Autism - the most important terms
Autism (from the Greek: self-centred behaviour, self-referentiality) is a serious disorder of child development. Until now, the definitions from two classification systems have applied. The international classification system ICD-10 of the WHO divides autism into different subtypes. The most common are
Early childhood autism
Also known as Kanner autism (after Leo Kanner): manifests itself in the first three years of life, often with severely restricted speech development and cognitive impairment.
Asperger syndrome (according to Hans Asperger)
No language development delay, at least average intelligence, often motor abnormalities, sometimes only recognisable in interaction with others - in primary school or later.
Atypical autism
Symptoms of early childhood autism are incomplete or present in a mild form, often manifesting after the age of three.
As the individual subtypes are not always easy to distinguish, the term autism spectrum disorder (ASD) was added to the Anglo-American classification system DSM 5 in 2013. It is increasingly replacing the above-mentioned diagnoses. ASD encompasses a continuum of disorders with varying degrees of severity - depending on how much support the child needs. It also specifies whether there is a disorder in intellectual development and in the use of language . Common to autistic people are abnormalities in the following two areas:
Social communication
E.g. hardly any eye contact, hardly any or unusual reactions to other people, hardly any contact with peers, lack of facial expressions and gestures and/or difficulty in understanding gestures and facial expressions of others, delayed or lack of language development or unusual use of language, e.g. repetitive use of language, neologisms, precocious speech.
Limited, stereotypical behaviour patterns, interests and activities
Overly focussed interests and persistent preoccupation with a topic (e.g. meteorological data), stereotypical actions (e.g. rocking with upper body).
If we are talking about autistic traits, then certain characteristics of the disorder are present, but are not pronounced enough for a diagnosis.
The terms High Functioning Autism and Low Functioning Autism refer to the cognitive level. While low functioning is associated with a below-average IQ, children with high functioning have a normal to above-average IQ. This means that children can fulfil the criteria for early childhood autism, show delayed language development and have an above-average IQ. If we are talking about autistic traits, then certain characteristics of the disorder are present, but are not pronounced enough for a diagnosis.
