{"id":3398,"date":"2018-05-03T15:02:08","date_gmt":"2018-05-03T15:02:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/simonsvipcms.wordpress.com\/?page_id=140"},"modified":"2019-10-04T14:20:35","modified_gmt":"2019-10-04T18:20:35","slug":"what-is-autism","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.simonssearchlight.org\/information-resources\/what-is-autism\/","title":{"rendered":"What is Autism?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Autism is often called autism spectrum disorder, or ASD, because people with autism have a range, or spectrum, of differences. Autism is a neurodevelopmental difference. It is caused by differences in the way the brain functions.<\/p>\n<p>Autism is a feature of many genetic conditions and is not due to a single genetic condition. There are hundreds of known genetic causes of autism.<\/p>\n<p>People with autism have symptoms in three areas: <strong>social communication<\/strong>, <strong>restricted and repetitive interests<\/strong>, and<strong> repetitive behaviors<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Some children may have symptoms in one of these areas but not all of them, and others may have very few symptoms overall. These children have \u201cfeatures of autism\u201d but not the full diagnosis of autism.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s important to remember that:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><strong>Not everyone with a genetic condition that Searchlight studies has a diagnosis of autism.\u00a0<\/strong>In fact, most people with most of these conditions will not be diagnosed with autism. However, people with the genetic condition have had one or more of the behavioral features mentioned above and listed below.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Even a person who does have autism is unlikely to exhibit all of the features.<\/strong>\u00a0Every person\u00a0is unique\u00a0and cannot be defined by any single genetic difference. We are a combination of\u00a0all\u00a0of our genes.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Most of these features are also found in people with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD,\u00a0as well as other diagnoses, <\/strong>not just people with autism.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>People who have genetic changes like the ones we are studying may have one or more of the behavioral features listed below.<\/p>\n<div class=\"simons-accordion-wrap\"><div class=\"acc-item\"><div class=\"acc-top\"><span class=\"acc-icon\">+<\/span><p><strong>Social Communication <\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div><div class=\"acc-bottom\"><p>Social communication challenges in autism, or features of autism, include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Does not respond to name by 12 months of age<\/li>\n<li>Avoids eye contact<\/li>\n<li>Prefers to play alone<\/li>\n<li>Does not share others\u2019 interests<\/li>\n<li>Only interacts to achieve a desired goal<\/li>\n<li>Has flat or inappropriate facial expressions<\/li>\n<li>Does not understand personal space boundaries<\/li>\n<li>Avoids or resists physical contact<\/li>\n<li>Cannot be comforted by others during distress<\/li>\n<li>Has trouble understanding other people\u2019s feelings or talking about their own feelings<\/li>\n<li>Has delayed speech and language skills<\/li>\n<li>Repeats words or phrases over and over<\/li>\n<li>Reverses pronouns (for example, says \u201cyou\u201d instead of \u201cI\u201d)<\/li>\n<li>Gives unrelated answers to questions<\/li>\n<li>Does not point or respond to pointing<\/li>\n<li>Uses few or no gestures (for example, does not wave goodbye)<\/li>\n<li>Talks in a flat, robot-like, or singsong voice<\/li>\n<li>Does not pretend in play (for example, does not pretend to feed a doll)<\/li>\n<li>Does not understand jokes, sarcasm, or teasing<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Information obtained\u00a0from\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/ncbddd\/autism\/signs.html\">www.cdc.gov\/ncbddd\/autism\/signs.html<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div><div class=\"clear\"><\/div><\/div><div class=\"acc-item\"><div class=\"acc-top\"><span class=\"acc-icon\">+<\/span><p><strong>Restricted Interests and Behaviors<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div><div class=\"acc-bottom\"><p>Restricted interests and behaviors\u00a0related to\u00a0autism, or features of autism, include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Lines up toys or other objects<\/li>\n<li>Plays with toys the same way every time<\/li>\n<li>Likes specific parts of objects (or example, wheels)<\/li>\n<li>Is very organized<\/li>\n<li>Gets upset by minor changes<\/li>\n<li>Has obsessive interests<\/li>\n<li>Has to follow certain routines<\/li>\n<li>Flaps hands, rocks body, or spins self in circles<\/li>\n<li>Has sensory differences including oversensitivity or undersensitivity to stimuli like textures, smells, or sounds<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Information obtained from\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/ncbddd\/autism\/signs.html\">www.cdc.gov\/ncbddd\/autism\/signs.html<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div><div class=\"clear\"><\/div><\/div><div class=\"acc-item\"><div class=\"acc-top\"><span class=\"acc-icon\">+<\/span><p><strong>Other Symptoms<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div><div class=\"acc-bottom\"><p>Some people with autism, or features of autism, have\u00a0other symptoms. These might include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Hyperactivity (very active)<\/li>\n<li>Impulsivity (acting without thinking)<\/li>\n<li>Short attention span<\/li>\n<li>Aggression<\/li>\n<li>Temper tantrums<\/li>\n<li>Unusual eating and sleeping habits<\/li>\n<li>Unusual mood or emotional reactions<\/li>\n<li>Lack of fear or more fear than expected<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Information obtained from\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/ncbddd\/autism\/signs.html\">www.cdc.gov\/ncbddd\/autism\/signs.html<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div><div class=\"clear\"><\/div><\/div><div class=\"clear\"><\/div><\/div>\n<p><strong>If you\u2019d like to learn more about the features of autism and other research being done, visit\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/sparkforautism.org\/\"><span class=\"notranslate\">SPARK<\/span>forAutism.org<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Autism is often called autism spectrum disorder, or ASD, because people with autism have a range, or spectrum, of differences. Autism is a neurodevelopmental difference. It is caused by differences in the way the brain functions. Autism is a feature of many genetic conditions and is not due to a single genetic condition. There are [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":0,"parent":170,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.simonssearchlight.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3398"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.simonssearchlight.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.simonssearchlight.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.simonssearchlight.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.simonssearchlight.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3398"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.simonssearchlight.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3398\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6405,"href":"https:\/\/www.simonssearchlight.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3398\/revisions\/6405"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.simonssearchlight.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/170"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.simonssearchlight.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3398"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}