Autism in children symptoms

Early childhood autism was first described by L. Kanner. Manifestations of early childhood autism long before this were described by GE Sukhareva( 1925) and TP Simeon( 1929).For Kanner's syndrome is characterized by a triad of signs:

1. Impossibility to establish relationships with surrounding people, primarily with the mother. There is no emotional reaction to it( autistic form), or the child pushes the mother away from herself( a negativistic form).He does not notice peers and wants to seclusion. There is the same attitude to both people and inanimate objects( Monocov's "proto-diarrhea").

2. Speech disorders are expressed in egocentric speech, verbigeration, echolalia, mutism. Children do not use forms and pronouns in the first person( for example, expressing a desire to receive a toy, says: "To give"), Autonomous speech is specific. Input words are used( "as they say,., You see. .."), complex speech forms. For example, a child of five years corrects the doctor: "It is necessary to speak not boringly, but boringly."

3. Behavioral disorders are associated not only with autism, but also with characteristic disorders of motor skills in the form of stereotyped movements( swinging the head and trunk, rhythmic bending and extension of fingers, spinning around its axis, waving movements with fingers or the whole brush, bouncing, running ontiptoe), impulsiveness, motor obsessions and rituals. The mastering of index gestures, gestures "greeting-farewell"( for example, waved his hand, standing with his back to the doctor) is considerably delayed. The peculiarities of mimicry include her poverty, tension, sometimes immobile "frightened" look, or mark beautiful faces( "face of the prince").

Intellectual failure due to delayed development is considered an optional feature. According to the Wexler technique, the overall intellectual index is lower than in children with normal development, but higher than in oligophrenia.

For emotional reactions, there is a predominance of anxiety or anxiety when trying to change the existing order of life, games, the location of objects in the room, time and place of walking, eating, choosing clothes( phenomenon of "identity").

The game has the character of stereotypical actions( swinging toys in front of your eyes, shifting from place to place, tapping on the floor or sniffing, licks).The child is embarrassed by clothes, shoes, often he seeks to undress naked. Unusual taste preferences are expressed in the form of craving for the inedible. Characteristic aggressive and autoaggressive actions.

The term "autism" is used primarily to describe negative symptoms and associated social insufficiency. On the other hand, various aspects of the autistic phenomenon were described by both old and modern authors in different forms, flow types and stages of the schizophrenic process. The latter testifies to the relevance of the concept of "autism", the conformity of its original meaning to clinical reality.

As the main factor adversely affecting the development of the problem of autism, there is a lack of a clear idea of ​​the relationship between the conceptual and clinical aspects. Autism has not received its own clinical niche, a stable and well-defined position in the clinical structure of schizophrenia. Autistic phenomena converged and were identified with other psychopathological disorders - depersonalization, delirium, pathological personality forms of response. Autism, thus, turned into an additional, facultative symptom, and its detection depended on the theoretical setting of the researchers.

Symptoms of

In both the international classification of mental disorders( ICD-10 and DSM-4), the criteria that can be used as a basis for diagnosis are indicated.

Qualitative violations of social behavior.
Qualitative communicative disorders.
Specific interests and stereotyped behavior.
Symptomatic manifestation up to three years of age.

In addition, ICD-10 identified a number of nonspecific problems, in particular fears, phobias, sleep and eating habits, attacks of rage, aggression, self-harm.

In observing the behavior of children with early childhood autism, according to the criteria given in the classification, the following three behavioral characteristics( symptoms) are clearly manifested.

Sharply expressed fencing from the outside world( encapsulation).
Commitment to the routine of life( fear of change).
Specific speech impairment.

Encapsulation is manifested by a marked violation of contacts. Relationships with others, with events and objects, are different from the norm. Practically there are no signs of normal contact of the child with parents, especially with the mother: there is no reciprocal smile, eye contact, the child does not distinguish parents from other people, there are no pre-gestural gestures( for example, the child does not reach out to raise it).And, on the contrary, children often actively come into contact with inanimate objects. When they get older, there is clearly a reluctance to participate in the collective game and an inability to establish friendly relations with other children, as well as an inability to empathize with other people.

The desire to adhere to the usual order, caused by anxiety, manifests itself in the development of children's states of fear and panic, if something changes in their familiar surroundings.

