Autism Diagnosis: Poor Social Skills
A major part of the diagnosis of autism is determining social skills. Some features of many children with autism are their inability to look another person in the eye, even the eyes of their parents. Children with autism often focus on objects and do so intently, virtually ignoring other people or other stimuli for long time periods. If children with autism do communicate, it is often robot-like without facial expressions or gestures. Ages and Stages Questionnaires can be helpful in evaluating a childs communication, gross motor, fine motor, problem-solving, and personal adaptive skills.
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Is That Why So Many Smart Scientists And Engineers Are Autistic
Science and engineering are two areas that require great focus and strong attention to detail, both of which play to the strengths of someone with autism.
They are also careers that often times do not require as much social interaction.
Additionally, people who follow either of these career paths typically benefit from the ability to think outside the box.
Autism itself does not make someone a better scientist or engineer.
Many of the requirements however, do go hand in hand with what some autistic people excel at.
At the same time, many scientific and engineering studies cover a broad range of topics. Someone with autism may be extremely interested in some of the material yet totally disinterested in other parts. This could make it harder for them to succeed.
At the end of the day, it comes down to the individual.
It doesnt really matter if they have autism or not as long as they are capable. Those who truly desire to succeed will, and those who dont wont.
The biggest difference is that those people who dont have autism are doing what is expected, while those on the spectrum exceed what other people around them thought they could.
This does not make them better or worse, it simply means that we as a society need to improve our understanding of autism and change our paradigms.
Why Don’t They Learn To Talk
One of the strangest aspects of nonverbal autism is the fact that no one really knows why some people with autism can’t, or don’t, use spoken language. It is especially puzzling because quite a few nonverbal people on the spectrum can and do choose to communicate using American Sign Language, picture cards, and a range of digital tools.
Some people with autism also have childhood apraxia of speech, a neurological disorder that makes spoken language extremely difficult. But most nonverbal individuals on the autism spectrum don’t have apraxia they just don’t speak.
Clearly, there are differences in brain function that inhibit spoken language, but at this point, there is no agreement on just what those differences are or how they impact any given individual.
Studies are making use of instruments such as electroencephalograms and MRIs in an effort to better understand what is going on inside the mind of a person who does not or cannot talk. Others are measuring eye gaze.
So far it seems clear that people with non-verbal autism understand much more than they communicate but how much more, and at what level, remains unclear.
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Turning 22 With Autism
The relative lack of information for and about adults on the spectrum means that a lot of parents suddenly find themselves scrambling when their childnow a young adultreaches the magical age of 22.
Thats because, on their 22nd birthday, people with autism suddenly lose their entitlement to services under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and enter the much chancier world of adult services.
While the IDEA actually requires schools to offer free and appropriate education to all children, there is no such requirement for adults. As a result, funding and programming for adults may or may not be available at any given time.
Expert Reaction: Labelling Autistic Kids As High Functioning May Stop Them From Getting The Help They Need
High functioning autism is a term used for people with autism spectrum disorder without an intellectual disability , and it has become synonymous with expectations of greater functional skills and better long-term outcomes. However, higher scores on an IQ test do not necessarily indicate improved functioning, warn Aussie researchers who measured IQ and adaptive behaviour in 2,225 autistic kids. And being labelled high functioning may make it more difficult for kids to access the care they need, the researchers say, suggesting the term should be dropped altogether.
Journal/conference: Autism
Link to research :10.1177/1362361319852831
Organisation/s: Telethon Kids Institute, The University of Western Australia, The University of Sydney, Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, The University of Melbourne
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What Is Fragile X Syndrome
FXS is a genetic condition that causes intellectual disability, behavioral and learning challenges, and various physical characteristics. Though FXS occurs in both genders, males are more frequently affected than females, and generally with greater severity. The agreed upon prevalence of FXS is approximately 1 in 3,6004,000 for males and 1 in 4,0006,000 for females.
No one individual will have all the features of FXS:
- Behavioral characteristics include ADD, ADHD, social anxiety, hand-biting and/or flapping, poor eye contact, sensory disorders, increased risk for aggression, and autism and autistic-like behaviors.
- Intellectual disabilities include a range from moderate learning disabilities to more severe intellectual disabilities.
- Physical features may include large ears, long face, soft skin, and large testicles in post-pubertal males.
- Connective tissue problems may include ear infections, flat feet, high arched palate, double-jointed fingers, and hyper-flexible joints.
- Disposition: They are very social and friendly, have excellent imitation skills, have a strong visual memory/long term memory, like to help others, are nice, thoughtful people and have a wonderful sense of humor.
