What is Autism?

"What would be there if 1 or 2, or more persons with autism were born in every family? And what would happen if 1/4th or half or more people of the world were found with autism?" Once I heard that in Western countries, 5% (!?) of the babies were detected as autistic after diagnosis. The percentage is increasing day by day! I was really scared of that information. Then suddenly the question arose in my mind -"Is autism an unbeatable threat to the human being?  Are we- the human beings, really going in a new direction where most of us have to survive along with autism and will be unable to work and communicate with each other conventionally?" Now the question is - "How much do you know about autism?

There are many definitions I found in the online dictionaries. The British dictionary says autism is-

"A developmental disorder whose symptoms include difficulty in responding conventionally to people and actions and limited use of communication."

Well, let's take a look at the data and statistics given below.  

Prevalence: 

•  About 1 in 68 children has been identified with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) according to estimates CDC's (Center for Disease Control & Prevention) Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring (ADDM) Network. 
• ASD is reported to occur in all racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic groups. 
• ASD is about 4.5 times more common among boys (1 in 42) than among girls (1 in 189).
• Studies in Asia, Europe, and North America have identified individuals with ASD with an average prevalence of between 1% and 2%. 
• About 1 in 6 children in the United States had developmental disabilities in 2006-2008, ranging from mild disabilities such as speech and language impairments to serious developmental disabilities such as intellectual disabilities, cerebral palsy, and autism.   
• Reference:  www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/autism/data.html

I kept looking for more information and articles about autism. In 2004 I started this when my son Farhan Arif Nafi was almost 5. He started growing normally like other babies do. But one day her mother found him blocking his ears with fingers as if he was trying to prevent himself from hearing sound. His mother took him to a doctor. The doctor examined his ears and found no problem with his ears. But Nafi kept doing the same attitude, especially in noisy environments. He again was taken to the doctor. The doctor finally detected autism in him. That means our son is an autistic baby!  We did not hear ever the word Autism. The doctor also detected some sensory problems with Nafi that affected his various emotions and feelings. Gradually, we found him not responding or looking at us whenever we called him by his name even from a close distance. It's hardly found case that he responded against calling him and looked directly at the person called him. He almost stopped speaking with anyone in the family. He even stopped playing with the coevals. Rather, he liked to play alone with some staff like playing cards that he could fold in some patterns that he liked most. He also liked running objects like motorbikes or car racing on TV. He always prevented dreadfully from changing his dirty bed sheet. Later I learned that many autistic babies do not like changing the staff from their surroundings. Our son is one of them. 

Nafi is now almost 18. He goes to SWAC (Society for the Welfare of Autistic Children). His mother is also a trainer there. I feel good whenever I get the opportunity for a workshop with the parents of Autistic children or some foreign delegates. We know many things about autism. But we knew one important thing at the early stage of learning about autism we always have to work and learn to face new challenges. Whenever we see Nafi is showing a new habit or pattern of his work or attitude then we are also to learn the way how a parent should face and look at that. Meanwhile, we found many habits and patterns in Nafi's character and works. We are to help him learn work through a pattern or follow a sequence and we also try to make it a habit. This might be brushing teeth or using tissue and soap during the toilet.  

Generally the symptoms of autism may be found and detected after 3 years of birth.