Autism is a disease that is sometimes too frequently diagnosed. Likewise, its frequency is increasingly higher; while a few years ago there was an autistic person every 150 people, nowadays it is close to 1% of the population. Moreover, it is a pathology that is closely monitored by specialists in Neurology and Neuropediatrics, since its early diagnosis, which can be made between 8 and 12 months of age, allows early treatment, with a better final prognosis. However, it is still necessary for society to learn to integrate autism into society, in order to achieve normalization of the disease.
Autism: what it is
Although it is not well known what the disease itself is, it is most probably due to problems of neurotransmitter anomalies. This results in synaptic abnormalities (connection of neurons), which affects, above all, emotional and social relationships.
However, within autism there are many prognoses and variants, among them:
– Autisms with high capacities, which only have emotional problems and can even attend university.
– Severely affected autisms, with an evident psychomotor delay and who cannot even articulate words.
However, although the degrees of impairment vary, problems at the emotional and social level, as well as mobility difficulties, can be suffered even by autisms with high capacities.
Likewise, depending on whether there is a visible brain lesion or not, we can speak of primary or secondary autism. When there is a lesion it can be more or less explained, but when it is primary there are only theories about it, which are not definitive.
Causes of Autism
What seems clear is that there is a key genetic component in the development of Autism. Affected patients very often have a family history of other neurological diseases. However, although there are many studies on this subject, the results are very diverse and the final percentages announce “possible autism”.
Diagnosis of Autism
The diagnosis of autism is only clinical. There are several levels of diagnosis: from primary care to specialized care. However, there are still no biological markers that lead to the diagnosis and only the clinic leads to it. Hence the importance of expert professionals, Neuropediatricians, Psychologists and Psychiatrists being versed in the problem.
As mentioned above, the genetic component is the most obvious cause of the disease. That is why experts in pediatric neurology in charge of diagnosing this pathology hope to have a biological weapon, since it is probably genetics that will give a quick diagnosis. However, this is not yet the case.
Treatment of Autism
All or almost all Autisms are implicated in other pathologies, such as Attention Deficit Disorder with or without Hyperactivity.
Sometimes patients with autism improve with medications to treat this pathology.
Importance of integrating autism into society
Autism is a disease that, due to its high level of incidence, we should consider that it should try to be integrated into society.
Autisms with high capacities have less or no problem to be integrated. However, with autisms with severe psychomotor impairment or those secondary to other pathologies, society as a whole must make an effort to integrate them into regular schools; in specific classrooms but living together with normal classmates. Precisely this integration would make society more aware of this disease, which a century ago was hidden as if it were something special. It is a pathology that should be brought to light, so that society commits to its treatment and acceptance. Unfortunately, in Spain we are still lagging behind in this, and many autonomous regions do not have any program for its treatment.