area where he is weak in.

How can Autism be treated?

There is no cure for autism at the moment, but doctors, therapists, and special teachers can help kids with autism overcome or adjust to many difficulties.

Autism itself is not treated with surgery or medicine, although some people with autism may take medicine to improve certain symptoms.

The best results are usually seen with children who begin treatment when they are very young, as soon as they are diagnosed.

Treatments

Autistic children often have problems which centre around social and language skills.

The ideal treatment plan coordinates therapies and interventions that target the core symptoms of autism: impaired social interaction, problems with verbal and nonverbal communication.

· Teaching the child to communicate: Pointing or using pictures or sign language and to interact with others, eventually, many kids with autism learn to talk.

· Basic living skills: Crossing a street safely or ask for directions, greeting people, waiting for a turn, and following directions etc.

Autistic children are also prone to behavioral problems such as emotional outbursts, aggressive behavior or attention problems.

• Educational/behavioral interventions: Therapists use highly structured and intensive skill-oriented training sessions to help children develop social skills. Family counseling for the parents and siblings of children with autism often helps families cope with the particular challenges of living with an autistic child.
• Medications: Doctors often prescribe an antidepressant medication to handle symptoms of anxiety, depression, or obsessive-compulsive disorder. Seizures can be treated with one or more of the anticonvulsant drugs. Stimulant drugs, such as those used for children with attention deficit disorder (ADD), are sometimes used effectively to help decrease impulsivity and hyperactivity.

Possible outcomes

As they mature, some children with autism become more engaged with others and show less marked disturbances in behavior. They still require teachers trained to understand the problems they have with communicating and learning.

Some, usually those with the least severe impairments, may eventually lead normal or near-normal lives. They may be taking regular classes or attending special classes at the secondary school level.

Others, however, continue to have severe impairments in language or social skills, and the adolescent years can mean a worsening of behavior problems. They may be attending a special school because of ongoing behavioral problems.

Today we shall discuss the characteristics of autistic people. What all individuals diagnosed on the autism spectrum have in common are delays or disabilities when it comes to social skills such as ordinary conversation, eye contact and emotional understanding of others. These issues are likely to lead to impaired social interaction, problems with verbal and nonverbal communication, and unusual, repetitive, or severely limited activities and interests. Most people with autism also share delays in fine and gross motor skills. It’s important to note, too, that “symptoms” of autism can also be strengths. For example, a child on the autism spectrum may have better observational abilities a typical child of the same age.

Social impairments
Social impairments become apparent early in childhood and continue through adulthood. Autistic infants show less attention to social stimuli, smile and look at others less often, and respond less to their own name. Autistic toddlers have more striking social deviance; for example, they have less eye contact and anticipatory postures and are less likely to use another person's hand or body as a tool. Three- to five-year-old autistic children are less likely to exhibit social understanding, approach others spontaneously, imitate and respond to emotions, communicate nonverbally, and take turns with others. However, they do form attachments to their primary caregivers. Contrary to common belief, autistic children do not prefer to be alone.

We interviewed the parents of 67 children with ASD and it was reported that about two-thirds of the children had periods of severe tantrums and about one-third had a history of aggression, with tantrums significantly more common than in children with a history of language impairment.

Communication
About a third to a half of individuals with autism does not develop enough natural speech to meet their daily communication needs. Differences in communication may be present from the first year of life, and may include delayed onset of babbling, unusual gestures, diminished responsiveness, and the desynchronization of vocal patterns with the caregiver. Autistic children are less likely to make requests or share experiences, and are more likely to simply repeat others' words. Autistic children may have difficulty with imaginative play and with developing symbols into language. They are more likely to have problems understanding pointing; for example, they may look at a pointing hand instead of the pointed-at object. As people are often sized up initially from their basic language skills, people speaking to autistic individuals are more likely to overestimate what their audience comprehends.
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John tells us this today:
I do not like to be touched. I also do not like loud noises like people shouting. It makes my brain hurt and I end up groaning on the floor. My parents understand this and do not shout at me nor hug me. Instead, my parents and I hold hands with our fingers together, spreading out like a sun. This is how my parents tell me they love me.
I like dogs. I feel that they are easier to understand than other humans. Dogs only feel three emotions: happy, sad or cross. I can understand them easily. Sometimes I cannot understand what people are saying to me, so I keep quiet. They wait awhile, but in the end they always leave, leaving me all alone.
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Repetitive behavior
Autistic individuals display many forms of repetitive or restricted behavior, which the Repetitive Behavior Scale-Revised (RBS-R) categorizes as follows.
Stereotypy is apparently purposeless movement, such as hand flapping, head rolling, or body rocking.

