Archive for the 'autism' Category
When it comes to the disorders of neurological category, then in this vast expanse of world there are only three category of people namely medical professionals, the afflicted and the relatives of the afflicted; all the rest of the people come under the ignorant category.
Most of the general public still remain ignorant and uninterested about this type of disease or condition related to behavioural impairment.
Due to the indifference implicitly shown by the general public towards the autism is assuming significant proportions and hence the condition of autism started receiving insignificant understanding.
The Bias and Autism Behavior
The main reason for general public to misunderstand autism behavior lies in their disbelief regarding the very existence of any such disease or condition. The prejudiced thought or belief make them to take the impairment as crazy and they fail or rather refuse to take into account the possibility of existence of such neurological disorder.
The popular belief or rather disbelief makes people to just brush off any symptoms of neurological disorders as “crazy behaviour” and even make them to suggest ways and means to mend the behaviour.
Most of the autism symptoms exhibited by children are in fact looked down as irresponsible acts of escapism and in misunderstanding the symptoms parents are in no way different from the general public.
In earlier days when people find behavioural changes or any malady in social interaction among their child, then they will be subjected to punishments such as locking them in cages or making them to stand in hot sun or cold rain. They believed that such punishments could correct the intentional and the forced behaviour problems of the child.
The situation even made the federal government to bring in a law to desist parents and general public from inciting such punishments on their wards or younger children. In those days the so-called therapy for autism behavior normally comprises of torture related treatments and methods for correcting the behavioural patterns.
Harmless Impairment
Most of the autism behaviors assume a social awkwardness form where as the true social awkwardness is the real absence or lack of a specific social skill. The key factor of an autism behavior is that it is looked at as a voluntary behaviour rather than an involuntary response. The actual autism behavior is in fact a mental condition and should never be treated as lack of social skills.
Knowing more about autism behavior and autism behavioural therapy are not easy and the issues are to be discussed in length to get a better understanding so as to know well the domain of the above-mentioned three groups.
Technorati Tags: Autism, Autism Behavior
Many numbers of children get afflicted by autism through out the world without any respite and today the number of afflicted people is six times more than the figure that were available in early 80s.
Scientists or researchers are not sure why there is an increasing trend in autism affliction among children, but the consoling news could be that many people have started learning as how to manage the disorder and to live with the condition.
Understanding Autism
Autism is a neurological disorder that afflicts younger children well before their age of three years. If not diagnosed and appropriate treatment is not given the disorder will result in impairment of the child’s social skills and communication abilities.
Autistic children retract from the outside world and start living in solitude and finally may reach a stage where in you may not be able to bring them to the real world at all.
When it comes to autism, there are two types and they are mild autism and the complex autism. Both the types were studied in great detail but the research is yet to give us a perfect cure for autism disorder.
However, the researches and studies have made us to understand autism better and given us various treatment methods and therapies for management of autism. In fact, many of such therapies have resulted in containing the effects of disorder and in few cases it has even reversed the condition to normal.
It will be a difficult task to diagnose mild autism in children and if the condition is left untreated, then the disorder may develop into a fully blown complex autistic disorder. On the other hand is easy to treat mild autism if diagnosed well in time and you can gift the child who has mild autism back its original normal life once again.
Learning to Understand Various Symptoms of Autism
Today’s scientific diagnostic tools have made us to understand the otherwise peculiar or erratic symptoms of autism easier. The only catch is that you can do it only when the children reach a stage where you can make them to communicate and for any given normal circumstances you will be able to diagnose when the children are in their 13 to 18 months old in age. Let us now see few of the conspicuous symptoms that manifest in both mild autism and complex autism:
Afflicted child will be indifferent to pain or shows no external reactions
Absence of smiling or laughter and the child will not express any happy disposition
Absence of any reaction to your scolding or appreciation or even to physical punishments such as slapping, etc
Avoid or indifferent to physical contacts and comforting gestures such as touching and hugging
Show great affinity to numbers and are even adept in solving mathematical problems; and interested in repetitive movements
Affinity towards spinning motion
Exhibit intolerance to loud noises
Impaired communications abilities
Likes games that are very monotonous to other normal children
Shows great interests towards unusual objects
Often retracts from outer world and get into solitude
All the above-mentioned traits are seen both in mild autism and complex autism. Majority of the symptoms varies in degree from person to person and can never be the same for any two afflicted persons.
