In summary, self-awareness is an individual experience so it is unique to everyone. Understanding of the self can greatly vary in individuals with ASD due to the heterogeneous nature of the condition. It can be affected by their levels of cognitive functioning and adaptive behaviors.
Individuals on the spectrum might compare themselves to siblings, peers in real life and on social media, and falsely imagine everyone else is somehow “better” than they are. This caustic effect to self-esteem creates a downward spiral with the weakened sense of self.
The research found that people with a high-functioning form of autism have a weaker sense of self than people who do not have an ASD. Furthermore, the weaker the sense of self, the more pronounced the autistic symptoms.
Individuals on the autism spectrum often have difficulty recognising and understanding social cues and therefore do not instinctively learn to adjust their behaviour to suit different social contexts.
Self-identity can be more challenging for autistic teenagers than it is for typically developing teenagers. They might also find it hard to see themselves as valuable community members with skills and strengths. This is partly because autistic teenagers often have trouble recognising and managing their emotions.
Non-autistic people tend to assess concepts before details, also known as top-down thinking. Autistic people take the opposite approach with bottom-up thinking and use details to build concepts. It may take longer to filter out sensory details with this approach, but you're less likely to miss important information.
Interoception and Autism
As with other sensory systems, interoception can be impacted in Autistic individuals. They may experience what we call 'differences' with interoception: For some people, body signals can feel very intense.
Many people with autism have difficulty processing everyday sensory information. They can be either hyper sensitive (over-reactive) or hypo sensitive (under-reactive) to sensory input, or experience fragmented or distorted perceptions.
There are other brain disorders that mimic autism symptoms, like ADHD and anxiety disorders, including selective mutism. Autism can be misdiagnosed as another disorder with some shared symptoms.
Autistic people often experience insecure attachments. Autistic people are more likely to have an avoidant attachment style: One study found a higher rate of avoidant attachment styles among Autistic individuals. No association was found between anxious attachment and autistic traits) (McKenzie and Dallos).
For some autistic adults, emotions do not show, either on their face, in their body or in their tone of voice. The circuitry in the brain responsible for expression of emotion through the body and voice is working differently in autism.
Though autistic people may respond to emotions and social cues differently than neurotypical people, this does not mean they lack empathy. Just like neurotypical people, levels of empathy vary between autistic individuals.
Unique shows of affection
People with autism may show their love by: sharing their special interest. allowing someone into their space. using alternative forms of communication.
In summary, autistic people see the world differently from neurotypical people and face many challenges in their everyday lives. However, they also have unique strengths and perspectives that we can learn from.
Children with autism have a broader or wider mouth and philtrum - the groove below the nose, above the top lip.
Does The Father Or Mother Carry The Autism Gene? Autism was always thought to have a maternal inheritance component, however, research suggests that the rarer variants associated with the disorder are usually inherited from the father.
In some ways Williams syndrome is the opposite of autism. For example, people with Williams syndrome love to talk and tell stories, whereas those with autism usually have language delay and little imagination. Many people with Williams syndrome draw disjointed pictures, some with autism draw pictures in perfect detail.
posturing – holding hands or fingers out at an angle or arching the back while sitting. visual stimulation – looking at something sideways, watching an object spin or fluttering fingers near the eyes. repetitive behaviour like opening and closing doors or flicking switches.
In the autistic brain, the brain reduced connectivity, known as hypoconnectivity, allows weakly connected regions to drift apart, with sulci forming between them.” Research has shown the deeper theses sulcal pits are, the more language production is affected.
Individuals with autism can also have an aversion to touch. Touch can cause a lack of emotional response or may even cause emotional stress and turmoil. Touch aversion in autism can feel uncomfortable for friends and family who are unfamiliar with this common response.
Many autistic people struggle with interoception. This means that they have a difficult time feeling and interpreting their body's signals. This connects with disordered eating behavior because it means they may miss their body's cues that they are hungry or full.
Strong reactions to touch are remarkably widespread among people who have autism, despite the condition's famed heterogeneity. "The touch thing is as close to universal as they come," says Gavin Bollard, an autistic blogger who lives in Australia and writes about his and his autistic sons' experiences.