Autism
Autism, or Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD), is a developmental problem with a wide spectrum of conditions, however they are all characterised one way or another by problems of the three "impairments" in young children:
- Lack of imaginative play
- Lack of social interaction
- Repetitive behaviours
The causes are as yet undecided, though there are a lot of people with a lot of theories and not enough being done to deal with the problem, faced by nearly 1% of children. For an unknown reason it affects four times as many boys as girls.
It is characterised by withdrawal from the world often into repetitive behaviour and a need to order the things that the children do play with.
Autism is a maze!
An autistic child can be very disruptive and their repetitive behaviour is difficult for some people to deal with. The child is probably enormously frustrated at their inability to communicate and overwhelmed with the sensory data they are trying to handle.
The most important thing is attitude. An unconditional love for the child and acceptance of where they are is essential.
The following Autism Information Websites may be useful:
- A Definition Of Autism - http://www.hale.ndo.co.uk/autism/definition.htm
- An Introduction to Autism (Wikipedia) - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autism