In complex autism, the symptoms will be more conspicuous than in mild autism. However, the therapies or the treatment methods would be the same in both the cases. One need enormous care and patience in treating autistic children and the results will not be forthcoming in a short time.
Technorati Tags: Autism, Autism Symptoms
The moment you know that your child is having autism, then a gloom will descend over you and you will start wondering what to do. The big list of vague symptoms will further confuse you as you may find few of them exhibited by your child and many of them are not at all displayed. Such a situation can also make you to suspect some other related disorder and you may even start praying for absence of autism in your child.
Autism is considered as a spectrum disorder meaning that your child may or may not have all the related symptoms and the behavioural traits also seems to be very unique. Based on the symptoms your child may be in need of treatment in specific areas only and you can safely leave other symptoms untreated
Choosing an autism treatment itself is a big job and the very success mainly depends on your choosing the correct and apt treatment for your child based on the symptoms exhibited. There is no one single treatment schedule that can accommodate all autistic children irrespective of the symptoms.
Therapies for Behavioural Disorder
Your child may exhibit behavioural maladies either due to the impaired communication skills, or due to malfunctioning sensory capabilities, or even both. While deciding the autism treatment for management of behavioural maladies caused by impairment, care should be taken to make an assessment based on the individual case basis.
Autistic children do not learn corrective behaviours on their own and hence it is a must for you to choose an appropriate behavioural therapy based on your child’s symptoms.
Few children may be in need of one-to-one training and the same should get administered through an expert teacher. An expert in administering such therapies will be able to show good progress in your child’s learning curve.
The autism treatment is aimed at making the child to learn within an environment rather than making to adjust to the environment. Hence, any autism treatment taken up for treating behavioural maladies should be tailor made for correctly addressing the specific behavior of each child.
Therapies for Physical Coordination
Autistic children have impaired learning abilities and hence may need specialised treatment for correcting the learning disorder. You can find communication disorder in almost all the autism spectrums and this can be well addressed through speech therapy. In an autism treatment, physical therapies are also made use for correcting the impaired motor abilities and such treatment can improve physical coordination in the autistic child.
The difficulty faced by the autistic children is mainly due to their misunderstanding the external stimulus and their brain “sees” things differently. The occupational therapy in an autism treatment can help in integrating all the messages for proper coordination.
Therapies Involving Medications
Under normal circumstances medications are not prescribed in an autism treatment, but in few exceptional cases medicines are used for correcting and diverting certain of the body and brain chemical compositions.
Some autistic children, who have difficulties in behavioural patterns and find it difficult to socialise freely, are prescribed with anti-depressants like Prozac, Celexa, or Zoloft. For children who are aggressive and suffer from tantrums, anti-psychotic medications can help in decreasing such incidence effectively.
Only after knowing and understanding your child’s symptoms fully, you should choose the autism treatment for your child. Note to take adequate precautions while selecting the autism treatment as the treatment is the only available lifeline for your child.
Technorati Tags: Autism, Autism Treatment
Teaching a child with autism is a very formidable task when you take into account the abnormal symptoms of autism. The behaviour pattern of autistic persons are always different and they differ from person to person and due to which you cannot just apply one single treatment commonly for all autistic persons.
The main symptoms or the behaviour of autistic persons will be that they will be very sensitive to loud noise, show interests in unusual topics and get fascinated towards relatively inconspicuous movements such as finger movement of others.
It has been proved beyond doubt that an early treatment schedule can in fact assist autistic children regain their lost attributes and help them to lead a near normal life. As the symptoms of autism can never be the same, the treatment methods also can never be same.
Due to the uniqueness of autism there is no standard or standardised treatment method that can be applied on autistic people. When it comes to types of treatment, there are three methods of teaching a child with autism and they are physical therapy, verbal communication therapy, and applied behavioural analysis.
Physical Therapy
Teaching a child with autism is a demanding job due to the complexity involved in making the autistic child understanding the techniques and in making them to follow. The main aim is to make the autistic children learn to live within the environment instead of changing the entire behaviour.
