Abstract:

This research paper explores the different types of Autism Spectrum Disorder. Many children on the spectrum can exhibit similar symptoms and endure complicated challenges, but every case is unique and must be treated individually. ASD subjects may also have co-existing medical complications. This research paper also reviews what may be responsible for causing ASD, what types of treatment are available and what it is like to live with a person on the spectrum and their endurance to daily challenges they encounter.

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), Autism, Pervasive Developmental Disorder-Not Otherwise Specified (PDD-NOS) and Aspergers Syndrome are all general terms for a group of complex disorders of brain development that impair language and social skills. (Beneron) Dr. Leo Kanner formed the Department of Child Psychiatry at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, MD. He began his career by studying eleven children, eight boys and three girls which lead to is description of common qualities and conditions commonly known as Autism Spectrum Disorder. Many of these children were previously misdiagnosed as mentally retarded.
In his 1949 paper, Leo Kanner attributed autism to a “genuine lack of maternal warmth” and the coined he term “Refrigerator Mother”. What he perceived as a lack of attachment between the parents and their autistic children was due to the lack of social reciprocity in the children, which for obvious reasons, they were incapable of giving. (Baneron) He failed to admit that he never noticed that the “typically developed” siblings who were exposed to the same parents and their warmth or lack of it. In a 1960 Time Magazine interview, Kanner described mothers of autistic children as “just happening to defrost enough to produce a child.” (http://www.autism-watch.org/causes/rm.shtml)
Popular culture can often distort facts from what has been sensationalized in the media. Bruno Bettleheim, was an Austrian-born American child psychologist and writer. He gained an international reputation for his work on Freud, psychoanalysis, and emotionally disturbed children. It was he who was responsible for the popularity of the term “Refrigerator Mother”. His articles, primarily in the 1950s and 1960s, popularized the idea that autism was caused by maternal coldness toward their children. He also never gave thought to the fact that these mothers had other children who were not diagnosed with autism and were not suffering from lack of maternal warmth. (Journal of Autism Discord) Austrian pediatrician and child psychiatrist Hans Asperger first described "autistic psychopathy" in 1944, he observed that children who were diagnosed with autism frequently exhibited "a lack of empathy, little ability to form friendships, one-sided conversation, intense absorption in a special interest, and clumsy movements."(http://www.nndb.com/people/536/000178002/) When he continued to study these children as they advanced into adulthood, he concluded that these children who were once perceived as "odd" became overachieving adults and invaluable contributors to society. This form of ASD is known as “Asperger's Syndrome” Asperger described symptoms which he personally experienced in his own childhood. Hans Apserger had few friends and frequently bored classmates with his obsessive knowledge of poet Franz Grillparzer.
Symptoms of ASD are characterized by difficulties in social interaction, delays in language development of complete lack of language, difficulties with social interactions, peer relationships, and cognitive abilities. A diagnosis is usually made by the time the individual reaches 2 to 3 years of age. Typically, an ASD diagnosis is commonly associated with intellectual disabilities, difficulties in fine and gross motor coordination, inattention and health issues such as sleep disorders and gastrointestinal problems such as, Acid Reflux, UTI, Constipation, Yeast Infections and Tooth