Autism

Autism Spectrum Disorder (commonly referred to as just "Autism"), is a neurological brain disorder that appears in childhood and continues on without remission. It is one of the five pervasive developmental disorders, the others being Rett syndrome, childhood disintegrative disorder, Asperger syndrome and pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified. 
Autism is more common in men than in women. This is because men are likely to be diagnosed during childhood before or around the age of 4, unlike women, who are diagnosed less than men and they are diagnosed later in their teenage years or early adult years. The majority of women mask their autistic traits to fit in with the neurotypical crowd by being "normal and sociable" to others, making it difficult to detect autistic women than autistic men, but eventually, they will suffer from burnout, once their masks are ripped off or they are at home away from society. Apart from that, autistic women are usually misdiagnosed as having other disorders such as bipolar disorder or even borderline personality disorder, due to frequent mood changes and eating disorders, compared to autistic men being misdiagnosed as having schizophrenia or even schizoid personality disorder when it comes to being aloof, quiet, very emotionless, asocial, lonely, and strange around others.
==Signs/Symptoms==
Autism covers a wide spectrum from either low- to high-functioning autism or syndromal and non-syndromal autism, the former indicative of overlap with congenital diseases.
Autism is not based on a single symptom, but rather on a pattern. The main characteristics are impairments in social interaction and communication, restricted interests and repetitive behavior. Children should be screened for autism if they are not babbling by twelve months, not gesturing by twelve months, not using single words by sixteen months, not using two-word spontaneous phrases by twenty-four months or if they have any loss of language or social skills.
===Social interaction===
Autistic people often lack the skin of intuition for others and won't make large social faux pas because of this deficiency. In childhood, they are less likely to make eye contact or respond to social stimuli, and when they are older, they are likely to approach strangers inappropriately and spontaneously.
===Communication===
A third to a half of people with autism do not develop enough natural speech to meet communication needs. They are less likely to make requests or share experiences and sometimes will just repeat what others say. In youth, their gestures may not match up with what they are saying.
===Repetitive Behavior===
There are six common repetitive behaviors of autistic people, these are:
*Stereotypy: Randomised physical movements to calm oneself. This is also known as self-stimulatory behaviour. (e.g, rocking, hand flapping, body spinning.)
*Compulsive Behavior: the appearance of following rules (i.e., arranging objects in a certain way, lining items up)
*Sameness: resistance to change, if something is changed even slightly, the autistic person will be frustrated.
*Ritualistic Behavior: the performance of daily activities the same way each time (i.e., eating only Cheerios, having a same bedtime routine)
*Restricted Behavior: limit in focus, interest or activity.
*Self-injury: hurting oneself. (e.g, headbanging, biting, picking at skin.)
===Other===
Autistic people sometimes respond oddly to sensory stimuli, have issues with complex memory tasks and sometimes even motor problems. Atypical eating behaviors, closely tied with the ritualistic behavior mentioned above, are found so often in autistic children that it used to be a diagnostic indicator. Sleep problems are common at around two-thirds of children experiencing them.
===Comorbidity===
The following conditions commonly co-exist with Autism:
* ADHD
* Rett syndrome
* Schizophrenia
* Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), agoraphobia, social anxiety disorder, PTSD, and other anxiety disorders
* Depressive disorders
* Speech processing disorders
*Sensory processing disorders
* Learning disorders (dyslexia, dysgraphia, or dyscalculia)
* Eating disorders (ex. ARFID)
* Maladaptive Daydreaming
* Selective Mutism
* Seizure disorder
*Savant Syndrome
==Etiology==
There is a strong genetic basis for autism, but some research has made mention of the hypothesis that autism is caused by deletions or duplication during cell meiosis in fetal development. The teratogens, or agents that cause birth defects, associated with autism appear to act during the first eight weeks from conception. Most claims of environmental factors that cause autism have not been backed by any scientific evidence.
==Management==
There is no cure or treatment for autism, but there are supportive therapy options available, most of which focus on lessening associated deficits and family distress. Most autistic children participate in special education, IEP (Individualized Educational Plan) and behavioral therapy programs to improve functioning and decrease symptom severity. Furthermore, in terms of medication, more than half of autistic people are prescribed either psychoactive or anticonvulsant drugs.
Besides, similar to ADHD, autism is just a rewiring of the brain that nature programs autistic people to suppose to act unique and beneficial to communities in the world. However, certain neurotypical people with personality disorders (e.g. narcissistic personality disorder, antisocial personality disorder, borderline personality disorder, histrionic personality disorder, dependent personality disorder, avoidant personality disorder), are nurtured by their parents or society to mostly hurt themselves and others around them just to impress others with their self-image, and they are largely in control of their behaviors. In other words, autism doesn't need to be cured at all, even if the controversial American corporate company, Autism Speaks, believes that it supports autistic people by desiring to eradicate autism from existence to which most autistic people are against and they abhor Autism Speaks greatly as an ableist company that only "speaks" for autistic people while suppressing their free speech. 
== Appearance ==
In the episode "Lines in the Sand", a 10-year-old autistic boy Adam Kelvey presents to Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital for an examination.
== References ==
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classic_autism
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autism_spectrum
Category:Neurological Disability