Autism can be defined as the lack of a “social sense” that results in the inability to interact successfully with human beings. This lack of understanding, along with rigidity of thoughts, speech, and actions, is the basis of autistic behavior (Frith 4). Autistic spectrum disorders include classic autism, classic Aspberger’s or high-functioning autism, and everything in between, but across the spectrum, there is the problem of social communication. Difficulty with social interactions and rigidity work together to produce many autistic behaviors.
Frequently, persons with autism do not notice other people, and when they do notice, they have little interest in them. They use routines to control the environment and to control contact with other people when it is required (Lidstone et al.). For example, if the routine of a child with autism is disturbed, he will be distressed because he no longer knows how to handle the situation. He has no innate sense of how to behave with others. Other autistic behaviors result from the core issues.
For instance, autistic children often have delays/deficits in receptive and expressive language. Research suggests that these deficits may be due to the child’s lack of understanding of the social purpose of language. In addition, it is clear that rigidity decreases as the autistic child’s language ability increases (Ray-Subramanian & Weismer). The main traits in autism, poor social interaction and rigidity, cause many of the other typical autistic behaviors. Addressing these core issues may be the best way of treating autism.