How do autistic people live in adulthood? Adult autism - how the disorder manifests itself with age

“Kisses and touching make me gag.”

Tatyana, 27 years old, Ufa:

As a child, I did not have any developmental delays: I read from the age of two, I speak normally. When I got a little older, I couldn’t sit through a lesson at school, I couldn’t write accurately with a pen and paint, I constantly wanted to spin around my axis. Studying was easy, but sitting in class/auditorium is still torture for me. I became hysterical from crowds of people and noise, and couldn’t stand being touched or wearing too-tight clothes.

Psychotherapists and psychologists gave stupid advice that doesn’t help ordinary people. They unanimously spoke about the need for socialization, taught them to break themselves, get out of their comfort zone, analyze and correct their behavior. I couldn't do it. My difference from others became more and more clear. By the age of 19, another problem appeared: all relationships with young people were like torture and ended quickly, I had no sexual desire. Psychologists repeated again: “You will meet the one and only one, you will love him, you will begin to trust him, you will want him.”

I found out that I have Asperger's syndrome by accident: a year ago I was admitted to neurology with a nervous breakdown, where I was prescribed a consultation with a psychiatrist. He gave me tests to take and got hooked on what most people call “having my head in the clouds”: I can, out of the blue, withdraw into myself and not hear what the other person is saying. I also don’t like to make eye contact and move away if they come too close to me.

One person close to me says that every day he meets much more inadequate people who buy iPhones on credit with their last money

On the one hand, it became easier for me: all the i’s were dotted. On the other hand, it’s not oncology, of course, but also a kind of death sentence. I still can't stand noise and crowds. Sometimes I can focus on some small detail for a long time. Well, I have a unique vision of the world: I may not see a building, a store, or anything else at point-blank range if I’m not looking for it purposefully. I have certain food preferences: I love chalk and charcoal, in my teenage years I still chewed erasers and expanded clay, washed, dried and ate, but now there is no such need. Before I started traveling abroad often, I was terribly afraid to try something new, but now I’m happy to experiment. I don’t have obvious repetitions of actions, but it is vital for me that interior items and clothing match each other in color and style.

Social contacts are a real challenge. I can easily ask for directions or solve a problem in municipal institution, but I can’t be the first to talk to a person on informal topics. If they come up, I’ll keep up the conversation and even pass for normal.

I work remotely - this is the only way out; I won’t be able to work in a team. The main work is related to geographic information systems. For fun, I write SEO articles and sell travel photos on stock.

Romantic relationships in the usual format are disgusting for me. Kissing and physiological odors cause an irrational gag reflex; I have already spoken about tactile contact. I also hate it when people force me to do something. I can’t stand being subordinated, but I don’t want to subordinate myself to anyone either.

I have friends, although not many, they are quite ordinary people. One person close to me, a scientist, says that every day he meets much more inadequate people who buy iPhones on credit with their last money.

“My wife said she won’t raise our son”

Sergey, 41 years old, Nakhodka:

My wife and I began to understand that something was wrong with Nikita when he was 2 years old: he did not speak, did not respond to his name, and he also had uncontrollable falls on the floor and tantrums; it was impossible to calm him down. We then lived and worked in the Philippines and met tourists. Our friends had a girl the same age, and they noticed that the children were very different. We thought it was just a developmental delay, but friends suspected something else. Soon we returned to Russia, and in the provinces everything is very difficult with making a diagnosis.

At first, neurologists also spoke about developmental delay, and then they advised us to take Nikita to Vladivostok for examination. There it turned out that the child has atypical autism without mental retardation: he has a non-verbal intelligence that can be reached. We don’t have specialists in our city, so the family has to do this. Nikita at that time was 5 years and 7 months old.

When it became clear what was wrong with our child, my wife gradually began to move away from him, and a year and a half ago she said that she would not raise him. The last time we saw my mother was five months ago. Well, on his birthday, she called and asked him to kiss Nikita on the cheek for her, although she lives nearby and could have come.

Coaches I know said that Nikita was not made for sports because he did not understand commands and did not follow them. But I'm a fan of my child and believed in him

Now I am raising my son alone. In the municipal rehabilitation center two years ago psychologists asked me how to understand my child, how to communicate with him. And the first thing they suggested when my wife left me was to send Nikita to a psychoneurological boarding school. But he is the meaning of my life!