Compulsive behavior is intended and appears to follow rules, such as arranging objects in a certain way.

Sameness is resistance to change; for example, insisting that the furniture not be moved or refusing to be interrupted.

Ritualistic behavior involves the performance of daily activities the same way each time, such as an unvarying menu or dressing ritual. This is closely associated with sameness and an independent validation has suggested combining the two factors.

Restricted behavior is limited in focus, interest, or activity, such as preoccupation with a single television program.

Self-injury includes movements that injure or can injure the person, such as biting oneself. It was reported that self-injury at some point affected about 30% of children with ASD.

No single repetitive behavior seems to be specific to autism, but only autism appears to have an elevated pattern of occurrence and severity of these behaviors.

Other symptoms
Autistic individuals may have symptoms that are independent of the diagnosis, but that can affect the individual or the family. A small fraction of individuals with ASD show unusual abilities, ranging from splinter skills such as the memorization of trivia to the extraordinarily rare talents of prodigious autistic savants.

Thus concludes our research on the characteristics of autistic people.

Si Chun

John writes today:

I find people confusing. The first main reason is that people do a lot of talking without using any words. My teacher says that if you raise one eyebrow it can mean lots of different things. It can mean ‘I want to do sex with you’ and it can also mean ‘I think that what you just said very stupid.’

Today we investigate the social impacts of autism, both on the autistic people and the rest of us.

Social Implications

There are an estimated six in 1000 people with varying forms of autism. As such, it is unpreventable that they have an impact of on society.

Society has often ostracized many autistic individuals; perhaps because they are unaware they have a condition and perceive them to be unsociable and abnormal.

Curing autism

Curing autism is a controversial and politicized issue. Some seek a cure for autism, while others view autism as a way of life rather than as a disease, and as such consider a cure unnecessary and resist efforts to find one.

We believe there are benefits in trying to help people with autism-spectrum conditions with areas of difficulty such as emotion recognition. Nobody would dispute the place for interventions that alleviate areas of difficulty, while leaving the areas of strength untouched. What campaigners against cures for autism are afraid of is that autistic people lose their specialized ability - such as the remarkable attention to detail, and the ability to concentrate for long periods on a small topic in depth. Autism is both a disability and a difference. We need to find ways of alleviating the disability while respecting and valuing the difference.

Internet

In our world of technology, many autistics find it easier to communicate online than in person, resulting in a large number of online resources on the internet. The Internet helps bypass non-verbal cues and emotional sharing that autistics find so hard to interact with. It gives autistic individuals a way to communicate and form online communities.

A New York Times article said "the impact of the Internet on autistics may one day be compared in magnitude to the spread of sign language among the deaf" because it opens new opportunities for communication by filtering out "sensory overload that impedes communication among autistics".

Social impacts

Autism may lead to problems in social interaction with peers. These problems can be severe or mild depending on the individual. Children with Asperger’s syndrome (a milder form in autism-spectrum disorders) for example are often the target of bullying at school due to their idiosyncratic behavior, precise language, unusual interests, and impaired ability to perceive and respond in socially expected ways to nonverbal cues. Children with autism may be overly literal, and may have difficulty interpreting and responding to sarcasm, banter, or metaphorical speech. Difficulties with social interaction may also be manifest in a lack of play with other children.

Family – Parents or siblings unaware of autism or prejudiced towards autism often mistreat the autistic child.