Among speech disorders, mention should be made of delayed speech development in about half of the children, as well as the propensity to form new words and echolalia( repetition of words or syllables after others, like an echo).Children with autism speak of themselves in the third person and only later learn to speak about themselves "I".Almost all children experience speech and motor stereotypes, as well as a number of echo symptoms. They do not come or are late "age questions", and they stereotypically ask the same questions, the answers to which they are already aware. Many autistic children who learned to speak can not use speech for communicative purposes, but do it only mechanically. There are a lot of grammatical errors in their speech, some children come up with new words( neologisms) that have special significance for them.

For many children with autism Kanner are characterized by violations of intonations: speech is little modulated, the intonational design of words or phrases is often inadequate, the voice is monotonous, and the rhythm has a chanted character.

Some children have obsessive ideas and a number of other symptoms, for example, preference for certain games, aggression and autoaggression, and lack of fear of real dangers.

ICD-10

1. Qualitative violations of social interaction( for example, inadequate evaluation of social and emotional signals, insufficient use of social signals)

2. Qualitative communication disorders( for example, inadequate use of speech for communication, lack of emotional resonance in verbal and nonverbal convergencewith other people, the changed melody of speech) 3. Specific interests and stereotyped behavior( for example, rigidity and adherence to routine in everyday activities, resistance to changes)

4. Nonspecific problems - fears, phobias, sleep and eating habits, attacks of rage, aggression, self-harm

5. Symptoms manifestation before the age of three

DSM-4

1. Qualitative disorders of social interaction( for example,with such non-verbal ways of communication as eye contact, etc., in establishing contacts with peers, the manifestation of feelings)

2. Qualitative violation of communication abilities( for example, delay or stopping in speech development, pchevye stereotypes, lack of age-appropriate role-playing and simulation games)

3.Spetsificheskie repetitive or stereotyped behaviors, interests and activities

4. Beginning before the age of 3 years and the delay or abnormality of the functional abilities of

In the process of development, many children with early childhood autism have a symptomatic transformation: a reduced sensitivity to sounds, less anxiety attacks, psychomotor agitation, sleep disturbance, a habit of touch is weakenedto objects and people around them.

The diagnosis of early childhood autism is established according to the data of the medical history and the results of monitoring the child in various situations. The diagnosis is based on the criteria of both international classifications of mental disorders and diseases of ICD-10 [WHO, 1992] and DSM-4 [APA, 1994].

Supplementary aids are standardized interviews of parents or loved ones, as well as scales of observation, allowing for more accurate and qualitative assessment of certain behavioral symptoms.

When collecting the history of the , parents often report that during pregnancy the mother was having difficulty, there were complications of pregnancy and abnormalities in the development of the child already in the first months of life. Parents especially pay attention to this in cases where the autistic child is not the first and therefore they have the opportunity to compare. Mothers, for example, report the following: the child from the very beginning avoided physical contact and rapprochement, did not smile back, did not react to hailstones or to other sounds. V parents had the impression that the child was deaf. In kindergarten, he showed no interest in other children, played alone, preferred to play with inanimate objects, and not with people, used objects for other purposes, made rotational movements by them. He rejoiced only when he was engaged with some subjects, and did not communicate with other children. Speech either did not develop at all, or there was a pronounced delay in speech development. At the stage of speech development, the child not only lagged behind others, but he had already observed speech disorders. These symptoms could be identified both with direct observation, and clarified with the help of standardized polls and scales of observation.

At present, there are a number of surveys, scales and methods of observation aimed exclusively at diagnosing early childhood autism, developed mainly in English-speaking countries and used in scientific research. Some of these techniques are translated into German. Below are some of them.

Early diagnosis is based on the following criteria:

1. Violations of the mother-child relationship in the form of an indifferent attitude to the mother and the absence of emotional reactions when she leaves.

2. Absence of differentiated crying-crying types before the age of 6 months, decrease or total absence of vocal manifestations.

3. Monotony of behavioral acts.

4. Low level of motivation.

Since the age of 6-8 years, the level of adaptation of children has increased, but the qualities noted above do not disappear completely. A heavier prognosis in the form of a pronounced intellectual defect occurs with a residual-organic form of autism.

In the opinion of researchers, the syndrome of early childhood autism is observed in schizophrenia, constitutional autistic psychopathy and residual organic disease of the brain. In schizophrenia, the manifestation of the syndrome of early childhood autism is an expression of the initial stage of the process or a postprocedural change as a result of a latent attack experienced in early childhood.

