World Autism Awareness Day is being marked around the world today with the aim of raising awareness of autism as a severe neurodevelopmental disorder, but also to highlight the importance of solving the problems faced by these individuals and their families.
According to the decision of the General Assembly of the United Nations, World Autism Awareness Day is celebrated on April 2. A sign of autism awareness – puzzles signify the desire to connect pieces and finally understand autism.
The term autism is most often used for people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) – a very complex neurodevelopmental disorder that affects all aspects of personality (communication, motor skills, behavior and learning).
The term autism was introduced in psychiatry by E. Bleuer in 1911, and the autistic disorder was first described by the American psychiatrist L. Kanner in 1943 and called it infantile autism (because of the symptoms and the age at which it appears).
As it is a wide range of developmental disorders and not a single disorder, each diagnosis is different and each person on the spectrum has different symptoms and needs.
There are five main types of autism spectrum disorders which include: autism, Asperger syndrome, Rett syndrome, childhood disintegrative disorder, pervasive developmental disorder – not otherwise specified.
People with autism spectrum disorders see, hear and feel, but they find it difficult to assemble these impressions into a meaningful whole, so they withdraw into their own world where they find safety.
Because of this, people with autism have difficulties in expressing their feelings, desires, needs, abilities and problems that they struggle with every day, which is reflected in their behavior, which can be very unusual.
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