Certain problems can even arise in the family; given an unfavorable family environment, the child may be subject to emotional abuse. A child or teen with autism is often puzzled by this mistreatment, unaware of what has been done incorrectly. Most children with autism want to be social, but fail to socialize successfully, which can lead to later withdrawal and asocial behavior, especially in adolescence. At this stage of life especially, they risk being drawn into unsuitable and inappropriate friendships and social groups.

Schoolwork

Children with autism often display advanced abilities for their age in language, reading, mathematics, spatial skills, and/or music—sometimes into the "gifted" range—but this may be counterbalanced by considerable delays in other developmental areas. This combination of traits can lead to problems with teachers and other authority figures. The child’s extremely low tolerance for what they perceive to be ordinary and mediocre tasks, such as typical homework assignments, can easily become frustrating; a teacher may well consider the child arrogant, spiteful, and insubordinate. Lack of support and understanding, in combination with the child's anxieties, can result in problematic behavior (such as severe tantrums, violent and angry outbursts, and withdrawal).

Adults

Although adults with autism may have similar problems, they are not as likely to be given treatment as a child would. Adult individuals diagnosed with autism may find it difficult finding employment or entering undergraduate or graduate schools because of poor interview skills .

Two traits sometimes found in autistic individuals are mind-blindness (the inability to predict the beliefs and intentions of others) and alexithymia (the inability to identify and interpret emotional signals in oneself or others), which reduce the ability to be empathetically attuned to others.

A second issue related to alexithymia involves the inability to identify and modulate strong emotions such as sadness or anger, which leaves the individual prone to "sudden affective outbursts such as crying or rage. People around them may choose not to accept this behaviour and exclude them from their social circle.

Marriage

A much smaller proportion of adult autistics marry than the general population. Individuals with autism will need support if they desire to make connections on a personal level. The complexity and inconsistency of the social world can pose an extreme challenge for individuals with autism, since it is often illogical.

Girls

The ratio of autistic boys to girls is estimated to be 4.3: 1. Autism may express differently in girls than boys; girls may be more concerned with how they are viewed by peers, and the failure to connect with people outside of their immediate family could lead to severe anxiety or clinical depression. Girls with autism who have normal intelligence may be more disadvantaged than boys socially because of the rising level of social interaction that comes in middle school, when girls' friendships often hinge on attention to feelings and lots of rapid and nuanced communication.

Parenting

Parenting a child with autism endures more stress than parenting a child with any other disability & heightens negative outcomes on health.

• Insistence on sameness; resistance to change
• Difficulty in expressing needs; uses gestures or pointing instead of words
• Laughing, crying, showing distress for reasons not apparent to others
• Prefers to be alone; aloof manner
• Tantrums
• Difficulty in mixing with others
• May not want to cuddle or be cuddled
• Little or no eye contact
• Unresponsive to normal teaching methods
• Inappropriate attachments to objects
• Apparent over-sensitivity or under-sensitivity to pain
• No real fears of danger
• Noticeable physical over-activity or extreme under-activity
• Not responsive to verbal cues; acts as if deaf although hearing tests in normal range.

Crime offending

There is no evidence of an association between autism and criminal offending. In fact, due to the rigid way many people with autism keep to rules and regulations, they are usually more law abiding than the general population. People with autism are more at risk as victims of crime rather than as offenders.

The following are examples of the main types of offences people with autism may commit:

• The desire to have friends has led some people with autism to be befriended by, and become unwitting accomplices of criminals.
• Offences of an aggressive nature, which are often related to an unexpected change in routine or to the environment, which may cause great anxiety and distress.
• Offences relating to a misunderstanding of social cues. For example many people with autism have difficulties with eye contact. Often eye contact will be avoided or may be fleeting. In some cases eye contact may be prolonged or inappropriate and on occasion this has been interpreted as making unwanted sexual advances.

In addition, the methods used by the police may exacerbate a situation for someone with autism. The use of handcuffs and restraint by the police may be extremely frightening for someone with autism who does not understand what is happening, and may not be able to communicate their fears in an appropriate way. In extreme circumstances they may hit out at people including the police.

Criminal acts by people with autism may be due to a variety of factors, but it seems that there is rarely a deliberate intention to hurt others.

We end our investigation of the social impacts of autism.

