Understanding Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD): Definition, Symptoms, Causes, Diagnosis, and Treatment

This research paper focuses on Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), a serious disorder that affects normal brain functioning. It affects how an individual sees and interacts with others, resulting in problems in communication and social interaction. The disorder similarly comprises repetitive and limited behavioral patterns. The paper addresses autism in regards to its definition and description, signs and symptoms, causes and risk factors, diagnostic criteria, and treatment.

Abstract
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is dramatically escalating in numbers with one in
seventy kids aged 8 years diagnosed with ASD (Isaksson, Pettersson, Kostrzewa, Diaz Heijtz,
and Bolte, 2017). Reported incidence rates have been increasing gradually from the 1960s, and it
is uncertain to what range this is insightful of an actual rise in incidence or escalated knowledge
of ASD and its diagnosis. For instances, investigations with access to equally medical records
and the school have established considerably greater rates compared to those with access to
medical records alone. Some investigators have a conviction that the escalated incidence of ASD
might mirror variations in diagnostic procedures for ASD. It has been proven that incidence
differs by race and gender. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) investigation
found that incidence was 19.2 for every 1,000 which is equivalent to 1 in 55 amongst males and
5.0 for every 1,000 which is equivalent to 1 in 200 in females. Incidence amongst non-Hispanic
white kids 15.0 for every 1,000 was considerably greater compared to among non-Hispanic black
kids 11.4 for every 1,000 and Hispanic kids 8.7 for every 1,000. Cekici and Sanlier (2019) assert
that since there are no evidently recorded variations between these clusters based on risk factors
for ASD, differences in incidence evaluations propose under-documentation amongst Hispanic
and non-Hispanic black kids. Inadequate information was accessible for kids of Pacific/Asian
Island background. As a result of ASD incidence, all health care practitioners have to understand
contemporary research, symptoms, causes, diagnosis and treatment, and how to provide support
effectively.
Introduction
This research paper focuses on Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), a serious disorder that
affects normal brain functioning. It affects how an individual sees and interacts with others,

resulting in problems in communication and social interaction. The disorder similarly comprises
repetitive and limited behavioral patterns. The word “spectrum” in ASD designates the severity
and variety of symptoms (Chien, Chou, Wu, Tsai, Chiu, et al. 2019). Generally, this paper
addresses autism in regards to its definition and description, signs and symptoms, causes and risk
factors, diagnostic criteria, and treatment. Lastly, the paper concludes by giving a general
opinion on autism and there is also an appendix with survey questions that directed this research
paper.
Definition and Description of Autism
Autism is scientifically defined as a serious disorder related to the brain functioning
indicated by issues with intelligence, social interaction, and language, alongside irrational or
ritualistic behavior and strange reactions to the setting.
Autism is a disorder that if one has it is a lifetime sentence. It affects a person's capacity
to comprehend what they see, hear, and touch. This may lead to terrific difficulties in individual
behavior and in the capacity to communicate and relate with others. An autistic individual has to
be instructed how to communicate in a normal manner and how to nurture relationships with
other persons, events, and objects around them. Nonetheless, not every individual experience the
same level of impairment. There is a range of various symptoms that individuals may experience.
Autism happens in as many as one or two for every 1,000 kids (Eggleston, Landers, Bates,
Nagelhout, and Dufek, 2018). It is five times more frequent in boys (normally more frequent
than not, the first kid) and it does not categorize (happens globally in every race and social
classes). Whereas a person may have symptoms varying from very mild to severe, approximately
9% have an exceptional capability in one scope of the nine manifold bits of intelligence like
arithmetic, art, music, or memory skills. Such people were once labeled to as "idiot servants",

however, since the world has developed and are aware of their obliviousness, they are now
labeled as "autistic servants". Autism is normally found in a person in the initial three years of
life, but may not be identified for a very long time. Watkins, Ledbetter-Cho, O’Reilly, Barnard-
Brak, and Garcia-Grau, 2019) denote that it might be tough to tell, at times, when the condition
develops in other kids, occasionally the disorder is not identified till the kid starts attending
school and it is recognized by somebody who is around kids and might see the symptoms due to
experience they have.
Signs and Symptoms of Autism
Other kids exhibit symptoms of ASD in primary infancy, like lessened eye contact, lack
of response when they are called or triviality to caregivers. Some kids might grow normally for
the initial few months or years of life, but then unexpectedly turn out to be withdrawn or
aggressive or lose language abilities they have acquired already. Symptoms are normally
perceived by the age of 2 years (Wiggins, Christensen, Van Naarden Brawn, Martin, and Baio,
2018). Every autistic kid is possible to have exceptional behavioral patterns and level of
seriousness; from low functioning to high functioning. Some autistic children have problems in
learning and some symptoms of decreased than usual intelligence. Hungate, Gardner, Tacketl,
and Spencer (2019) affirm that other kids with the illness have usual to increased intelligence;
they learn fast, yet have problems communicating and relating what they know in daily life and
adapting to social situations. Due to the exceptional combination of signs in every kid,
seriousness may at times be hard to identify. It’s commonly based on the degree of damages and
how they affect the capacity to function. Some usual symptoms exhibited by individuals who
have ASD are discussed below.