I had to give up my permanent job. Previously, I was engaged in commercial video filming on a full-time basis, but now I switched to part-time work. I sometimes film and edit not only for money, but also through barter. Volunteer at a local charity for children with disabilities.

Now Nikita is 8 years old. He does not speak, cannot draw, read, write: fine motor skills are impaired. When he wants something, he takes my hand and shows it. We have correctional school, but it is designed for mild forms of autism. Nikita is completely non-verbal, it is very difficult to teach him anything.

But recently we learned to roller skate. Coaches I know said that Nikita was not made for sports because he did not understand commands and did not follow them. But I am a fan of my child and believed in him, so a week later he went.

Children with autism have moments of overload when a lot of information accumulates in their heads and needs to be thrown out somehow. This results in uncontrollable hysteria

At first he didn’t understand that he needed to push off the asphalt with his skate in order to go. Then I took my son by one hand and began to lead him along the dead sidewalks with holes and bumps. After a couple of days, something turned on in Nikita’s head and, in order not to fall, he began to put his leg forward. Then we got onto a flat road, by the end of the first week the child was driving more or less, and now he goes around all the bumps on his own. We trained every day for 3-4 hours.

We'll be skating soon. You just need to agree with the coach so that the ice is free, because Nikita is scared of large crowds of people.

Children with autism have moments of overload when a lot of information accumulates in their heads and needs to be thrown out somehow. This results in uncontrollable hysteria that cannot be stopped. You can only be close and hold the child’s hand. Sometimes this happens on the street. People around me often don’t understand what’s going on, they come up and make comments, but I try not to pay attention. One day, on the playground, a woman asked Nikita something. I said that the child would not answer her because he had atypical autism. “Is it contagious?” she asked. Many people think that all autistic people are geniuses, and when they find out what’s wrong with Nikita, they ask if I let him solve a Rubik’s cube. And I would teach him to recognize danger, to understand what a traffic light and cars are. Nikita has no sense of fear, so he needs to be monitored 24 hours a day. I'm thinking about him learning to understand the world around him, not to mention speaking.

“I felt like a stupid, useless creature”

Daniil, 17 years old, Moscow:

At the age of 3 I was diagnosed with autism, although my intelligence was intact. I did not have standard childhood interests, I did not like fairy tales. At the age of 3, I learned to read, write and count - this, according to my mother, was almost my only hobby. My parents didn’t intend to make me a child prodigy, I just liked doing it. Mom says that once at a psychoneurological clinic I almost destroyed the entire office looking for a calculator. From the outside it looked like I was poorly brought up.

I didn't go to school right away. Several of them turned me down, even though they were private schools. During interviews, I would withdraw into myself and not listen to what they said. I ended up going to school at age 8, but straight into second grade. For the first few months, my mother sat with me in class. I couldn’t remember that I should address the teacher and other adults as “you”; it was hard to understand social norms. I had no friends, I hardly talked to anyone.

By the age of 11, I began to slowly realize that I was not like my peers, and in my essays I wrote that I had a difficult character. I started asking my mom why I wasn’t interested in what my classmates were interested in, and she said that I had autism. I didn't believe. I told her that I would prove that I was not autistic, and that these were just flaws in my character that I would work on. Admitting my autism was very painful. By the age of 13, I finally admitted it and fell into depression. I felt like a stupid, unhappy, useless creature. After talking with a psychotherapist, I felt a little better.

The girls treated me better, sometimes they even felt sorry for me and called other boys fools

My self-esteem at a more or less normal level was supported by good studies. I let them copy: it seemed that because of this I had authority among my classmates. It was not so difficult to study, it was difficult to force myself to do homework because of my psychological state.

When I moved to fifth grade, “A” and “B” were combined into one. This is how I ended up with some not-so-kind classmates. I was not only bullied, but mocked. They said “Kiss the wall!”, but it was difficult for me to refuse, or they asked me to dance the cha-cha-cha. I thought I was dancing well, but in fact I was dancing poorly, they laughed at me. I suffered greatly from bullying because I lacked communication. The girls treated me better, sometimes they even pitied me and called other boys fools. The boys respected my intelligence, but considered me socially retarded. I wanted to prove that this is not so.

