Biological And Environmental Causes Of Autism

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a developmental disorder that has a wide range of conditions. Signs of autism include challenges with social behavior, repetitive acts, speech problems, intense interests, difficulty making or maintaining eye contact, and unique differences or strengths. Most people with autism have difficulty socializing with others and have troubles communicating. The word “spectrum” refers to the wide variations of the disorder, because no two people with autism have the same type of autism. Some people with autism are nonverbal and some like to talk often. Most people start showing signs of autism between the ages of two and three years old, but some people are diagnosed as early as a year and a half. Around 75% of people …show more content…
Most people believe that the causes are biological, environmental and genetical. In the last couple of year scientists have found a large number of gene mutations that are linked to autism. They have also found environmental factors before birth that may contribute to autsim. Some of these environmental causes include advanced aged parents at conception, maternal illness during pregnancy, and prematurity. These factors alone do not cause autism, but they are all linked to autism …show more content…
People with autism have problems with behavior due to the inability to respond to their environment correctly. Their strange behavior is usually in effort to communicate their feelings or manage an uncomfortable situation. These behaviors stem from their increased sensitivity to sound or something they saw that made them uncomfortable. For people with ASD sticking to routines or using repetitive behavior helps them cope with uncomfortable environments. For those on the autism spectrum, it is hard to maintain and create relationships, because people with ASD typically miss common non-verbal forms of communication. They do not typically respond to hand gestures, facial expression, and have trouble making eye contact. It is also hard for people with autism to express their feelings and interests towards activities and other people. This causes them to be distant and hard to make relationships with, and can cause them to withdraw from others to avoid interaction. Communication is also very challenging for people with autism. People with autism learn to speak later in life than those without autism, this is one of the main reasons that communication is difficult. Around one third of people with autism are nonverbal. People with autism have trouble starting conversations, and have trouble holding conversations because they typically