Autism is a condition that affects perception, attention, interaction with others, thought, and many other vital abilities. Unfortunately, because we know so little about how the brain functions, we can’t explain why autism appears or how can it be treated. The only thing we can do for autistic people is to try to help them integrate and fit in as much as possible, and to make them feel good about themselves.

The first thing that can be done in order to help an autistic person is need to discover if he/she is suffering from autism or not by checking the symptoms, because it’s up to the ones around those with autism disorders to discover them due to the fact that they are not aware of their own condition and will never visit a doctor on their own. In the children’s case it’s up to the parents or the family to see if their son or daughter have the autism condition.

Autism is a term that covers a wide-range of disabilities, from mild to severe ones, so there aren’t some specific symptoms of this so-called illness, but it is known that it affects behavior, interaction with others and communication skills, so those with problems of this kind and that present some other signs that seem to be common in autism cases are diagnosed with the autism disorder.

Here follows a list of the most encountered symptoms and signs of autism, but as mentioned before this affection does not follow a certain pattern, so don’t jump to any conclusions on your own. Only a certified doctor can put an accurate diagnosis.

The first autism symptoms can be detected during the childhood, and until the child reaches the age of 3 or 4 years old the disorder is usually very visible. Adults and children that suffer from autism disorders are completely ignoring other people, they are indifferent to whatever is happening around them, they like to be alone, they reject contact and communication with others and they stare for hours at a single thing sometimes. They are living in a world of their own and they are very sensitive to sensations such as strong smells or loud noises.

Austists cannot speak right, they have problems with the language skills, so they express their needs through gestures rather than through words. Young children with autism don’t like to be cuddled, tickled, or touched at all. The way they play is very different from other children’s play.

The world is a strange place that they don’t understand, so autistic persons need special treatment and special care, they need to be loved and protected because they are in danger all the time. For them it does not seem dangerous to cross the street when the traffic lights are red for example.

Therefore, discovering and properly diagnosing and treating autism is the first and most important step in helping those that suffer from it. So seek advice from a specialized doctor if you suspect your child or anyone else to be an autistic.

More informations about autism causes or about autism symptoms can be found by visiting http://www.autism-info-center.com/

Groshan Fabiola

http://www.articlesbase.com/health-articles/learn-and-understand-the-basic-autism-symptoms-61292.html

Autism Social Stories – Autism social Training

….And how to help…your autistic child….

One of the biggest problems for autistic children is difficulty in social interaction.

This problem is heightened by their difficulties with speech and language. Autism also seems to create problems with the ability to mind read, or being able to tell or guess at what another person might be thinking.

Normally developing children will observe others and guess, through a combination of tone and body language, what the other person may be thinking or feeling.

However, with autism this naturally developed skill is missing and so the ability to predict what another is feeling or thinking is not there…

This lack of being able to mind read can lead to social mistakes even for those with high functioning autism….And of cause social mistakes may lead to the autistic person causing hurt feelings, asking inappropriate questions, acting oddly or generally open themselves up to hostility, teasing, bullying and social isolation.

Quite often parents and educators of children with autism feel unable to communicate and interact with their autistic child.

Sometimes the autistic child may appear not to hear what has been said to them, they will often fail to respond to their name and can sometimes be indifferent to any attempts of communication with them.

By careful observation it can often be determined which way the child communicates, in this ways the educator or parent can build on this strength.

For example, if the child is non-verbal, rather then communicating with them by using words, try using gestures. The child with autism may use some of the following to communicate: crying, taking the adults hand to the thing they want, looking at what they want, reaching, using pictures and echolalia. 

Echolalia is the repetition of other people’s words and is a common with the autistic child. Some autistic children will constantly repeat a rhyme or something they heard on TV.

Echolalia is a good sign it means speech is developing, in time the child may repeat something that was said to them, like drink or toilet.

Developing communication with your autistic child will be a slow process, but eventually you will make progress.

Autistic children tend to be visual learners, using pictures and images is a good way to communicate what you are expecting of them or wanting from them.

For, example at dinner time a picture or image of the family sitting around the table and a plate of food will tell the child it is time to eat.

You can introduce social skills stories to help with this…A good well written social skills story will have high pictorial content as well as text.

These short pieces of text, normally one page long will have pictorial cues as to what is happening and what the child is expected to do. In time the autistic child will recognize the stories and will naturally re-act in the way the story intends them too.

