The following paper will investigate Autism in children across different categories; perception, knowledge, memory and neurology. It will revise the different studies performed in this field and discuss briefly the implications they may have. Furthermore, it will investigate the popular treatment methods and the empirical proof that supports these findings.
Introduction.
Autism according to the American Psychological Association is a developmental disorder that develops within the first three years of life. It involves impairments in social interaction such as comprehending people's emotions as well as verbal and non-verbal communication. In some cases of Autism have odd behavior (i.e. banging their hands down, biting, making loud noises) or have strange sleeping and/or sleeping habits (American Psychological Association).
The Diagnostic Criteria for autism is recognized in the DSM-IV and ICD-9. There are three aspects that need to be identified in an individual between the ages of 4-5 year and be present before 3 years of age. The following three categories are [1] failure to develop social interactions, [2] abnormal development of language and communication, and [3] a restricted range of interests and symptoms (Folstein, 1999).
The cause for Autism till today is unidentifiable, though there are many theories implying some factors that may lead/ or cause autism, a conclusive answer has yet to be reached. However, neuromimaging research has taken a dive into studying autistic brains to advance further understanding of the disorder. This research yields autistic children's brains were significantly different than that from a normal non-autistic individual. Though the circumference is normal, the distribution was found to be interesting Folstein, S. E. (1999). The brain regions where these differences were identified were the amygdale, temporal lobes and frontal lobes; these regions are the centers for emotion processing, social communication and motor abilities (Levy, Mandell, Schultz, 2009).
