Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Autism - Should I Label My Child?

Autism - to label or not to label, that is the question. Have you been to your doctor about your child and been made to feel as if you were banging your head off a brick wall? Or quite possibly you have been told that a speech delay is common in boys and perhaps mom or dad is just being a bit too neurotic about it? If you have been down this route then you are certainly not alone. In Ireland the consensus now among many in the medical profession is that there is not really an increase in the number of autistic children out there but instead us parents are concocting the symptoms to claim state benefits by unjustly labeling our children.

If you have already been told by a number of people that your child is Autistic and more importantly if you the child's parent who knows this part of you better than anyone else has an instinctual inner feeling that something is not right then chances are your suspicions are rarely unfounded. Recently a more enlightened member of the medical profession reiterated this fact to me, she said that a concerned mother or father who is ignored by their doctor is doing a great injustice to the child in question. So if you already have an innate belief that your child is different or has issues that need to be addressed then in most cases you are valid in your concerns.

A concerned parent does not want their child to be labeled as Autistic but if their the child does actually have autism then the sooner that this is recognized, faced and addressed the quicker it can be acted on and the better the outcome for everyone in the long run. Any one in the field of psychology, social care or child care will reiterate how important early intervention is for the child on the Autistic Spectrum. But this is practically impossible to access if you are still being told to wait and see, give the child a chance, you are just being neurotic, paranoid and that the child may still talk or perform other social skills when they are ready.

The best course of action on how to proceed in the diagnosis and treatment of Autism is not always easy to figure out. It is undoubtedly an emotionally fraught experience that will leave you drained and confused. However the knowledge on how to best deal with this unpredicted dilemma is best answered by those who are actually on the Autistic Spectrum. The general consensus among people with autism tends to be that if you are autistic then you feel already labeled before any official diagnosis is made or any official autistic title is bestowed upon you. Many children who went through childhood with undiagnosed autism will tell you that they already felt clearly different and were perceived in school and throughout life as being weird, a freak or rather eccentric unless they were told why they behaved the way they did and received the help they needed at a young age.

Experts in the fields of psychology and psychiatry say that ideally Early Intervention for the Autistic child should begin at the age of two. This gives the child the best possible chance of acquiring the skills necessary to interact with the outside world effectively and thus save them from a life time of low self esteem, a lack of confidence in themselves and a myriad of other common complications such as social anxiety issues, depression, alcoholism, drug abuse and anti social behavioral. So consequently being labeled as autistic is a release, a blessing, an awakening and being given an official diagnosis frees the autistic person rather than hindering them.

Any disability is a life altering experience and on interviewing a man in his thirties with ADHD AND dyslexia which remained undiagnosed until recently I asked him, if you had been labeled as having ADHD and dyslexia when you were four or five, would it have devastated you or would it have been a huge relief? He said he would have hugged the bearer of this news and said now I know why I am different and I am going to get the help that I need. A label only appears to really matter to those people who are not on the autistic spectrum. For those people that are autistic then they have already acquired internal labels and scars that have clearly set them apart from the general population whether they have ever been given an official diagnosis or not.

Embrace your autistic child they are no less a person they are just on a different path to you, their mind is wired differently but nevertheless they will always be your child and never let pride, ignorance or bad advice stop you from helping this person from reaching their true potential. We can all achieve our goals in life no matter which path we have to travel on to get there.

My name is Mary and my professional writing business is known as the Writing Owl. Autism is a subject close to my heart as my son is currently awaiting an assessment for the same. Reading and research is vital to learning how to cope with your questions, thoughts and fears. I am a professional Freelance Journalist and Writer and I have already written and published a wide number of articles on many different subjects as well as interviews, PR and marketing material, letters and opinions for newspapers and magazines. I also have a wealth of experience in the areas of satirical humor, short story writing and sales letters. I have also completed work for many websites, magazines, newspapers and e-books.

