A School For Autistic Children

Autism’s Affect On Siblings

The Facts About Autism

 

 

According to the data gathered by the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, autism is estimated to affect 1 for every 166 births. It is believed that about 1.5 million Americans are suffering from some form of Autism. It is the fastest-growing developmental disability that has a 10-17% annual growth.

In 1999, the US Department of Education had reported that there was a 172% increase on the prevalence of disability due to autism. Based on the study conducted by The Autism Society of America, the annual cost needed for the services related to autism will be $200-400 billion in 10 years as the number of people with the disorder reach 4 million in the next decade.

Autism can appear to any race, social background, class, gender, and to any child. It is four times more prevalent in males than in females.

What is Autism?

Autism is a cognitive disorder that affects the developmental or learning ability of an individual. The manifestations of the disorder usually appear as early as the first three years of life. As a result of the neurological disorder, it disrupts the normal functioning of the brain affecting the development of the communication skills and social interaction skills of the person.

Difficulties in verbal and non-verbal communication, leisure activities, and social interaction are seen in both children and adults with the disorder. One should take note however, that there are varying degrees of autism for different individuals. For this reason, an early diagnosis is highly recomme nded. This is crucial so that the child can immediately benefit from the available specialized programs catering for the care of someone with autism.

 

What are the characteristics of a person with autism?

People with autism are also individuals. Like any other individual, a person with autism has his distinct characteristics. Some may respond mildly to an external stimulus, while others may become more aggressive. Some may have the initiative to make a conversation; meanwhile others totally lack the ability to have one.

Here are some of the traits that you may find in someone who has autism:

They resist change.

They have difficulty expressing their needs either verbally or non-verbally.

They repeat words or phrases.

They laughing or cry for no reason at all.

They seem aloof and prefer to be alone.

They have tantrums.

They have difficulty in interacting with others.

They have little or no eye contact.

They are unresponsive to a typical teaching method.

They want sustained odd play

They keep on spinning objects

They are obsessive attached to objects

They have a low threshold to pain.

They don’t manifest fears or suspect danger.

They are passive.

They are non responsive to verbal and act as deaf in conversational voice.

How can autism be diagnosed?

There are no laboratory diagnostic tests known for autism. There are only diagnostic tools and screening tests available but this is done by consulting a trained specialist on the disorder. It is diagnosed through careful observation done for a series of occasions in a given period of time. Studies have shown that early diagnosis gives a great benefit since it allows for early intervention and treatment that will enable the child to learn vital skills especially in communication.

Autism is a disabling condition that needs understanding. By understanding the disorder, the barriers that hinder many people from doing something about the problem will gradually dissolve. Thus, more people afflicted with it will be given the appropriate care they need.

 

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Author: Jonathan Mayheart

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Five Strategies For Coping With Autism and Anxiety On Socialization

Though no parent wants to hear that their child has any of the five types of autism, it can be somewhat of a relief to put a name to what is going on. The best thing about a diagnosis is that the child can get treatments that are meant to help with both communication and socialization. These are both problems for those who have this condition, but with help, they can be overcome. There are some things that parents can do to help, and it begins with finding out how to cope with autism and anxiety on socialization.

Early intervention often means good results can be expected for some children. Before therapies can be started, a thorough examination must be done. The child should be evaluated in all areas they are struggling with due to autism to see what areas need the most immediate help, and what might not need to be addressed at all. Usually one or two behaviors will be singled out as the most pressing, and those are the ones that parents need to concentrate on first. These therapies should always be done with positive reinforcement, and with endless amounts of patience.

1. Speech Therapy: Though there are some children with autism that speak rather well, they can still have communication problems in one form or another. They may have a large vocabulary, but they don’t know how to use it. Some children with autism are very bad at forming relationships because of speech-related communication problems. Speech therapy can help them learn to communicate their feelings and thoughts in a more mainstream fashion.

2.Desensitization to New Environments:

Therapy focused on this area is done when a child always acts out with screaming tantrums away from home. It can be used for tantrums in any situation. The idea behind is to take the child to an area that they struggle with, and when the tantrum ensues, they are removed and they go home. The next time they visit the spot, they only go in for a short amount of time, usually less than a minute. The time is slowly upped in duration and when paired with positive feedback and rewards, this form of desensitization can be a very useful tool. This can help a child cope with new places such as entering a classroom setting.

3. Self-Awareness:

These skills will help children learn to relate to themselves and that in turn helps them relate with others. When they can learn to manage their emotions, they can learn more about the same emotions in others. That helps them in understanding what the other person may be saying or feeling, and once that is accomplished, communications are better managed.

4. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy:

This therapy also helps a child understand and manage their emotions, and can go a long way towards helping them express themselves rather than having no other way to express emotion except through a tantrum. It can help them relax in certain situations that are normally anxious, and can also help with obsessive behaviors of all types.

5. Medication:

Some parents will refuse to put their children on medications to help anxiety during socialization, but there are times when it can greatly benefit the child so it is worth being open minded about this option. Some children with autism can suffer from deep bouts of depression or may have ADHD. So, medication is something that can be discussed at length with your child’s physician or you may wish to investigate alternative forms of treatment, such as natural supplements or complimentary therapies to reduce autism and anxiety on socialization.

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Rachel Evans Article Source: EzineArticles.com/?expert=Rachel_Evans

Diagnosing Autism and the Differences With Sensory

Is your little one austic? How doyou know? Learn the early signs of autism and what to about tem. When it comes to diagnosing autism, there are many different factors that need to be considered. This is because the autism spectrum disorders have such a vast range of potential symptoms and no two cases are alike. Therefore, it is very easy to mistake autism for another condition.

