General Features of Autism
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Features of Autism in general in children & adult
From the posts about types of autism, lets go the reader move up into the specification of classification about the general features of autism base on four sources that relevant today, DSM-4, DSM-5, ICD-10, and ICD-11. This topic also tied into previous discussion about each categorization about autism in require to addressing the prognosis of diagnosis. Each of autistic patient also on slightly different prognosis between the children and the adult. Therefore, in this discussion, the children prognosis and the adult prognosis will differ on how the diagnosis comes into base on relevant sources.
General features of autism on all ages
Individuals with autism shares the its existence to be subtle up to determine the diagnosis. Usually, autism spectrum has prominent features that being obvious to other people around the society. There are the few signs of someone or patient indicate its authenticity to be autistic:
Restricted, repetitive behavior
In DSM-4, restricted and repetitive behavior marks with the patient has a stereotyped pattern of behavior, interests, and activities. There may be an encompassing pre occupation with one or more stereotyped and restricted patterns of interest that is abnormal either in intensity or focus an apparently inflexible adherence to specific, nonfunctional routines or rituals stereotyped and repetitive motor mannerisms or a persistent preoccupation with parts of objects. What the mean about the restricted behavior is often preoccupied with one narrow interest or more; with prominent with one special interest or more. An autistic patient also suffers being mimicked on restricted gesture or activity that basically based on many sources of media (such as texts or videos).
In DSM-5, the term of restricted interest and repetitive interest being separated each other, but the description on its term remains quite same. Repetitive interests follow on Insistence on sameness, inflexible adherence to routines, or ritualized patterns of verbal or nonverbal behavior. Then, the restrictive interest fixates on being stereotypy of motor movements and other fixation of interests that allow the patient to be more focus in abnormal way.
Social communication deficit
Impairment of intellectual and language to deliver the social communication is significantly being obvious in autistic patient. Base on DSM-5, social communication persists on deficits in social-emotional reciprocity, ranging, for example, from abnormal social approach and failure of normal back-and-forth conversation; to reduced sharing of interests, emotions, or affect; to failure to initiate or respond to social interactions. Another marked obvious approach from autistic patient is deficits in developing, maintaining, and understanding relationships, ranging, for example, from difficulties adjusting behavior to suit various social contexts; to difficulties in sharing imaginative play or in making friends; to absence of interest in peers.
Sensitivity to stimuli
Some people experience hyper or hypo sensitive to sensory input, such as sound, texture, smell, light, and environment. Each of individual of autism spectrum raging into different ways to sense with. Being hypersensitive cause out comfort, pain, and distressful event that changing the brain chemistry. The vice versa, being hyposensitivity cause on seeking to more sensory input into the brain.
General features of autistic children
Agitation and irritability
Illustration of autistic child being meltdown. Source: arifkhan
Both of these terms simplify into how the children regulating the emotion with. Since the children does not appropriate to identifying emotion regulation, the irritability is common as goes on autism spectrum children. This irritability differs from temper tantrum, in autism spectrum term, it is call as meltdown stage. Meltdown stage occurs when autistic children has been overwhelmed with situation that leading the patient into uncontrollable behavior and excessive stress. This situation would be making a patient getting excessive anxiety and mess up on mood energy that led into short depressive episode. Meltdown stage usually has a trigger to occur up and each of patients out there has a different trigger to being upset, such as social demands that overwhelm into life, frustration, getting an embarrassment outlook, challenges when doing a communication process, and egocentric triggers (Phung et al, 2021).
Milestone delay in all aspects
There are many sources of autism milestone of children, from the simple into detailed look of prognosis. On simple term, milestone delay is differed from global developmental delay that occur on general children. Milestone delay affects on how social communication and impaired motor skill are involved. Not only from milestone, it is also affected on expressing the emotion, expressing the happiness by playing simple interactive games, and on expressing the face recognition.
General features of autistic adult
Eccentric approach
Adults with autism would struggle on matching the trends or situation that requires the specific situation, such as formal or casual approach. Eccentricity also involves into how the patient deliver its unique creative capacity to the ability to perceive details, their structure and interrelation, which remain unrecognized by the ‘normal’ mind.
Prefer to be individual
Since the sensory input of autistic adult (and children) are excessive or being decrease, autistic adult also seeks up into being loner. Alone time also being necessary to self-being recovery, reducing the sensory overload, and develops the wellbeing. In social context, being loner is also caused by the rejection of its surrounding about social connection.