Autistic children are unique, and autism is nothing less than a unique disability that makes your autistic child special with special needs – depending on where they are on the spectrum. According to recent data, at least one out of fifty-four children in the United States has ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder).
As a parent of an autistic child, you will want to understand your child’s unique needs. Also, the following autism stats will help you understand everything related to treatment, support, and timely intervention.
More importantly, as your child’s primary caregiver, you will want to understand the basics about how your child is different from other kids so that you can support them and meet their unique needs in a way to help them become the best version of themselves.
Keep reading!
Understanding Spectrum
Before you do anything else, you will want to start by getting a clearer view of where your ASD child is on the spectrum of autism. By now, doctors have established the fact that autism is a spectrum, which means that the symptoms can range from a few to mild and severe.
No autistic child is the same as any other autistic child, which means that the symptoms of autistic children are never the same. The typically described levels of autism are confined to three. The autistic children who fall in the first level don’t need much support – but to some extent.
Autistic children who fall in the first category don’t talk or engage much with others, which can interfere with their daily functioning in various contexts.
When it comes to the second level, the autistic children who fall in this level require much more support than the kids who are in level 1. Level 2 children require more support because they are typically inflexible in their behavior and display repetitive behavior and ways of doing things, such as hand movements.
The behaviors of the kids who fall in level 2 are more obvious and apparent to the casual observers. Level 2 autistic children require more substantial support as their behavior tends to interfere with a variety of contextual functions.
Then there is the third level, and the autistic children who fall in this category require a considerable amount of support. Usually, autistic children who belong to this level tend to have unusual approaches to meeting their needs.
They might also only respond to very direct social approaches.
Important Note: It is important to mention here that parents should make a serious attempt at making an early diagnosis of their children. Usually, parents know that something is off about their children – but – they tend to falsely believe that they can wait it out or their children might outgrow it.
Here is the thing that all parents need to understand about autism: Your child will never outgrow autism, which is why early detection is absolutely mandatory to ensure that their chances of developing better behavioral and communication skills increase.
The Display of Unique & Repetitive Behaviors
People with autism often exhibit unique and repetitive behavior, which is quite supportive of the aspect that they fall onto the spectrum. A common repetitive behavior that autistic children display is moving their fingers and spinning with their arms wide open.
You might also catch them tapping their pencil a certain number of times before writing down a word on paper. Other odd behavior includes that they might only want to eat certain-colored food or wear only certain-colored clothes.
Now, such behavior might seem strange to any outsider who isn’t quite familiar with autism, but these types of behavior are perfectly normal for people who are on the spectrum.
Scientifically, repetitive behaviors are categorized into two groups:
- Higher Order
- Lower Order
The repetitive behaviors that fall in the higher order are more of a routine thing, such as displaying an extreme interest in building blocks or doing the same thing for an extensive period of time (and never tiring of it.)
On the other hand, the behaviors belonging to the lower order include the following aspects:
- ● Hand-flapping
- Repeating words
- Repeating phrases
- Body rocking
- Fidgeting with objects
As mentioned before, strange and repetitive behaviors are normal for the people who are on the spectrum – but these behaviors can cause disruption. For instance, the autistic child might be prone to jump up and down during the class and, hence, disrupt the entire class.
However, in the wider perspective, these behaviors are necessarily seen as the milder symptoms of autism and even deemed as somewhat of a soothing habit or quirk for the autistic child who is displaying this behavior.
Unusual & Creative Interests
Another thing that you will want to look out for when assessing how your autistic child is different from the other children is that they will showcase an unusual and often intense interest in creative games. It doesn’t matter whether your autistic child is playing alone or in collaboration with other kids of their age; their interaction and behavior will always look different from a typical child without special needs.
The thing about almost all autistic individuals is that they are the least likely people to initiate social interactions whenever they are with others or working on something collaboratively. There is also the chance that autistic children might appear oblivious to their surroundings, which includes not caring about the interests and preferences of others.
Even if the autistic child is playing alone with their toys, their ways of playing and interacting with the toys can appear unusual. For instance, if you were to give your autistic child building blocks to play with, they might create a unique mosaic design instead of building a structure that other neuro-typical kids would do.
Now, the truth about autism is that you cannot make it go away, or you cannot cure your child of autism. But – you can have your autistic child assessed so you, parents, teachers, and healthcare professionals can work with the autistic child and teach them the mandatory social skills that will then help them become better grown-ups who can successfully interact with society.
