Autism Spectrum Disorder

00:01 Now let's take a look at autism spectrum disorder.

00:06 This is a restricted pattern of behavior, interest, or activities as manifested by at least two of the following: stereotyped or repetitive motor movements, insistence on sameness basically being inflexible or rigid, being highly restricted, and also hyper or hyporeactivity to sensory input.

00:28 Additionally, persistent deficits in social communication and social interactions should be evident in each of the following domains: deficits in social-emotional reciprocity, deficits in nonverbal communication, and deficits in developing, maintaining, and understanding relationships. The symptoms must be present in the early developmental period if it is going to be attributed to an autism spectrum disorder.

00:58 The symptoms can cause clinically significant impairment in social, occupational, and other important areas of life.

01:06 So how would you treat autistic spectrum disorder? Well, you wanna think about remedial education, behavioral therapy, neuroleptics or maybe low dose antipsychotics if the behavior is really disruptive, you may think of antidepressants such as SSRI's, and also supportive treatment and social skills training go a long way in helping to change behaviors that are maladaptive.