My parents didn't allow me to play computer games, but my grandmother did. I felt relieved: others were playing, and so was I. At the age of 15, I realized that games would give me nothing, and I stopped playing them. I met people like me on VKontakte, but this brought temporary relief. Then I went into myself. Severe headaches prevented me from studying. I lay there for a while Scientific center mental health and was in a sanatorium, after that I didn’t want to return to school, I went to college after the ninth grade, but dropped out. Now I'm finishing school as an external student. I have become more or less “even”, I study normally, only my mother is unhappy that I do not complete all the tasks. But there is something else in my life besides studying! Since childhood, I wanted to earn money. Now I buy things in bulk at the market and sell them online. After graduating from school, I want to enter the Faculty of Business and Business Administration.

I feel resentment towards others and myself for what I had to go through when I found out about my diagnosis.

Another thing that bothers me is that I can’t tell if my friend is real or fake. One treated me rudely, did not appreciate gifts, and because I didn’t have a girlfriend, he said that I would be alone all the time. I felt offended and removed him from my friends list. I tried to meet girls on the Internet and on the street, but then I stopped communicating. It wasn't interesting. Once I had an attachment to a girl, but she used me: she cunningly begged me for a gift, borrowed money and did not return it, I did not feel cared for, when I was sick for a long time, she was not interested in my well-being.

I periodically experience attacks of loneliness and thoughts of suicide, and often have nervous breakdowns. I take sedatives because I yell at my relatives, I can yell at the whole house and I can’t control myself. Sometimes you want to cut your hands or drink. I am resentful of those around me and myself for what I had to go through when I found out about my diagnosis. I also get upset when they yell at me, consider me a child, when they underestimate my work on myself: my mother thinks that all my changes are her merit. My parents did a lot for me, that’s what my mother basically says. I don’t have a very good relationship with her, unlike my dad. I’m angry with her because I don’t feel like a happy person: she did a lot for me until I was 11-12 years old, and then she made a bunch of mistakes.

“I explained to my husband that it’s okay to cry.”

Yulia, 44 years old, Moscow:

Niko and I met five years ago in an online gaming community. I thought he was strange: he was not like the rest of my friends, he spoke a lot, in detail and somehow wrong. One day there was a scandal in the community, everyone quarreled, but Niko not only remained calm, there was a feeling that there was a robot among us: he blew people’s brains out for three hours, and in a completely even voice stuck to his line. If someone yelled or started insulting him, he pressed mute so as not to hear the interlocutor. It was a fascinating sight! Everyone behaved emotionally, but he behaved rationally, and thus he resolved the conflict. You could say that I fell in love with him then, in some way because of his autism. Then another conflict occurred in the community: someone was offended by someone else, and difficulties began. And Niko always turned out to be “guilty” because he did not understand people’s emotional arguments, he answered in the wrong way and about that.

Then something clicked in my head. I thought about autism, started reading about it, and it helped me understand Niko’s behavior. As a result, we began to communicate more often, and at some point I took him to be tested for autism. Tests showed the presence of ASD. Before this, Niko, as he himself says, considered himself an alien. They always reacted to him like he was a freak. He saw that people were building relationships, but he was not. When Niko realized that he had ASD and there were many such people, he began to watch lectures online to understand himself.

If it were up to him, he would only eat rice and chicken for breakfast, lunch and dinner

We began to communicate closer, not only on gaming topics, but also on personal topics, we met, started visiting each other, and eventually got married. Niko finds it difficult to get used to new things; a new task seems to lead to a glitch in the program, because when he needs to learn a lot of new information, he freezes. When Niko came from Greece to Russia to get married, he fell into a stupor because he did not know what to expect. He tried to apply the models of Greek weddings to ours, but it didn’t work. I explained that we were having a secular wedding, not like what he saw in Greece: no crowd of relatives, only two friends for moral support, we sign and leave. I see he doesn’t understand. I went online, found a video from an ordinary Russian wedding and showed it to him. The panic has passed. At the registry office, the employee said that we should follow her into the hall and in the center, but she herself went not in the center, but to the side. Niko stopped, not understanding how to go after all. Now, when we watch the video from our wedding, we roar with laughter: Niko walks as if to an execution and begins to smile only when he realizes that it’s finally over.

