Autism spectrum disorders in children: main problems and solutions

Abstract

In recent decades, there has been an increase in the number of children suffering from autism spectrum disorders (ASD) all over the world, which determines the high relevance of early diagnosis of these disorders for timely treatment and correction. However, the diagnostic criteria for ASD require the assessment of certain psychomotor skills in a child, which mature much later than necessary for timely diagnosis, so quite often the final diagnosis is made only by 5–7 years. New clinical guidelines suggest that primary screening should be performed by a pediatrician, but practice shows that this does not happen in reality. The reasons for this are not only the contradictions in the diagnostic criteria, but also the current ICD-10 classification, which does not fully reflect the pathogenetic processes in the child's body. In the meantime, new clinical guidelines recognize the role of genetic disorders and epigenetic factors in the development of autism spectrum disorders. Currently, there are more than 100 genes associated with ASD. That is why autism spectrum disorders must be considered from the point of view of pathogenetic changes in the child's body, in many cases of a hereditary nature, which will allow offering timely and effective methods of diagnosis,treatment, and correction.