Analysis of the literature gives grounds for the conclusion about the contradictory situation in the study of autism. On the one hand, the departure of modern psychiatry from the views of E. Bleuler can be traced.

Early childhood autism should primarily be distinguished from by the Asperger ( autistic personality disorder) syndrome. The differences between these autistic syndromes are primarily due to the time of onset of the disease, in the areas of speech and intellectual development, as well as in the motor area: children with Asperger syndrome begin to speak earlier, their speech is often well developed, and the level of intellectual development corresponds to the age norm or exceedsher. Often such children have expressed specific interests, which they devote almost all of their time, and when they grow older, they often have obsessive ideas.

A differential diagnosis should also be carried out with the Rett syndrome. In this syndrome, unlike both variants of autism, there is a regression with a loss of acquired abilities, which is combined with a variety of neurological symptoms, as well as with classical stereotyped movements( rotational movements of the hands).

Autistic syndromes should also be differentiated with sensory defects and by mental retardation. The first can be excluded by a detailed examination of the senses. With mental retardation, autistic symptomatology is not central to the clinical picture, but accompanies intellectual underdevelopment. In addition, mentally retarded children and adolescents to a lesser extent violated or not violated a completely emotional attitude to the animate and inanimate objects of the surrounding world. Often, there are no speech and motor manifestations of early childhood autism.

Differential diagnostics with with schizophrenia is of practical clinical importance. It can be carried out both on the basis of symptoms, and based on anamnesis and dynamics. In children with schizophrenia, unlike autistic children, delusional symptoms or hallucinations are often detected, but until the time of their appearance, the anamnesis is usually without any peculiarities;in any case, this refers to the actual psychotic symptoms.

Finally, autism must be differentiated from by hospitalization with ( deprivation syndrome).Under hospitalism is understood as a disorder that develops due to a pronounced neglect and a shortage of factors that stimulate development. These children, too, may be impaired ability to contact, but this manifests itself differently: more often in the form of depressive symptoms. Sometimes there is no distance in behavior, but there are no typical symptoms of childhood autism.

It is difficult to make a diagnosis for the reasons listed below.

Ongoing studies of early childhood autism( and areas of diagnosis, therapy and dynamics), as well as progress in the field of human genetics, make it increasingly relevant to determine whether some of these factors can be explained by the influence of heredity. For example, there has been discussion for a long time about whether the artistic disorder is inherited as such or only its specific components - cognitive, speech or emotional disorders.

Arguments in favor of the genetic nature of early childhood autism rely mainly on family and twin, and more recently also on molecular biological studies [Rutter, 2000].

The significance of damage and impairment of brain function in the occurrence of autistic disorders is confirmed by data from the study of various neurological abnormalities and diseases. Thus, there were theories about "autistic deficiency";for example, they speak of functional disorders of the left hemisphere of the brain [Fein et al., 1984], abnormalities of the brain stem divisions that cause attention disturbances [Fein, Skoff, Mirsky, 1981], violations of the interpretation of stimuli and signals( sensory modulation) [Ornitz,1983, 1987], pathologies of cerebral maturation processes [Bauman, Kemper, 1985].There are some specific hypotheses, for example, about the underdevelopment of the cerebellum worm [Courchesne et al., 1988].Recent observations indicate that there is a dependence of the development of the disease on other, simultaneously maturing brain systems, which are reliably associated with memory and emotional behavior. In addition, judgments are expressed that the underdevelopment of the cerebellum worm is associated with cognitive and motor disorders and that there may be connections with other brain structures responsible for the regulation of attention and sensory vibrations.

Analyzing at the time of the onset of the disorder, , other researchers found that 54% of autistic people have cerebral cortex anomalies that developed before the sixth month of pregnancy and are absent in children without autism symptoms. These data, along with other observations in the field of brain pathology in autistic patients, emphasize the significance of the development factor not only for the formation of behavior, but also for the differentiation of the brain and its functions. But at the same time, these results show the heterogeneity of brain function abnormalities and the complexity of their integration within the framework of a unified theory.

Summarizing the above, can no doubt state that damage and impairment of brain function plays a big role in the occurrence of artistic disorders in children and adults. However, there is still no consensus on the relationship between the time of onset, the localization of the lesion and the severity of the disorder.