Niko is inclined to act according to the scheme: as he is used to, so it will be. Every morning begins with a certain sequence of actions, from brushing teeth to squeezing cats. It takes an hour and a half to do everything. If the scheme is violated, it is very difficult for him. Previously, he was completely inflexible, but gradually the situation is changing: communication with me taught Niko that the scheme must be adjusted to reality, and not vice versa. Niko has certain food preferences: if it were up to him, he would only eat rice and chicken for breakfast, lunch and dinner. But again, a lot has changed in 5 years: before, new dishes came in with a squeak, but now if you turn away, my kimchi is no longer there.

Niko doesn't read emotions and hints. If I am offended by him, he will never notice in his life. I need to say straight out: that’s why I was offended by you. And Niko will tweak the scheme - he is very negotiable. And he, in turn, speaks calmly, without aggression, when he doesn’t like something.

I am generally a harsh and hot-tempered person. When I broke down for the first time, Niko was in a panic: his wife was yelling, what should I do about it?

We share household responsibilities, but at some point everything happens for the first time. And now Niko had to clean the bathroom for the first time. He asked what needed to be done there. I said: well, wash the sink, toilet, bathtub. He washed strictly according to instructions: the sink, toilet, bathtub - but did not touch the floor, mirror, etc.

I looked and asked: “Well, how did you clean up? There’s cat litter lying on the floor!” He says: “You didn’t say that you need to wash the floor.” Sometimes I just laugh until I cry. I say: “Well, you have your own head, don’t you? Okay, let’s change the scheme: look carefully at what’s dirty and clean it up.”

I am generally a harsh and hot-tempered person. When I broke down for the first time, Niko was in a panic: his wife was yelling, what should I do about it? I explained to him that it’s normal to yell or cry sometimes. People do this because they have quirks and emotions. That is, with Niko, I learned to say some things that I had never said in my life, and even see them from the outside. After all, something that seems obvious to you may not be obvious to another person.

Niko is the sweetest person, but completely different. And he greatly expanded my understanding of the world. Over the years, Niko himself has realized that people rarely act according to a pattern, and the norm is a very loose concept, and as long as people are comfortable and do not bother anyone, these are all thousands of variants of normal.

Not long ago, in a room filled with people, I gave a lecture on the topic “People with Autism and Literacy.” A few days later, I gave another lecture on autism to another group of people. No matter what lecture on autism was given, or whether the audience were teachers, psychiatrists, or parents of children with autism, I will almost always be approached by someone wanting to know why I don't look or act like I do. , like many children they know with autism.

There are many reasons why adults with autism do not look like children with autism. Here are some of them:

1 . The first reason is that all children grow up. Adults, whether they have autism or not, usually do not behave in their daily lives the same way they behaved as children. We all grow up, and as we get older, we change. Autism does not prevent you from growing and maturing over time.

2 . Autism, in part, means developmental delays. While we are children, this delay can be quite noticeable and can dramatically distinguish us from our peers. However, the lag is not a stop. It just means delay. Things that are characteristic of certain periods of development may not be achieved at the right age, but are still achieved at a later age. Usually, a lot of support and effort is required, but over time this support, effort and clear instructions pay off. And we, growing up, can do many things that we could not do as children.

3 . Autism means there are difficulties in communication. At the same time, everyone communicates, even nonverbal autistics. The newer the difficulty, the more difficult it is to overcome. Over time, communication difficulties can be addressed, addressed and supported. It takes time and a lot of effort. As a result, the communication difficulties we see in a 3-year-old or a 12-year-old will likely look very different when they are 30, 50, or 70 years old.

4 . Personally, I have never met an autistic person (and I have met many people from my “tribe”) who did not have difficulties with his sensory characteristics. Again, problems are more obvious in childhood because we have not yet learned how to deal with our sensory system in this world, which is created for people with a “typical” sensory system. By the age of 40 or 60, we know much more and are much better able to cope with our sensory difficulties than we were able to do as children.

5 . Autistic people want to have friends, just like everyone else. As teenagers, most of us don't have the skills to make this happen. Also, children are often grouped by age, and due to our developmental delays, we cannot communicate with peers. This increases our difficulty in making friends. Youth can be a particularly difficult period, as we are often in more difficult times socially and emotionally. early age, than people expect when they see us. Often for an adult to be friends with a 10 or 12 year old child is a strict taboo, even if the adult is at the same emotional age. It will take many years for the situation to improve, but it can and does improve for a large number of autistic people. Think about it: it is considered “indecent” for a 22-year-old person to be friends with a 14-year-old teenager because of an eight-year age difference, but when you are 30 or 50, no one is bothered by this difference of 8 years or more between friends.