For example…Dinner time a social skills story may have a picture of the family sitting around the table…a plate, cutlery, maybe a cup, some food…The adult can show the autistic child the story with the colorful images and they can then read the short descriptive pieces of text will pointing to the appropriate image.

…These social skills stories are normally printable so they can be used time and time again, in-fact they can be used for every situation you need help with.

These social skills stories can become like a best friend to the autistic child giving the clear and precise instructions of how to act in all situations, Plus they are a fantastic communication device for a parent-giving you the tools you need to help communicate with your autistic child.

jANINE

 As a physician who treats ADHD and Autism Spectrum Disorders one always see such a variety of symptoms and severity of symptoms.  As ASD is thought to be multifactorial it is always important to get as specific as possible with the treatments so as not to waste the time and resources of both the doctor and family.  We use a sensory motor hemispheric approach but always try to eliminate any of the common scientificly established links to autism and the conditions associated with this spectrum of disorders.  As such, one of the supplements found to help children suffering with these conditions are Omega 3 fatty acids.  Let’s go to the literature.

 Omega-3 fatty acids supplementation in children with autism: a double-blind randomized, placebo-controlled pilot study.                 

                1: Biol Psychiatry. 2007 Feb 15;61(4):551-3. Epub 2006 Aug 22.   

Amminger GP, Berger GE, Schafer MR, Klier C, Friedrich MH, Feucht M.

Department of Child and Adolescent Neuropsychiatry, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria. paul.amminger@meduniwien.ac.at

BACKGROUND: There is increasing evidence that fatty acid deficiencies or imbalances may contribute to childhood neurodevelopmental disorders. METHODS: We conducted a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled 6-week pilot trial investigating the effects of 1.5 g/d of omega-3 fatty acids (.84 g/d eicosapentaenoic acid, .7 g/d docosahexaenoic acid) supplementation in 13 children (aged 5 to 17 years) with autistic disorders accompanied by severe tantrums, aggression, or self-injurious behavior. The outcome measure was the Aberrant Behavior Checklist (ABC) at 6 weeks. RESULTS: We observed an advantage of omega-3 fatty acids compared with placebo for hyperactivity and stereotypy, each with a large effect size. Repeated-measures ANOVA indicated a trend toward superiority of omega-3 fatty acids over placebo for hyperactivity. No clinically relevant adverse effects were elicited in either group. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study provide preliminary evidence that omega-3 fatty acids may be an effective treatment for children with autism.

Plasma fatty acid levels in autistic children.

1.      Prostaglandin Leukot Essent Fatty Acids. 2001 Jul;65(1):1-7.

Vancassel S, Durand G, Barthelemy C, Lejeune B, Martineau J, Guilloteau D, Andres C, Chalon S.

Laboratoire de Nutrition et Sécurité Alimentaire, INRA, domaine de Vilvert, 78352 Jouy-en-Josas cedex, France. vancasse@jouy.inra.fr

Phospholipid fatty acids are major structural components of neuronal cell membranes, which modulate membrane fluidity and hence function. Evidence from clinical and biochemical sources have indicated changes in the metabolism of fatty acids in several psychiatric disorders. We examined the phospholipid fatty acids in the plasma of a population of autistic subjects compared to mentally retarded controls. Our results showed a marked reduction in the levels of 22: 6n-3 (23%) in the autistic subjects, resulting in significantly lower levels of total (n-3) polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) (20%), without significant reduction in the (n-6) PUFA series, and consequently a significant increase in the (n-6)/(n-3) ratio (25%). These variations are discussed in terms of potential differences in PUFA dietary intake, metabolism, or incorporation into cellular membranes between the two groups of subjects. These results open up interesting perspectives for the investigation of new biological indices in autism. Moreover, this might have new therapeutic implications in terms of child nutrition. Copyright 2001 Harcourt Publishers Ltd.

Role of polyunsaturated fatty acids in the management of Egyptian children with autism.

1.      Clin Biochem. 2008 Sep;41(13):1044-8. Epub 2008 Jun 12.    

Meguid NA, Atta HM, Gouda AS, Khalil RO.

Department of Research on Children with Special Needs, National Research Center, Cairo, Egypt.