One more barrier that one could face in educating the autistic children is in the area of making them to overcome their physical difficulties experienced. As majority of the autistic children will have malfunctioning motor abilities in one way or other, physical therapy sessions should be so designed so as to assist the child to get back their coordination skills and better physical movement.
Verbal Communication Therapy
The verbal communication technique used in teaching a child with autism is to instill confidence in the autistic child’s mind for better communication. Normally any autistic child will have great difficulty in communication and hence they fall silent and never express their desires or their thoughts.
Technicians teaching verbal communication techniques use novel methods so as to evince interests in the minds of the autistic children and kindle their awareness and tongue usage. Children learn to use the movements of tongue towards understanding the meaning of a word and start using the technique for putting forth their thoughts.
Applied Behaviour Analysis
The third method that is used in teaching a child with autism is applied behavioural analysis. This particular educational technique was evolved based on the foundation that autism is a neurological disorder. The technique aims in customisation of instruction sets based on the case by case analysis as the autism disorder symptoms are unique and are not similar for any two persons.
This customised or individualised technique helps the autistic child to accomplish the task accurately and they will be in a position to repeat with accuracy and start enjoying the rewards. This technique will instill a positive outlook in the minds of the autistic children and help them to overcome their communication disability.
Teaching a child with autism by resorting to applied behavioural analysis has resulted in success and the autistic children have started to show their flexibility in the place of rigidity and friendliness in the place of perpetual hostility.
Technorati Tags: Autism, Physical Therapy, Communication Therapy
Autism is a neurological disorder that results in impairment of social skills and changed patterns of behaviour and interests in a person. The word ‘autism’ has its origin from a Greek word meaning “self”.
As of now there is no cure for autism and the medical world is also not likely to find one in the near future. Further, the cause of autism is also yet to be cracked by the researchers. Despite the various thoughts and beliefs, scientists and researchers commonly agree on the genetic reason as the cause of autism.
With the research getting much deeper as days rolling by, scientists still debate on genetics as a possible angle for cause of autism in people. The reason for putting the blame on genetics for the possible cause of autism is due to the finding that identical twins who share the same DNA also shares the disorder more than the non-identical twins.
Though the scientists have pinpointed the role of genes for the possible cause of autism, they have not yet concluded whether it is a single gene or a collection of genes.
Is it Acquired or Inherited
Again there are two school of thoughts, one claiming the cause of autism due to inheritance and the other arguing on that the presence of particular set of gene or genes in an autistic person as a coincidence.
Few other experts and specialists argue that environmental factors can also be a cause of autism and as days roll by it is becoming difficult to zero-in on the cause of autism and all the findings are becoming only hypothetical.
Other Possible Presumption
When it comes to the cause of autism, there are more theories but not even a single theory has been proved beyond doubt. Few strange theories such as yeast infections, leaky gut syndrome, allergic or intolerance to certain specific food items, lack of beneficial digestive bacteria - all these theories also make their rounds.
Under the weird theory of leaky gut syndrome, people assume that the undigested food components enter into the blood stream and eventually enter into the brain resulting autistic condition.
Many people opine that such yeast infection or other materials cause immunodeficiency problems that may start mimicking neurotransmitters and scrambles the inward stimulus making the autistic person to misinterpret things.
Actually under this circumstance the person may be showing a right response for a wrong stimulus or impulse. Few other opinions suggest that a brain injury, or administered vaccines, or few viruses, or even the environmental factors may trigger autism in people.
The stark truth is that nobody is aware of the real cause of autism as of now and autism continues its journey of affliction without any hindrance. Though there is no cure for autism, still people afflicted with autism can lead a meaningful and productive life with a right kind of treatment.
Let us hope that one day we will know the exact cause of autism and the precise cure for autism. Until then, we can learn to be more aware of the disorder and help autistic people in all possible ways for making their life easier.
Technorati Tags: Autism, Autism Spectrum, ADHD
In case of developmental and behavioural syndromes, certain combination of traits results in autism spectrum. The spectrum range normally comprises of high functioning autism or hyper-socialisation and low functioning autism.
Many people who have been diagnosed with autism spectrum of one kind or other normally lead a miserable life and end up in poverty.
