Autism Behavior Associates Inc. (ABA Inc.)

Autism is a lifelong developmental disorder usually diagnosed by the age of three.  National Institute of health describes autism as affecting essential human behaviors such as social interaction, the ability to communicate ideas and feelings, imagination, and the establishment of relationships with others. Autism is a spectrum disorder; therefore, features may run from very mild to very severe.  It is a biological disorder of brain development.  An individual with autism may have difficulties in the following areas:

♦Low motivation

♦ Limited reinforcement repertoire

♦Short attention span and distractibility

♦Difficulty understanding abstract concepts

♦Poor differentiation of relevant and irrelevant stimuli

♦Learn relatively slow

♦Difficulty comprehending abstract concepts

♦Difficulty learning by observation

♦Self-stimulatory behavior that interferes with learning

♦Difficulty learning in small/large groups

♦Sensory/motor impairments

♦Lack of communication skills & receptive/expressive language ability

From the Diagnostic and Statistical manual, Fourth Edition, Made Easy, James Morrison (1995), pp. 511-512

Autism  

The patient fulfills a total of at least six criteria from the following three lists, distributed as indicated:

■Impaired Social Interaction (at least two)

□Markedly deficient regulation of social interaction through multiple nonverbal behaviors, such as eye contact, facial expression, body posture, and gestures

□Lack of peer relationships that are appropriate to developmental level

□Absence of seeking to share achievements, interest, or pleasure with others

□Absence of social or emotional reciprocity

■Impaired Communication (at least one)

□Delayed or absent development of spoken language, for which the patient doesn’t try to compensate with gestures

□In patients who can speak, notable deficiency in the ability to begin or sustain a conversation

□Language that is repetitive, stereotyped, or idiosyncratic

□Appropriate to developmental stage, absence of social imitative play or spontaneous, make-believe play

■Activities, behaviors, and interests that are repetitive, restricted, and stereotyped (at least one)

□Abnormal (in focus or intensity) preoccupation with interests that are restricted and stereotyped (such as spinning)

□Rigid performance of routines or rituals that don’t appear to have a function

□Repetitive, stereotyped motor mannerisms (such as hand flapping)

□Persistent absorption with parts of objects

*Before age three, the patient shows delayed or abnormal functioning in one or more of these areas:  Social interaction, language used in social communication, imaginative or symbolic play.

▫These symptoms are not better explained by childhood Disintegrative Disorder or  Rett’s Disorder

Asperger's Syndrome

From the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders: DSM IV](I) Qualitative impairment in social interaction, as manifested by at least two of the following:

(A) marked impairments in the use of multiple nonverbal behaviors such as eye-to-eye gaze, facial expression, body posture, and gestures to regulate social interaction
(B) failure to develop peer relationships appropriate to developmental level
(C) a lack of spontaneous seeking to share enjoyment, interest or achievements with other people, (e.g.. by a lack of showing, bringing, or pointing out objects of interest to other people)
(D) lack of social or emotional reciprocity

(II) Restricted repetitive & stereotyped patterns of behavior, interests and activities, as manifested by at least one of the following:

(A) encompassing preoccupation with one or more stereotyped and restricted patterns of interest that is abnormal either in intensity or focus
(B) apparently inflexible adherence to specific, nonfunctional routines or rituals
(C) stereotyped and repetitive motor mannerisms (e.g. hand or finger flapping or twisting, or complex whole-body movements)
(D) persistent preoccupation with parts of objects

(III) The disturbance causes clinically significant impairments in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning.

(IV) There is no clinically significant general delay in language (E.G. single words used by age 2 years, communicative phrases used by age 3 years)

(V) There is no clinically significant delay in cognitive development or in the development of age-appropriate self help skills, adaptive behavior (other than in social interaction) and curiosity about the environment in childhood.

(VI) Criteria are not met for another specific Pervasive Developmental Disorder or Schizophrenia."