By Amina Abdul Salam CAIRO, April 8, 2018 - Is it important to know how to deal with autism in adults? How to offer psychological support to the patient? What are the options for treatment? Naturally therapists should be aware of all these aspects when managing the disease in adults. Explaining what autism is usually posted on April 2, which is World Autism Day. Dr Mohamed Behram, Neurology Consultant at Mansoura University said, "Autism is often referred to as autistic spectrum disorder because the symptoms vary from person to person. It negatively affects a person's growth, hinders the brain's understanding of information and affects speech and communication with other people. "It is difficult for autistic people to establish clear and strong links with others, but early diagnosis and treatment help them to recover and to live a natural life," he added. "The symptoms of autism include problems with the development of non-verbal communication skills, such as eye-to-eye contact. The autistic child does not have the ability to establish friendships with children with the same age. He or she can be slow in learning to speak and can have a tendency to repeat words and phrases. The early warning signs include lack of response to the voice of the mother and to his or her name being called," said Dr Behram. The cause of autism is still unknown; It could be genetic, while autism in adults may be attributed to injury in childhood, with the disease developing over the years. According to Dr Behram, an adult with autism may be unable to make big decisions, such as when needing to choose a place to which to move. An autistic adult may be very sensitive and may have difficulty in moving, walking, running and communicating with others. Autistic people prefer to live alone, far away from crowded places. While there is no known cure for autism and there is no single treatment method that fits all situations, there are treatment and educational approaches that can address some of the challenges associated with the condition and can teach self-help skills for greater independence. "Though there is no medication that can improve the signs of autism, there are certain drugs that help control the symptoms," Dr Behram said. He added that there were several diets that had been proposed as possible treatments for autism spectrum disorder, but further research was needed to see what effect they had on the signs and symptoms of the disorder.