My professional qualifications include a Diploma in Freelance Journalism and Fiction, a Start Your Own Business course, a Higher Certificate in Business Studies and a Diploma in Sales and Marketing.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Mary_Kelly-Godley

Techniques To Use When Working With Individuals With Autism

Autism has been difficult for most to understand. It is my belief that all the information that one needs to know is available to understand the phenomenon of autism. It is my belief that individuals with autism cannot reach their potential because those who are working with them do not understand the cause or etiology of autism. Once autism is understood we will see these children grow beyond our wildest dreams. It is my belief that the individual with autism has not benefited from an attachment. I call this an incomplete attachment. Our job is to help the individual to complete the attachment process. Some suggestions on what one might do are recommended below. These ideas are based on Attachment Relational Therapy:

1) First you need to accept that it will be difficult and it will be up to you to encourage the attachment. The child/adolescent cannot be responsible for the awakening of the attachment although the child is ready to complete the attachment process;

2) You will need to go into the child's world (know the particular child) versus demanding that they accept your world. This is an ongoing part of the therapy;

3) Let your client take the lead. In other words, let the client determine what will happen in therapy even though it does not make sense to you;

4) Use every moment with the child to attach;

5) It may not look like the child is attaching;

6) Do not give up on the child;

7) Always talk with the child as if they understand you and hold onto the belief that they can develop.

8) Use projection as a means of communication. This process works with verbal children. Use videos, art projects, toys, play dough, doll house, puppets, etc. to allow the child/adolescent to talk about the other. This technique works because the person with autism cannot be direct and talk by representing himself, but he can talk about what he sees outside of himself. Thus what he sees on the outside of himself is really what is going on inside of him;

9) It is important to fill in the gaps for the autistic child. They live in a unsymbolized world. When you are working with him always speak of what is going on and leave space for an answer from him to respond even if you know he may not respond. This teaches him about interaction (Floortime is based on this same concept);

10) Always act as if there is a person that cannot interact with you, but wants to interact. You might want to say "Is there something you want to tell me?" I would do this even with children who use echolalia or are nonverbal;

11) Theory of mind - the child seems to lack the ability to know that the other has feelings and to also express their own feelings. It is not that the child lacks theory of mind, but instead he is dissociated and thus cannot access and communicate what is on his mind. As mentioned previously, use projective techniques to get the child to talk about feelings;

12) The job of the therapist is to recognize the child. This is done by demonstrating to the child that you can "see" him/her;

13) The job of the child is to "remember" that they exist. This will occur through the relationship between the caregiver/therapist and the child. Our job is to help the child to become conscious of himself especially in relationship to others; and finally

14) Do not give up. The child's development is dependent on you to understand his dilemma and to help him to attach.

Karen Savlov is a psychoanalyst and Marriage and Family Therapist with a private practice in West Los Angeles, California. My specialty is Autism Spectrum Disorders, anger, dissociation, depression, anxiety and relationships. For new and creative ways to think about autism read and follow my blog at http://www.wonderingaboutautism.blogspot.com. I can also be followed on Twitter at Autism Thoughts.

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Autism - Teaching Verbal Communication To Free Your Child

Autism - Teaching autistic children the art of verbal communication can be very challenging for parents with an autistic child.

Are you a parent or guardian who suffers from the roller coaster of emotions associated with this disorder?

It's no surprise as 1 out of every 110 children born today are stricken with autism.

Many autistic children deal with serious problems when it comes to verbal communication. Autism presents many frustrating roadblocks for autistic children and their parents. The speech challenges can be difficult to overcome.

Communication Breakdown - What You Should Look Out For...

Verbal communication between a child and the people around him or her can vary greatly from one child to the next. A child's intellectual development and social development can be quite different from one case to the next. Some children have no problems carrying on extensive conversations while others can hardly speak a word at all. And in worst case scenarios, some children who suffer from autism express themselves with inappropriate language and violent physical outbursts.

Some autistic children speak incoherently, mumbling words or phrases with no meaning. And some will repeat their words or phrases over and over; this is called echolalia. There is also a version called delayed echolalia in which an autistic child will respond to a question at a much later and time, completely out of context or connection with his or her surroundings.

Conquering Autism - There Is No Magical Cure, BUT There Is A Solution...

On the bright side, there are many options today for concerned parents to help their child improve their communication skills.

One of the first steps you can take is to consult with a speech pathologist to evaluate your child's degree of development and capacity for learning and speaking. A professional consultation can often yield a variety of alternatives to target your child's needs.

The challenges with aspergers can be overcome. However, at the present time, no single person can determine a universal therapy that can yield the same results for ALL autistic kids. Autistic children, like ALL children, vary greatly in personality and personal make-up. The best thing you can do to ensure your child's success is to get autism therapy, start early, and maintain a regular schedule of evaluation to get feedback on different therapies and their results. Every child will have different needs and demands.