The most controversial and ambiguous data of biochemical studies. In the study of various metabolic processes, qualitative disorders were found that affect a number of hormones and substances involved in conducting nervous excitation( neurotransmitters) [Gillberg, 1990].Deviations in the levels of adrenaline and noradrenaline, as well as dopamine( dopamine-a neurotransmitter, which is the biochemical precursor of norepinephrine and epinephrine) have been found in children with autism. In addition, there was an increase in the concentration of certain endorphins( opiate-like substances produced by the pituitary gland in combination with a decrease in pain sensitivity).

While it is difficult to assess these incompletely confirmed results. But the effect of neuroleptics( psychopharmacopreparations with antipsychotic, calming and inhibitory effects on the psychomotor sphere) in early childhood autism leads to the conclusion that the exchange of dopamine in this syndrome plays an important role.

Numerous data confirm that in early childhood autism there is damage to the serotonergic system [Poustka, 1998].A number of studies have shown that approximately 60% of children with early childhood autism have elevated levels of the neurotransmitter serotonin in the blood. It is not yet clear why this anomaly arises. On the one hand, there is talk about a possible increase in the synthesis of serotonin in these children, on the other - about the violation of the disintegration of serotonin in the development process, which is observed in healthy children. Data related to other transmitter systems are contradictory

"Affective theory" Hobson relies, on the one hand, on the work of Kanner( 1943), on the other, on the theory of Piagets( 1923).Hobson( 1986a) shares Kanner's view that autistic children have an inherent impairment of emotional contact. Such primary affectivity deficiency of suggests a limited ability to perceive the physical manifestations of the various states of other people.

Hobson( 1984) proved that the difficulties that autistic flights experience in the understanding of other people are not due to the limited perception of space.

To test its hypothesis, Hobson( 1986a) tested autistic children with normal intellectual development and children with developmental lag, but no signs of autism. He tested their ability among the persons depicted in the picture or on the photo and having different expressions( anger, happiness, unhappiness, fear), choose those that coincide with the feeling depicted in the short video. The person shown in the film expressed, for example, fear using gestures or non-verbal exclamations. A similar task was put before autistic patients, presenting them with objects that did not have emotional content. At the same time, autistic children and children from the control group did not differ in the choice of impersonal objects on the corresponding video recordings. As expected, they were less likely to identify on the videotape the faces expressing the proposed variants of the senses. In the autistic group, a relationship was found between the ability to describe the feelings correctly and the intellectual maturity of the child. From this Hobson concluded that autistic children have difficulty in recognizing, understanding and linking various manifestations of the corresponding emotions( gestures, exclamations, etc.).This, in turn, could worsen their ability to understand the emotional state of other people.

Later, when studying the same children [Hobson, 1986], the scientist checked whether autistic children can recognize how gestures of reflecting individual feelings can be combined with certain exclamations and facial expressions. The results confirmed the findings of a previous study [Hobson, 1986a] that autistic children understood the importance of the material presented, but experienced difficulties in synthesizing specific manifestations of feelings( facial expressions, gestures, sounds, etc.).

In general, the presented results disprove the opinion of the generalized violation of perception in autistic children. To a greater extent, these data confirm the violation of the information processing method. Rutter( 1983) also believes that autistic children are characterized not by an inadequate ability to interpret sensory stimuli, but a special kind of treatment of stimuli having emotional or social significance.

Baron-Cohen, Leslie and Frith( 1985, 1986) believe that the proposed "affective theory" is insufficient to explain the socialization gap in autistic children. These scientists talk about the presence of cognitive deficits of and in various experiments prove that it is difficult for autistic children to imagine that other people may have different mental states. Therefore, they often misunderstand the behavior of others, refer to the latter as inanimate objects and are lost, as they find it difficult to assess the behavior of others( Gillberg, 1990).

In an experiment conducted by Baron-Cohen, Leslie and Frith( 1985), children were allowed to play with a doll and a toy marmot. Then the marmot was hid in the absence of a doll.80% of the examined autistic children did not understand that the missing doll could not know about where the marmot was hidden, i.e.they could not separate their own knowledge from the knowledge of the doll. Conversely, compared with them normal children, as well as children with Down's syndrome, correctly determined that the doll could not have known about the change in the location of the marmot, being like a doll, they would look for him in the same place.

This deficit and understanding of the mental state of other people, their thoughts, beliefs, thoughts and desires are also noted by Dawson and Fernald( 1987), who examined the ability of autistic patients to see the situation from the point of view of another person. Leslie and Frith( 1988) also avenged that it is difficult for autistic children to understand the intentions and desires of others. This aspect of the disease concerns social perception.

