Understanding Autism, Asperger's & ADHD 2
Only 15% of adults on the autism spectrum are in full-time paid work. Insufficient services for people with autism and their families exist across the country, and there is a particularly urgent need to improve waiting times for diagnosis and low-cost, evidence-based services for people with autism.
There are a confusing plethora of terms that cover a variety of presentations of the autism spectrum, such as autistic disorder, Asperger’s syndrome or disorder, high-functioning, pervasive developmental disorder (PDD), semantic-pragmatic disorder, pathological demand avoidance, non-verbal learning disability, PDD not otherwise specified (PDD-NOS) and atypical Asperger’s syndrome.
There are a confusing plethora of terms that cover a variety of presentations of the autism spectrum, such as autistic disorder, Asperger’s syndrome or disorder, high-functioning, pervasive developmental disorder (PDD), semantic-pragmatic disorder, pathological demand avoidance, non-verbal learning disability, PDD not otherwise specified (PDD-NOS) and atypical Asperger’s syndrome.
Autistic people may be gifted at music, mathematics or drawing, for example. These talents and sometimes extreme abilities represent the minority of people across the autistic spectrum but seem to capture much public and media attention. Many individuals with autism have a narrow band of interests that they may focus on obsessively; this may lead them to become extremely competent at a very specific ability over time. For an even smaller proportion of people with these abilities, there may be brain-based explanations for their extreme expertise, and these individuals are of much interest to researchers but do not represent the overwhelming proportion of people with autism, who may show a narrow focus of interests.
culties in Verbal and Non-verbal Communication
Most people with autism also have problems with their receptive (understanding) and expressive (spoken and written) language. Some people with autism are largely non-verbal (about 15%), but this is not an indication that they lack the ability to understand words spoken to them. Even if the person does have functional language proficiency, they can still have difficulty spontaneously producing, interpreting and responding to non-verbal cues and interpreting spoken language.
Most people on the autism spectrum have difficulty interacting with others. The person may appear not to hear what you say to them, not respond to their name or appear indifferent to any attempts you make to communicate. Young children especially may show echolalia (the repetition of other people’s words), but this may also indicate that the child’s communication is developing. Understandi
In younger children, hand ‘flapping’ or ‘stimming’ can allow them some predictable control over their environments when stressed by overwhelming stimuli around them. Likewise, people with autism often develop obsessive interests and rigid and restricted behavioural patterns and can be very set in their routines.
In this last category of restricted, repetitive patterns of behaviour, we see some of the markers that are more specific to autism. These are behaviours such as the stereotyped hand and finger gestures (so-called ‘flapping’), peculiar voice intonation and preoccupation with particular objects that characterise their obsessions or special interests (e.g. Thomas the Tank Engine or dinosaurs). They may also use unusual body posturing or repeat actions or movements over and over again, or they may have compulsive behaviours such as lining up toys or twisting and spinning objects, which they may find highly stimulating or curious. There may also be a strong desire for sameness, and anxiety can occur when routines such as the daily schedule or familiar, immediate surroundings are changed.
As with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), the person with autism may be prone to interpreting language overly literally. For example, in a story where a police officer says ‘freeze’, the person with autism may be confused, just as with figurative language, metaphor and literal language. Some individuals with autism report a qualitatively different way of thinking, for example sometimes reporting that they ‘think in pictures’.
A person with Asperger’s syndrome may talk with a flat affect (they may sound ‘robotic’), and their voice and tone modulation may fail to make their voice interesting to the listener because they lack the concept of the listener as interested. Their speech may be characterised by poor prosody, awkward intonation and odd/inappropriate subject matter. People with Asperger's disorder are inclined to construe language very literally, so they may not understand slang or informal speech. They may also have difficulty decoding tone of voice and facial expressions.
People with Asperger’s tend to desire to interact with others but do not know how to do so in an appropriate way. They are often self-described ‘loners’ but may live very successful independent lives in appropriate job settings. The very characteristics that make a child ‘higher functioning’ can produce unique difficulties for a person with Asperger’s syndrome.