The autism spectrum is in fact, a pervasive developmental disorder meaning that the disorder causes impairment in language skills, communication skills, self-help skills, and results in restricted motor coordination and poor scholastic achievement.
Characteristic of Autism Spectrum
Out of the several traits that are associated with autism spectrum disorder, you should be able to correctly diagnose the symptom so as to pinpoint the disorder condition. One of the main traits is the inability of the person to make friends and normally such persons will avoid eye contacts, socially non-interactive and are not very trustful.
When you look for any impairment in speech for identifying autism spectrum in a person, then you may look for presence of any high form of formal language, single word replies for the questions asked, usage of rote chunks of language, and inability to understand non-verbal or sign language.
You can also find certain assumed traits associated with autistic spectrum such as literal use of language, sticking to one particular routine, getting engrossed in an act, and improper understanding of the concepts.
Persons with autism spectrum may also show a preference to odd things such as odd colours in clothing and odd food items. They also show a poor motor coordination.
The severity of autism spectrum is determined based on the frequency and number of above-mentioned traits occurring. Persons with autism spectrum are in fact, are very adept in mathematics and science due to the fact that rote memorisation is a trait in autism spectrum.
What is the Relation with ADHD
Some scientists see a link between autism spectrum and other similar disorders. For example, ADHD has been known to have both a genetic and behavioural link with autistic spectrum. Some experts even suggest that ADHD is to be categorised under autistic spectrum disorders due to the commonness in symptoms.
Further, it is also possible for your child to get both ADHD and autism spectrum together in one time. In children the symptoms of both the conditions are almost similar in nature however as the age increases the disorder will become more distinct for you to say whether it is ADHD or autism spectrum.
It is possible for certain children who grow up with ADHD to develop a very normal communication and social skills where as it is not so in autism spectrum disorders, as the children will continue to exhibit impaired symptoms even as they grow.
We have to still go a long way in the autism spectrum journey. Despite the monumental advancements in medicine and other scientific achievements, we do not have an effective cure for this disorder. Your effort to know more about the subject can in fact see you helping autistic people in many ways and assisting them to lead a near normal life.
Technorati Tags: Autism, Autism Spectrum, ADHD
Autism and PDD (pervasive developmental disorder) are basically characterised by symptoms such as disrupted speech, poor or no communication and social interaction and the condition is regarded as one of the developmental disorders. Further, obsessive behaviour is also another outcome of the autism and PDD condition.
PDD or the Pervasive Development Disorder is the condition that deals all these developmental disorders at a macro level, hence autism actually forms a part of PDD, and autism and PDD share many common traits. The basic common traits that both autism and PDD share under the broad categories of diagnosis, causes, and treatments are:
Predicting Autism and PDD
The results of any diagnosis for autism and PDD will show any one or all the three types of impairments namely speech impairment, absence of social interaction and repetitive obsessive behaviour.
The only marked difference amongst the symptoms is in the level of severity displayed. In PDD the symptoms of impairment will be less severe or less marked where as in autism the same symptoms would be at a higher level of severity and more conspicuous.
However, only an experienced and a qualified medical professional alone can interpret the diagnosed symptoms correctly. Further, to arrive at the correct diagnosis there are so many questionnaires devised for the purpose with which the doctor could find out the presence of any impairment that may lead to autism or PDD.
Reasons for Autism and PDD
Till today the exact causes for autism and PDD are not known. However, medical researchers and other behavioural experts opine that genetics play a vital role for the onset of the autism and PDD and hence the reason lies some where in one of the branches of the family tree.
But, both the autism and PDD have evaded the genetic angle while subjected to test and that led to researchers coming to a conclusion that both autism and PDD are caused by a combination of genetic and other psychological abnormalities or anomalies.
Further, in an another school of thought, that certain administered vaccines during the early developmental stage of the child is also responsible for the development of both autism and PDD. However, there is no concrete evidence to show that vaccines are in fact responsible for the onset of autism.
Handling Autism and PDD
Autism and PDD cannot be treated with one single treatment and it normally employs a series of methods and techniques. The basic methodology comprises of many associated techniques that aim in behavior modification, techniques for overall development, appropriate medications, and in educating both the patient and the family members.
