The American Psychological Association defines a person with savantism, or a savant, as someone who has an intellectual disability or Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), who also demonstrates exceptional, often isolated, cognitive abilities.
Meltdowns are involuntary responses that autistic people have to stressful and overwhelming environments. Meltdowns usually happen when an autistic person feels like they cannot escape a stressful situation or cannot express their concerns.
Elopement is when a child leaves a safe area without permission and it can lead to dangerous accidents and outcomes. Approximately 50% of autistic children have tried to elope. Understanding why autistic children elope and implementing strategies to prevent it are crucial steps in ensuring their safety.
Over the years, doctors and researchers have devised different ways of describing the support needs of autistic people. For a variety of reasons, some of those systems have fallen out of common use and others have found their way into popular culture. These days, doctors usually describe autism using levels of severity