Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a complex neurodevelopmental disorder that affects multiple areas of functioning. It is caused by both genetic and environmental factors. Common symptoms include difficulties with social communication and interaction, repetitive behaviors, and sensory processing issues. Individuals with ASD often struggle with language and communication skills, feeding and swallowing, and hearing and speech perception due to underlying neurological differences. Early intervention is important to help minimize impairments and support development.

1. Date:13 August 2016 MDXNDA002 SUMMATIVE ASSIGNMENT 1
AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDER
INTRODUCTION
Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) are a collection of five neurobiological disorders that are closely-
related, including Autistic Disorder, Asperger's Disorder, Pervasive Developmental Disorder not
otherwise specified (PDD-NOS), Childhood Disintegrative Disorder, and Rett's Disorder (Phetrasuwan,
Miles, Mesibov, & Robinson, 2009). According to Hilt & Metz (2008) ASD is one of the most disabling
and mystifying of all childhood developmental disorders that has ever been discovered to date because
these individuals have an atypical pattern of development that affects multiple areas of functioning. In
most cases Autism spectrum disorder(ASD) and Autism are referred to as a collection of related
conditions or impairments which are relatively caused by brain developmental delay however the causes
of Autism – Autism Spectrum disorders are not limited to only this.
CAUSES
Autism is a complex impairment hence it is also referred to as a spectrum disorder, this is because it
has many complex causes including other diseases that link together and may lead to this developmental
delay which is referred to as Autism. It is also believed that ASD is also influenced by genetic factors
which lead to neurological dysfunctionality and underdevelopment. Mentioned below are the most
common factors that are found in the spectrum when enlisting the major causes of ASD; to list a few
examples of the established common causes of ASD are listed below:
 Genetic problems or syndromes;
 Severe infections that affect the brain (meningitis, celiac disease, encephalitis, etc.);
 Exposure to toxins or illness during pregnancy (rubella, chemicals, etc.).
Good evidence exists that these related conditions that lead to the formation of ASD arise from a
common familial, presumably, genetic mechanism (Szatmari, 2003), This led to an ongoing research
that aims to try and find the original cause of autism, but as yet there are no definite answer hence more
it is still globally known as a spectrum disorder meaning that it is caused by many factors however more
studies still believe that it is triggered by the genetic factors but this does not necessarily mean that it is
caused only by gene mutations or abnormalities only.
SYMPTOMS
Most of the children who have been diagnosed with Autism usually need early childhood intervention
to help for adaptive parenting and upbringing of the child this is important because it helps to minimise
the minimise able effects of the other impairments included in the autism spectrum. The presence of
autism is usually accompanied by the presence of other abnormalities such as Autistic disorder,
Pervasive development disorder (PDD-NOS), Asperger Syndrome.
The common of symptoms of Autism-ASD in patient includes:
 Minimised respond to verbal speech and sometimes acts as if he or she is deaf.
 Hyper or Hypo levels of sensitivity to touch, smell, taste etc.
 Unexpected laughing or crying for no known reason
 Partake in activities repetitively and cannot be influenced by suggestions of change.
 Uneven fine motor skills.
 Unusual attachment to objects and difficulties adapting to new environment

2. GENERAL AREAS OF DIFFICULTY
Research has shown that most of the individual who are suffering from autism or autism spectrum
disorders have common difficulties in certain common areas, some of the difficulties that the patients
of ASD face include social communication and social interaction; this make it harder for such
individuals to initiate a normal projective conversations and such individual find it hard to make friends.
Individuals with autism may also have disorders such as sensory sensitivity and psychological health
problems which include things like depression and anxiety (UK, 2016).
Behavioural disorders such as repetitive behavioural patterns are also one of the accompanying
symptoms of autism; for example, they may be very hypersensitive and may rapidly develop an
abnormal interest in a certain thing this is usually followed by repetitive body actions or expressions
such as screaming or clapping hands overtime. All these abnormalities make it harder for this
individuals to find appropriate jobs and to progress at school hence this results in restricted personal
and social development.
DIFFICULTIES SPECIFIC TO HEARING
ASD as a disorder that affects brain functionality will also affect hearing and perception of speech since
all speech sound are interpreted in the brains. Autism affects hearing in two mains ways, namely:
Underdeveloped hearing organs, malformations of the important organs of hearing in the middle ear
and secondly, the reduced brain processing related to ASD.
The underdeveloped brains affect how speech or any other sound is being interpreted in the brain and
in most cases in which ASD is involved speech and sound processing is still possible but it only happens
slow hence most of autistic children respond later than quicker to things that you tell them. Sometime
speech message sent to the brains for interpretation is not retained hence the autistic child sometimes
act as if they are deaf.
In rare cases, hearing organs are very small and growing at a lower and reduced rate do to the effects of
ASD. This restricts the pathway for sound and any other speech sounds hence only speech either a low
pitched, increased amplitude waves. For example: the child only responds when you shout at them and
to any sound that is as louder. This also affects how children with autism perceive speech and this also
lead to language and communication difficulties.
DIFFICULTIES SPECIFIC TO LANGUAGE & COMMUNICATION
Children with ASD usually deviate completely from the development milestone and for this reason they
have difficulties understanding and doing things that some children of the same age are able to perform.
This includes things like the inability to use, perceive and understand expressive and receptive language
this is mainly caused by the reduce rate of development and sensory challenges which are associated
with this disorder.
The inability to understand receptive language can be developmental or acquired due to developmental
malformation of the brain or brain injuries. For example, aphasia and Autism spectrum disorder. The
inability to use expressive language in autistic people is because they have difficulties learning and
processing the information in the upper part of the brain and sometimes they lack interest in learning
the human language and they are commonly interested to natural sounds like whirling of the wind and
waters fall sounds and even sounds made by birds, this alone makes is a barrier for them to learn most
of the words in the language and sometimes they just utter one word at a time and taking a lot of time
before they say the next word in the sentence that they are trying to make. This is due to reduced brain
functionality which resulted in reduced language procession.