In an initial attempt the patient will be treated for bringing down the erratic behaviour so as to control the so-called “out of control” behavior. Any attempt to change the behavioural pattern will be done along with few medications and in an overall scenario, a strict discipline will be enforced so as to contain the abnormal behaviour of the patient at all times and at all levels.
Out of the many behaviour development techniques available, techniques such as ABA (applied behavior analysis), therapy for better verbal communication, physical therapy, and special education are employed. Sometimes a medical prescription may also be included in the treatment for autism and PDD.
The administered or prescribed medications may include medicine for stabilising hyperactivity or depression and the same can also be given along with tranquilisers and anti-depressants. Further, medicines will include to address the problem of convulsions in patients and all these combinations are worked out for treating the autism and PDD.
Autism is a neurological disorder that affects children before the age of three years. The autism disorder shows up as impairment in speech, retraction from outside world, impairment in social interaction, and abnormal or inappropriate responses to the external stimulus.
As a parent you cannot see any physical signs or symptoms, but you can notice certain abnormal behavioural changes hitherto you have not seen or heard elsewhere.
Initial ymptoms
The first signs or the initial symptoms of autism in your child may not be common, as the symptoms are quite different with every child. Few children are born with the malady, and other children develop the complications and start showing up the symptoms suddenly.
Any autistic child will be non-responsive to people and may not look for many toys but stick to one particular plaything or toy. They will avoid eye contacts and never entertain affectionate gestures such as touching or hugging.
Autistic child will be slow in developing speech than the regular children and they will be very aggressive for no reasons and that leading to many self-injuries. As a parent you may first notice the abnormal behaviour, but in many cases your friends and relatives will brush away such behaviours as “crazy”.
The moment you see any abnormal behaviour in your child, it is better you seek for guidance from doctors immediately as autism in children requires immediate therapies to correct the malady.
The Child Doctor
Today’s pediatricians are well equipped to know and identify the possibility of autism in children. The pediatricians are aware of this neurological disorder, and they can tell whether your child is well within the normal behaviour patterns or not.
But the symptoms of autism are still evading diagnosis, as there are no standard medical tests for diagnosing autism in children. If you can see any problem or see your child lacking in proper speech, then it is time you have sought for doctor’s help to rule out the possibility of autism in your child.
Autism being a neurological disorder, your child may show up a lack of interest in playing with toys or may show intermittent outbursts for no valid reasons or even exhibit peculiar gesticulations.
Though there is a possibility for some other neurological problem, it is better you consult your doctor for testing your child and for ruling out the autism disorder. However, in case of diagnosed autism, you need to consult a specialist for treating your child.
Consulting Experts experienced in Autism Treatment
Experts or specialists well trained in treating autism in children has several time-tested techniques and instruments that can assist in diagnosing the autism in your child. These specialists use a standardised rating scale to measure your child’s observed behavior and decide on the condition after making a well structured interview with parents and after getting to know the symptoms.
Any photographs or videos can also assist in knowing when the first symptom cropped up and at what age so as to help the doctor in pinpointing the disorder. Even after matching the results with the possible autism in your child, the specialist should consider all other associated conditions that may be very close in resemblance to autism in children.
Once the specialist rule out other possible disorders and be able to pinpoint on the autism angle due to the presence of poor social relationships, poorly developed communication skills, repetitive behaviors, etc., you can decide as to how to deal with the situation and start working out the methodologies of the treatment.
Technorati Tags: Autism, Child Autism Symptoms
Every parent will put forth all their efforts to see their children groomed into a self-sufficient adult. In fact, it is the primary duty of the parents to shape their children’s behaviour and growth to reach the long-term goal. The education system also plays a vital role in equipping the children with right skills and assisting them in growing to become a responsible adult.
The Difficult Task of Educating Autistic Children
Parents helping their children in grooming, children going to schools, studying well and growing with good manners, complete studies and take up a job, and become a successful adult in the society - all may sound simple and easy in a hypothetical condition. Such things are highly impossible for autistic children.
Though the parents of these autistic children also wish to see their children grow, perform well, and become self-sufficient, in the real scenario it is not so as today’s available autism education is not sufficient enough to fulfill such dreams of parents who have autistic children.
You can have a list of institutions and special schools that offer good autism education, but before you could make your mind to admit your autistic child in one of the schools, you should consider many points that may influence your child’s personality development.
