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Autism and Social Communication Difficulties

Autism is the name for a range of similar conditions, including Asperger syndrome, that affect a person's social interaction, communication, interests and behaviour.

In children with Autism, the symptoms are present before three years of age, although a diagnosis can sometimes be made after the age of three.

It's estimated that about 1 in every 100 people in the UK has Autism. More boys are diagnosed with the condition than girls.

There's no "cure" for Autism, but speech and language therapy, occupational therapy, educational support, plus a number of other interventions are available to help children and parents.

Possible signs and characteristics

People with Autism tend to have problems with social interaction and communication.

In early infancy, some children with Autism don’t babble or use other vocal sounds. Older children have problems using non-verbal behaviours to interact with others – for example, they have difficulty with eye contact, facial expressions, body language and gestures. They may give no or brief eye contact and ignore familiar or unfamiliar people.

Children with Autism may also lack awareness of and interest in other children. They’ll often either gravitate to older or younger children, rather than interacting with children of the same age. They tend to play alone.

They can find it hard to understand other people's emotions and feelings, and have difficulty starting conversations or taking part in them properly. Language development may be delayed, and a child with Autism won’t compensate their lack of language or delayed language skills by using gestures (body language) or facial expressions.

Children with Autism will tend to repeat words or phrases spoken by others (either immediately or later) without formulating their own language, or in parallel to developing their language skills. Some children don’t demonstrate imaginative or pretend play, while others will continually repeat the same pretend play.

Some children with Autism like to stick to the same routine and little changes may trigger tantrums. Some children may flap their hand or twist or flick their fingers when they’re excited or upset. Others may engage in repetitive activity, such as turning light switches on and off, opening and closing doors, or lining things up.

Children and young people with Autism frequently experience a range of cognitive (thinking), learning, emotional and behavioural problems. For example, they may also have attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), anxiety, or depression.

About 70% of children with Autism have a non-verbal IQ below 70. Of these, 50% have a non-verbal IQ below 50. Overall, up to 50% of people with "severe learning difficulties" have an Autism.

Getting a diagnosis

The main features of ASD – problems with social communication and interaction – can often be recognised during early childhood.

Some features of ASD may not become noticeable until a change of situation, such as when the child starts nursery or school.

See your GP or health visitor if you notice any of the signs and symptoms of ASD in your child, or if you're concerned about your child's development. It can also be helpful to discuss your concerns with your child's nursery or school.

Information on Services and Support Guide- For children, young people and adults aged 0-25 with social communication difficulties/Autism before and after a diagnosis

Suspecting or finding out your child or young person has a diagnosis of autism or is being assessed, can be a very worrying time. You may feel overwhelmed and not immediately know what it means for both you and your child or young person, what you can do to support your child during assessment and after, if a diagnosis is confirmed. Or, importantly where you can access support, what support is available to you in Ealing and wider. You may also only be ready to find out more about it in your own time so to have information ready at your fingerprints is important to access when you need it.

The good news is - a lot of support and information is available to you and your family – both within Ealing and nationally – from advice information and guidance, workshops courses, groups/networks and 1:1 support. 

“If you’ve met one person with autism, you’ve met one person with autism,” Dr. Stephen Shore

All children and young people, whether or not they have a diagnosis of autism have a unique set of skills, strengths and talents. When working or living with children with social and communication needs and/or autism, it is particularly important to identify their strengths.
We understand that finding out what support is available can sometimes be challenging, and it helps to have information readily available so you know where to go for some help, support or advice. You may be a parent/carer of a child/ young person with autism, social communication needs, or, assessments are still underway. Or you may be a young person with autism, or even a professional looking for more information on services locally and wider. 
Regardless of diagnosis and situation, we hope this guide can provide you with as much information as possible on what services are there to support you.  

Although we’ve tried our best to ensure that this guide is easy to read for all, we understand that some words or abbreviations may be new to you, so we have put together a glossary located at the end of the guide to support you. Please do refer to the glossary if you need further guidance in understanding what a term means.

What were you hoping to find within this guide? Did you have any suggestions on how it can be improved? You can provide feedback on this guide under our 'Feedback' tab, or by contacting the Family Information Service on 020 8825 5588 / children@ealing.gov.uk

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