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For centuries, Autism, more correctly referred to as Autism Spectrum Disorder, or ASD, was not well understood, or even perceived to be a unique, distinct condition. In fact, it was only as recently as the 1980s that ASD was finally classified as a unique disorder. Before that, people with ASD were categorized as being schizophrenic and treated as such. In the 21^st century, fortunately, we now have a much better understanding of ASD, though that doesn’t necessarily mean the average parent knows exactly what ASD is.

As the name suggests, ASD presents a broad range of different symptoms that fall along a spectrum, ranging from mild expressions of a symptom to very severe, even crippling or debilitating. It is because there are so many possible symptoms of ASD that the disorder was hard to diagnose properly. Today, we understand that this is a neurophysiological disorder that may be passed on genetically from parents with ASD, to being contracted pre-natally, such as pregnant women becoming ill with rubella, an ASD forming within the child as a result.

But how do you identify ASD? When should you think about bringing your child in for an evaluation? Here’s a list of the possible symptoms you should keep an eye out for.

General Behavior

Because ASD encompasses a varied range of different neurodevelopmental disorders, this means that, on the surface level, parents should be able to spot certain general trends, and then start zeroing to see just how severe or specific those general trends are. This means parents should always start by taking note of general, unusual behavior.

The majority of ASD symptoms will be expressed as communication and behavioral issues. Sometimes parents may notice these symptoms right away, even in infancy. There is a precedent for this, as ASD children can be correctly assessed and diagnosed as early as 18 months—or 1.5 years—in some cases. The specific list of behaviors to watch for is as follows:

Eye Contact Issues

ASD diagnosed children can process sensory input differently from other children. In some cases, this can mean extreme sensitivity to actions that others find benign. Sustained eye contact, for example, can be too stimulating and in some cases even cause stress, so ASD children actively avoid it. If, after one year of age, you find your child is deliberately avoiding eye contact with you, especially if you are actively trying to maintain it, think about getting an ASD assessment.

Physical Contact Issues

In the same way that some sights can be overstimulating—and thus unpleasant—for some ASD children, in some cases, other ASD children will react similarly to touch and other tactile interactions. If you find that your child is purposefully, actively avoiding being touched, hugged, or any other forms of physical contact, even when expressing affection, this could also warrant ASD assessment.

Nonverbal Issues

For some children with ASD, traditional vocal communication can be extremely challenging, or even stressful. If you notice that your baby is still not yet verbalizing and attempting to speak when average babies are experimenting with vocalizing, monitor, and note down this behavior. This is another area where the range can vary, with some children being completely non-verbal while others appear normal at first, but then regress and lose their verbal ability.

Unorthodox Communication

There are other instances where an ASD diagnosed child is willing to communicate. However, the method of going about it can be unusual. Once again, this may due to differences in the way sensory input is processed or other causes. It can manifest in different ways, such as children speaking in a flat, emotionless, robotic tone devoid of inflection, or employing unusual rhythms or intonations.

Empathy Issues

When we talk about empathy, we refer to the skill that allows us to imagine what emotions another person must be experiencing, even if we aren’t going through the same experience ourselves. We see someone fall and get hurt, and can imagine their physical pain as well as emotional upset. People with ASD may not be able to read these cues and empathize. In some extreme cases, they may not even understand their own emotions when they experience them.

Repetition/Ritualistic Behavior

While many people have a habit or “tic” that they sometimes repeat, some ASD diagnosed children will form a heavy reliance on repetitive motions or behaviors. This can be a way to soothe anxiety or reduce other strong emotions. This can be as simple as a particular movement of the fingers, rocking the entire body back and forth, or a specific activity performed over and over again, such as washing hands.

Aggression

The last and probably most dreaded symptom of ASD is what appears to be unprovoked or easily triggered aggression. In some cases, ASD children can be provoked into a violent rage over incidents many wouldn’t find appropriate to this level of response. If you notice your child is getting violently angry over seemingly innocuous incidents, think about an ASD assessment.

