Autism, also known as autistic disorder, is a representative disease of pervasive developmental disorder. Children with autism have the following eight prominent symptoms.
1. Prominent speech disorder: Most children with autism speak very little. In severe cases, they remain silent for life. They can speak with limited vocabulary, and even if some children can speak, they often do not want to speak and would rather use gestures instead. Some can speak, but the voice is very small, very low, or repeat some monotonous words to themselves. Some children will only imitate what others have said, instead of talking in their own language.
2. Will not imitate: “Imitation” is the most important tool for children to learn. Children learn to speak through imitation and learn to communicate using silent body language, gestures and expressions. But children with autism do not know how to imitate.
3. Linguistic slowness: Most children have slow language development, and even severe ones remain silent for life. Even if some children can speak, they would rather use gestures instead of language, or only imitate other people’s language mechanically, and often can’t distinguish you from me.
4. Communication difficulties: lack of communication and communication with others. Due to the limitation of their language ability, children with autism often “create” some unconventional or age-incompatible communication methods. For example, use some weird sounds to express discomfort, and repeat certain phrases or sentences to suggest anxiety.
5. Social barriers: This is the biggest problem faced by children with autism. They are indifferent to the things around them, have difficulty understanding the emotions and feelings of others, and cannot express their emotions and feelings correctly. Children with autism have mind blind. They seem to think that everything that exists in their own minds also exists in other people’s minds, and there is no difference between them. That is, they usually think that their own feelings are the feelings of others, but this does not mean that they have no feelings.
6. Narrow interests: Children with autism often focus on certain games or activities for a long time, such as obsessed with rotating pot lids, monotonously placing building blocks, and keen to watch TV commercials and weather forecasts. They have no interest in cartoons, children’s TV, and movies that children usually like. Some children have to eat the same meals every day, take the same route when they go out, and require the same toilet for defecation. If there is any change, they will cry loudly. Obvious anxious reaction, unwilling to change their original habits and behavior patterns, and difficulty adapting to the new environment. Most children also show purposeless activities, hyperactivity, monotonous and repetitive jumping, clapping, waving, running and spinning, and some even Self-injury or self-harm occurs, such as repeated nostril picking, mouth picking, lip biting, and sucking.
7. Stereotyped behavior: narrow interests, strict requirements for the environment, and no change in the slightest. Children usually focus on certain games or games for a long time, often repeat some fixed and stereotyped movements, and even have self-harm behaviors.
8. Intellectual disability: 70% of children are mentally retarded, but may have special abilities in some aspects; 20% of the children are in the normal range, and about 10% are super-intelligent, showing that they are very sensitive to music, art, etc., or have extraordinary memory and many more. However, what is puzzling is that even if a child can read or recite effortlessly, he cannot communicate normally with others in the language he masters.