There are a confusing plethora of terms that cover a variety of presentations of the autism spectrum, such as autistic disorder, Asperger’s syndrome or disorder, high-functioning, pervasive developmental disorder (PDD), semantic-pragmatic disorder, pathological demand avoidance, non-verbal learning disability, PDD not otherwise specified (PDD-NOS) and atypical Asperger’s syndrome.
There are a confusing plethora of terms that cover a variety of presentations of the autism spectrum, such as autistic disorder, Asperger’s syndrome or disorder, high-functioning, pervasive developmental disorder (PDD), semantic-pragmatic disorder, pathological demand avoidance, non-verbal learning disability, PDD not otherwise specified (PDD-NOS) and atypical Asperger’s syndrome.
Autistic people may be gifted at music, mathematics or drawing, for example. These talents and sometimes extreme abilities represent the minority of people across the autistic spectrum but seem to capture much public and media attention. Many individuals with autism have a narrow band of interests that they may focus on obsessively; this may lead them to become extremely competent at a very specific ability over time. For an even smaller proportion of people with these abilities, there may be brain-based explanations for their extreme expertise, and these individuals are of much interest to researchers but do not represent the overwhelming proportion of people with autism, who may show a narrow focus of interests.
culties in Verbal and Non-verbal Communication
Most people with autism also have problems with their receptive (understanding) and expressive (spoken and written) language. Some people with autism are largely non-verbal (about 15%), but this is not an indication that they lack the ability to understand words spoken to them. Even if the person does have functional language proficiency, they can still have difficulty spontaneously producing, interpreting and responding to non-verbal cues and interpreting spoken language.
Most people on the autism spectrum have difficulty interacting with others. The person may appear not to hear what you say to them, not respond to their name or appear indifferent to any attempts you make to communicate. Young children especially may show echolalia (the repetition of other people’s words), but this may also indicate that the child’s communication is developing. Understandi
In younger children, hand ‘flapping’ or ‘stimming’ can allow them some predictable control over their environments when stressed by overwhelming stimuli around them. Likewise, people with autism often develop obsessive interests and rigid and restricted behavioural patterns and can be very set in their routines.
In this last category of restricted, repetitive patterns of behaviour, we see some of the markers that are more specific to autism. These are behaviours such as the stereotyped hand and finger gestures (so-called ‘flapping’), peculiar voice intonation and preoccupation with particular objects that characterise their obsessions or special interests (e.g. Thomas the Tank Engine or dinosaurs). They may also use unusual body posturing or repeat actions or movements over and over again, or they may have compulsive behaviours such as lining up toys or twisting and spinning objects, which they may find highly stimulating or curious. There may also be a strong desire for sameness, and anxiety can occur when routines such as the daily schedule or familiar, immediate surroundings are changed.
As with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), the person with autism may be prone to interpreting language overly literally. For example, in a story where a police officer says ‘freeze’, the person with autism may be confused, just as with figurative language, metaphor and literal language. Some individuals with autism report a qualitatively different way of thinking, for example sometimes reporting that they ‘think in pictures’.
A person with Asperger’s syndrome may talk with a flat affect (they may sound ‘robotic’), and their voice and tone modulation may fail to make their voice interesting to the listener because they lack the concept of the listener as interested. Their speech may be characterised by poor prosody, awkward intonation and odd/inappropriate subject matter. People with Asperger's disorder are inclined to construe language very literally, so they may not understand slang or informal speech. They may also have difficulty decoding tone of voice and facial expressions.
People with Asperger’s tend to desire to interact with others but do not know how to do so in an appropriate way. They are often self-described ‘loners’ but may live very successful independent lives in appropriate job settings. The very characteristics that make a child ‘higher functioning’ can produce unique difficulties for a person with Asperger’s syndrome.