The perception of autism within the medical community has changed a lot in recent years. It is a very complex condition, with causes and effects that are still not fully understood even to this day. So while some methods of treatment, such as behavioral therapy or even stem cell therapy have been successfully administered, these are not cures, and do not make autism go away; they only manage the condition.

In the same way, autism, because of its broad range of symptoms and its complexity is not a disease and does not have a single cure. Even if stem cell therapy works, for example, that’s not a universal solution, and to apply it to every person diagnosed with autism would do more harm than good. Autism can’t be cleared up with a universal solution in the same way an infection is cleared up with a shot of antibiotics.

A New Form Of Diagnosis

Today, autism is referred to as Autism Spectrum Disorder or ASD, and everyone who is diagnosed with ASD is said to have different symptoms of varying intensities that fall along this spectrum. However, before 2013, this was not the case.

Before the decision to create one single ASD condition, autism was roughly divided into four categories. This was eventually abandoned in favor of the more broad, inclusive ASD diagnosis, because often there was so much overlap and inconsistency with trying to classify an ASD person into one of four types that it meant appropriate treatment might not always be administered due to a child or other patient being in the “wrong type.”

However, for many people before 2013, the four subtypes of autism were an important way to have a better understanding, in “shorthand” form of their condition. While these are no longer in current medical use today, these are the four subtypes that ASD patients used to be classified as.

Asperger’s Syndrome

This classification got its name in 1944, from Austrian physician Hans Asperger, who documented many patients with similar characteristics. Asperger’s is considered a milder form of autism. People who had been diagnosed with Asperger’s were usually able to function in daily life without the need for any special medical treatment or concessions, but their behavior would occasionally introduce challenges or distance into their life, especially as they got older.

A person diagnosed with Asperger’s would, in the past, have been considered very “eccentric” or “introverted.” They usually experience significant—but not necessarily crippling—communication issues, display passionate enthusiasm for areas of interest, and zero enthusiasm, or even tolerance, for topics that don’t. The “absent-minded professor” stereotype that seems unaware of anything beyond their own interests is an example of Asperger’s syndrome.

Pervasive Developmental Disorder—Not Otherwise Specified

Known more commonly as PDD-NOS, this was considered a step “down” from Asperger’s and was a more severe diagnosis for autism. People diagnosed with PDD-NOS could have the same characteristics as Asperger’s, but more severe, or other characteristics that might even resemble schizophrenia, or obsessive-compulsive disorder, with a fixation on repetitive motions and behaviors.

However, these diagnoses never fit quite as neatly into “just schizophrenia,” or “just OCD,” due to additional symptoms, or a lack of intensity in existing symptoms for a full diagnosis. PDD-NOS was diagnosed when children displayed early communication difficulties, such as being slow to learn language or poor adaptive behavior, responding badly to changes in a routine.

Autistic Disorder

The more severe form of autism, autistic disorder, or “classic autism” as it was sometimes referred, was the version most often portrayed in film and television. Repetitive motions, unusual speech patterns, and sometimes violent behavior are all the hallmarks that medical professionals were looking for, but to a more magnified degree.

With autistic disorder, typical parenting and educational methods weren’t always effective, and this required much more specific and intensive attention and treatment to manage.

Childhood Disintegrative Disorder

The most severe form of autism, one of the chief characteristics used to diagnose it was a regression. Children seemed to be on the right track for developing language and social skills, then would lose them, usually between the ages of 2-4. As a result of this, communication was difficult, as was managing behaviors, since any disruption to a routine was often met with aggression. In addition to this, there might also be some physical symptoms, such as seizures that would occur regularly.

CDD as it was also called, was considered the most severe and “lowest functioning” of autism conditions, since it would impair even motor skills, resulting in mobility issues. Severe speech pathology is associated with CDD due to the rapid loss of communication skills, and both antipsychotics and anti-convulsants might be prescribed to deal with aggression, repetitive behavior, and seizures.