Music Soothes The Savage Beast...

It might astound you to know that music therapy can have an enormous effect on your son or daughter's ability to communicate. This is because development of the senses regularly helps to improve the child's capability to interact to sensory information, and thus helps him or her comprehend what she or he is listening to by way of musical stimulation and seeing the world through both verbal and non-verbal communication.

In addition, you can ensure your little one's success by providing the proper diet and supplementation program. Regular therapy and feedback can dramatically improve your child's verbal skills. With the proper plan in place, autism can be conquered. Watching your child develop and become the best version of themselves is what every parent or guardian desires and deserves.

To learn how you can improve the life of an autistic child, make sure to check out the #1 guide for parents of autistic children... The #1 Autism Teaching Guide is available to you today... see below.

Finally, you can discover the #1 resource to improve your child's communication skills and conquer autism once and for all: Autism Teaching Guide: CLICK HERE!

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Victoria_Goodwin

Autism Treatment - Hyperkeratosis Pilaris and Autism

Throughout my years in practice treating children with Autism, I have seen many of them with something called Hyperkeratosis Pilaris. And Hyperkeratosis Pilaris is that bumpy skin often seen on the backs of the arm, it can also bee seen on the upper thighs and the cheeks. It has been though to be attributed to heredity as caused by an accumulation of skin cells in those locations. The use of a buff puff pad to rub in the areas with the bumps seems to be effective at treating it. But, there is another theory that Hyperkeratosis Pilaris is really caused from a low thyroid function and that the body cannot properly convert beta carotene into vitamin A.

And we believe hypothyroidism to be another potential contributing factor to Hyperkeratosis Pilaris. If you want to look at these issues using testing, and are ok with a blood test, there are a couple of things you can do. The first is to run a TSH test, which stands for thyroid stimulating hormone and the second is to run a free T3 and a free T4. And what we prefer to see is that the T3 and T4 levels, particularly the T3 levels, be in the upper two thirds of what is considered to be the normal reference range for appropriate thyroid functioning. You can look at overall hypothalamus functioning as well as the pituitary connect but those thyroid tests are much more invasive than can be done in just a lab setting and more costly as well. Therefore, a good way to go is to do the TSH, the free T3 and the free T4.

It is also wise to correlate it with other symptoms of low thyroid function. So if your child has Hyperkeratosis Pilaris plus they have a lower core body temperature, plus they tend to always have cold hands and cold feet plus they suffer from constipation, thyroid function may be an issue. You may want to decide if supplementing with a thyroid medication is an option. I like to use Armorthyroid because it is a more natural thyroid medication and it is better than using a more synthetic form. But medication can be effective in bolstering thyroid function in children with thyroid issues. Adding in a thyroid medication can help brain function as well as overall metabolism. So, Hyperkeratosis Pilaris is one possible indicator of low thyroid functioning and is something to check into more with appropriate blood testing.

Autism really is treatable! Biomedical Autism treatments and therapies have resulted in many, many children improving, or even even losing their autism-spectrum disorder diagnosis. For lots more free biomedical autism intervention information and videos from Dr. Woeller, go to http://www.AutismRecoveryTreatment.com.

Dr. Kurt Woeller is an biomedical autism Intervention specialist, with a private practice in Southern California for over 10 years. He has helped children recover from autism, ADD, ADHD, and other disorders, and has the information you need to help your child. Download his free ebook at http://www.AutismActionPlan.org.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Dr._Kurt_Woeller

Light and Sound Sensitivity and Autism

Over the years I have seen children with Autism who have various sensitivities. These sensitivities can be with sound or even light. These issues can be quite problematic for some children, I have had some who need to wear earphones to muffle sounds so that they can leave their house. And for some sensitive children, even household sounds like a loud TV set, a vacuum or other sounds can be challenging for them.

There are certain things that I look for when a child has these types of sensitivities. One is yeast, I have seen heightened sensitivity when yeast overgrowth is an issue so an organic acid test can check for arabinose or other biomarkers for yeast. A mineral deficiency is also another possibility, especially magnesium. A magnesium deficiency can increase irritation and agitation within the body. Supplementing with magnesium has certainly helped some children with light and sound sensitivity. The optimal form of magnesium supplementation would be through IV so that the digestive tract is bypassed. That is not always an option for all families so you can do so in other ways.

