3 Areas of a Child's Development Affected by Autism

When he was just a toddler, Chris Daniel was noticeably different
from the rest of the group. After he threw himself on the floor every time all the other children danced with each other and was sent to sit on a corner, the two-year-old boy is seen to be enjoying himself by shaking or clapping his hands together and to be saying all sorts of words that don't mean anything. Chris not only lacks social interaction with his peers, but also appears to be responding through hand gestures or sounds rather than words. He also has odd patterns of behavior, such as throwing a temper tantrum every music time. Therefore, even though symptoms of autism vary from one person to another, a child diagnosed with it may show (even before reaching three years of age) signs of developmental disability which are apparent in three areas of a child's development: social skills, language development, and behavior.
First, children with intellectual or developmental disabilities have some deficiencies in their social or emotional development, an aspect in a child's development that deals with how children manage social ties or relationships with other people. For example, they may be building blocks in the same room with the other kids, but they may be minding their own business and don't even look up to a classmate who greeted them with a "Good morning!" or How are you?" However hard it is for kids with disabilities to mingle, social competence is significant to a child's development because interaction and healthy relationships lead to better confidence and a much more positive outlook in life. Thus, parents and teachers should find ways to encourage interaction with children, such as including autistic children on group plays and not isolating them. While playing Ring around the Rosie, a teacher may take a child with special needs in the hand while telling all the students to hold each other hands and to form a circle. By doing this, inclusive play promotes the message that it is okay to have fun while playing with other people either young or old.
In addition to the lack of social skills, speech development may be delayed with people suffering with developmental disorders. When spoken to, a special needs child answers only with grunts, hand signals, gibberish words that may sound like he is speaking foreign tongues, or nothing at all. The delay in speech development can be fixed in so many ways such as by parents reading a book to their child every night, or teachers encouraging them to read, or a speech therapist helping the child ease the burden of not being able to express what they feel or want.
Lastly, a child with special needs may have some mannerisms in regards to the environment he's in. Running through the entire house and singing the tune of Spongebob Squarepants on top of his lungs, Chris slams every single opened door within his sight. If his aunt locks any of the closed doors, the three year old not only pushes his confused aunt toward the locked door so she can unhook the lock; but also screams out the alphabet, yanks the doorknob back and forth, and cries his heart out until the panicked, concerned woman figures what her nephew's problem is and opens the locked door. Every child under the autistic spectrum has his own reactions toward his surroundings. Therefore, it is better for everyone to take in consideration the things that the child is fond of and is familiar with.
In school, while stacking up wooden blocks one by one in a corner of the classroom, Chris Daniel is particular of what color every block is, responds only after having his name called the fifth time, and sings Twinke, Twinke Little Star then abruptly stops. Whenever a child is outside the spectrum of individual differences such as having repetitive behaviors or mannerisms, he is usually seen as someone with special needs. Even though autism, an unknown phenomenon affecting millions of people and increasing over time, varies from one patient to another, its symptoms are an unusual development in social interaction, language, and attitude.