Autism does not prevent a person from growing up and changing over time.

These are just a few reasons why adults with autism do not look the same as children with autism. In my case, there are a few more things to consider. Not only am I autistic myself, but autism is my profession. I work in this field and have written several articles and books and given over 300 presentations in the United States and around the world. To do my job I need to be very diligent in my sensory regulation every day, I have mentors that I can turn to to help with my communication difficulties and other issues. And, usually, I know what I need and how to ask for it if necessary.

But despite this, I am the same person with autism as I always have been. I don't live in a special clinic and don't throw myself on the floor to explain what I need. Over time, I learned to work with my autism while respecting myself in this world. There are good days and not really. I'm close to retirement age and when people come up to me and are amazed that I don't look like their autistic child, those are all the things I wish they would consider. Yes, autism can be difficult. I know. I live with him every day. This is my life. This is my profession. Yes, I agree - adults with autism do not look like children with autism. This is because autistic people have unlimited potential.

Mine has Asperger's. Provoked at one year and two months. DPT vaccination. After the vaccination I had seizures many times. Aspergers began to develop.
He put the cars in a row. Strictly. I was only interested in their wheels.
He is very picky about food: if something floated in the broth, that was it. Refusal. Only transparent. No borscht. Only mono type of food. Don't mix anything. Everything is separate. Everything is geometrically correct on the plate.
When I started speaking, I spoke only in numbers (that is, the first word was not “mother” or the like, but the number five). Those. I saw numbers everywhere - on houses, on signs, on transport, somewhere something similar to numbers. I thought it was brilliant in my head. Added, multiplied, raised to a power, geometric progression. This is already by the age of four.
It's a walking encyclopedia, because... unique photographic memory (later a conclusion based on the results of numerous tests in the int-brain).
Another feature of Aspergers is that they show a strong interest in knowledge that has little use in life. For me, such a field was knowledge about space: planets, all the names of satellites, locations, distance from the sun and earth, orbital rotation speed, inclination angle, surface temperature, speed ratio to other planets, occurrence and relationship with constellations. This reached its climax by the age of 7.
Tested at the Institute of Brain. MRI scans were performed several times annually (sometimes three times). Epilepsy was always present (but there was no epilepsy, although indirect signs were present for up to 15 years - for example, a sharp twitching of the whole body, as if from cold).
I experienced difficulties in everyday life: i.e. a multi-level task with screwing shelves causes a problem (make a hole in the wall, pick up a drill, take fasteners, etc.), because considers each item separately, without linking them into a single process.
Socially he was closed. Those. It was difficult to get in touch with others. It was very difficult to understand what exactly people were talking about. The logic is completely different. Special humor - your own. I didn’t understand jokes or anecdotes at all. Own world. Closed.
He made eye contact, but couldn’t hold his gaze for a long time.

“Treated” by contacting (called Asperger’s adaptation). Numerous attempts to explain the logic we are accustomed to, as well as recognition of HIS logical system. Recognition of his uniqueness, and not his disability (well, this is an attitude, and not “pretending”, rather). Showing a keen interest in his needs and experiences. Their legalization and discussion. Maximum support in response to real emotions by naming them. Those. literally: my emotional response is given to his action - if I’m angry, then I call it anger out loud. If I'm happy, I call it. If I'm surprised, I call it "I'm surprised." With all the emotional reactions on the face, body, and actions. Preventing a long-term aggressive social environment (i.e., so that there would be no persecution for “dissent”), unfortunately this was encountered at a Moscow school.... But also not growing in a greenhouse. Don't know. So much has been done. Long, painful and, at times, with giving up and despair on my part. There were also a lot of mistakes.