The ability to see the world from the standpoint of the other is denoted in the literature by the term "theory of mind" or "theory of the mental world." In normally developing children, the "theory of mind" begins at the end of the first year of life,

Continuing the experiment described above, Baron-Cohen( 1989) examined autistic children who were asked to understand the point of view of the doll( what does the doll think about?) In this experiment, they investigated whether children with autism are able to perform a more complex task - to understand the position of the other person.playedscene with the participation of three actors, after which they had to answer the question: "What does one of these people think, what do others think?" 90% of normal children and 60% of children with Down syndrome correctly answered the question at the same timetime, no autistic child could perform this more complex task of testing the "theory of mind."

Later it turned out that the factor of verbal intelligence is a necessary, but insufficient condition for the development of the "theory of mind".The experiments did not clarify the question of why this ability does not develop sufficiently in autistic children.

Summarizing the results of the empirical studies in the field of cognitive psychology given here, we note that the peculiarities of social and interpersonal contacts of autistic children( for example, lack of understanding of the reactions of others or lack of own reactions to various external factors) can be associated with specific defects in social perception. In children with developmental delay without signs of autism or normal children, such features are not observed. The latter are specific signs of autism. 'Affective' and 'cognitive' theories explore different aspects of described impairments of perception, but do not contradict each other.

It should be borne in mind that the aetiological factors described above, which determine the development of early childhood autism, interact with each other. For example, hereditary factors can make a child more susceptible to external damaging effects. Violations of emotional and cognitive development can lead to a lag in the overall development, in connection with which the behavior of patients is more typical for young children. Similar, inappropriate forms of behavior cause in turn reactions from the environment of the child, which, perhaps, does not take into account the level of its development. The consequence of structural and functional disorders of the brain, revealed by the latest research, are inevitable mistakes in the patient's understanding of the reactions of others, which prevents the child from adequately solving the problems facing him and aggravating the existing violations even more.

The study of the etiology of the disorder, unfortunately, is most often not accompanied by the development of therapeutic measures. Often a lot of time passes from understanding the reasons to the appearance of effective methods of treatment. But if you recall the 20-30-ies, then in this period, data on a possible etiology of autism led to significant changes that had an impact on therapy. Below are listed the most important changes that occurred.

1. Reducing the feelings of personal guilt of parents and family members. Parents are not the cause of the child's autistic behavior, which is confirmed by the latest data on the influence of hereditary factors. The results of recent studies indicate, rather, that early neurological autism has a primary neurobiological disorder that has only a secondary effect on child-parent relationships [Remschmidt, 1987].
2. It is hardly possible to define one as the only cause of of autistic disorders;all the data obtained so far indicate, rather, that several factors are involved in the etiology and pathogenesis of this disorder . This means that in the therapy an integrated approach that requires the cooperation of different specialists is adequate.
3. Explicit structured therapeutic measures with adequately formulated therapeutic goals have clear advantages( in comparison with activities involving free development and permissiveness).
3. Modern therapies do not provide sensational success in the development of cognitive functions, primarily intellect, but only allow to stimulate social behavior and communication. Complete elimination of cognitive and emotional disorders can not be achieved and it is unlikely that this should be expected in the near future. But because of this, you do not need to abandon treatment and become pessimists, but rather, it is necessary to form autistic people's more realistic assessment of their violations, as well as their abilities and adequately perceive treatment activities.

Recently, specialists placed special hopes on the method of "supporting communications".This method, developed in Australia and promoted in the US by Douglas Biklen et al.[Biklen et al., 1992], in Germany became known through Birger Sellin( 1993).A final assessment of this method can not yet be given. Opinions about him are contradictory. In many studies, attention is drawn to the authoritarian role of the facilitator, with the help of which this technique is implemented [Smith, Haas, Belcher, 1994].

5. Autism rehabilitation is an interaction process, requiring adaptation both by patients and by the people around them. But at the heart of this mutual process is the right of the autistic to be himself and unlike the others, which is a characteristic of his personality and must be recognized by society.

This section will give a brief description of therapy and rehabilitation in early childhood autism. In Chapter 5, the treatment activities will be described in more detail and with reference to to all autistic syndromes.