OBJECTIVE: Estimation of free polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) in blood and evaluation of behavior of autistic children before and after taking fish oil (Efalex) were performed. DESIGN AND METHODS: 30 autistic children (18 males and 12 females) aged 3-11 years and 30 healthy children as control group were included in this study. Tandem mass spectrometry and CARS were used to estimate the free PUFAs from dried blood spot and to evaluate the autistic behavior respectively. RESULTS: Before taking Efalex, linolenic acid showed a significant reduction (71%), followed by docosahexaenoic acid (65%) and arachidonic acid (45%), while linoleic acid was the least affected PUFA (32%). After taking Efalex, 66% of autistic children showed clinical and biochemical improvement, linolenic acid and docosahexaenoic acid showed the highest levels after Efalex supplementation. CONCLUSION: PUFA supplementation may play an important role in ameliorating the autistic behavior.

These studies support that children with ADHD Aspergers tourettes, OCD and Autism should consider Omega 3 supplementation as part of their treatment program and discuss these issues with their physician.

For more information about Dr. Mane’s approach in treating children suffering Autism and ADD/ADHD visit our website at http://www.manecenter.com/ADHD.htm.

Dr. Mane offers one on one consultation as well as Group Seminars.  If you are interested in scheduling a consultation or to attend a seminar please call 813-935-4744. 

Nelson Mane
http://www.articlesbase.com/health-articles/tampa-dr-nelson-mane-states-autism-treatment-essential-fatty-acids-681576.html

Over the course of the past decade a debate has unfolded regarding an alleged connection between autism and vaccinations. This in turn has led many parents to consider withholding or in some cases actually withholding vaccinations from their children. So what do both sides have to say and is there any validity to the points that they present?

No Clinical Data

The facts as they stand are that there is virtually not clinical data to make any direct correlation between vaccines and autism. However; there have been some coincidences that do bear further scrutiny such as children developing autism a short period of time after receiving their vaccine regimen.

Which is it?

It must be pointed out however, that autism is not the only childhood disorder that appears to be on the up tick. So is it that these childhood maladies are actually increasing or are they simply being diagnosed more frequently?

The insurance Connection

It must be pointed out that before any disease can be treated by someone who has medical insurance, it must first be diagnosed. This in turn has led to many diseases to make their way onto the radar screen far more frequently today.

A New Disease is Born

A case in point is acid reflux disease. Twenty years ago there really was no such disease at all. Back then it was called heart burn and a person who was suffering from it was told to stop eating so much greasy food and that in most cases was the cure.

You Be the Judge

Now however, it has been given a name and in turn a medical course of treatment and full recognition by the medical community. So is it that autism is on the increase? Or is it that it is just now being diagnoses far more frequently?

Marlene Jovek
http://www.articlesbase.com/medicine-articles/a-few-thoughts-on-childhood-vaccines-and-autism-719387.html

Preschoolers with autism: mostly young infantile autistic children or babies are normally not cuddly babies.

They will not normally raise their arms to be picked up…and will avoid eye contact, or make eye contact then quickly look away.

Sometimes your autistic preschooler or baby may stare into your eye, as if they are looking into a mirror.

You will probably find they lack interest in objects and the ability to point…some infantile autistic children will point but this is normally quite a vague point and not necessarily at any thing. Some autism preschoolers will have an unusual interest in an object or thing, to the point of an obsession, which they will find difficult to share.

They may show very little variation in facial expression in response to others. For example, if smiled at they may not smile back.

Autistic preschoolers will usually have impairments in the ability to make friends.

They may latch on to another child at preschool and want to be with them all the time regardless of the child’s reaction to them.

They may display a particular preference for some children based on their appearance, hair color, or other quality in the child’s appearance rather than their personality or whether they actually like them.

Sometimes this can work also the other way an infantile autistic child may not like someone for the way they look.

They will have difficulties with ‘autism and play’ and interaction with other children and may prefer to play or be on their own. Preschoolers with autism will normally have difficulties with things like group activities and sitting on the carpet for story times or teaching.

They will not have the ability to share or understand why we share; autism preschoolers may have tantrums and outbursts of aggression.

Their ability to joint sharing will be missing, this is the ability to concentrate and share an object with another person, for example reading or looking through a book with a teacher or parent.

However there are strategies you can put in place now which will help your autistic  preschooler better cope with preschool and home life, also the transition to school.

One such strategy is something called autism social stories, these marvelous tools can be shared by home and preschool keeping a routine. Autism social stories work best when they are introduced at home and preschool at the same time, this keeps continuity.