The young man is now 21 years old. From what was, and remains in a modified form: a picky eater (just a picky eater, with no requirements for the geometry of the plate and no objections that something floats besides water). Contacting people without fear, but with ordinary anxiety, not alien to every ordinary person. Understanding of everyday humor (although it seems to me that a well-taught reaction is more often than a real desire to laugh). Information is also easy to swallow. He remembers languages ​​very quickly. Thank God, I became lazy during adolescence. Therefore, you don’t drag extra dross into your head, although it’s impossible to invest something useful. Only at his own request.
Now he works with a huge number of people in a sports club.
Thanks to a mathematical mindset, as well as a learned view from his spatial universe at the universe of ordinary bipeds, he studies and VERY successfully to become a psychotherapist in two universities at the same time (he left a prestigious academy with a programming degree because he didn’t like the lack of people (hohoho!)). He is already starting to practice and practices in such a way that some clients are stupefied with interest, surprise and insights. Naturally, I started working in Gestalt therapy (analysis of emotions and feelings, seeing the figure and background of the client’s problem, working on the border of contact), although he was already interested in psychoanalysis.

Of course, I understand that this is my son, and I am his mother.... but, IMHO, I assume that he is a genius and this is only the beginning of his flight.

Olga Azova

– There is an opinion that the diagnosis of “autism” is made only here, and there is no such diagnosis abroad, is this true?

- No, that's not true. ICD-10, which we all use, and DSM-5 are international classifications of diseases. They, however, like us, began to write ASD (autism spectrum disorder) more often. There are different types of autism. When communicating with parents, I use ASD more - it seems to sound softer, but in everyday life I like “autism” more as a term, and it’s easier to understand what we’re talking about.

It seems to me that there are many issues in the area of ​​tolerance in this. No two children are alike. Even our own children, who are very similar to us, are different. Naturally, no two people with autistic conditions are alike. But if there is no logic in anything, then we will beat around the bush all the time and will not begin to help, we will drown in demagoguery.

I like terms that are clear, but we will still work individually with a specific child.

Correspondence table between DSM-IV and ICD-10

This is what we really don’t have abroad, but we still have. There, if a child with autism grows up, he remains with the same diagnosis. In our country, the diagnosis can be changed to schizophrenia. But, fortunately, less and less often.

– Why have we heard almost nothing about autism before, but now it seems like there’s an epidemic?

– Autism was described in 1943, which means that this problem has existed since at least this year. Another thing is that the world has changed since then. Statistics are inexorably growing towards an increase in the number of people diagnosed with autism. If we take the rate of one case of autism per 88 people (the data for the last two years is 1:65, some sources even call the figure 1:45), then this is already more than 1% of all living people, that is, the epidemiological threshold.

Scientists are constantly searching for new treatments

– Is there anything new and encouraging in the study of autism today?

– You can’t tell us everything, let’s focus on several thematic areas. Conventionally, I will divide them into three groups: studies related to nutritional deficiencies, aimed at studying the microbiota and the connection with autism, as well as studies on the connection between the level of development of motor skills and the treatment of autism. Moreover, different studies are being conducted in parallel in each direction.

The first area is research related to nutritional deficiencies.

Thus, in a 2015 review of the Journal of the American Society of Nutrition on the nutritional status of individuals with ASD, there is evidence that a decrease in the level of folic acid, vitamins B6 and B12 can be considered as a biomarker in identifying ASD in the early stages of development.

Japanese specialist scientists from the La Belle Vie laboratory in Tokyo searched for the cause of the development of autism in children and came to the conclusion that by adding zinc to the diet of children, the risk of developing the disease can be significantly reduced. And other work by other researchers on the same topic has shown that even genetically altered cells associated with autism can respond positively to zinc supplementation.

And research from the same direction reports findings that relate to the causes and treatment of autism, namely that social interaction in children with ASD improves after taking vitamin D.

In the second direction of intestinal microbiological research. Perhaps these are the most extensive, one might say, even large-scale studies, which are carried out in several countries at once. Last year, at the 2nd Congress on Autism, which was organized by our center, a report was presented by Professor Prasad Dhuryati of the University of Delaware.

The research data at that time was only partially made public, that is, we received it first-hand. A professor is creating a computer model of the human gut microbiota to establish a link between bacteria that live in the gut and autism. Dr. Prasad's research confirms the idea that other researchers have come to that problems with the intestines (in the microbiota) trigger the mechanism of autism (the problem is in the genes of the microbiota themselves, and not in those that we inherit).

Previously, this problem was viewed exactly the opposite. That is, harmful substances penetrate from the gastrointestinal tract into the bloodstream, and then into the brain, causing autism. I can say that these are amazing, one might even say sensational, studies. Professor Dhuryati is working on creating a computer model that will in turn create diagnostic system to select treatment options.

