Genetics, Brain Structure, and Behavior Evaluation
Over the years autism has been measured a mental illness, a personality disorder, an emotional disturbance, a communication disorder, a developmental disability a mental handicap, as well as, more recently, an information processing problem (Williams, 2006). Autism carries on to be classified as a all-encompassing developmental disorder, a term which mentions children and adults who have severe enduring difficulties in social plus communication skills beyond those accounted for by general developmental delay. Increasingly children are being diagnosed with an autistic spectrum disorder. It is significant that teachers are aware of the features of the disorder and have an understanding of its implications for learning, as well as being able to identify the disorder in its early stages so that appropriate help may be given. Autism is a complex disorder that may not be due to a single cause. It may be that a variety of influences affect neurological development at an early stage (Humphreys and Ramm, 2003). The factors that have been implicated are outlined below.
Methodical research has failed to support any more than a small role for the social environment in the development of autism. The conviction that faulty parenting or family factors are implicated has now been discredited, even though raised anxiety levels within the family can lessen children's ability to cope. It is thought that a basic cognitive deficit to do with the way that information is processed prevents those with autism being able to foresee the behavior of other people. Hypotheses regarding the possible neurobiological basis of deficits in information processing and attention have been devised, but fundamental deficits have so far to be established.
Bailey et al. (2006) concluded that a strong genetic constituent exists, that a pattern of