Developmental milestones
There is no one experience of autism.
The clearest definition is that autism – clinically referred to as Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) – is a different way of thinking, a neurological developmental difference that changes the way you relate to the environment and people around you.
Put simply, autism changes the way that you see, experience and understand the world.
This is a h3 tag – the way that you see, experience and understand the world.
And a h4 is this, the way that you see, experience and understand the world.
Going down, h5 tag – the way that you see, experience and understand the world.
Continuing, h6 – the way that you see, experience and understand the world.
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The clearest definition is that autism – clinically referred to as Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) – is a different way of thinking, a neurological developmental difference that changes the way you relate to the environment and people around you.
Education Professionals
The clearest definition is that autism – clinically referred to as Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) – is a different way of thinking, a neurological developmental difference that changes the way you relate to the environment and people around you.
Enquire about this article the clearest definition
The clearest definition is that autism – clinically referred to as Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) – is a different way of thinking, a neurological developmental difference that changes the way you relate to the environment and people around you.
Signs and characteristics
You might have heard people referring to autism as a ‘spectrum’. This just means that there are a number of ways that autism can be experienced.
While people on the autism spectrum share a bunch of similar traits, there are an equal number of differences between them, so the experience of living with autism varies greatly from person to person.
Dr Stephen Shore an autistic professor of special education at Adelphi University, New York, put it best when he said:
“If you have met one person with autism, you have met one person with autism.”
Some of the key strengths identified in people on the autism spectrum are:
- being detail oriented;
- identifying irregularities;
- being a logical thinker;
- maintaining a focus on a task; and
- seeing things from a different perspective.
Developmental differences
The developmental differences, signs and characteristics of autism can vary widely in nature and severity from person to person, and can also develop, change and improve over time.
Signs and characteristics
Age, gender and cognitive ability can also have an impact on how the signs or characteristics of autism present themselves in different people, which is something that should also be considered.
Autism is a varied spectrum of characteristics
It can be difficult to identify if a person is autistic. To help you better understand the signs and characteristics here is a summary of what to look out for.
Autism is a varied spectrum of characteristics
It can be difficult to identify if a person is autistic. To help you better understand the signs and characteristics here is a summary of what to look out for.
Why should you get an assessment?
While a diagnosis of autism can lead to a number of challenges in a person’s life, and for those around them, people with autism can also achieve great things, for themselves, their community and our world.
For some people a diagnosis of autism can enhance their self-identity and further develop their awareness of what makes them unique – autism becomes a positive part of their identity.
Many successful people in our community are autistic, some significant discoveries, developments and achievements have been made by people with autism.
Why should you get an assessment?
There is a movement gaining momentum around the world, particularly among adults on the autism spectrum, who celebrate their neurological differences.
The term was first coined in the mid-1900s by the Australian Sociologist, Judy Singer who recognised that “neurologically diverse (people) needed a movement of their own”, and that voicing “differences in neurology should be recognised and respected.”
While the reported prevalence of autism varies around the world, there has been a clear increase in the number of people diagnosed on the autism spectrum in recent years, but this doesn’t necessarily suggest that there are more autistic people in the world than there were ten or twenty years ago.
Evidence suggests that the increase is the result of a number of cultural and clinical factors, including social influences driving greater awareness of autism, and improved diagnostic procedures and changes in diagnostic criteria allowing more people to access a diagnosis.
How is autism diagnosed?
Fortunately, the way autism is diagnosed has changed and improved over the last 80 years. We now recognise a wider range of signs and characteristics as forming part of the autism spectrum.
As awareness increases, parents and professionals are getting better at identifying early signs of autism and are more likely to seek an autism assessment.
This explains why people think autism is more prevalent today than it was ten or twenty years ago.
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Why should you get an assessment?
Evidence suggests that the increase is the result of a number of cultural and clinical factors, including social influences driving greater awareness of autism, and improved diagnostic procedures and changes in diagnostic criteria allowing more people to access a diagnosis.
Evidence suggests that the increase is the result of a number of cultural and clinical factors, including social influences driving greater awareness of autism, and improved diagnostic procedures and changes in diagnostic criteria allowing more people to access a diagnosis.