{"id":6331,"date":"2019-10-03T15:30:30","date_gmt":"2019-10-03T22:30:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lifestyle.org\/?p=6331"},"modified":"2023-05-19T09:14:37","modified_gmt":"2023-05-19T16:14:37","slug":"understanding-autism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lifestyle.org\/understanding-autism\/","title":{"rendered":"Understanding Autism"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"> <\/figure>\n<p>1 in 68 children has an autism spectrum disorder (ASD). ASD is a group of conditions known to cause social, communication, and behavioral challenges. They include autism &#8211; which is the most common, Asperger\u2019s syndrome, and pervasive developmental disorder (PDD). <\/p>\n<p><strong>Early Symptoms <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Autism appears in early childhood. Symptoms typically<br \/>\ninclude:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Communication problems such as speech delay<\/li>\n<li>Lack of eye contact<\/li>\n<li>Social withdrawal <\/li>\n<li>Hypersensitivity to sounds, smells, touch, food textures, and\/or visual stimulation<\/li>\n<li>Repetitive behaviors such as rocking and arm flapping<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Causes <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>No one knows what causes autism but experts believe it\u2019s genetic.<br \/>\nWhat doctors do know is that children of older parents are likelier to have<br \/>\nautism. Moreover, parents who have one child with ASD are likelier to have a<br \/>\nsecond affected child.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Diagnosis<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>There has been a dramatic increase in the diagnosis of autism over the last decade. Doctors are unsure whether the disorder is on the rise or if it\u2019s being diagnosed more effectively.<\/p>\n<p>Most parents of children with autism notice symptoms before the child\u2019s first birthday. It could be anything from vision and hearing problems to social and communication challenges. <\/p>\n<p>Although autism can be diagnosed as early as 18 months, most children tend to be diagnosed a little bit later around age 4. Making a diagnosis is challenging because there\u2019s no medical test, and the symptoms and severity vary greatly. <\/p>\n<p>Autism diagnosis is broken down into two main steps:<br \/>\nDevelopmental Screening and Comprehensive Diagnostic Evaluation. <\/p>\n<p>Developmental screening evaluates how a child learns,<br \/>\nspeaks, behaves, and moves. This is done during regular well-child doctor<br \/>\nvisits between 9 and 30 months of age. <\/p>\n<p>The second step, Comprehensive Diagnostic Evaluation, is done by a specialist such as a developmental pediatrician, child neurologist or child psychologist. The specialist looks at the child&#8217;s behavior and development; parents are also interviewed. There is a good chance that hearing, vision, genetic, and neurological tests will be conducted. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Resources <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Receiving a diagnosis of autism can leave parents feeling<br \/>\noverwhelmed. However, knowing where to get information and help eases some of<br \/>\nthe fear and confusion. <\/p>\n<p>Autismspeaks.org is a great source of information about autism.<br \/>\nThe organization through its Early Access to Care initiative helps parents<br \/>\nfigure out when and where to get early intervention services for their<br \/>\nchildren. <\/p>\n<p>Autism Society\u2019s autismsource.org is another resource that offers a comprehensive database of credible and reliable autism-related services and supports. <\/p>\n<p>Lastly, local groups and parent network organizations can be<br \/>\na great source of support. Your physician or child developmental specialist<br \/>\nshould be able to provide referrals to such groups and organizations.<\/p>\n<p>Early intervention can improve overall development, helping children with autism gain essential social skills. Thankfully, parents don\u2019t have to wait for an <em>official<\/em> diagnosis to start using most of the resources and services. A diagnosis of developmental delays or learning challenges is all that\u2019s needed to access vital information and resources.<\/p>\n<span class=\"et_bloom_bottom_trigger\"><\/span>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>1 in 68 children has an autism spectrum disorder (ASD). ASD is a group of conditions known to cause social, communication, and behavioral challenges. They include autism &#8211; which is the most common, Asperger\u2019s syndrome, and pervasive developmental disorder (PDD). Early Symptoms Autism appears in early childhood. Symptoms typically include: Communication problems such as speech&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":3765,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[442],"aware":[1755,1753],"class_list":["post-6331","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all","tag-autism","aware-relationships","aware-wellness"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Understanding Autism - Lifestyle<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/lifestyle.org\/understanding-autism\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Understanding Autism - Lifestyle\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"1 in 68 children has an autism spectrum disorder (ASD). ASD is a group of conditions known to cause social, communication, and behavioral challenges. They include autism &#8211; which is the most common, Asperger\u2019s syndrome, and pervasive developmental disorder (PDD). Early Symptoms Autism appears in early childhood. Symptoms typically include: Communication problems such as speech...