Timothy

Today we are going to investigate on how exactly autism affected john’s brain and made him act and speak like this.

Autism and the brain

- At a certain point in post-natal development, autistic brains are larger.

- Testosterone may be linked to autism.

- Certain portions of the brain, such as the amygdala, may be enlarged in autistic brains.

- Certain parts of the brain may function differently in autistic people.

- "Minicolumns" in the brain may be formed differently and be more numerous in autistic brains.

- The entire brain may function differently in autistic people.

John said`I usually play with numbers when im agitated or angry or nervous or scared.It makes me feel calmer.I once doubled 2s to 33554432 which is 2^35,which was not very much because I got to 2^45 before,but my brain wasn’t working very well’.

All these point to autism as a disorder of the cortex. The cortex is the proverbial "gray matter": the part of the brain which is largely responsible for higher brain functions, including sensation, voluntary muscle movement, thought, reasoning, and memory.

The brain of autistic people develops too quickly beginning at about 12 months. By age ten, their brains are at a normal size, but "wired" atypically. "

Wiring has to be very complex and intricate. With autism there's accelerated growth at the wrong time, and that creates havoc. The consequences, in terms of disturbing early development, include problems within the cortex and from the cortex to other regions of the cortex in ways that compromise language and reasoning abilities."

Autistic people have more minicolumns which include a greater number of smaller brain cells. In addition, the "insulation" between these minicolumns is not as effective as it is among typically developing people. The result may be that autistic people think and perceive differently and have less of an ability to block sensory input.

Autism really impacts behavioral function in the brain very broadly. It affects sensory, motor, memory, and postural control -- anything that requires a high degree of integration of information. The symptoms are most prominent in social interaction and problem solving because they require highest degree of interaction.

Autistic people are socially/emotionally far more delayed than anyone ever thought,

While social and communication skills may be compromised by unique wiring in the brain, other abilities are actually enhanced.

Autistic people have a really stellar ability to use the visual parts of the right side of the brain to compensate for problems with language processing. This may be the basis for detail-oriented processing.

Autism affects about 1 in every 150 kids, but no one knows what causes it.

The leading theories for autism: Genetic, Vaccinations, Heavy Metal Toxicity, Chemical Exposure, Yeast/Candida, Gluten and Casein

Genetic

There was research done involving identical twins conducted at the MRC Child Psychiatry Unit at the Institute of Psychiatry in London.

It was found that if one identical twin had a autism then there was a 60% chance that the other would develop the condition. In contrast, for non-identical twins there was no increase at all in the chance of the second twin developing autism.

Suggests that autism have a definite genetic factor as being the identical twin of an autistic person markedly increases your chances of also having the disorder

However, it also suggest to us that autism may also involve significant environmental factors due to the fact that not every identical twin of an autistic child also develops the condition.

Research is now being conducted all over the world to determine specific genes that increase the likelihood of someone developing autism.

A group known as the International Molecular Genetic Study of Autism Consortium, which includes clinicians and researchers from the USA, UK, France, the Netherlands, Denmark, Italy, and Greece, has pinpointed four chromosomes which they believe play critical roles in autism.

The chromosomes they identified are numbers 2, 7, 16 and 17.

These findings are further demonstrated by research showing dyslexia patients also have abnormalities on these chromosomes.

Vaccinations

It has been proposed that the combined measles, mumps and rubella vaccine (MMR) may be a causative factor in autism.

The researchers reviewed reports of children with bowel disorders and regressive developmental disorders, mostly autism, and suggested that the MMR vaccination may have been one possible environmental trigger that led to intestinal abnormalities, resulting in impaired intestinal function and developmental regression. However, this was based on a very small scale.

Research into gut ecology and its role in illness is increasingly showing the link between disturbed gut microflora and symptoms distant from the gastrointestinal tract. Examples of this are multiple studies providing evidence for the role of Klebsiella pneumoniae in ankylosing spondylitis and Proteus sp in rheumatoid arthritis.

Given this, it is entirely plausible that behavioral symptoms could precede overt bowel symptoms in autistic children even though the root cause is a bowel disturbance.

