Brief information of autism

Autism is a neurological disorder. Kids may show symptoms of Autism as early as when they are only 8 month old, and can be diagnosed  having Autism by the age of 3. The symptoms of autism involve three major areas of development and impact a child’s abilities to: interact with people, communicate with others by using the proper language tools, and participate in normal activities for kids from same age. For example, children with autism prefer to play alone rather than play as a group, they would avoid eye contacts, and show low interest in other people's talks.

According to the book "Autism" by Peggy Parks, the number of children going to special school for autism had rose from 22,245 in 1995 to 140,254 in 2004, increased by 525%. In United States, about 1 to 1.5 million people have autism, and approximately 50% of autistic children has no ability to communicate.

One example of severe autistic children is "it is no use telling him, 'Now do a drawing of what you saw today on our trip.' You need to tell him,' Get your pencils out, take some paper, sit at a free disk'... and so on. While other kids in the class react instinctively to fill in the gaps, he can't function without explicit instructions. If you said, say,"Sit down and draw a picture", he'd sit down and then be distraught because he can't draw without his pencils, which are on the other side of the room."


Bibliography: Parks, Peggy J. Autism. San Diego, CA: Reference Point Press. 2009.