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/lifestyle.org\/understanding-autism\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Lifestyle\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-10-03T22:30:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-05-19T16:14:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/lifestyle.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/anna-kolosyuk-4R6pg0Iq5IU-unsplash-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1707\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lynell LaMountain\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Lynell LaMountain\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/lifestyle.org\/understanding-autism\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/lifestyle.org\/understanding-autism\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Lynell LaMountain\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/lifestyle.org\/#\/schema\/person\/cfdae19a482b883c3b074ccd2f5e79c6\"},\"headline\":\"Understanding Autism\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-10-03T22:30:30+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-05-19T16:14:37+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/lifestyle.org\/understanding-autism\/\"},\"wordCount\":480,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/lifestyle.org\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/lifestyle.org\/understanding-autism\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/lifestyle.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/anna-kolosyuk-4R6pg0Iq5IU-unsplash-scaled.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"autism\"],\"articleSection\":[\"All\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/lifestyle.org\/understanding-autism\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/lifestyle.org\/understanding-autism\/\",\"name\":\"Understanding Autism - Lifestyle\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/lifestyle.org\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/lifestyle.org\/understanding-autism\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/lifestyle.org\/understanding-autism\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/lifestyle.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/anna-kolosyuk-4R6pg0Iq5IU-unsplash-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-10-03T22:30:30+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-05-19T16:14:37+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/lifestyle.org\/understanding-autism\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/lifestyle.org\/understanding-autism\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/lifestyle.org\/understanding-autism\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/lifestyle.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/anna-kolosyuk-4R6pg0Iq5IU-unsplash-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/lifestyle.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/anna-kolosyuk-4R6pg0Iq5IU-unsplash-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1707},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/lifestyle.org\/understanding-autism\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/lifestyle.org\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Understanding Autism\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/lifestyle.org\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/lifestyle.org\/\",\"name\":\"Lifestyle\",\"description\":\"Mind Body Soul\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/lifestyle.org\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/lifestyle.org\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/lifestyle.org\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Lifestyle.org\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/lifestyle.org\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/lifestyle.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/lifestyle.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/cropped-logo-mark.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/lifestyle.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/cropped-logo-mark.png\",\"width\":512,\"height\":512,\"caption\":\"Lifestyle.org\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/lifestyle.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/lifestyle.org\/#\/schema\/person\/cfdae19a482b883c3b074ccd2f5e79c6\",\"name\":\"Lynell LaMountain\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/lifestyle.org\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/42173dc931ff4191976669136813ca426dc46417af153c19585503016d313214?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/42173dc931ff4191976669136813ca426dc46417af153c19585503016d313214?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Lynell LaMountain\"},\"description\":\"Lynell LaMountain co-hosts Life Style Magazine, a weekly syndicated television show that averages three million viewers. Lynell is a published writer, professional speaker, coach. His areas of expertise are decision making, relationships and outlook.\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Understanding Autism - Lifestyle","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/lifestyle.org\/understanding-autism\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Understanding Autism - Lifestyle","og_description":"1 in 68 children has an autism spectrum disorder (ASD). ASD is a group of conditions known to cause social, communication, and behavioral challenges. They include autism &#8211; which is the most common, Asperger\u2019s syndrome, and pervasive developmental disorder (PDD). Early Symptoms Autism appears in early childhood. Symptoms typically include: Communication problems such as speech...","og_url":"https:\/\/lifestyle.org\/understanding-autism\/","og_site_name":"Lifestyle","article_published_time":"2019-10-03T22:30:30+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-05-19T16:14:37+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2560,"height":1707,"url":"https:\/\/lifestyle.