• Question: i never understood what autism is can you explain

    Asked by marx to Antonia on 18 Jun 2010 in Categories: .
    • Photo: Antonia Hamilton

      Antonia Hamilton answered on 18 Jun 2010:


      Autism happens when brain development goes wrong. It is diagnosed when a child has trouble with social interaction and has repetitive behaviour (does the same thing over and over again). Autism seems to be about 80% due to genes, but not just one gene. there are lots of genes that can go wrong. These genes mean the brain doesn’t develop the right connections and can’t process social information. In particular, autistic children find it hard to understand that other people have different knowledge and different beliefs. This causes lots of problems. For example, if you are a little child and want a drink, but you don’t realise that your mum doesn’t know you want a drink, then you won’t ask for a drink, you just get thirsty and angry. Or if you like trains, but you don’t realise that other people aren’t interested, you might talk about nothing but trains all day and not make friends.

Comments