Holard Winter, head of the American Association of Pediatric Gastroenterology, also says that children with ASD have a fundamentally different microbiota from healthy ones. True, the studies that the doctor talks about report that the frequency of gastrointestinal diseases is approximately the same as in healthy children.

But research by geneticist Ruth Ann Luna, initiated by Autism speak, on the contrary, suggests that problems gastrointestinal tract more common in children with autism. Dr. Luna is also looking for new diagnostic tests using a subset of children whose microbiota could identify problems. This would also allow us to find new ways to treat autism.

– At what age can autism be diagnosed?

– In Russia, only a psychiatrist has the right to make a diagnosis of ASD. Until recently, I said that psychiatric counseling is possible only from the age of three, and classes for autism should begin from a year and a half. But at the end of 2016, a large-scale reform of psychiatric care was launched in Moscow. Now even one-year-old babies will be examined by a psychiatrist. A year and a half is the most favorable age for diagnosing autism. Then you can do a lot of things.

Physical education and craft for a leap in social development

– Is it important to start teaching a child with autism earlier, including physical education?

– I just wanted to talk about the third direction of various research. One of which, by the way, has something in common with research in the second direction. The journal Immunology and Cell Biology recently published the results of a study that confirms that if parents begin physical education with their children at the very beginning of life, this can affect the change in the microbiota. She will become, so to speak, healthier.

Thus, Tomsk scientists are developing ways to treat autism using specially selected exercise. They have been studying proteins that are produced in muscles during exercise for several years.

The results of these latest research for me personally, they are also very important because in our center we distinguish a number of procedures into a whole separate block in rehabilitation and empirically, over the course of several years, we can confirm that, in addition to motor skills themselves, exercise therapy, massage, cerebellar stimulation, trampoline exercises and climbing walls can improve communication, cognitive function and help with sensory and behavioral problems.

– So, do children with autism still have a chance of adapting?

– First, it is important to answer two questions:

• Whose data will we rely on: domestic or foreign?
• Does the child really have autism or not? (Is this autism?)

Domestic authors are very “strict” towards children with autism and believe that more than half of children with autism require care in a hospital setting. Thus, many scientists believe that a significant proportion of patients, after many years spent in the hospital, develop signs of chronic schizophrenia; most children with autism remain disabled for life.

In our country there is a tradition according to which autism is entirely within the realm of psychiatry and is considered as a type of mental illness. Although it must be said that there is progress on this issue as well. More and more specialists attribute autism problems to neurology.

Foreign authors provide more optimistic data: 1-2% of children with autism reach a normal level of intellectual development and do not differ from ordinary children, approximately 10% of children study and work with them normal level development of speech and social behavior.

About 20% of children, despite a significant lag in speech development, learn and adapt socially. But nevertheless, 70% of people with autism cannot live independently and are forced to be supervised. Thus, in approximately 30% of people the initial diagnosis is transformed.

But I want to say that I gave more or less official figures, but it seems to me that with the development of science, and most importantly, targeted assistance, things are even better.

For about ten years now, the Israeli army has been recruiting people with autism into its ranks, they spend the whole working day studying data on a monitor from satellites. The characteristics of the disease make it possible to realize one’s potential.

Specific positive examples are also important. Of course, many are already familiar with the names of famous autists: American zoologist professor Temple Grandin, a film was even made about her, the president of a large IT company Sarah Miller, artist and member of the Order of the British Empire Stephen Wiltshire (he paints pictures from memory, conveying every little detail , without any initial sketches), US physicist Jacob Barnett, who defended his Ph.D. thesis at the age of 15.

I follow several Russian bloggers who have been diagnosed with autism. What they write about is important for understanding autism and the behavior of autistic children.

I will also give examples from the experience of our center. Among children with autism, there are many children with absolute pitch. It is very important when there are additional reserves: music, drawing, crafts. It's good when each of us has it. I often, following the Armenian proverb, echo: “He who knows a craft sits hungry until noon, he who does not know it sits hungry until the evening.”

Every school year gives us talented children. I'll only tell you about two. Maya is drawing. In addition to her ability to draw, Maya also has perfect pitch. About Maya.

I think that this little girl is already an accomplished artist.

Maya's drawings

There is also Slava. His talent was discovered during classes with a teacher at our center. Slava studies at a school at the conservatory.

