The Autism and Epilepsy Awareness Campaign

     Autism is a developmental disability usually evident before a child turns 4. Someone has autism because they have a neurological disorder that prevents their brain to function properly, and this causes their development and communication skills to suffer. Someone may have problems with verbal and non-verbal communcation, social interactions, and any activity they endorse in, no matter their age. Autism is a spectrum disorder, however, and affects different parts of the brain, and each person with autism is unique and very different from the next. General signs of autism are as follows:

 

          - Insistence on sameness; resistance to change

          - Difficulty in expressing needs, using gestures or pointing instead of words

          - Repeating words or phrases in place of normal, responsive language

         - Laughing (and/or crying) for no apparent reason showing distress for 
            reasons not apparent to others

         - Preference to being alone; aloof manner

         - Tantrums

         - Difficulty in mixing with others

         - Not wanting to cuddle or be cuddled

         - Little or no eye contact

         - Unresponsive to normal teaching methods

         - Sustained odd play

         - Spinning objects

         - Obsessive attachment to objects

         - Apparent over-sensitivity or under-sensitivity to pain

         - No real fears of danger

         - Noticeable physical over-activity or extreme under-activity

         - Uneven gross/fine motor skills

         - Non responsive to verbal cues; acts as if deaf, although hearing tests in
            normal range.


      A classic myth of autism is that someone with the disorder cannot show affection, but this is not true. Someone with autism may show affection differently, but they can show affection, along with many other feelings just like the rest of us.