subject: Symptoms of Autism - What You Should Know About Your Child [print this page] Symptoms of Autism - What You Should Know About Your Child
It does seem that each year, doctors are diagnosing more kids with one form or another of autism. Part of the difficulty with diagnosing autism is the symptoms are common with other conditions; plus they can vary from one child to the next. The following are some typical symptoms of autism.
One symptom of autism in children is acting out, crying or having tantrums for no obvious reason. Of course there can be other causes for this particular behavior in kids, so do keep that in mind and don't jump to hasty conclusions.
That possible symptom and others may warrant talking to your doctor and proceeding from there. Many autistic children, however, will become upset or even hysterical, while parents or teachers cannot understand what has caused this outburst. It is usually hard to know what the autistic child is reacting to because they do not see the world, or respond to it, as we do. In these extreme situations where the autistic child can actually pose a threat, then there is medicine that can be prescribed to manage the behavior.
Self destructive behaviors are often prevalent in autistic children. Although not found in every autistic child, some will cause themselves injury by hitting themselves, banging their heads or inappropriately playing with dangerous objects. These kids need more than normal supervision. In order to avoid damage or injury some autistic kids need to be physically restrained or medicated. For safety and security purposes some autisic kids are institutionalized for these tendencies when parents aren't able to take care of them at home. Children who display such symptoms are not necessarily autistic, but they always need to be diagnosed and treated by experts.
Autistic children often display symptoms such as extreme attachments to objects, repetitive movements or rituals that don't make sense to others. That is why you can see autistic children doing nothing but looking, or staring, at any particular object - pick anything, and they do that for a long time. Or they may develop their own personal rituals, such as walking around in a circle or moving their hands around in a certain way. The very real problem with these behaviors is there can be times when a child, or adult, can inflict injury on him or herself. That is why some autistics are prescribed medication to help control this type of behavior. But that is really applicable to those with the most severe autism and symptoms.
Understanding this condition is difficult even for medical experts and scientists because it presents in so many forms and varieties. It is not a big surprise that noon can agree on what causes autism to begin with because of the variety of possibilities. The symptoms of autism we have been looking at here are only a few of the more common ones. Most autistic kids require a specialized treatment plan to meet their needs.
