Define Autism Autism is a disease that affects millions of people.  Still, it is often necessary to define autism so that it can be recognized early enough that help can be found.  Even though there is not a cure for this particular disease.  There are ways of dealing with it so that it lessens the burden on the individual and the people that take care of them.  There are particular traits that are easily recognizable in one of these individuals and if they are noticed, care should be taken to notify a medical professional in order to find out if the person actually has autism or not. There is no easy way to define autism, other than to say that it is a brain disorder that results in communication, socialization and development problems for the individual that is suffering from it.  At this particular time, cases of autism are on a sharp increase.  Many people think that this is because of pollutants in the environment and also as a result of vaccinations but medical professionals think that it is as a result of newer technology being able to detect this particular problem in individuals. Another way to define autism is by the characteristics that those with the disease develop.  These are basically three types of signs and symptoms, socialization, language and behavioral problems.  Not every individual that has autism carries the same signs and symptoms as anybody else with the disease.  For that reason, it is often necessary for you to recognize at least one or two of the symptoms in order to be able to detect it early.  Even though autism can display itself in any time in life, most of the time, it is recognized in individuals before they are three years of age. For individuals with autism and their families, life can be very stressful indeed this.  You don't really need to define autism in order to recognize that caring for a child with this particular disease can be a 24-hour a day job.  That is why it is often necessary to find a professional to help and to take time for yourself.

Autism Fact #1 Because of the special way autistic minds function, normal teaching methods don't work. Understanding how the autistic mind functions, allows you to take advantage of this functionality to provide specialized teaching that will help young autistic minds learn much more rapidly than they could with standard teaching methods.

Autism Fact #2 The autistic mind tends to function in a visual manner. Specialized teaching for autism makes heavy use of pictures. Using words to describe something is nearly useless. Providing pictures of what you are describing is much more successful. Even better though is taking the child to see the actual item or place being described.

Autism Fact #3 Take advantage of the natural skills an autistic child may have, instead of focusing on weaker points. It is interesting to note that although autistic children tend to be visual and are often very good at drawing, they can also be very good with music. Take advantage of this by creatively using music and art as part of teaching other topics.