R Ayuda-Pascual | PubMed Health

PubMed2003

[Autism and hyperlexia].

INTRODUCTION: Hyperlexia is described in children who present alterations or retardation in development and is frequently characterised by their teaching themselves to read at an early age. This ability to decode words does not correlate with their intellectual level and can course with different degrees of mental retardation. It is always accompanied by difficulty in establishing social relationships. Autism is a disorder that is prototypical of the autistic spectrum disorders (ASD), which are essentially characterised by qualitative alterations in social interaction, in communication and language development, and in the presence of a limited repertory of interests, accompanied by stereotyped or peculiar responses. METHOD: The presence of hyperlexia in autistic children is more frequent than in other development disorders. This phenomenon is linked with the increased skills involving visual memory, visual discrimination and motivation/interest towards visually represented material that is to be found in people with autism. However, not all autistic individuals present hyperlexia and not all children with hyperlexia present autism, although evidence shows that hyperlexia is a phenomenon that is observed with greater frequency in autism and in ASD. CONCLUSION: Hyperlexia, understood as meaning a little island of ability in children with autism and ASD, poses a number of questions and represents an important challenge in neuropsychological research in this population.

Age Factors↗

PubMed2002

[The autistic spectrum. An epidemiological study and analysis of possible subgroups].

INTRODUCTION: Although the concept of autistic spectrum may be useful to explain and describe the heterogeneity of the syndrome, its aetiology is still unknown. Different disorders have been reported as the biological basis of autism. Early diagnosis and a multi disciplinary approach to the condition are essential for effective psychopaedagogic treatment. OBJECTIVE: To determine whether there is a relationship between the severity of the syndrome of autism and the course of the disorder, as a function of the presence or absence of neurological features, and to define homogeneous subgroups by detecting etiological variables which may be common to them. PATIENTS AND METHODS: 46 children defined as being within the spectrum of autism, in whom the diagnosis was confirmed on the autistic spectrum inventory (IDEA/Rivi re 97). Parameters studied: family history, perinatal risk, age of onset, complementary investigations and neurological features. RESULTS: The diagnosis was confirmed in 18 children; of the others 14 had a specific defect of the development of language. There was an almost complete absence of underlying neurological disorders, although this may have been due to dispersion of the complementary investigations done. CONCLUSIONS: Specific disorders of the development of language are the main differential diagnoses to be considered together with the autistic spectrum. The diagnosis of autism is clinical, but the heterogeneity of the medical approach interferes with the overall assessment of the spectrum favoring behavioural and underestimating the biological aspects. This means that the problem should be reconsidered so as to obtain uniform guidelines for action.

Autistic Disorder↗