Autism and Genetics: Facts (Link in Article archive)

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Rema Singh

@2009Rule

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Posted: 16 years ago

#31

Communication

About a third to a half of individuals with autism do not develop enough natural speech to meet their daily communication needs. Differences in communication may be present from the first year of life, and may include delayed onset of babbling, unusual gestures, diminished responsiveness, and vocal patterns that are not synchronized with the caregiver. In the second and third years, autistic children have less frequent and less diverse babbling, consonants, words, and word combinations; their gestures are less often integrated with words. Autistic children are less likely to make requests or share experiences, and are more likely to simply repeat others' words (echolalia) or reverse pronouns. Joint attention seems to be necessary for functional speech, and deficits in joint attention seem to distinguish infants with ASD: for example, they may look at a pointing hand instead of the pointed-at object, and they consistently fail to point at objects in order to comment on or share an experience. Autistic children may have difficulty with imaginative play and with developing symbols into language.

^{https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autism}

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Rema Singh

@2009Rule

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Posted: 16 years ago

#32

Repetitive behavior

Young boy asleep on a bed, facing the camera, with only the head visible and the body off-camera. On the bed behind the boys head is a dozen or so toys carefully arranged in a line, ordered by size.

A young boy with autism, and the precise line of toys he made

Autistic individuals display many forms of repetitive or restricted behavior, which the Repetitive Behavior Scale-Revised (RBS-R) categorizes as follows.

Stereotypy

Compulsive behavior

Sameness

Ritualistic behavior

Restricted behavior

Self-injury includes movements that injure or can injure the person, such as eye poking, skin picking, hand biting, and head banging. A 2007 study reported that self-injury at some point affected about 30% of children with ASD.

No single repetitive behavior seems to be specific to autism, but only autism appears to have an elevated pattern of occurrence and severity of these behaviors.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autism

Savant syndrome

Savant syndrome, sometimes abbreviated as savantism, is not a recognized medical diagnosis, but researcher Darold Treffert defines it as a rare condition in which persons with developmental disorders (including autism spectrum disorders) have one or more areas of expertise, ability or brilliance that are in contrast with the individual's overall limitations. Treffert says the condition can be genetic, but can also be acquired.

According to Treffert, about half of persons with savant syndrome have autistic disorder, while the other half have another developmental disability, mental retardation, brain injury or disease. He says, "... not all autistic persons have savant syndrome and not all persons with savant syndrome have autistic disorder". Other researchers state that autistic traits and savant skills may be linked, or have challenged some earlier conclusions about savant syndrome as "hearsay, uncorroborated by independent scrutiny".

Though it is even more rare than the savant condition itself, some savants have no apparent abnormalities other than their unique abilities. This does not mean that these abilities weren't triggered by a brain injury of some sort but does temper the theory that all savants are disabled and that some sort of trade-off is required. (see Prodigious Savants below)

According to Treffert:

One in ten autistic persons has savant skills.

Male savants outnumber female savants by about six times.

A 2009 British study of 137 autistic individuals found that 28% met criteria for a savant skill, that is, a skill or power "at a level that would be unusual even for normal people"; the study suggested that the number is likely to be an underestimate, with the true value being at least a third of individuals with autism.