You can also supplement with magnesium orally. There are different forms of magnesium to be aware of. Magnesium glycinate is absorbed very rapidly. So for many children, doses between 250 - 400 mg can be useful and usually over time you do see benefits. Magnesium citrate is also another option although this form does have a laxative effect which limits how much you can give. So if you are trying to alleviate some of the sensitivity issues, then magnesium glycinate is probably the preferred form. Some other options are an Epsom salt bath which provides magnesium sulfate, you can add one to two cups in a bath at night. Epsom salt cream is an alternative to that and you can use one to one and a half teaspoons applied to the skin two times a day may also help.

So when we are addressing light and/or sound sensitivities in children with Autism, the two most common things I look for are yeast overgrowth and magnesium deficiency. There is also a therapy called Auditory Integration Therapy or AIT which can also be helpful for sound sensitivities and auditory processing so you can look into that as well. And light sensitivity often times is helped by magnesium supplementation since magnesium does play a role in issues like stress and irritability for children with Autism.

Autism really is treatable! Biomedical Autism treatments and therapies have resulted in many, many children improving, or even even losing their autism-spectrum disorder diagnosis. For lots more free biomedical autism intervention information and videos from Dr. Woeller, go to http://www.AutismRecoveryTreatment.com.

Dr. Kurt Woeller is an biomedical autism Intervention specialist, with a private practice in Southern California for over 10 years. He has helped children recover from autism, ADD, ADHD, and other disorders, and has the information you need to help your child. Download his free ebook at http://www.AutismActionPlan.org.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Dr._Kurt_Woeller

Saturday, November 20, 2010

How to Create an Optimal Learning Environment for Your Child with Autism

Understanding the way your child's brain works is crucial to being able to provide an optimal learning environment. Below is a brief overview of some of the research about the brains of people with autism. Then you'll find easy, practical ways to implement this knowledge and create an optimal learning environment at home.

The Science
Autism is referred to as a "spectrum disorder" because there is such a wide variation among people with the diagnosis. Researchers using technology that allows them to be able to see how our brains are structured also see that the brains of people with the label 'Autism' are vastly different from one another. Because of this, some scientists have suggested we need to look below the level of the brain's structure to the way individual neurons (brain cells) are wired to find the "miss-wiring" that affects all people with autism. Researchers have found evidence that the way some neurons are connected in the brain of people with autism may lead to a low signal-to-noise ratio. This means that many of the signals brain cells are sending to each other may be accompanied by "noise", like static in a radio signal. This is one explanation for why children with autism become hyper-aroused (overwhelmed) by sensory information and why they may find it more challenging to choose between two different sources of information. For example, it is often more difficult for a child with autism to be able to listen to the teacher when other children in the class are making noise. Studies recording brain electricity in autistic people have shown that even when they are trying to ignore certain aspects of their environment (such as noise in the classroom) their brains respond to this information in the same way they respond to the information the child is trying to attend to (the teachers voice). The problem for many children with autism seems to be one of "filtering", that is, they are less able than typical children to filter out sensory information that is irrelevant to what they are trying to focus on.

The result of this is that all stimuli are given equal priority by the brains of those with autism, causing an overwhelming flood of sensory information that the child must handle. The brains of typical children learn to filter out irrelevant stimuli early on in life, so by the time that they go to school, children are able to focus their attention on what they are asked to focus on. It is very hard for many children with autism to learn in environments where there is a lot of competing sensory information (including noises, sights, touches, smells, etc.) such as a classroom.

Children with autism are taking in a lot of information all the time; this means that at some stage, they have to sort through this information to see what they really need. Studies have seen that people with autism tend to do the sorting through at a much later stage in processing than neurologically typical people. This is like going down the aisles in the supermarket and putting one of everything into your cart, then arriving at the checkout and discarding what you do not want to buy. This causes a "processing bottleneck". Studies using technology that allows us to see which parts of the brain are being used in particular tasks help us to see that this is what is happening inside the brains of people with autism. There is more activity in the brain regions designed for lower-order processing (going through the supermarket aisles) than in brain regions for high-order processing (moving through the checkout and going home with the items on your list). This may explain why children with autism often show significant challenges in areas of high-order processing (e.g. memory, attention, organization, language, etc.), because they spend so much time trying to deal with the basic incoming sensory information that they don't get time to practice the high-order thinking processing other children their age are practicing. Thus the brain of the child with autism starts to develop differently than the brain of his typical brother. There is some evidence that this processing style is already present when children with autism are born, even though the concurrent behaviors may not be recognized until 18-24 months later.

