Autism Term Paper

Psychology & Sociology Term Paper

Rebecca, Guo

Autism

Mama is really concerned. Noah seems not like her and papa at all. He never acts like wanting mama and papa. When mama wants to give him a hug, Noah glances at her and quickly turns back to a toy he is holding. He seems not want any hugs from anyone. When people say hi to him, he never responds. When mama talks to him, he seems not want to listen at all. That is really strange. It seems that Noah is living in a different world; he acts differently from the way most other children do.

When a child shows less attention to his or her environment; exhibits diminished interest in communications and interactions with others; experiences difficulty in learning languages or tends to do the same things repetitively, he or she can be said to have a higher possibility suffering autism. (Autism society) Individuals show such symptoms to varying degrees and are affected by autism to different extents. Autism, a brain development disorder, is characterized by impaired communication and deficient social interaction. It strikes infants typically before the age of three. Some children are born with autism, and some developed normally before seemed to be losing more and more abilities gradually. “Today, 1 in 150 individuals is diagnosed with autism, making it more common than pediatric cancer, diabetes, and AIDS combined. It occurs in all racial, ethnic, and social groups and is four times more likely to strike boys than girls.” (Autism speaks)

Symptoms caused by autism develop during infancy and childhood and also tend to continue through adulthood, which means people with autism are likely to live their whole lives affected by autism. Varying from mild to very severe, symptoms of autism can be noticed very easily because they are all very typical to the condition and extraordinarily different from the norm.

Autistic infants fall behind their same-aged peers in communication. Most sufferers speak very little. Those...