Infodump on autism (my special interest)

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Autism infodump

What does ASD stand for? What does it mean?

ASD stands for autism spectrum disorder.
Autism is a developmental disorder categorized by a delay in social, emotional and executive functioning. Autism exists on a wide spectrum with three disorders: Autistic Disorder (also known as “classic” autism), Asperger Syndrome, and Pervasive developmental disorder.

What's the difference between all of the disorders?

People with autistic disorder typically have significant language delays, difficulty in socializing and communication, and they usually have atypical behaviors and interests, such as self stimulating and obsessing over seemingly mundane things like train schedules.

People with aspergers have a milder form of autism and as a result are mislabeled as “High-functioning” (see: what's wrong with functioning labels?). Like people with autistic disorder, they may have social challenges, unusual behaviors and interests, and trouble with communication. Although they usually do not have any language delays or intellecual disibilities.

People with Pervasive developmental disorder, also known as PDD-NOS, often fit only part of the criteria for autism or asperger's, and they usually have fewer and milder symptoms than those with autistic disorder. Their symptoms may only cause delays in social and communicational functioning.

Sex differences in autism

studies have found that 1 in 4 autism diagnoses are given to females. What are the causes of this imbalance in sexes diagnosed with autism?

Autism is widely regarded as a males' disease. In fact Hans Asperger, the man whom Asperger syndrome was named after, first said that autism was not found in girls. Because of this, most studies done on autism have been based only around males with the disorder.


Furthermore, the few studies that have been done on autistic females show that autism may show up differently in female people than in male people. It has been said on numerous occations that females with autism are more likely to resemble typically developing males, rather than males with ASD.

And finally, the last reason could be linked to upbringing and societal expectations. Girls are held to a higher standard, told they must excel faster than their male peers, and are made to be more curteous toward rules revolving around manners and social interactions; whereas males are usually excused for innapropriate behavior using the phrase “Boys will be boys”. It is also common that after a female's first mentrual cycle, which happens at around 9-13 years old, they are told “You're becoming a woman now!” and therefor expected to act more like an adult, which means being forced to adapt their “childish” ways into more mature ways of acting, yet males are typically expected to act like children well into their adult years.

What causes autism?: Facts vs. Myths

While studies are still being done on the causes of autism, there are many theories on what they could be. Here, I will go over the facts and some common myths.

The facts:

Scientists suspect that a faulty gene or genes might make a person more likely to develop autism when there are also other factors present, such as a chemical imbalance, viruses or chemicals, or a lack of oxygen at birth.

Myth #1: Vaccinations cause autism

Dr. Andrew Wakefield, the author of the report written in 1988 claiming that there was a link between autism and vaccinations was struck off the UK medical redgistry because no other researchers were able to reproduce the results from his fraudulent report and other proven charges of misconduct.

Myth #2: autism is the result of bad parenting (also implying that autism is not an actual disorder)

a theory called the “refrigerator mother hypothesis” which was written in the 1950s suggested that autism was caused by mothers who lacked emotional warmth, but this theory has long been disproved.

Myth #3: autism is caused by too much television

A study written by Cornell business proffesors suggested that because autism was becoming more commonly diagnosed around the same time that cable telivision became availible to most households, it might be the cause. However there is no evidence to support this claim.







Empathy and Autism

There is a common misconception that people with autism are unable to be compassionate due to a lack of understanding of other people's emotions. But the use of the word empathy and the actual meaning are two different things.

In fact, many individuals with ASD report having too much empathy, rendering them useless and unable to adress the emotions being displayed.

In the DSM-V one of the symptoms of autism is described as “A lack of empathy” meaning that individuals with autism may have a hard time “putting themselves in someone elses shoes”, but it does not mean that they are emotionless robots whom care about no one but themselves.

What's wrong with functioning labels?

Functioning labels can impose a sense of hierarchy in the autism community, and imply that one autistic person is better than another. Furthermore, The concept of the terms are situational. Autism is not a one size fits all type of thing, and autistic people’s skills and functioning levels can vary from day-to-day. To imply that a person is low functioning is to imply that they don’t have any skills or that they don’t have the intelligence needed to make decisions for themselves, even simple ones.

What is “stimming”? + Some examples

Stim is short for self-stimulating behaviors. Autistic people stim for many reasons. They could stim to aid in communication, help regulate sensory input, or to express emotions. Stims can be picked up and forgotten as well as supressed, although supression is not healthy to autistic individuals, as it is a part of their natural body language. There are five types of stimming:

Tactile stimming:

Tactile stims include stimulation through touch. This can be any of the following:
-applying pressure to ones body
-rubbing a preffered texture
-eating sour, or spicy, or crunchy foods
-tapping of the chest
-clapping

vestibular

Vestibular stims include stimulation through movement. This can be any of the following:
-walking on ones toes
-spinning
-rocking back and forth
-jumping up and down
-hand flapping
auditory
auditory stims include stimulation through listening. This can be any of the following:
-listening to a preffered song on repeat
-listening to a preffered voice


visual
visual stims include stimulation through looking. This can be any of the following:
-staring at bright lights
-waving fingers or objects in front of ones face
-watching leaves fall
-looking at bright colors

vocal
vocal stims include stimulation through talking. This can be any of the following:
-saying words that “feel good”
-humming
-singing
-imitating animal sounds
-clicking ones tongue
-screaming