Today, all of these subtypes have been eliminated, and now everything is diagnosed under Autism Spectrum Disorder. However, with more attention being paid to specific symptoms and individual treatments for those symptoms, treatment has become more effective.

Many parents wish for the same thing, and that is to have a happy, healthy child to raise. Sadly, this hope, while common, is not a guarantee for every couple that decides to start a family. Even with all the best intentions, and prudent medical measures, a child can be born with a medical condition or other disorder. Sometimes it’s a physical ailment, such as cystic fibrosis, which is a genetic disorder. Other times, the condition may be psychological, such as sociopathy or psychosis.

And then there are times when a condition appears to fall in between the two, such as children diagnosed with autism, more formally known as an autism spectrum disorder, or ASD. This is a very complex condition, for which there is are still many unknowns. But what is it, and what can an autism clinic do to help?

Research Continues

ASD is, for the moment, not completely understood, and so research continues to get a better understanding of ASD, what it is, and how to treat it. For example, there is still no concrete data about exactly how ASD is contracted, which is why conspiracy theories such as vaccines still proliferate despite there being no medical evidence. What is known about ASD is that there’s likely to be a genetic component since ASD parents can give birth to children diagnosed with ASD. However, there is also evidence that indicates ASD may have pre-natal factors as well, meaning that a pregnant mother contracting certain illnesses, such as rubella, may have those illnesses result in ASD for the child that is born.

ASD is characterized primarily by behavioral symptoms. Children with ASD, for example, often are unable to maintain eye contact with others during communication. There may also be instances of what appear to be unprovoked, or magnified aggression, primarily non-verbal communication, unusual speech patterns, or repetitive behaviors. One of the challenges of ASD is that there is a whole range of different behavioral symptoms associated with the disorder, but the severity differs widely amongst those diagnosed, as indicated by the word “spectrum” in the condition. Currently, there is no known cure for ASD; it can only be managed.

How Autism Clinics Help

Because of the complexity, and significant variance in ASD, it can be very challenging for parents to know exactly what to do with an ASD child. In some cases, they may not even be aware they have an ASD child. An autism clinic can be a great resource for these parents to not only learn more about ASD; in some cases, these clinics can help parents to better deal with the condition.

Depending on the clinic, parents may be able to take children to their clinic for a medical evaluation and diagnosis to determine the presence and scope of ASD, if qualified staff are present. If not, autism clinics are often the best place to get reliable referrals to qualified medical personnel that can be trusted to make these evaluations.

Autism clinics can be important resource centers for both parents and schools/teachers if there is a need to accommodate ASD needs in education. Sometimes a school only needs to make a few minor—but specific—adjustments in teaching to suit the needs of ASD students better and allow them to learn and socialize in a normal school setting.

In other cases, autism clinics can be important in offering additional services for the treatment and therapy of ASD.

Treatments & Therapies

Depending on the type of ASD symptoms a child expresses, a variety of different approaches may be appropriate to manage ASD. Some children, if medically recommended for it, may be advised to take medications, such as certain types of antipsychotics, to bring some behavioral deviations, like aggression and poor impulse control, more in line.

Other children, however, may be recommended to try different types of therapy based on their particular needs. Occupational therapy, for example, can be used to target specific activities that an ASD child should learn, such as using utensils while eating, or learning to tie shoes. For parents concerned about social issues, speech therapy can be used to teach ASD children normal social protocol, such as maintaining eye contact when interacting with others, or using more appropriate language and waiting for people to stop speaking before choosing to respond.

There is a wide range of different symptoms with different methods of addressing them. An autism clinic is important for parents and schools in helping to understand ASD behaviors and addressing them in a productive way that does not harm or inhibit ASD children. If parents are interested, they can also talk to autism clinics about other alternatives, such as looking into the possibility of stem cell therapy for ASD children and seeking advice about whether this is medically advisable for their particular child.

With any form of ASD treatment or therapy, is it always important for parents to get a professional medical opinion, before deciding to undergo that treatment.