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/anna-kolosyuk-4R6pg0Iq5IU-unsplash-scaled.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Lynell LaMountain","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Lynell LaMountain","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/lifestyle.org\/understanding-autism\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/lifestyle.org\/understanding-autism\/"},"author":{"name":"Lynell LaMountain","@id":"https:\/\/lifestyle.org\/#\/schema\/person\/cfdae19a482b883c3b074ccd2f5e79c6"},"headline":"Understanding Autism","datePublished":"2019-10-03T22:30:30+00:00","dateModified":"2023-05-19T16:14:37+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/lifestyle.org\/understanding-autism\/"},"wordCount":480,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/lifestyle.org\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/lifestyle.org\/understanding-autism\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/lifestyle.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/anna-kolosyuk-4R6pg0Iq5IU-unsplash-scaled.jpg","keywords":["autism"],"articleSection":["All"],"inLanguage":"en"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/lifestyle.org\/understanding-autism\/","url":"https:\/\/lifestyle.org\/understanding-autism\/","name":"Understanding Autism - Lifestyle","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/lifestyle.org\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/lifestyle.org\/understanding-autism\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/lifestyle.org\/understanding-autism\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/lifestyle.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/anna-kolosyuk-4R6pg0Iq5IU-unsplash-scaled.jpg","datePublished":"2019-10-03T22:30:30+00:00","dateModified":"2023-05-19T16:14:37+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/lifestyle.org\/understanding-autism\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/lifestyle.org\/understanding-autism\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en","@id":"https:\/\/lifestyle.org\/understanding-autism\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/lifestyle.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/anna-kolosyuk-4R6pg0Iq5IU-unsplash-scaled.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/lifestyle.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/anna-kolosyuk-4R6pg0Iq5IU-unsplash-scaled.jpg","width":2560,"height":1707},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/lifestyle.org\/understanding-autism\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/lifestyle.org\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Understanding Autism"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/lifestyle.org\/#website","url":"https:\/\/lifestyle.org\/","name":"Lifestyle","description":"Mind Body Soul","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/lifestyle.org\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/lifestyle.org\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/lifestyle.org\/#organization","name":"Lifestyle.org","url":"https:\/\/lifestyle.org\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en","@id":"https:\/\/lifestyle.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/lifestyle.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/cropped-logo-mark.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/lifestyle.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/cropped-logo-mark.png","width":512,"height":512,"caption":"Lifestyle.org"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/lifestyle.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/lifestyle.org\/#\/schema\/person\/cfdae19a482b883c3b074ccd2f5e79c6","name":"Lynell LaMountain","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en","@id":"https:\/\/lifestyle.org\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/42173dc931ff4191976669136813ca426dc46417af153c19585503016d313214?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/42173dc931ff4191976669136813ca426dc46417af153c19585503016d313214?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Lynell LaMountain"},"description":"Lynell LaMountain co-hosts Life Style Magazine, a weekly syndicated television show that averages three million viewers. Lynell is a published writer, professional speaker, coach. His areas of expertise are decision making, relationships and outlook."}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/lifestyle.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/anna-kolosyuk-4R6pg0Iq5IU-unsplash-scaled.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifestyle.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6331","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifestyle.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifestyle.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifestyle.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifestyle.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6331"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lifestyle.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6331\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6578,"href":"https:\/\/lifestyle.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6331\/revisions\/6578"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifestyle.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3765"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifestyle.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6331"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifestyle.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6331"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifestyle.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6331"},{"taxonomy":"aware","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifestyle.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/aware?post=6331"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}