Among the most common mistakes when diagnosing autism is not understanding the difference between being on the spectrum, and sensory integration disorder. This leads to the question of whether autism spectrum disorder and sensory integration disorder (also known as sensory processing disorder) are the same condition, or at the very least if they are related. Does one exclude the other?

To begin, they are considered to be completely separate disorders, but to further understand them, Dr. Lucy Jane Miller performed a study “Quantitative psychophysiologic evaluation of Sensory Processing in children with autistic spectrum disorders”, involving 40 high functioning autism or Aspergers Syndrome children who were tested for sensory integration disorder. Dr Miller’s results showed 78 percent of the participating children also displayed notable signs of sensory integration disorder.

While, 22 percent of the participants did not show signs. However, a secondary study by the same researchers, “Relations among subtypes of Sensory Modulation Dysfunction” looked into children diagnosed with sensory integration disorder and tested them to see how many also had autism. Within that experiment, zero percent of the participants had autism.

The reason that this is interesting is that while children with autism can exist without having sensory integration disorder, the majority show signs of the condition. On the other hand, there is no inclination toward autism in children who have only sensory integration disorder. Children with both disorders demonstrate challenges with high-level tasks that involve the integration of different areas of the brain.

This can include emotional regulation as well as complex sensory functions. However, the key to diagnosing autism as opposed to sensory integration disorder usually lies in the fact that autistic children experience greater problems in the areas of language, empathy, and social skills. Sensory integration disorder children do not experience the same connective breakdowns for controlling emotional empathy and social interaction.

In both disorders, children experience difficulties in tasks that require their brains to make long-distance connections, for example, between the frontal lobes (which coordinate the activities of the brain) and with the cerebellum (which regulates the perceptions and responses within the brain). If you think that your child may have one or both of these disorders, it is important to speak to your child’s pediatrician for autism diagnosing or identification of sensory integration disorder on its own or in combination with autism.

If autism or autism alongside sensory integration disorder is the diagnosis, then you will be able to begin talking about the possible treatments available.  These treatments can include various medications as well as alternative therapies and may overlap in terms of addressing aspects of both conditions simultaneously. For example many children with autism benefit from sensory integration therapies that also work well for children with sensory integration disorder.

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Author: Rachel Evans Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Rachel_Evans

Teaching Children With Autism Better Verbal Communication Skills

Children with autism commonly face problems with verbal communication. This is usually due to the frequent speech and language problems associated with the disorder. Though the actual reason that these problems are faced by autistic children is unknown, many experts believe that they are the result of several conditions occurring before, during, or after the child’s birth that have had an impact on the development of the brain. The inability to properly communicate verbally can make interpretation and interaction with the child’s world much more diffiult.

The communication problems experienced vary from child to child, depending on the individual’s social and intellectual development. While some may not be able to speak at all, others may maintain extensive vocabularies and can express themselves regarding complex topics. However, most children with autism experience some form of communication difficulty usually with the appropriate use of the language, for example difficulty with intonation, rhythm, and word and sentence meanin

Autistic children who are able to speak may say things without true information, expression, or content. They are only words with no meaning to the situation. Others will use echolalia, where they simply repeat what they have heard, even if they have been asked a question. And yet other autistic children will use delayed echolalia, using the question previously posed in order to ask for what they want. For example, a child who had earlier been asked “are you hungry?” may say “are you hungry” at a later time to express his or her hunger.

Many autistic children will have a stock of phrases that they use in specific conditions. For example, a child may introduce him or herself at the beginning of every conversation. Some autistic children learn scripts from television shows, commercials, books, or other recorded dialogs.

Autistic children able to speak can frequently speak extensively about a topic without the ability to actually converse with others. They may also make up a voice to use other than their own such as a robot voice, a deep voice, a squeaky voice or another similar type of alteration.

It is possible to help an autistic child to better his or her verbal communication skills with improvements made through the use of appropriate treatments.

The first step is to consult a speech and language pathologist in order to have your child’s communication skills evaluated. Specific treatments suitable for your child may be recommended during this evaluation.

An intriguing way of helping those with autism is known as facilitated communication. A facilitator lightly holds the hand or arm and the autistic person moves a finger forward to select a letter on a keyboard and spells out their thoughts and wishes. The facilitators are always quite sure that the choice of letter belongs to the autistic person. The increased communication helps to gain the trust of the autistic person and helps remove their inappropriate behaviour.

No single method of communication treatment has been universally found to improve all autistic children, but starting early increases the chances of significant improvements. Try to target your child’s specific communication strengths and weaknesses. Different forms of goal orientated therapy for useful communications are the most successful techniques, though not guaranteed to work for all children. Periodic in-depth evaluations from a specialist are recommended for perfecting and altering the therapy to best work for your child’s unique needs.

Many parents find that consulting physical and occupational therapists can also be very helpful for helping to reduce unwanted behaviors during communication, which are common hindrances to the development of skills.

Find out what your child best responds to: a structured behavior modification program, an in-home therapy program, or another type of therapy that utilizes reality-based situations as a foundation for the therapy.

It may surprise you to discover that music therapy and sensory integration therapies may have a large impact on your child’s ability to use verbal communication. This is because stimulation of the senses often helps to improve the child’s ability to respond to sensory information, and therefore helps him or her recognize what he or she is hearing through verbal communication and seeing through non-verbal communication. The goal is to help improve the effectiveness of sensory understanding.

Medications may also improve an autistic child’s attention span, which in turn can help to improve verbal communication in your child. However, with long-term medication use there is the possibility of undesirable side effects.

To be certain that your child is at his or her fullest potential, mineral and vitamin supplements, as well as a tailored diet, psychotherapy, and overcoming sleep challenges may greatly assist in focus and attention, which should help improve verbal communication.

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Author: Rachel Evans

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