What is Autism?

The diagnosis of “autism” is made when a child under 3 years of age begins to display marked deficits in several behavioral domains, including communication, social interaction, and adaptive behavior.

Deficits in social interaction may include delayed development of the following skills: eye-contact, friendships, sharing, and social and emotional reciprocity. Communication deficits include delayed or deviant use of language and appropriate, spontaneous imaginative play. Maladaptive behaviors include some form of restricted or repetitive form of behavior, stereotyped motor mannerisms, preoccupation, or an interest in specific non-functional routines.

Within these developmental domains, the severity of behavioral abnormalities varies across children, representing a spectrum of expression for patterns of disorder considered as definitive for an autism diagnosis. Thus, an autistic disorder is often referred to as autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Individual children with ASD differ in intelligence level and in use of language and social interaction.

Importance of Early Intervention

The majority of children diagnosed with autism demonstrate a severe and pervasive level of disorder throughout their life. Predictors such as an IQ below 50 and absence of communicative speech by age 5-6 are indicative of poor long-term outcome, including severe restriction of social and adaptive functioning in adulthood. However, early intervention for children with ASD has been proven to dramatically improve functioning of such children. Beginning in the 1970s, studies of early intensive intervention for children with autism began to show that as many as ½ of the children who received such intensive early intervention reached near normal functioning by adulthood. Specifically, implementation of Applied Behavior Analysis, parent training, and case management have been identified as the most effective services contributing to the children’s growth. Furthermore, studies have suggested that children with autism have significantly better outcomes when intervention begins before age 5. Thus, early identification of autism is key to a successful future for these children.

Incidence

According to the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, there are an estimated 10,000 children under age 21 with ASD in South Texas. The following figure depicts estimates for prevalence of autism in Texas: