What is Autism?

Autism is a word that seems to become more and more popular today, especially in parenting circles. This makes sense, as there has been a huge increase in the number of kids and families affected by it.  It’s obvious to most that it is becoming more common but the varying degrees in every individual I think is something that confuses a lot of people and what it actually is!

 

Autism is a neurodevelopmental disorder that affects the way people interact and communicate with others.

With that being said this is one of the fastest growing neurodevelopmental disorders in the world. Often times people affected have difficulty understanding behavior of others and societal norms…with either verbal or non-verbal things. There are people affected who are considered high functioning and low functioning autism. Surprisingly to most people, this isn’t dictated whether the person can communicate with words or not. It is far more complicated than that and will be an entirely separate blog by itself.

 

Some of the signs/symptoms of Autism are:

  • Delay/difficulty in learning language or lack of communication
  • Stimming – hand flapping, self-abuse, rocking, spinning, etc
  • Ultrafocused on one thing
  • Lack of eye contact
  • Shy or standoffish
  • These are only a few of the signs and they can look entirely different based on the individual.

 

The next step parents need to face when dealing with this is what to do! There are a ton of great resources out there for them, from Facebook pages to doctors, to everything in between. The most common is ABA (applied behavior analysis), which is usually covered by insurance and goes over specific behavior principles. From there you can get into nutrition, exercise, speech therapy, and even Chiropractic. All of these things benefit people with autism in different ways and don’t hesitate to do some research yourself.

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More?

Here are a few more posts on how chiropractic care can help those with autism or other neurodevelopmental disorders.