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What is Autism?

Autism is a biological disorder of the brain that impairs communication and social skills.  It covers a broad spectrum of disorders that may range from mild to severe.  Autistics have been described as being in their “own world”.  Many high functioning autistics describe two worlds; “their world” and the “outside world”.  There are serious sensory challenges that accompany autism, take a look at what is outlined below to help you to get a better understanding:

Absence or delay of speech and language:

• Repetition of words (echolalia) in place of a normal verbal communication.
• Hand leading to communicate in place of verbal requests.
• Complete absence of verbal communication.

Difficulty relating to other children and adults:

• Lack of eye contact.  (When directly in front of the child, they may look in every direction, except at the individual in from of them).
• Appear Aloof.
• Lack of interest in other children and children’s activities.
• Lack of response to verbal requests.
• No response to their own name.
• Avoidance of physical contact (even with parents and siblings).
• Detached from others in distress or pain. (Complete lack of empathy).

Odd behaviors:

• Spinning, rocking, hand flapping, hand biting etc..
• Inappropriate laughter or tantrums. (for no visible reason).
• Inappropriate attachment to objects.
• Obsessive compulsive behaviors i.e. lining up objects.
• Repetitive play for extended periods of time.  Example: stacking blocks for a half hour at a time.
• Extreme difficulty dealing with interruption of routine schedule and change.
• Possible aggression towards others and self.

Sensory Challenges:

• Hyper (over) or Hypo (under) sensitivity of the five senses (Stephen Shore gives extensive information in his course)
• Abnormal responses to the senses.
• A lack of response to pain or an overreaction to something seemingly minor such as a door closing.

Sensory Overload:
In order to fully understand autism, a thorough knowledge of the sensory challenges that autistics face is necessary.  For a typical individual, we take the normal function of our five senses for granted:

1. Vision
2. Hearing
3. Touch
4. Taste
5. Smell