An autistic individual might have reduced, repetitive behavioral patterns, activities or
interests, comprising either or all of these symptoms do not take part in derivative or make-
believe play; performs monotonous movements, like hand flapping, spinning, or rocking; is
abnormally sensitive to sound, touch, or light, yet might be unresponsive to temperature or pain;
has difficulties with organization or has strange patterns of movement, like walking on toes or
clumsiness, and has unusual, exaggerated or stiff body language; performs actions that may
occasion self-harm like head-banging or biting; has particular food likings such as refusing foods
with specific texture, or eating particular few foods; is captivated by particulars of an object, like
the running wheels of a toy car, but does not comprehend the general role of the item; and
preoccupies on an item or action with unusual level or concentration. As they grow up, some
kids with ASD become more involved with others and exhibit lesser behavioral distractions.
Other, often those with the least serious problems, ultimately might live near-normal or normal
lives. Other, nonetheless, still have problems with social or language skills, and the youth ages
may bring worse emotional behavioral difficulties (Mastnak, Lipsky, and Neuwirthova, 2018).
An autistic person might have difficulties with communication skills and social
interaction comprising does not bring or point at items to share attention; fails to respond to their
name or seems not to hear someone occasionally; opposes holding or cuddling, and appears to
prefer retreating into their personal world, or playing alone; has no facial expression and eye
contact; does not seem to understand easy directions or questions; has problems identifying non-
verbal signs, like understanding other individual’s tone of voice, facial expressions, or body
postures; talks with an unusual rhythms or tone and might use a robot-like speech or a singsong
voice; does not show feelings or emotions and seems unaware of other people’s feelings;
unsuitably approaches a social interaction by being inactive, violent or troublesome; cannot

initiate a conversation or maintain one, or just initiates one to label items or make requests; and
does not talk or has hindered speech, or loses past capacity to articulate phrases or words
(O’reilly, Lewis, and Elsabbagh, 2017).
Causes and Risk Factors for Autism
ASD is characteristically diagnosed based on behavioral signs, minus mention to etiology
Wendorf Muhamad and Yang, 2017). However, a substantial investigation has been dedicated to
exploring etiological aspects. Although no one cause has been recognized, the data available
propose that autism arises from various causative aspects; comprising neurobiological,
environmental, and genetic; that manifest in typical behavioral signs.
According to Hellendoom, Wijnroks, van Daalen, Dietz, Buitelaar, et al. 2015),
deformities in the genetic code might lead to strange mechanisms for brain growth, resulting in
turn to functional and structural brain defects, symptomatic behaviors, neurobiological and
cognitive defects. Neurological disparities linked with a diagnosis of autism comprise difficulties
with genetic code growth including manifold brain areas, consisting of anterior and frontal
sequential lobes, cerebellum, and caudate; functional and structural defects of the brain such as
escalated gray material in the sequential and frontal lobes, lessened white material likened to
gray material by puberty, functional or anatomical variations in the limbic and cerebellum
system; variations in the brain’s reaction to the environment, comprising likings for non-
interactive as opposed to social dispensation and hemispheric irregularities in event-linked
possibilities, interruptions in normative arrangements of social neuro-developments that add to a

