Persistent deficits in social communication and social interaction across multiple contexts, as manifested by the following, currently or by history (examples are illustrative, not exhaustive, see text): Two children, both with the same diagnosis, can act very differently from one another and have varying skills.Ī. Although autism is defined by a certain set of behaviors, children and adults can exhibit any combination of the behaviors in any degree of severity.
The symptoms and characteristics of autism can present themselves in a wide variety of combinations, from mild to severe. It was in 1943 that Leo Kanner, a psychiatrist at Johns Hopkins University, created the diagnosis of autism.Īutism is a spectrum disorder. The classic form of autism involves a triad of impairments – in social interaction, in communication and the use of language, and in limited imagination as reflected in restricted, repetitive and stereotyped patterns of behavior and activities. The word “autism” means a developmental disability significantly affecting verbal and non-verbal communication and social interaction. There is no single medical test that can diagnose it definitively instead, in order to accurately pinpoint your child’s problem, multiple evaluations and tests are necessary.Autism is a lifelong, nonprogressive neurological disorder typically appearing before the age of three years. The team of specialists involved in diagnosing your child may include:ĭetermining where your child falls “on the spectrum” is not a brief process.
Diagnosis is based on the patterns of behavior that are revealed during evaluation. In order to determine whether your child has autism, a related autism spectrum disorder, or another developmental condition, clinicians look carefully at the way your child socializes, communicates, and behaves. The overwhelming majority fall somewhere on the milder range of the spectrum. According to the Autism Spectrum Resource Center, only 20% of people on the autism spectrum have classic autism. Milder variants are Asperger’s Syndrome, sometimes called high-functioning autism, and PDD-NOS, or atypical autism. Classic autism, or autistic disorder, is the most severe of the autism spectrum disorders. Where your child falls on this spectrum means they exhibit different behavioral patterns. Professionals and laypeople alike refer to children who are on the spectrum meaning they have some form or degree of autism. We use the terms autism, autism spectrum disorder, or “on the spectrum.”