Psychologists call this style of processing (over-relying on lower-order processing) "weak central coherence." Central coherence describes the ability to process incoming information in context, pulling information together for higher-level meaning often at the expense of memory for detail. Weak central coherence then is the tendency of those with autism to rely on local feature processing (the details) rather than taking in the global nature of the situation. For instance after viewing identical pictures and then being asked to remember what was in the picture a typical person might describe the scene as "a forest at sunset" while a person with autism might remember "shiny leaves, orange light and a branch you could hang a swing from". This processing style is the reason people with autism outperform people without autism on specific tasks. One of these tasks is The Embedded Figures task. In this task, people might be shown a line drawing of a car which everyone can identify as such. When asked to point out the three triangles in the picture, people without autism are much slower than those with autism. This is because the typical people can not see "past" the car to label all it's constituent parts. The people with autism will identify the three triangles quickly because this is how they are practiced at seeing the world.

Research involving people with autism ranging from studies of how individual brain cells are connected to how people perform in psychological tests paints a picture of the world occupied by those with autism as fragmented, overwhelming and filled with "noise". This is corroborated by autobiographical reports from people with autism. Understanding the autistic child's fragmented and overwhelming world shows how important a child's external environment is when designing treatment and education for children with autism. It also explains why children with autism crave order and predictability in their physical environments.

Physical environments with higher amounts of sensory stimulation (e.g. bright visual displays, background noise, etc.) will add to the "noise" in an already overloaded sensory system making any new learning extremely challenging--like trying to learn Japanese in a shopping mall. The extent to which rooms can be tailored to meet the needs of these children is highly limited in a typical classroom setting, mainly due to the presence of other children and the subsequent size of the room. Even fluorescent lighting has been shown to affect the behavior of children with autism. These environmental considerations are either overlooked and their importance underestimated when placements are suggested for children with autism or it is beyond the scope of the school district to provide any other type of physical environment.

The Easy Part
The FIRST STEP along the road to building a comprehensive treatment program for your child is providing him or her with an appropriate environment in which to learn. Usually this means SIMPLIFY! Here's what to do:

1. Dedicate one room in your house to you child with autism. It could be your child's bedroom or another room (not too big, 12' x 12' is plenty, and smaller is fine depending on the age of your child). The room might even only be dedicated to your child with autism for part of the day (for instance if he or she shares a bedroom with a sibling) this is OK too. Do the best you can with the situation you have.

2. Remove all electronic toys from the dedicated room. This includes televisions, video-games, and anything battery powered (including singing / talking books and things that flash!) These toys can be over-stimulating for a child with autism and do not encourage social interaction.

3. Make sure you have incandescent light bulbs not fluorescent one. Fluorescent light bulbs flicker at a rate most of use tune out but that can be highly over-stimulating for people with autism.
4. Clear some space. Ideally you want the floor to be a free, clear open space on which you can play with your child. Have the minimal amount of furniture you can in the special room. Also simplify the amount of toys you have in the room and if possible put them all on shelves or in a closet.

These are the first step towards creating an optimal learning environment in which to work with your child. Parents running a home-based Son-Rise Programs are coached further on how to create a customized learning environment and Son-Rise Program playroom. The simple measures described here will aid in soothing your autistic child's over-active nervous system by making the world digestible and manageable and set the stage for social interaction and subsequent learning.

Kat Houghton is an autism treatment consultant specializing in The Son-Rise Program, a relationship-enhancement method of approaching autism. She is the founder and director of Inspired by Autism Consulting http://www.inspiredbyautism.com, director of research at The Autism Treatment Center of America and completing a PhD in Psychology at Lancaster University in the UK.

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Three Ways To Describe Autism

When you are asked the question "what is Autism?" or "what is the Autistic Spectrum?" depending on who you ask you will get a completely different response from person to person. The underlying principles are the same, but people will explain things in ways that they are comfortable with or using metaphors and symbolism which they can relate to.