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Significant Limitations In Two Or More Areas Of Adaptive Behavior
Adaptive behavior, or adaptive functioning, refers to the skills needed to live independently . To assess adaptive behavior, professionals compare the functional abilities of a child to those of other children of similar age. To measure adaptive behavior, professionals use structured interviews, with which they systematically elicit information about the person’s functioning in the community from someone who knows them well. There are many adaptive behavior scales, and accurate assessment of the quality of someone’s adaptive behavior requires clinical judgment as well. Certain skills are important to adaptive behavior, such as:
daily living skills, such as getting dressed, using the bathroom, and feeding oneself communication skills, such as understanding what is said and being able to answer social skills with peers, family members, spouses, adults, and others.
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Systematic Literature Search Strategy
An expert in systematic literature searching approved the following search strategy. The databases MEDLINE, PsycINFO and Scopus were used to identify studies for this investigation. Search terms were selected, pertaining to four subjects: intelligence, internalising symptoms, ASD and adolescence. These four groups of search terms were separated by the Boolean operator and, while or was used to separate terms within each group. Resultantly, studies relating to all four groups were returned. Studies from the earliest record date of each database to 10/02/2017 were obtained. Appendix A contains the full list of search terms.
Keeping Your Child With Autism Safe
One of the things that worries autism parents most is keeping their child safe. There are so many obstacles and issues that parents of typical children dont even have to consider. Autism symptoms like self-harm, head-banging, wandering, eloping, hiding, and running are just a few things that are far more prevalent in autistic kids. Safety proofing your home and childs surroundings is imperative.
Kids with autism are often less aware of safety concerns. Many low functioning children with autism have no idea that something is dangerous and are unable to understand the implications of their actions. When they get overwhelmed and triggered, they can run into the street without even noticing the cars coming. According to the National Autism Association, Autism itself does not affect life expectancy, however, research has shown that the mortality risk among individuals with autism is twice as high as the general population, in large part due to drowning and other accidents.
A recent study revealed that over 50% of children with autism wander or elope. Several parents report that despite extreme safety precautions being in place, their child has found a way to escape from their home or school. This issue is amplified when your autistic child is nonverbal . Simple things like going to school, riding a school bus, going to the mall, and playing in the park require extreme care and cause parents a tremendous amount of stress and worry.
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Autism Treatment: Sensory Integration
As previously described, children with autism spectrum disorder may be extremely sensitive to various sensory stimuli such as sounds, lights, textures, taste, and odors. Some children may become agitated by touching, hearing, or seeing specific things such as a bell, blinking lights, touching something cold, tasting certain foods, or smelling a specific odor like a disinfectant. Some children can be trained to adapt and thus improve behavior.
Sensory integration therapy assesses the way an individuals brain processes sensory input. A sensory integration-trained occupational or physical therapist will evaluate the autistic child in order to create a plan that matches sensory stimulation with physical movement, which can improve how the brain processes and organizes sensory information.
Symptoms Of Low Functioning Autism
The symptoms of low functioning autism can include all or some of the typical signs and symptoms of autism like limited social abilities, inflexible and repetitive behaviors, and impaired communication skills. However, these symptoms are more pronounced and severe than with others on the spectrum. In addition, those with low functioning autism also generally display signs and suffer from one or more forms of intellectual disability as described below.
Being a parent brings with it several challenges, fears, hopes, and new experiences. Every parent wants their child to be happy and healthy, but it is becoming more and more apparent that Autism Spectrum Disorder is on the rise and a growing concern among new parents.
Autism is the fastest growing developmental disability with new statistics showing it has been steadily growing over the past 20 years, with 1 in 59 children now being affected in the U.S. . In addition, over half of all autistic children also have mild to severe intellectual disability a diagnosis that indicates an autistic child has low-functioning autism. Although there is no cure for autism, early detection and treatment can have a huge impact on a childs quality of life, regardless of the level of severity of their symptoms.
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How Intelligence For Autistic People Is Seen
I think we hear this question so often due to recent television shows, movies and media stories.
In TV and the movies, autistic people are portrayed as being super intelligent. They see things that other people miss, and are able to pull obscure answers out of thin air to complex questions that baffle everyone else.
On the flip side are people who have autism in real life.
Not only are real autistic people not thought of as smarter, they are frequently looked at as less intelligent due to their social awkwardness.
They may be quiet or shy, and common social circumstances that most people take as everyday knowledge may escape them.
Something like not interrupting someone when theyre talking doesnt always register with a person on the spectrum.
Then there is the media.
The media does not depict autistic people as being smarter. They paint a picture of someone with autism to fit whatever story they are writing.
If a crime is committed then its an autistic person who has a lower IQ, and may not have the ability to feel empathy.
When theres a scientific breakthrough discovered by a person with autism, its the genius autistic who made the discovery.