3. The factors listed above are supported by the observation that most autistic children can’t talk and have
limited vocabulary, usually says “um” , Has difficulties conceptualising new words, obscures the tense
of the verb, Repeats a certain phrase or word multiple times ,Seems distressed by the inability to
communicate, Might not talk too much , sentences they make are usually meaningless, they do not
respond when spoken to, they take a long time to respond when one speaks to them this weakens their
language skills and disrupt the way they communicate with other people, this is one of the major reasons
why they find it difficult to make friends and to cope in social situations.
DIFFICULTIES SPECIFIC TO SWALLOWING & FEEDING
According to Autism Speaks (2016) feeding issues are common in children with autism spectrum
disorders (ASD) even though feeding may be an overwhelming, stressful and chaotic task for primary
care givers when feeding any other child, the challenges faced when feeding an autistic child may be
double the trouble. It usually takes time before one gets fully acquainted with feeding an autistic child.
The problem related to feeding in children maybe caused be things like the inability to communicate or
to speak out when the child feels uncomfortable or pain when eating, this link to communications delays
that autistic children have and this makes communication between the child and the mother or any
primary care taker who is feeding the child very difficult.
Sensory issues also make feeding difficult for autistic children since they may be hypersensitive to
certain food smell, flavours, orientation and taste. For example, if the autistic child does not like the
way that the food that you are feeding him or her just like any other child they will not enjoy eating it
and will therefore resort to crying or show unpleasant behaviours in an attempt to stop you from feeding
them. In some of the cases where a child refuses to be fed is due to the inactiveness of the taste buds
that make the child find the food tasteless since they are unable to detect the pleasantness of the food
due to inactive taste buds.
Children with autism can also develop behavioural problems at mealtimes (Autism Speaks, 2016). For
example, children may learn that they can leave the table and play after refusing a food they do not like
and most of children with ASD are unwilling to try new foods. Their unwillingness to try new food
makes it even hard to address the feeding problem because the parents will always be unable to find out
the flavour or food types that their children prefer.
If the child start losing weight to lack of proper feeding or interest in eating or swallowing difficulties
the best possible measure to take would be taking the child to a medical practitioner, a dietician or any
appropriate healthcare giver since lack of a healthy diet may lead to malnutrition which may also
influence other factors within the ASD spectrum.
CONCLUSION
The cure for autism and ASD is still under question and researchers are still trying to find out the
individual cause of autism and most evidences suggest that it is genetic but no official conclusions has
been made yet. If any signs of autism and ASD are seen in one of the new born or any older children,
they must be quickly referred to an appropriate healthcare practitioner so that medical diagnosis will be
made earlier and early child intervention programmes will be established earlier than later to minimise
some of the signs and symptoms of autism.

4. References
Autism - Autism Spectrum Disorders. (2016). Asha.org. Retrieved 13 August 2016,
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Autism Speaks. (2016). Autism Speaks. Retrieved 15 August 2016,
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Hilt, R. J., & Metz, W. P. (2008). Autistic spectrum disorders. eMedicine.
Retrieved August 14, 2016, from http://www.emedicine.com/med/TOPIC3202.HTM
Phetrasuwan, S., Miles, M. S., Mesibov, G. B., & Robinson, C. (2009). Defining autism spectrum
disorders Journal for Specialists in Pediatric Nursing, 14(3), 206-209.
Szatmari, P. (2003). The causes of autism spectrum disorders. Bmj, 326(7382), 173-174.
UK, R. (2016). Research Autism. Researchautism.net. Retrieved 14 August 2016,
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from http://aut2know.co.za/understanding-autism/