Given that the MMR vaccine subjects the immune system to three different antigens at once it is a possibility that the child's immune system, while dealing with these becomes more susceptible to pathogenic changes in the bacterial composition of the intestines or causes other detrimental immunological or neurological changes not yet identified.

Yeast/Candida

It was found that people suffering from autism consistently have elevated levels of certain organic acids in their urine.

It was found that a large percentage of autistic children have significant immune dysfunction and this may include a genetic weakness that impairs the body's ability to kill yeast as well as deficiencies of IgG and IgA. IgA antibodies are responsible for killing pathogens in the gastrointestinal tract. It is believed that most of the tartaric acid is produced by yeast in the GI tract as Nystatin, which is not absorbed into the body, has been successful in returning tartaric acid levels to normal.

The debate over the role of intestinal yeast overgrowth in chronic illness has been going on for decades due to the lack of a definitive marker that can be used reliably to detect the presence of increased growth of yeast in the intestines.

Recent research has strongly suggested that D-arabinitol may be a candidate for this definitive marker (9, 10). D-arabinitol is a 'sugar alcohol' produced by yeast when they feed on a sugar called arabinose.

Circumstantial evidence that also points in favour of a role for yeast in autism is the fact that the increase in these illnesses has paralleled the increase in the use of antibiotics which tend to wipe out beneficial bacteria in the gut allowing yeast such as Candida to proliferate.

Heavy Metal Toxicity

Another finding in autistic children is a higher level of heavy metals than normal. One source of mercury exposure in early life is through vaccinations. Thimerosal is a preservative used in many vaccinations to prevent contamination. Thimerosal is 49.6% mercury by weight.

A study in March 2006 showed that in the 4 years following the recommended removal of thimerosal from childrens vaccines, exposure of children to this toxin was reduced to almost zero, and most importantly, new cases of autism actually began to decrease.

Levels of mercury can be determined upon hair analysis. Using thimerosal containing vaccines would result in a hair concentration of greater than 1ppm (parts per million) of mercury for up to 365 days with various peaks during that period. 1ppm is the safe limit set by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Research at the UCLA Medical Center in California has also shown that Thimerosal (when bound to human albumin protein) triggers an immune system reaction in autistic children, resulting in the production of antibodies. This indicates a possible autoimmune reaction as the immune system could react against any of the child's own tissues that happen to have Thimerosal bound to them.

Exposure to low levels of mercury during critical stages of development has been associated with neurological disorders in children, including ADD, learning difficulties, and speech delays, the predicted hair Hg (mercury) concentration resulting from childhood immunizations is cause for concern.

It was found that in mice at least, thimerosal can disrupt the immune system. The researchers in this study looked at dendritic cells which can be described as messengers within the immune system. These cells take up invaders such as bacteria, viruses and other antigens such as vaccine ingredients and process them. They then migrate to the lymph nodes to present their information to other immune cells, which can activate a systemic immune response. These dendritic cells are highly sensitive to thimerosal. With low concentrations of thimerosal, an inflammatory response occurs and with higher concentrations the cell is actually killed. These reactions could lead to any number of unwanted, and uncontrolled, effects within the immune system.

Autistic children often show signs of immunological dysfunction with allergies, gut disorders and frequent infections being common. The effects of thimerosal on the immune system, that this study demonstrates, provides one possible explanation of why this is the case.

Other possible sources of heavy metal exposure are contaminated food and water supplies. Fish is particularly associated with contamination as oceanic pollution becomes more concentrated as it moves up the food chain to predatory fish.

Chemical Exposure

Environmental exposure to mercury, pesticides and other contaminants during early childhood development could easily alter the normal function of a child's systems

The UC Davis Institute will conduct research using a large sample of 2000 autistic children and will look at possible chemicals and levels of these chemicals that the children were exposed to during early childhood to see if there is a correlation.

Researchers are working on the assumption that there is a genetic susceptibility to autism in a proportion of children but there may be an environmental factor that has to be present during their early years that "pushes their nervous system over the edge into autism".

