How is autism diagnosed?

The diagnosis begins at home with the parents noticing a lack of certain growth characteristics. These behaviors include a lack of babbling by twelve months of age, no gesturing by twelve months and any time there is a loss of any social skills or language. A clinical test is then performed on the child. The diagnosis comes from a set of symptoms that the child will be compared against.

If there are at least six symptoms present the doctors will usually make the diagnosis of autism. One of the major symptoms of autism is a restricted and repetitive behavior such as stacking or self harm. Other signs are that the child is not reciprocal in social or emotional aspects. Physicians must be careful when diagnosing a child with autism because there are other conditions that often mimic some of the signs of being autistic.

What are the characteristics of autism?

There is no one characteristic that defines an autistic child. Rather there are a series of symptoms that lead to the diagnosis. The physician must look at the child’s social development. Is the child developing the way he or she should and are they able to communicate effectively? One of the signs that many physicians and researchers are studying is the link between mental retardation and aggressive behavior in children that have autism.

Studies have shown that many autistic children with brain damage or a mental condition are more likely to respond aggressively or suddenly have an outburst. Most autistic children and adults do not develop enough speech patterns to be able to communicate effectively. Researchers believe that this could be part of the aggressive pattern displayed by some autistic patients. One of the biggest characteristics of an autistic individual is through repetitive actions. This may involve compulsive behavior to stack things or it could be through self-injury.

What is repetitive behavior?

Repetitive behavior is exactly as it sounds. It is behavior that repeats itself. Autistic individuals are rated on a Repetitive Behavior Scale that is made up of six categories. These categories range from the stereotypical behavior to that of self injury. The autistic individual cannot control these behaviors. They may be as harmless as continuously stacking objects or it could be restrictive behavior that causes the autistic individual to focus only on one thing for great amounts of time. Self injury is perhaps one of the worst patterns that an autistic individual can develop. This is where they cannot help but hurt themselves through banging their head to biting themselves.

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