The most common features of the Autism Spectrum Disorder are impaired social interactions, disinterest on the people that surround them and does not appear to hear when others speak to him or her, however some misinterpretation of the disorder can be related with other deficiencies like been hearing impaired.
Parents are the first ones to notice that there might be something wrong with the child, and when assuming autism is the cause, a series of steps have to follow to learn if the child has the disorder. Observing the development of the child when they don’t look at the eye, or smile back when smiled, doesn’t play with other people, when they don’t point or wave goodbye, if all or some of this signs are show some concern might be in place. An autism screening has to be scheduled, along with a visit to a development specialist and start seeking early intervention services
Some additional tests have to be done to determine any other abnormal behavior in the child, this can be either physiological or psychological, this is to better determine the symptoms of the patient, and if treatment has to be initiated, but as already mentioned, early intervention is important for a better chance of treatment. Parents and teachers have to keep a close eye into the development of the child, and trust their instincts, their child Doctor will take their concerns seriously and one should never follow and accept the “wait and see approach.
Our ignorance about how the brain creates behavioral patterns is abysmal (Coleman, 2005), and many studies have to be assessed to qualify a child as autistic, false interpretation can mislead parents and teachers that will then approach a child in different ways without having any disorder, creating a different a social disassociation, making a more evident dependence with their guardians, and losing confidence in themselves. When a child is not diagnosed correctly during their first 3 years of life, some other health related might trigger without knowing or being prepared, autism has been associated with epilepsy seizures. “Adults with epilepsy are more likely to have a greater number of characteristics of autism and Asperger syndrome, according to new research by the University of Bath, England” (Wakeford, 2013), this has made the testing more specialized and thorough to prevent other developments or disorders.
More than 30% of the children with autism have a higher risk of developing epilepsy seizures. (Coleman, 2005), making this another threat for the health of the child, and a big responsibility for the people in charge of a correct diagnosis of the child. If a child is not evaluated correctly, their behavior will only get worse with time, and treatments not only will be more limited, but costly and is time consuming for them and their families.
It is believed that autism is transmit through genetics, after many studies it has shown that people with this deficiency can be transmitted to their descendants, to the immediate generations or even skip one and transmitted to the second one. The risk of having a second child with autism is 50 times higher than the population base rate (Singer, 2012), creating insecurity in parents to have another child after the first one has been diagnosed with autism, creating in them not only fear of having another autistic child, but resigned from expanding their family, and isolate more from society. Toxic environmental factors have also