The study will also assess blood levels of environmental toxins in autistic subjects compared to healthy subjects and will aim to find out the impact of exposures on the brain's ability to send signals and on cell growth in the nervous system, as well as identify the underlying biochemical process

Toxic contaminants are linked to increases in the prevalence of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, autism, and associated neurodevelopment and behavioral problems in developed countries. Particular note is made of the high sensitivity of the unborn foetus to thyroid disturbance and the many chemicals in common use that could interfere with the thyroid function of mothers.

Gluten and Casein

Gluten is a protein found in grains such as wheat, rye, oats and barley. Casein is a milk protein found in the milk of all the animals whose milk humans in the western world regularly consume, cows milk, sheep's milk and goats milk.

Autistic people often have gut problems including frequent gut dysbiosis. As a result, digestion is impaired resulting in the incomplete digestion of gluten and casein. What is disturbing is that when not properly digested, gluten and casein can end up as peptides (protein building blocks) with a chemical structure that resembles that of the opiates (opium, morphine and heroin). There is a significant, and growing, amount of published research showing that gluteomorphin and casomorphin (the offending peptides) have been detected in the urine of autistic children . These peptides can pass easily through the blood-brain barrier and interfere with the functioning of neurotransmitters such as Sheraton and dopamine, just as the opiate drugs do. As a result the patient suffers a range of neurological and psychological symptoms.

Investigators at the UCLA Medical Center in California have also shown that both gluten and casein peptides trigger an immune response in children with autism, resulting in the production of antibodies to these substances (17).

As a result of these findings, the gluten and casein free diet (GFCF) has been developed. By avoiding both gluten and casein, both children and adults with autism can be helped a lot.

Junhao

Autism appears to result from developmental factors that affect many or all functional brain systems. Neuroanatomical studies and the associations with teratogens (agents responsible for malfunctions) strongly suggest that autism's mechanism includes alteration of brain development soon after conception. Brain weight and volume and head circumference tend to be greater in autistic children. The cellular and molecular bases of pathological early overgrowth are not known, nor is it known whether the overgrown neural systems cause autism's characteristic signs.

Current hypotheses include: -An excess of neurons that causes local overconnectivity in key brain regions.

-Disturbed neuronal migration during early gestation. -Unbalanced excitatory-inhibitory networks. -Abnormal formation of synaspes and dendritic spines.
Interactions between the immune system and the nervous system begin early -during embryogenesis, and successful neurodevelopment depends on a balanced immune response. Several symptoms consistent with a poorly regulated immune response have been reported in autistic children. It is possible that aberrant immune activity during critical periods of neurodevelopment is part of the mechanism of some forms of autism. Several neurotransmitter abnormalities have been detected in autism, notably increased blood levels of serotonin (serotonin is believed to play an important role as a neurotransmitter, in the inhibition of anger, aggression, body temperature, mood, sleep, vomiting, sexuality and appetite), but whether these lead to structural or behavioral abnormalities is unclear. Also, some inborn errors of metabolism are associated with autism but probably account for less than 5% of cases.
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Here is what John said today:
Today i asked mother why I am special and others are not. She told me that this is because I have a very special brain that only a few others have. I know this. The brain is the control centre for all the activities of the body, dealing with intelligence, memory, learning, sight and visual reflexes. I am able to recite all the countries in the world and their capitals as well as every prime number up to 7057. Clearly, this shows that I am intelligent.
However, there are somethings I do not like that others cannot understand. Is this also because I am special? I asked Mother this, but she could not reply.
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Truly, autistic people are different from us, but this does not give us a reason to hate them or alienate them. They are still human beings, albeit slightly different.

Si Chun

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Here is what he wrote to introduce himself:

"My name is John. I am 12 years of age. I live in a world called Earth, which is the third planet from the Sun, which is 146 million kilometres from the sun. Talking to strangers is something i don't usually do. I do not like talking to strangers because of Stranger Danger which they tell us about at school, which is where a strange man offers you sweets or a ride in his car because he wants to do sex with you.

People keep telling me i am different, my mother tells me i am special. I don't really notice the other kids at school. I have a brother who goes to a different school. I go to a special school for special people like me.