He quickly learns quite complex melodies from notes and sings, almost without hesitation. I am sure that musical abilities are part of his future profession.

As I already said, the percentage of children with autism is now quite intelligibly stated as 1%. Such a number of people cannot be left behind, which is why medical research is being conducted in many countries, and recently issues of social adaptation of people with autism have been especially raised.

Not to isolate, but to accept into society

– How to recognize autism?

– I will briefly list the neurological markers and biomarkers of autism (including nonspecific ones): impaired communication, stereotypies (repetitive movements, postures, vocal reactions), sensory impairments, behavioral disorders – hyperactivity – “field behavior”, autonomic disorders, metabolic and immune disorders processes, disorders of the gastrointestinal tract, epilepsy, etc. I once asked myself a question: I started listing and counting the signs of autism, I stopped when I counted 150.

– What is especially important when correcting autism?

– The correction must be multi-stage. When discussing rehabilitation issues, the emphasis is always on treatment nervous system. In fact, the coordinated work of all systems is important, both because the body is a living system, and because the functioning of a child with ASD is only productive when it is established and proper nutrition, and a toilet. The life of a living organism depends on the coordinated work of its organs and the conditions in which it is located.

Children with autism need to establish the basic vital processes of the body: nutrition, breathing, excretion, metabolism, development, and so on.

You need to start with examinations and consultations with doctors: a neurologist, gastroenterologist, immunologist and others.

Next, priorities are set. If a child has serious behavioral problems, then the correction is based on behavioral analysis, which is paralleled with other types of rehabilitation. If there are strong sensory problems, then you need to start by creating sensory comfort.

Most often, one child has everything disrupted at once: problematic behavior, sensory features, and no speech. Therefore, I am always in favor of a set of rehabilitation measures that will be aimed at restoring sensitivity and will help to cope with all behavioral issues and speak. But the procedures themselves will also be different for each problem.

– When is it too late to change something in the adaptation of a child with autism? At what age can you say that everything is lost?

– There are so-called sensitive periods of development. All basic functions, skills and abilities are formed by puberty; by the same age many final diagnoses are determined; before that there can only be a preliminary one. Parents also make every effort to rehabilitate preschool age, well, maybe another period elementary school, then the vector changes. But nevertheless, we know that, for example, the vocal apparatus is formed by the end of puberty, and the full growth of the larynx by 36 years.

I have examples from life. A child with multiple lesions was born into a family of artists. At the time we met, the child was 18 years old. All the sensitive symptoms passed, but the parents did not stop; their son continued to pick up the pace of development and drew very well.

Sensitive period of development (also found sensitive) is a period in a person’s life that creates the most favorable conditions for the formation of certain psychological properties and types of behavior.

– By the way, what should we do about the impending puberty of a child with autism?

– This is a topic for a separate conversation. In our country, autism began to be actively studied approximately seven to eight years ago. As those kids grew up, the issues of puberty became more relevant.

And an ordinary child has many questions about the changes that occur to him during this period, but a child with autism develops phobias from misunderstanding and fear of new things.

We will outline important topics: issues of personal hygiene, self-defense, ethics in behavior when intimate topics arise, awareness of growing up and changes in the body in an accessible form, for example, using social stories, support from parents. A parent must keep their finger on the pulse.

– Autism: what should you be afraid of?

– Of course, there is nothing to be afraid of. When we created the center, and the main stream of non-speaking children unexpectedly turned out to be with ASD, then it was difficult. It is precisely in terms of the profile of the disorder that domestic science and practice have offered little to such children. In fact, we are one of the few who have undertaken to actively solve the problem. We were trained in many countries, participated in conferences there and conducted them ourselves, bringing methods and various instruments.

Now it is important to learn how to transfer this knowledge - this is the first thing. The most important thing is that at least outpatient medical personnel, starting with the district nurse and pediatrician, need to have sufficient information about the manifestations of autism and inform parents in a timely manner.

And second, you need to understand that a child or adult with autism is a special person or a person with special needs. It can be disharmonious in one way and completely preserved or even outstanding in another. While outwardly ordinary, have problems with social adaptation. It is important not to isolate such a person, but to accept him into society. I think this is the biggest problem right now. Having understood these people, even having already learned to help them, we need to give them the opportunity to learn to be like us.