ASD

What is the autistic spectrum?

Now days it is clear to everyone practicing in the communication disabilities field, autism is not a one homogeneous disorder. It is a wide spectrum, that includes a variety of disorders that children and adults face. The autistic spectrum contains cognitive and perceptual disabilities [thinking skills and data processing senses], in the most part, the disorder will be characterized with developmental and functional delay and will have a regressive nature. 

Below is a link to a video of Mayrav featuring in a podcast, discussing how the Neurofeedback therapy can help kids on the autistic spectrum

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFyF4pSo4fQ

Common characteristics of the autistic spectrum

Usually, the autistic behavior will contain reportativity – whether if it is repetitive motion such as swinging or circling, repetitively saying the same sentences, or ritual behavior. In addition, throughout the life of a person on the autistic spectrum, there will be a reduction of interests and activities. 

Alongside such behavior, there will also be movement disorders and difficulties regulating senses. Due to that, autistic people can be highly sensitive to touch, so that even a soft stroke will be experienced for them as very powerful and unpleasant. In other cases, there could be a numbing in the senses that will prevent them from identifying injuries and harms. Some claim that this is due to a disability in the brain’s electrical activity. As of today, there is no main factor that can be pointed out as the reason for the disorder. 

The difficulties that a person on the autistic spectrum might face varies between the areas of the brain that are harmed. For instance, a common area is the ‘Mirror nervous system’. This system is in charge of the perception called “theory of mind”, that kids usually develop at an early age. 

This system allows us to acknowledge another person’s feelings and experiences and develop empathy. A common phenomenon is the over increasing of the Beta waves activity in the frontal lobe and the center of the brain. This impairment can also explain the stereotypical behavior. 

High functioning autism

The use of the word “spectrum” with regarding to the autistic spectrum suggests a wide variety of different levels. It is customary to divide the levels with respect to the person’s functioning level. 

There is no medical definition for high functioning autism, and that is why the term is often used inconsistently. 

Many believe the Alber Einstein was a high functioning autistic, having had an IQ of above 170, and that belief dragged over to others with similar IQ. 

Most high functioning autistic people come across social difficulties and are lacking in all that comes with social skills, but not in a significant way that will stop them from functioning in society. 

Before autism got the recognition as a singular diagnosis, and not a side effect for other disorders, many high functioning autistic people were never correctly diagnosed and society treated them as weirdos, and so they did not get the treatment they needed. 

What is the difference between autism and Asperger’s? 

In the broad variety of communication disorders, there certainly is a difficulty to diagnoses different conditions with similar elements and presentations. One of the main differentiations to make is between Asperger’s syndrome especially high functioning autism. First, it is important to highlight that Asperger’s is considered one of the disorders on the autism spectrum rather than a stand-alone disorder. Nevertheless, it is important to understand the uniqueness of it, and how it is separate from the autism state. 

Practically, most criteria that define the Asperger’s syndrome are generally identical to the autistic criteria. These are the different patterns of communication disorders, such as a difficulty with social interactions, repetitive behavior, narrow interests and more. A child or an adult with Asperger’s syndrome, just like autism, can run into difficulties in the family land social life, career issues and so on. In both cases, there are enough tools today to improve the situation and the abilities of the subject. 

In the diagnosis level, there is a difference between Asperger’s and high functioning autism, which explains why some refer to Asperger’s as a “softer” version of autism [or, if you will, a high placement on the autism spectrum, as far as functioning is concerned]. The diagnosis for Asperger’s requires the subject to have a developed language skill that suits their age, a high cognitive ability and a high day to day functioning, excluding areas that require social interactions. You can say that people with Asperger’s are usually independent compared to children on the autistic spectrum, even more so than the high functioning ones.

Having said that, we can expect people with Asperger’s syndrome to experience most of the other difficulties that exist on the autistic spectrum, including misinterpretation of social situations or slang, difficulties creating and maintain relationships, behavior with stereotypical elements, narrow minded interests and a misplaced intuition for situations. 

When is it diagnosed?

Another difference between Asperger’s and autism concerns the actual diagnosis. While autism can be diagnosed around the ages of 2-3, with respect to the child’s development, according to doctors and child psychologists, the age to diagnose Asperger’s is slightly higher. It is very rare to be able to conclusively diagnose the syndrome before the age of 6. 

In our days, thanks to more accurate diagnoses and mainly thanks to the brain wave test concluded at the BrainGames institute, it is possible to reach an accurate diagnosis and provide the correct treatment.

Treating Autism/Asperger’s/PDD

The good new are that the treatment for autism in general and Aspeger’s in specific has improved vastly over the years. Now days, we can significantly improve functioning, instill social or communication skills and contribute to the empowerment and evolution of the subjects with a variety of tools. 

 Mayrav Shaked – Toledano

Clinical social worker M.S.W, years of treating children and adults with ADD/ADHD, attention disorders, anxiety and personal difficulties.
Mentoring parents, groups and professionals, with a vast experience in social services and mental health.
B.A and M.A in social work from Bar Ilan university.

B.A in criminology and informal education from Bar Ilan University.