A lot has been written about autism, and during the 90's and recently autism has been put in a bright spot light because of various high-profile books and films on the subject. My little site deals with the characteristics of autism. It contains basic information about the condition and also some interesting background information and history.
The most annoying misunderstanding of autism is that some people believe that every person affected by it is some sort of genius, a superb painter or an excellent mathematician. This is simply not true. A very very small portion of autism sufferers shows savant abilities. Conversations like these are awkward:
Person : Your son has autism?
Parent : Yes.
Person : Wow he must be really good at maths!
Parent : No he has serious problems with maths.
Person : Oh, but I thought.....
Autism is a collection of various neurodevelopment disorders that usually go hand in hand with social problems, such as difficulties communicating with other humans. People with autism can socially isolate themselves and often show signs of restricted stereotyped behaviour. There are multiple forms of ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder) - autistic disorder is one of the extremer forms. You may have heard of Asperger syndrome, which affects a much larger group, but does not completely disrupt human interaction. Autism is not age or race dependent, it affects all ages, races, and socio-economic classes. Men however, are much more likely to have ASD than women (some research found a 4 : 1 ratio when comparing men and women). Estimates show that about 5 out of every 1000 children will have some form of ASD.
Let's now look at some typical characteristics of autism. As mentioned above the main impairment occurs in social interaction. Parents will be the first to notice their child acting differently than other children. An unresponsiveness by the child to attempts of communication, even at a very early age (baby), is one clear characteristic of autism. The child can be almost obsessive about 1 subject and neglect others. There have also been cases in which a child develops “normally” for the first few years of their life and then starts showing signs of autism.
People with autism prefer not to look others in the eye. They can lack the ability to analyse facial expressions and sense emotions. The tone of your voice is very important in conveying what you are feeling, autistics usually have trouble picking up the clues of your voice's tone. Repetitive behaviour is one of the common characteristics of autism, and easy to spot.
If you feel that your child may be showing signs of autism, then it's best to contact a professional who is specialised in autism. An impressive number of institutions and clubs have been established in the last 20 years that would be more than willing to provide you with all the information you need.