{"id":345519,"date":"2022-08-31T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-08-31T09:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ora-visio.com\/what-is-atypical-autism\/"},"modified":"2022-08-31T09:00:00","modified_gmt":"2022-08-31T09:00:00","slug":"what-is-atypical-autism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ora-visio.com\/en\/what-is-atypical-autism\/","title":{"rendered":"What is Atypical Autism?"},"content":{"rendered":"

While there are several forms of autism, such as Asperger’s syndrome or Rett syndrome, it is expressed very differently depending on the individual. Not matching the diagnostic criteria for other Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), atypical autism is a pervasive developmental disorder (PDD)<\/strong> and involves profound intellectual disability, which should be distinguished from childhood autism.<\/p>\n

Childhood autism appears before age 3<\/h2>\n

Traditionally, autistic disorders are classified into three categories<\/strong>, distinguishing problems with communication<\/strong>, behaviour<\/strong>, and socialisation<\/strong>. In childhood autism, communication difficulties show up as a child under 2 who never smiles, does not interact with their parents, and does not look at an object being pointed at. In terms of behaviour, this shows up as motor tics, repetitive gestures, intense fixation on a spinning object, withdrawal\u2026 Finally, in terms of socialisation, these children struggle to understand social cues, lack empathy, do not read others’ emotions, and do not express their own\u2026<\/p>\n

Beyond these symptoms, childhood autism appears before the age of three<\/strong> and is associated with disturbances in sleep<\/strong> and eating<\/strong>, as well as aggression and phobias.<\/p>\n

Atypical autism, reflected in developmental abnormalities<\/h2>\n

Also called “pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified”, atypical autism, for its part, begins later<\/strong> than childhood autism. Its symptoms are also different<\/strong>: indeed, the child shows an impairment in only one of the three traditional autism criteria, often in socialisation and communication.<\/p>\n

While its severity is therefore milder than the childhood form, it is often associated with other PDDs<\/strong>, such as intellectual disability or a severe language-acquisition disorder.<\/p>\n

Origin, diagnosis and management of this disorder<\/h2>\n

The causes of atypical autism are not clearly identified<\/strong>, although certain risk factors are considered to be complications during birth, having an autistic child already in the family, or taking an anticonvulsant (antiepileptic) medication during pregnancy.<\/p>\n

Diagnosing<\/strong> PDDs involves identifying the characteristics<\/strong>, carried out by frontline professionals (doctors, paediatricians, French maternal and child health services (PMI)\u2026), followed by confirming the signs<\/strong> through clinical examinations. For atypical autism, imaging will reveal cerebral dysfunction and anatomical abnormalities in the brain. Finally, the child’s abilities will be assessed<\/strong>, in order to put suitable care in place.<\/p>\n

To date, there is no cure<\/strong> for atypical autism, but certain medications<\/strong> can help improve the child’s behaviour, communication, and social integration. At the same time, several professionals can help<\/strong>, such as a speech-language therapist<\/a> to address pronunciation difficulties, or an occupational therapist<\/a>, to improve everyday gestures. Note that a complementary approach<\/strong> through art, play, or music can also help develop social skills and communication.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

While there are several forms of autism, such as Asperger’s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":345520,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[339],"tags":[360],"class_list":["post-345519","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-speech-therapy","tag-autism"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ora-visio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/345519","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ora-visio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ora-visio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ora-visio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ora-visio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=345519"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ora-visio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/345519\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ora-visio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/345520"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ora-visio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=345519"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ora-visio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=345519"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ora-visio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=345519"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}