Does my friend have autism?

[Windwater5050]

Not everyone who is weird or nasty is autistic. Autism is a syndrome with many different body systems impacted including sensory, communication, gastrointestinal and intelligence. It is the disability dujour, so to speak. People who diagnose themselves and each other, know just a few of the symptoms, even though there are many. To me it is simply an attempt to avoid taking responsibility for their behavior.

Diagnosing autism is a drawn out process that requires:
•A social developmental history,
•Rating scales, including the Gilliam Autism Rating Scale or others,
•Speech and Language evaluation often the Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals, including pragmatics,
•Observation by a specialist in ASD,
•The Vineland or other adaptive behavior scales,
•An intelligence test, often a non-verbal intelligence test, like the C-TONI test of nonverbal intelligence, since most of these children are language impaired.
•A medical doctor, or psychiatrist, trained in the identification of Autism Spectrum Disorder, though not always. Your regular GP will not do.
•After this process, a team of people who are experts in the field, meet and review the information and make the identification. Most people are identified as toddlers, a few as older children and almost never as adults.

I am going to give you a rundown on symptoms of autism of which you may not be aware, because they are not discussed in the media. As follows:

•Tendency to engage in a very limited activities, tendency to be preoccupied with an unusual interest, such as repetitive patterns of numbers, letters, parts, etc. This is a hallmark of autism.
•Intolerant of the smallest change in their routines or in the placements of objects, another hallmark.
•Gastrointestinal problems such as chronic constipation or diarrhea to inflammatory bowel disease. This affects over 85% of autistics.
•70% of autistic people have a mild to severe intellectual disability.
•Some of those with autism are hypersensitive to sounds or touch, a condition also known as sensory defensiveness. They might find lights, sounds and clothing painful and intolerable.
•A tendency to eat non-food items, call pica.
•Unusual repetitive behaviors and/or a tendency to engage in a restricted range of activities are another core symptom of autism. Common repetitive behaviors include hand-flapping, rocking, jumping and twirling, arranging and rearranging objects, and repeating sounds, words, or phrases.
•Facial expressions, movements and gestures may not match what they are saying. Their affect is flat. Their tone of voice may fail to reflect their feelings. Some use a high-pitched sing-song or a flat, robot-like voice..
•Some people with autism tend to carry on monologues on a favorite subject, giving others little chance to comment. In other words, the ordinary “give and take” of conversation proves difficult. Some children with ASD with superior language skills tend to speak like little professors, failing to pick up on the “kid-speak” that’s common among their peers. These people are often called Asperger's, but it isn't a subtle difference, it is very obvious.

I am saying all of this to try to help people understand that there is a constellation of symptoms associated with autism, beyond being socially inept, hostile or rude. First, you cannot diagnose it and neither can the person who believes he or she is autistic, because if they were truly autistic, they probably wouldn't think anything is wrong with them, anyway. Temple Grandin, who is among the most high functioning of autistics, took years to understand that she was different and why.