We will see few of them now:
- In a any general school, one single teacher may be able to manage around 15 pupils and cater to the needs of the studying children, but in case of autistic children the teacher student ration should be in the range of 1:3 meaning that for every three autistic children there should be at least one teacher. Because of the special attention required to teach and guide autistic children this 1:3 teacher student ratio must be maintained and in case of more autistic children left under the care of one single teacher, then the children may not get the required attention and interaction.
- Autism education is not easy as it is very time consuming and monotonous in nature and requires special skills to handle non-responsive autistic children. Many times the children may need one-to-one interaction for making progress.
- The level of expertise attained by the teacher and the training staff need to be in high order so as to have an effective impact while handling the autistic children. In majority of the time when the autistic children makes inappropriate reaction or response, only a well trained teacher or the staff alone can understand and give corrective measures to the children. Only a good training can make teachers giving correct and appropriate training to the autistic children.
- The staff and the teacher involved should be very friendly and should talk freely so as to gain confidence levels of the children and be able to meet to the needs of the autistic children. In many of the autism education programmes, the progress of the child should be closely monitored for incorporating necessary changes and for including additional therapies. Deciding on the right kind of treatment or therapy is a long drawn process and hence the parents and the teachers should work in coordination for achieving desired results.
If you can get all the above-mentioned facilities or advantages in an autism education programme, then such programme will be beneficial to your autistic child.
Technorati Tags: Autism, Autism Education
Modern medical science is yet to give us the exact reason that causes autism and it is yet to give a cure. However, many associations, parents and voluntary organisations are collecting information in order to understand the disorder better and for finding an effective cure for autism. When the science depends on the fact and figures of the research findings, many of the parents who have autistic children started trying the autism diet.
A very prolonged study and the try have in fact resulted in emergence of important and major dietary treatments such as casein and gluten-free diet, supplements of vitamins A, D, C and B-12, and cod liver oil.
How a Diet can Help
If your child has been diagnosed for autism and if the reason is not from physical causes, then an autism diet can be of certain help. There is a popular belief that there is a link or relation between autism symptoms and food allergies or sensitiveness. It was observed that autism as a neurological condition often combined with few physical and mental abnormalities. Few autistic children have even developed gastrointestinal problems including irritable bowel syndrome.
Further, there is a high incidence of children suffering from food allergies and may interfere with the symptoms of autism. As the autistic children have some impairment in communicating, parents should take necessary care and precaution to take the food allergy into account and should act fast in case of doubtful symptoms.
When it comes to autism diet, the most sought after and the recommended one is the casein and gluten-free diet. You can find casein in milk products and oats, rye, barley and wheat are rich in gluten compound.
Children very often develop sensitiveness to both the above foods. Casein and gluten being high protein food items and are hard to be broken by the digestive system, they trigger neurotransmitter receptors in the brain and act as a sedative.
You can find casein and gluten in many foods such as breads, cakes, cereals used for breakfast, ice creams, pizzas, milk and milk products, cheese, wheat, rye, oats, and barley. Hence it is advised to keep away such food items from the autistic child’s regular diet to avoid any possible complications.
If your child is below five years, then your child will normally be put on autism diet for three months and the outcome will be monitored closely. Despite the confusing normal improvements that is far from any judgement and in enforcing the diet, certain parents still swear by the results and continue to go ahead with such diets.
Effectiveness Vitamin Supplements
Though the medical world has not yet approved the use of vitamin B, many parents of autistic children have laid faith on vitamin B supplements. The B complex vitamin group is useful in brain functioning and the vitamin B-12 has a specific direct effect on the nervous system.
In fact, many families have reported that their autistic children have made eye contact and have shown improvement in behaviour after a continuous administration of vitamin B in their regular diet.
Further, Vitamin C also lends a helping hand in improving one’s brain functioning. Few studies have also revealed that after administering vitamin C to the autistic children, they have shown better eye contacts and positively responded to the communication attempts.
Maintaining a favourable vitamin supplement in easier than maintaining the autism diet. Besides vitamin C and B, Vitamins A and D are also found to be very effective in brain functioning and bone growth and you can have a lot of vitamin D in cod liver oils.
Technorati Tags: Autism, Autism Diet
