Rachel Zamzow, For The Inquirer Posted: Sunday, January 11, 2015, 2:51 AM
Some of the autistic children Connor Kerns works with have odd fears: exposed pipes, bubbles on pizza, a microwave's beep.
These may seem innocuous to many people, but for someone with autism, they can trigger a wave of worry and anxiety.
About 40 percent to 60 percent of people with autism have a diagnosable anxiety disorder or an atypical anxiety driven by irregular fears or unusual social anxiety, said Kerns, assistant professor at the A.J. Drexel Autism Institute.
Anxiety is a common concern for the parents of autistic children and adults on the spectrum. But major obstacles have prevented the accurate assessment of anxiety in autism, leaving treatments for this symptom lacking.
For one, most standard anxiety measures are not designed for people with autism, said Kerns. And they can't deal with unusual anxiety symptoms, such as those caused by a minor change in routine.
"A lot of the atypical fears are much more closely intertwined with symptoms of autism itself," she said.
The core characteristics of autism include social and communication impairments and repetitive behaviors. Kerns is developing an autism-specific addition to a standard anxiety assessment.
People with autism may also struggle with assessing their own feelings and thoughts, said Susan White, associate professor of psychology at Virginia Tech. The observations of parents may be unreliable as they have to intuit their children's feelings, said White, who studies anxiety in autism.
Anxiety's role in autism has gained more attention only in the last decade, said Kerns. She blames a tendency among clinicians to focus on the primary diagnosis - autism - and attribute all related symptoms to the disorder.
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Taking a look at anxiety in autism