reduced focus to social provocations, and reduced neural sensitivity to active stare changes in
early stages.
Given the complexity of ASD risk, investigators have started to explore how pre-natal
and post-natal environmental aspects for example contact to medications, environmental
toxicants, and dietary aspects may associate with a genetic vulnerability to autism (Picci, Gotls,
and Scherf, 2016). Several environmental contacts have been recognized for an upcoming study,
comprising flame retardants, insecticides, lead polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), hydrocarbons,
and automotive exhaust. However, no particular environmental prompts have been pinpointed at
this time. The investigation centered on the environmental dangers involved with ASD
development is rather complex, as investigators should include how the environmental aspects
related to personal genetic material.
It is widely accepted that autism is the outcome of hereditary genetic variations or
transformations, even though not every kid may be identified as having a genetic relation or
transformation that is evident to family members. Results in support of a genetic relation
comprise investigation results indicating that autism is more frequent in boys as compared to
girls; most possibly owing to genetic variations linked with the X chromosome; and identical
investigations that indicate 70% to 95% degree of concordance for duplicate twins likened with a
0% to 9% degree of concordance for genealogical twins. In a research carried out by Guest and
Ohrt (2018), about 19% of newborns with an elder genetic sibling with autism likewise
developed autism; the possibility for developing autism was bigger if there was more than one
elder sibling affected. Given the present attainability of fast, accurate gene-sequencing
implements and the availability of big values of DNA testers, noticeable advancements in
determining genetic aspects linked with autism have been made.

The number of kids diagnosed with ASD is increasing. It is not certain if this is as a result
of enhanced discovery and reporting or an actual rise in incidence, or both (Etten, Kaur,
Srinivason, Cohen, Bahat, et al. 2017). ASD affects kids of all nationalities and races, but
particular aspects escalate a kid’s risk. These might comprise the kid’s sex where males are
approximately five times more probable to develop ASD than females are; family history where
families with one autistic kid have an intensified risk of having another kid with the disorder;
other illnesses where particular clinical conditions have greater than usual risk of ASD or ASD-
like symptoms examples include Rett syndrome and fragile X syndrome.; exceedingly premature
infants where babies delivered before 26 weeks of pregnancy might have a higher risk of ASD;
and parents age where Goldin and Matson (2016) asserts that there might be a link between kids
born to older parents and ASD, but further investigation is needed to ascertain this connection.
Assessment for Meeting Eligibility (Autism Diagnosis)
The kid’s physician will look for symptoms of developmental hindrances at consistent
checkups. If the kid exhibits any signs of ASD, the parent will be recommended to an expert who
treats kids with ASD, like a kid psychologist or psychiatrist, developmental pediatrician, or
pediatric neurologist, for evaluation. Milosavljevic, Shephard, Happe, Johnson, and Charman
(2017) denote that since ASD differs widely in signs and seriousness, making a diagnosis can be
hard. There is not a particular clinical to identify the disorder. Rather, an expert might watch the
kid and ask questions on their communication skills, social relations, and behavioral
development and variation over time; give the child examinations encompassing developmental
level, hearing, language, speech, and rank the performance; use the standards in the Diagnostic
and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5), published by the American Psychiatric
Association; involve other experts in ascertaining a diagnosis; and commend genetic

examination to determine whether the kid has a genetic illness like fragile X syndrome or Rett
syndrome.
Treatment of Autism
There is no known cure for ASD and no one-size-fits-all exists treatment. The aim of the
treatment is to exploit the kid's capacity to function by mitigating ASD symptoms and upholding
learning and development. Timely intervention in the course of elementary school years may
assist the kid to learn essential communication, social, behavioral, and functional skills (Ecas,
McDonald, Pouitt, and Messinger, 2017). Treatment choices can include education therapies
where it has been proved that autistic kids frequently respond better to greatly organized
educational platforms; communication and behavior therapies where numerous programs look
into the extent of language, behavioral, and social problems linked to ASD; medications where
no specific drug may enhance the basic symptoms of ASD but certain medications may assist
regulate signs; other therapies where based on the kid's needs, speech therapy to enhance
communication skills, physical therapy to enhance balance and movement, and occupational
therapy to instruct actions of everyday life might be useful; and family therapies where parents
and other relatives may learn how to relate and play with their kids in several ways that uphold
social relation skills, control problematic behaviors, and instruct everyday living skills and
communication (Rattaz, Michelon, Munir, Baghdadii, 2018).
Conclusion
Our awareness of autism has developed over time. Six decades ago, ASD was nothing more than
an unidentified developmental hindrance commonly suffered from mental obstruction. Presently,
it is identified as an independent neurologically founded disorder of importance, a key public

health concern, and a subject of much investigation. Researchers have endeavored to discover a
cause for the disorder in vain. In spite of this difficulty, the investigation continues in even more
refined directions (Unwin, Bruz, Maybery, Reynolds, Ciccone, et al. 2017). Many treatments
have been advanced that assist autistic individuals to exploit their potential to acquire and
become socially assured, irrespective of how impaired they might be. Although no discoveries
seem probable in the near future, there is a reason for hope.

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Appendix
1. What is autism?
2. What are the signs and symptoms of autism?
3. What are the causes and risk factors for autism?
4. How is autism diagnosed?
5. How is autism treated or managed?