Autism-World

Q: I know the extreme basics. Just wondered if I could get any more detailed accounts, especially about those with relatively mild cases.

Answer:

Since Autism is a spectrum disorder, it can range from severe to mild, in fact some of the more milder cases go undiagnosed for years or may never be diagnosed. Sometimes it’s misdiagnosed as ADD/ADHD because the children don’t display the more extreme symptoms. Some undiagnosed cases have had their behaviours written off as eccentric or just a little different.

You can go undiagnosed if your symptoms are mild enough to be just considered quirks and not problem behaviour. It is important that if autism is suspected that the child (or adult) has a series of examinations, observations and testing to either rule in or out the diagnoses. Even mild cases can benefit from therapy and that therapy can make it easier for them to cope in a world that can seem to be an alien planet.

Some signs can be the preference to be alone, the inability to understand certain physical cues (personal space, facial expressions), inability to understand figures of speech (very literal thinking) such as sarcasm or irony, senstivity to light or sound, appears to be day dreaming or deaf (possible shut down response when over stimulated), need for routine and avoiding eye contact.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 25th, 2007 at 12:23 pm and is filed under Ask and answer.