What Is Autism? Autism, also referred to as autism spectrum disorder, is a disorder that takes into account a variety of conditions signified by challenges with social abilities, repetitive manners, speech and nonverbal communication, in addition to distinctive strengths and differences (Autism Speaks, 2018). Delineated by a set of behaviors, autism impacts persons in dissimilar ways and to varying magnitudes. There is no acknowledged sole cause of autism, but increased cognizance and early diagnosis or intervention and accessibility to suitable services give rise to substantially augmented results (Autism Society, 2016).

What is the history of autism?

1887- Dr. John Langdon Down, the first to describe Down's syndrome, researched mental retardation and this is what would be classified as having Autism today

1911- Eugen Bleuler used the word autism to describe a symptom of schizophrenia

I943 and 1944 – Leo Kanner and Hans Asperger develop Infantile Autism and Asperger’s Syndrome

1971- Eric Schopler and Robert Reichler studied the effects of parent involvement in the treatment of children with Autism

“Autism did not stop Einstein, Mozart, Newton, or Temple Grandin from reaching the stars and it won't stop my child”

1980- Autism was added to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental...

This facilitates the ability of physicians to accurately diagnose Autism and enabled them to easily differentiate Autism from schizophrenia.
2013- After 19 years, the DSM has been updated based on new literature and clinical experience. Significant changes to the Autism criteria occurred in this update. The diagnosis will now be referred to as Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) (Project Autism, 2018).

Autism has become prevalent over the years.

The number of children detected with autism or associated disorders have increased at a considerably alarming rate. In the epochs of 1970s and 1980s, statistics indicated that about one out of every 2,000 children had autism. However, in the present day, the CDC makes and estimation that one in 150 8-year-olds in the U.S. has an autism spectrum disorder, or ASD (Doheny, 2018).

How is Autism diagnosed?

Diagnosing autism continues to be challenging because up until the present day there is no one particular medical test or procedure that can diagnose the disease. Rather, specifically trained physicians together with psychologists run and oversee autism-specific behavioral evaluations and subsequently make a diagnosis. The diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder takes two phases including developmental screening and comprehensive diagnostic…