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| Autism Awareness Ribbon Angel Art |
ASD is broken out into one of five disorders, sometimes
called pervasive developmental disorders (PDDs), as ASD:
- Autistic disorder (classic autism)
- Asperger's disorder (Asperger syndrome)
- Pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified (PDD-NOS)
- Rett's disorder (Rett syndrome)
- Childhood disintegrative disorder (CDD).
Symptoms of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) vary from one
child to the next, but in general, they fall into three areas:
- Social impairment
- Communication difficulties
- Repetitive and stereotyped behaviors.
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| Autism Awareness Ribbon Angel ~ 1 in 88 diagnosed with ASD |
Most children with ASD have trouble engaging in everyday
social interactions, some children with ASD may:
- Make little eye contact
- Tend to look and listen less to people in their environment or fail to respond to other people
- Do not readily seek to share their enjoyment of toys or activities by pointing or showing things to others
- Respond unusually when others show anger, distress, or affection.
Recent research suggests that children with ASD do not
respond to emotional cues in human social interactions because they may not pay
attention to the social cues that others typically notice
Scientists don't know the exact causes of autism spectrum
disorder (ASD), but research suggests that both genes and environment play
important roles. In identical twins who
share the exact same genetic code, if one has ASD, the other twin also has ASD
in nearly 9 out of 10 cases. If one sibling has ASD, the other siblings have 35
times the normal risk of also developing the disorder. Researchers are starting
to identify particular genes that may increase the risk for ASD.
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| Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) Awareness Ribbon Angel Art |
Most people who develop ASD have no reported family history
of autism, suggesting that random, rare, and possibly many gene mutations are
likely to affect a person's risk. Having
increased genetic risk does not mean a child will definitely develop ASD.
In medicine, "environment" refers to anything
outside of the body that can affect health. This includes the air we breathe,
the water we drink and bathe in, the food we eat, the medicines we take, and
many other things that our bodies may come in contact with. Environment also
includes our surroundings in the womb, when our mother's health directly
affects our growth and earliest development.
Researchers are studying many environmental factors such as family
medical conditions, parental age and other demographic factors, exposure to
toxins, and complications during birth or pregnancy.
Children in the United States receive several vaccines
during their first 2 years of life, around the same age that ASD symptoms often
appear or become noticeable. A minority of parents suspect that vaccines are
somehow related to their child's disorder. Some may be concerned about these
vaccines due to the unproven theory that ASD may be caused by thimerosal.
Thimerosal is a mercury-based chemical once added to some, but not all,
vaccines to help extend their shelf life. However, except for some flu
vaccines, no vaccine routinely given to preschool aged children in the United
States has contained thimerosal since 2001. Despite this change, the rate of
children diagnosed with ASD has continued to rise. Many studies have been conducted to try to
determine if vaccines are a possible cause of autism. As of 2010, none of the
studies has linked autism and vaccines.
The above information was obtained from the US National
Institute of Mental Health. Read more about ASD on the
NIMH website:
http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/autism-spectrum-disorders-pervasive-developmental-disorders/index.shtml
May this Autism Spectrum Disorder Angel help bring Awareness! You can buy ASD Puzzle Awareness Ribbon Gifts at the Awareness Gallery Art Store or CafePress Unique Gifts Store!
View the images and pictures on the Puzzle Awareness Ribbon Pinterest Board.
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