For a feel good piece, its the person who everyone thought was socially awkward and dumb who was actually autistic and had some amazing ability that no one thought they had.
The reality is that people with autism are just as likely to be smart, or less than smart, as everyone else.
Iq Sampling In Literature Pertaining To Visual Processing
In determining to what extent the ASD with-ID population has been excluded from visual research, we carried out two systematic literature searches that looked for key terms in papers titles and abstracts. The first search specified an ASD without-ID population and the second specified use of an ASD with-ID population. Constant in both searches were the grouped search terms associated with ASD, and with visual processing. We searched the PsycINFO database from its inception until July 2016 and the PubMed databases up to the same dates. Both search engines were checked for samples indicating without-ID and with-ID groups, and were limited to the English language and to experimental papers in peer reviewed journals. Infant studies were excluded as measures of intelligence are less reliable for this demographic. The search results for the combined terms of ASD, visual processing and without-ID found 145 studies whereas in the corresponding ASD with-ID search, 32 studies were identified .
Table 1. Summary of two systematic literature searches for ASD with-ID and ASD without-ID in the ASD visual processing literature.
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Autism Spectrum Disorder Among Siblings
Autism spectrum disorders diagnoses have increased over the years. Researchers have found that autism runs in families and younger siblings of an autistic sibling have an 18.7% risk of also having autism. Identical twins have the highest percentage of autism occurrence, about a 75% chance that both will develop autism if one twin has autism. As previously mentioned, boys are about four to five times more likely to develop autism.
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How Is The Brain Affected By Autism Spectrum Disorder
Children affected by autism have an excess of synapses, or connections between brain cells. This is because there is a shutdown in the normal pruning process that occurs during brain development. A typical pruning process involves eliminating about half of cortical synapses by late adolescence. Cortical synapses occur in the cortex, which is central to thought and processing information from the senses.
Some children with autism have larger than normal brains but findings are inconsistent. MRI scans of some children with autism show abnormal cortical responses and some show other abnormalities. Future advances in brain studies may change our understanding of the brains role in autism.
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Down Syndrome And Autistic Spectrum Disorder: A Look At What We Know
During the past 10 years, Ive evaluated hundreds of children with Down syndrome, each one with their own strengths and weaknesses, and certainly their own personality.
Sometimes parents bring their child with Down syndrome to the clinicnot always for the first timeand they are deeply distraught about a change in their childs behaviour or development. Some families do their own research and mention they think their child may have autistic spectrum disorder along with Down syndrome. Others have no idea what may be happening. They do know it isnt good and they want answers now. This article is for families in situations like this and other, similar ones.
If your child has been dually-diagnosed with Down syndrome and autistic spectrum disorder or if you believe your child may have ASD, you will learn a little more about what that means, what we are learning through data collection, and insights to the evaluation process.
There is little written in the form of research or commentary about DS-ASD. In fact, until recently, it was commonly believed that the two conditions could not exist together. Parents were told their child had Down syndrome with a severe to profound cognitive impairment without further investigation or intervention into a diagnostic cause. Today, the medical profession recognises that people with Down syndrome may also have a psychiatric-related diagnosis such as ASD or Obsessive Compulsive Disorder .
GROUP ONE
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Whats The Highest Possible Iq
Theoretically, theres no upper limit to an IQ score.
Who has the honor of the highest score isnt entirely clear. Though there are many claims of super-high IQs, documentation is hard to come by. The fact that IQ tests have changed quite a bit over the years makes it difficult to compare results from different eras.
Mathematician Terence Tao is said to have an IQ of 220 or 230. Tao started high school in the 1980s at age 7, earned a bachelors degree at age 16, and a doctorate at 21.
In 2017, India Times reported that an 11-year-old girl living in the United Kingdom achieved a score of 162 on a Mensa IQ test. The publication also noted that Albert Einstein and Steven Hawking are both thought to have an IQ of 160.
Standardized IQ tests are given and scored by trained administrators. The score represents how you compare to your peer group in:
- language
- memory
- math
If you have a high IQ score, it means your reasoning and problem-solving abilities are better than average and may signal intellectual potential.
An IQ of 70 or below may indicate limited intellectual functioning. However, IQ alone doesnt tell the whole story. Testing of social, practical, and conceptual skills is needed to make that kind of determination.
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Why Was Aspergers Diagnosed Separately
Often an Aspergers diagnosis occurred at a later stage for children, as signs and characteristics may have only begun to be observable when the socialisation demands that going to school places on a child started to have an impact.
Individuals classified as having Aspergers often acquire language capability at a time commensurate with their age , while others on the autism spectrum may develop the ability to use words and sounds for communication at a delayed rate, with some individuals language not developing at all.
Those previously diagnosed with Aspergers tend to have average, or above average, IQ levels.