Studies on therapy and rehabilitation in early childhood autism have shown that behaviorally oriented, directive and structured therapies are more effective than methods that provide patients with too much freedom for their own development( Schopler, 1983).This is reasonable. If we do not target children and adolescents with autism to solve certain problems, then there will be a danger of their full subordination to their own stereotyped habits and it will become more difficult to activate them. In each case, therapy should depend on the individual nature of the child's development and be aimed at involving different aspects of the personality in the treatment process, depending on the characteristics of the patient: for example, the formation of speech development, eating behavior, weakening self-destructive behavior, social behavior, development of practical life skills and toleranceto others. This purposeful treatment process must obey the general concept and be holistic, despite the stimulation of certain aspects.

In children , the involvement of parents and the child's microsocial environment in therapy plays a decisive role, since parents can continue important activities within the treatment process at home or at least adhere to the chosen therapeutic principles in their home environment.

This also applies to adolescence in cases where adolescents live at home. The primary goals of their therapy are the elimination of behavioral stereotypes and the consistent formation of the labor system, as this largely determines the further possibilities for the integration of patients and society and ensuring their independence.

In the treatment of some patients, the medication methods, , for example, in the treatment of hyperkinetic disorders, excessive motor activity( psychostimulants), with a tendency to aggressive behavior and impulsivity( neuroleptics) and pronounced forms of self-destructive behavior, if it can not be eliminatedother methods. In a number of cases, good results were obtained with the use of lithium.

How successful is the recently promoted maintenance-induced therapy, the developed by the American children's psychiatrist Welch( 1984) and developed by the Tinbergen couple [Tinbergen, Tinbergen, 1984] is still unclear. With this method, the child is forced to come into contact by holding, while at the same time trying to eliminate the feeling of fear by consoling him. The child is held until his resistance stops and he does not relax. This process is similar to the flooding method ( flooding), which is used to treat fears in behavioral therapy. The described clinical observations and other studies indicate that in certain cases this method can be successfully applied.

Recently, many parents have placed their hopes on the method of "supporting communication" when an autistic child or teenager is encouraged to write in a special alphabet or computer, supporting his dominant hand. Despite the sensational reports of good results in individual cases, the effectiveness of the method has not yet been scientifically confirmed.

School and occupational therapy, or occupational therapy. As for school education, different approaches were used here: teaching in small groups, special classes and special schools, and also integration into kindergartens and schools where healthy children learn at the same time. There are different opinions on developing approaches to learning. Integration, actively promoted at the present time, has limitations due to the behavior of autistic children, and often insufficient attention to the full development of other children, which can not be achieved if the differences in the group are too strong. Autistic children with the highest level of development( "high-functioning" -autism, or autism "with a high level of functioning") in some cases can be directed to work for businesses that are ready to accept them. However, such children constantly require special treatment, as they almost always have difficulty adapting in society or have difficulties in overcoming new, unprogrammed situations. Autistic adolescents with an average or low level of functioning can receive professional skills only in a supportive professional environment, for example, in workshops for disabled people.

The most important predictive factor is level of intellectual and speech development of at the age of 5-6 years. If children by this time have a relatively developed speech and a sufficient level of intellectual development( IQ & gt; 80), one can expect a relatively favorable forecast. To assess the dynamics, it is important to know that the symptoms and deviations in behavior in autistic children in the course of development are constantly changing. This has already been pointed out earlier. As for the long-term prognosis, , the studies conducted so far have established the following: from 1 to 5% of patients with autism in adulthood have practically no deviations, 5 to 15% have borderline psychopathological abnormalities, 16 to 25% persistmental abnormalities that respond well to therapy. In 60-75% of patients, the long-term prognosis is assessed as unfavorable and very unfavorable, i.e.these people are constantly in need of outside help. Almost half of autistic adolescents stay in medical institutions for a long time. Their proportion increases with the age of the patients. Of course, this is due to the fact that aging parents are less able to support the home of adult autistic children. Autistic children with good intellectual and speech abilities visiting the group for children with high levels of functioning, in the course of further examination, in many cases, there are numerous deviations in behavior, for example, motor stereotypes, states of fear, pronounced communication disorders, poverty and speech disorders. Special literature constantly discusses the possibility of the transition of early childhood autism to schizophrenia. But already Kanner( 1943) believed that early childhood autism should be distinguished from schizophrenia. This is confirmed by many clinical and dynamic studies conducted with great care and using clear diagnostic criteria. These studies did not confirm the transition of early childhood autism to schizophrenia.