I do the same things everyday. I like it this way because I like to know when everything is going to happen. i wake up everyday and clean my teeth and wash my face and I will run 3 times around the flowerpot and twice around the television screen every morning at 7.22 every morning before putting my school clothes on and packing my bag and catch the bus to school."
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As our first report, we will describe the signs and symptoms of autistic people such as John.

Autism causes kids to experience the world differently from the way most other kids do. Kids with autism have difficulty talking to others and expressing themselves through the use of words. Kids who have autism usually keep to themselves and many of them are unable to communicate without special help. Symptoms of autism may increase in severity when the child enters adolescence and often decrease in severity during adulthood.

- Difficulty in making connections

They also may react to what's going on around them in unusual ways. Kids with autism often cannot make connections that other kids make easily. For example, when someone smiles, most people are able to link the smile to the person being happy or friendly. However, a kid with autism may have trouble connecting that smile with the person's happy feelings.

An autistic kid also has trouble linking words to their meanings. Imagine trying to understand what your mom is saying if you didn't know what her words really mean. It is doubly frustrating then if a kid cannot come up with the right words to express his or her own thoughts and feelings.

- Barrier – difficulty making sense of the world

If someone has autism, his or her brain has trouble with an important job: making sense of the world. Every day, your brain interprets the sights, sounds, smells, and other sensations that you experience. If your brain couldn't help you understand these things, you would have trouble functioning, talking, going to school, and doing other everyday stuff. Kids can be mildly affected by autism, so that they only have a little trouble in life, or they can be very affected, so that they need a lot of help.

- Problems in 3 crucial areas of development – social skills, language, behaviour

If a child has autism, he or she may develop normally for the first few months or years of life, and gradually become less responsive to his or her surroundings and other people, even including the child’s parents. In general, children with autism have problems in three crucial areas of development

- Social skills, language and behavior

Social skills – Children who are autistic appear unaware of the world around them. Autistic children tend to have poor eye contact, and are usually unresponsive to normal teaching methods verbal clues. Thus, they may fail to respond when his or her name is called, and may appear to be deaf despite having normal hearing. He or she may also resist cuddling and holding, and generally appears to be unaware of others’ feelings, making them seem rather insensitive. Autistic children, as they have trouble understanding the world around them, may seem to prefer playing and doing things alone, thus retreating into a world of their own, which make them seem like they are indifferent to their surroundings.

Language – Autistic children tend to start talking much later than normal children, and may even lose previously acquired ability to say words or sentences. Thus, they may not be able to start and/or continue a conversation. They also tend not to make eye contact when they ask for something, and may speak with abnormal tones; they may use a singing voice or a robotic voice. They can also repeat verbs or phrases, yet not know how to use them (echolalia). Due to their impaired language development, they often have difficulty expressing needs (thus using gestures instead of words) and may laugh, cry or show distress for unknown reasons.

Behaviour - Autism causes kids to act in unusual ways. They might flap their hands, say certain words over and over and have temper tantrums. They may play only with one particular toy, or display a lack of interest in toys. Most kids with autism dislike changes in routines. They like to stay on a schedule that is always the same, thus developing specific routines, and dislike having changes in schedules. They also may insist that their toys or other objects be arranged a certain way and get upset if these items are moved or disturbed. Autistic people often display abnormal reactions to sensory stimuli (senses may be over- or underactive), so they may be unusually bothered by and are extra-sensitive to light, sound and touch, so much so that they may feel uncomfortable.

John said this today:

‘My teacher once asked me why 4 red cars in a row made it a Good Day, and 3 red cars in a row made it a Quite Good Day, and 5 red cars in a row made it a Super Good Day, and 4 yellow cars in a row made it a Black Day, which is a day when I don’t speak to anyone and sit on my own reading books and don’t eat my lunch. He said that I was clearly a very logical person, so he was surprised that I should think like this because it wasn’t very logical.’

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This clearly shows that what seems logical to an autistic person may not be logical to a normal person. Autistic people ‘like things to be in a nice order’, just like John, which was why he ‘had Good Days and Black Days’, based on the number and colours of the cars he saw each day, which clearly didn’t make any sense to ordinary people.

This concludes our research on the signs and symptoms of autism.

Jia Ying