According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) autism is a group of developmental brain disorders, collectively called autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The term "spectrum" refers to the wide range of symptoms, skills and levels of impairment, or disability, that children with ASD can have. Some children are mildly impaired by their symptoms, but others are severely disabled.
What Are the Symptoms of ASD?
Symptoms of ASD vary from one child to the next, but in general, they fall into three areas:
- Social impairment
- Communication difficulties
- Repetitive and stereotyped behaviors
Children with ASD do not follow typical patterns when developing social and communication skills. Parents are usually the first to notice unusual behaviors in their child. Often, certain behaviors become more noticeable when comparing children of the same age.
In some cases, babies with ASD may seem different very early in their development. Even before their first birthday, some babies become overly focused on certain objects, rarely make eye contact, and fail to engage in typical back-and-forth play and babbling with their parents.
Other children may develop normally until the second or third year of life, but then start to lose interest in others and become silent, withdrawn or indifferent to social signals. Loss or reversal of normal development is called regression and occurs in some children with ASD.
Social Impairment
Most children with ASD have trouble engaging in everyday social interactions. Some children with ASD may:
- Make little eye contact
- Tend to look and listen less to people in their environment, or fail to respond to other people
- Not readily seek to share their enjoyment of toys or activities by pointing or showing things to others
- Respond unusually when others show anger, distress or affection
Communication Issues
Children with autism may fail or be slow to respond to their name or other verbal attempts to gain their attention, or develop gestures, such as pointing and showing things to others. They may also:
- Coo and babble in the first year of life, but then stop doing so
- Develop language at a delayed pace
- Learn to communicate using pictures or their own sign language
- Speak only in single words or repeat certain phrases over and over, seeming unable to combine words into meaningful sentences
- Repeat words or phrases that they hear, a condition called echolalia
Repetitive and Stereotyped Behaviors
Children with ASD often have repetitive motions or unusual behaviors. These behaviors may be extreme and very noticeable, or they can be mild and discreet. For example, some children may repeatedly flap their arms or walk in specific patterns, while others may subtly move their fingers by their eyes in what looks like a gesture. These repetitive actions are sometimes called stereotypy or stereotyped behaviors.
Children with ASD also tend to have overly focused interests. Children with ASD may become fascinated with moving objects or parts of objects, like the wheels on a moving car. They might spend a long time lining up toys in a certain way, rather than playing with them. They may also become very upset if someone accidentally moves one of the toys.
No two children express exactly the same types and severity of symptoms. In fact, many typically developing children occasionally display some of the behaviors common to children with ASD. However, if you notice your child has several ASD-related symptoms, have your child screened and evaluated by a health professional experienced with ASD.
How ASD is Diagnosed
ASD diagnosis is often a two-stage process. The first stage involves general developmental screening during well child checkups with a pediatrician or an early childhood healthcare provider. Children who show some developmental problems are referred for additional evaluation.
The second stage involves a thorough evaluation by a team of doctors and other health professionals with a wide range of specialties. At this stage, a child may be diagnosed as having autism or another developmental disorder. Children with ASD can usually be reliably diagnosed by age 2, though research suggests that some screening tests can be helpful at 18 months or even younger.
How ASD Affects Families
"Every family member is affected when a child has autism," says Liz Ferron, senior EAP consultant for VITAL WorkLife. "With so much attention on the child with special needs, there's a risk that siblings may not get the attention they need."
Parents may have difficulty with depression or anxiety either at the time of diagnosis or once the "crisis" has passed and the reality of long-term care sets in. Marriages often suffer from lack of attention. Extended family relationships are strained by well-meaning relatives who chime in with advice or criticism.
We Can Help
"Every autistic child is different and so are the challenges to his or her family," explains Ferron. "It's important for family members to be able to talk honestly about how caring for a special needs child is affecting them—and an EAP counselor is always willing to listen.
"Although our program is non-diagnostic, we are available to provide referral resources for assessment and treatment. Additionally, we are committed to being there for parents of children with special needs to get help and support for their own stress and difficult emotions."
If you have a child who has already been diagnosed with ASD—or you are concerned that he or she may have symptoms of ASD—your VITAL WorkLife benefit can help.
Call 800.383.1908—any time of the day or night—for a free, confidential consultation by phone, to make an appointment or to meet with an EAP consultant. Or, go to VITALWorkLife.com to access a wealth of online information and resources, including the following articles on autism:
- Autism Spectrum Disorder: Parts 1-6
- Basic Information about Autism
Accessing these resources is easy. Simply follow these steps:
- To find these articles, go to VITALWorkLife.com, click on member login and enter your user name and password.
- On the page that comes up, in the left hand column, click on the "Your Work & Life Resources" button.
- In the shaded area at the top of the screen, click on the pull down menu that says "Thriving," and pull down to "Children's Health."
- In the Categories box on the right side of the page, click on "Special Needs."
Pathways to Well Being Call VITAL WorkLife at 800.383.1908 or access resources through your VITAL WorkLife App.
