Autism Spectrum Disorder and Co-Existing Conditions

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a lifelong neurodevelopmental condition for which there is no known cause or cure. Autism is a highly variable disorder, the most prominent difficulties of which include aberrant behaviour, poor social skills and disrupted communication skills. Difficulties in social communication andinteraction feature in the diagnostic criteria for ASD.While language difficulties are a core characteristic of autism, as with the disorder itself, linguistic functioning can be highly variable within those on the spectrum. Some children develop fluent speech while others never begin to speak at all. Verbal and nonverbal communications are vital the formation of social interactions, and thus, any investigation into the nature of linguistic difficulties in ASD may help us to further understand basis of the condition.

Language difficulties in ASD, ADHD and Anxiety:

Interestingly, impediments in linguistic information processing have also been documented in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), a condition that commonly occurs together with ASD. Investigating the shared nature of linguistic processing difficulties (if any) in conditions that commonly occur together will contribute to a larger research effort to identify whether coexisting conditions in ASD stem from the same basic cause (i.e., are additional conditions simply characteristics of the ASD itself), or are entirely separate conditions (i.e., the coexisting conditions are true separate conditions). Read more...........