Autism: awareness, empathy and support

Autism in April: The Month to Raise Awarenes, Empathy and Support The month of April has globally recognized as the month of autism awareness. With this years’s theme – “Inclusion in the Workplace”, our attention is drawn to the long journey of raising awareness regarding this condition, which is still commonly misunderstood by many. Autism, or in medical terms known as autism spectrum disorder (ASD), refers to a condition that affects the development of the brain in the early stages of childhood. There are two main groups of symptoms of autism, namely deficits from the aspect of social development and communication; and challenges in the aspect of behavior. From the aspect of communication, children with autism show delay or deficit in the aspect of speech and reciprocal interaction skills. As for the social aspect, these children have problems in terms of limited social interests, restricted eye contacts and seemed to be ‘in their own world’ as compared to typically developing peers. Behavioral symptoms, on the other hand, include stereotyped behavior such as repeated hand-flapping, restricted interest (such as preference on arranging objects), obsession with rigid routines (such as an extreme picky eating) and problems with sensory stimuli (sensitive to touch, sound or a specific odor). To date, there has been no epidemiological study that accurately assesses the rate of autism diagnosis among Malaysians. However, the existing study, based on the M-CHAT screening test shows a rate of 1.6 cases per 1000 children in Malaysia. The rate at the global level, as reported by the World Health Organization (WHO), is higher at 1 case per 160 children. Chances are, this lower rate is due to a lack of awareness, screening and confirmation of the diagnosis at an early stage