Not wanting to simply produce another article explaining Autism in my own words, I struck upon the idea of asking a number of experts how they would describe Autism and the Autistic Spectrum. I have compiled three of the most effective responses in one user friendly place so that you can choose your favourite and hopefully help to spread awareness.

Wild Plant Autism/Autistic Spectrum Analogy

This analogy likens Autistic people to wild plants. Wild plants very rarely grow the same way twice, much in the same way that there is no one size fits all, single set of must-have traits required to be classed as Autistic. Essentially: you don't have to have all of the recognised traits of Autism to be on the Autistic Spectrum (The symbolic term used to define how Autistic somebody is).

Some wild plants overgrow, in much the same way that some Autistic people are very open and verbal, in contrast other wild plants hardly see the light of day. We can liken this to those Autistic people who keep everything inside and are non verbal.

Although our wild plant may be overgrown and in some cases not look very pretty, it may still excel in one particular area (such as producing an abundance of flowers). This can be likened to the fact that some Autistic people excel in areas far beyond neurotypical capabilities.

Taking the wild plant analogy a little further, it wouldn't be fair to leave out the comparison between Autistic traits and the neurotypical. A popular way to do this is to liken neurotypical people to Cabbages. The only reason why this comparison is drawn is because one cabbage is pretty much the same as the next cabbage and the next. In addition, cabbages are grown in fields of uniform rows - a parallel to the way that for the most part neurotypical people feel the need to fit in with the crowd and possess a similar set of neurological traits.

The pebble Analogy

There is a very popular video of this analogy on the internet by Dave Spicer (A way of describing autism). This particular video has received lots of comments both good and bad. Some people don't like referring to people with Autism as pebbles whereas some people don't like referring to people with Autism as Autistic people. There are also people who think it's a wonderful representation. With this level of engagement surrounding this excellent video it wasn't surprising that this particular comparison popped up quite a bit in people's responses. Read it below in the words of myself on how we can compare people with Autism to different pebbles.

Clear Stone

When looking at the clear stone you can see right through it. Some Autistic people are extremely open and will open themselves and their lives up completely to anybody who wishes to see.

Black Stone

If you look at the black stone you don't really get anything from it other than the fact that it is a black stone. Some autistic people keep everything locked in. Some are non verbal and remain a mystery much in the same way.

Chrome Stone

The chrome stone offers one abundantly obvious, unique attribute: it's striking, shiny finish. This finish captures our attention in an obvious way. It has one particular special and unique aspect - just like autistic people who have one special interest or appear to excel in one particular area.

Patterned Stone

The patterned stone has very intricate patterns on it that must be examined and considered in order to appreciate it properly. Some Autistic people need to follow set routines and have things structured in the same way all of the time. Just like the patterned pebble, if you follow these routines as you would the patterns on the pebble you will begin to see the beauty inside.

Dual Coloured Stone

With the dual coloured stone you can look at it from two different viewpoints and potentially believe that you are in fact looking at two different stones. Although it's the same stone, it can appear different. At first glance when looking at next to other pebbles it doesn't seem to fit in. Do you see this as being a problem or do you accept it and enjoy it for what it is?

Tiger Eye Stone

This stone is probably my favourite. The tiger eye stone changes the more you look at it: the more you look at it the more interesting and beautiful it becomes. The comparison here is that although Autistic people act differently to neurotypical people, if you spend the time understanding them then you will eventually see how beautiful they are.

The deck of cards analogy

The deck of cards analogy is quite a simple one. Although we say deck of cards, imagine four Aces. At first glance they look the same - just like if you are looking at somebody with Autism, on the face of it you would not necessarily know they were Autistic.

When you start to look at the Aces just as Autistic People you begin to see, that although they are all Aces they are all in fact unique and have differences and strengths of their own.

These different analogies essentially tell the same story, but using a variety of different reference points with the hope of eliciting understanding. I don't think there ever will be a global explanation of what Autism or the Spectrum is, simply because the autistic spectrum is so broad that it would be physically impossible to categorise it exactly in one statement. Id also like to say a special thank you to the community over at Talk Autism who helped immensely with the ideas and visualisations so that I could produce this article.

The world doesn't know half as much as it should about Autism so all that can be done is for people to continue to spread awareness as far and wide as they can.

Written by Explain Autism to help raise awareness of this condition. Please.

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