….Autism social stories are short pieces of text and pictorially rich, normally only one page long. They can be read to your preschooler with autism by the teacher or another adult, and used for all situations they are finding difficult like toileting, sharing or other behavior issues.

They are excellent tools to help you deal with aggression and other problems you may well be experiencing with your autistic preschooler.

When introduced an autism social skills story will help your autistic child understand and better cope with the frustrating and often stressful situations they encounter like playing games, turn taking, listening to stories, snack time and tidying up.

Even if the child has little or no language, autism social skills stories are going to prove valuable resource and may well be treated by your preschooler with autism as their favorite.

To obtain autism social skills stories visit

www.autismsocialstories.com/preschool_one

jANINE

Preschoolers with autism: mostly young infantile autistic children or babies are normally not cuddly babies.

They will not normally raise their arms to be picked up…and will avoid eye contact, or make eye contact then quickly look away.

Sometimes your autistic preschooler or baby may stare into your eye, as if they are looking into a mirror.

You will probably find they lack interest in objects and the ability to point…some infantile autistic children will point but this is normally quite a vague point and not necessarily at any thing. Some autism preschoolers will have an unusual interest in an object or thing, to the point of an obsession, which they will find difficult to share.

They may show very little variation in facial expression in response to others. For example, if smiled at they may not smile back.

Autistic preschoolers will usually have impairments in the ability to make friends.

They may latch on to another child at preschool and want to be with them all the time regardless of the child’s reaction to them.

They may display a particular preference for some children based on their appearance, hair color, or other quality in the child’s appearance rather than their personality or whether they actually like them.

Sometimes this can work also the other way an infantile autistic child may not like someone for the way they look.

They will have difficulties with ‘autism and play’ and interaction with other children and may prefer to play or be on their own. Preschoolers with autism will normally have difficulties with things like group activities and sitting on the carpet for story times or teaching.

They will not have the ability to share or understand why we share; autism preschoolers may have tantrums and outbursts of aggression.

Their ability to joint sharing will be missing, this is the ability to concentrate and share an object with another person, for example reading or looking through a book with a teacher or parent.

However there are strategies you can put in place now which will help your autistic  preschooler better cope with preschool and home life, also the transition to school.

One such strategy is something called autism social stories, these marvelous tools can be shared by home and preschool keeping a routine. Autism social stories work best when they are introduced at home and preschool at the same time, this keeps continuity.

….Autism social stories are short pieces of text and pictorially rich, normally only one page long. They can be read to your preschooler with autism by the teacher or another adult, and used for all situations they are finding difficult like toileting, sharing or other behavior issues.

They are excellent tools to help you deal with aggression and other problems you may well be experiencing with your autistic preschooler.

When introduced an autism social skills story will help your autistic child understand and better cope with the frustrating and often stressful situations they encounter like playing games, turn taking, listening to stories, snack time and tidying up.

Even if the child has little or no language, autism social skills stories are going to prove valuable resource and may well be treated by your preschooler with autism as their favorite.

To obtain autism social skills stories visit

www.autismsocialstories.com/preschool_one

jANINE

The best place to start is by carefully selecting the school which will suit your autistic child the best.

So what questions to ask autism school? Well firstly the journey needs to be established and looked at.

Distance from home is always a big consideration; will your child need transport? How long will they be on the transport?

Who is the driver, the escort? Try and arrange prior to the start of school for your child to meet them. Look in the bus and get a general feel for the space, look at the color of the bus, seats, floor, walls etc.

How many seats, the fabric, are they noisy, itchy, soft etc? The steps to get in, noise of the engine, is their an air freshener? The smell in the bus, aftershave of the driver, the escort, autistic children have very sensitive senses and smells can be distressing to them. Do they play the radio in the bus, will this affect your child?

Autistic children are very sensitive and all of these factors will need to be taken into account as well as where they are on the collection list. Who will already, be in the bus, who is collected next, and so on?

Establish the bus rules, try out the seat belts, will you need to buy something soft to wrap around the belt if the fabric is hard, will it rub your autistic child’s skin. Will your child be seated next to the window? Who will be sat next to them?

Find out about the homeward journey again what time will they leave school? In what order are the children dropped? Is it going to be the same driver etc? Repeat all the questions as above for the journey too school.

Ask what happens when the driver or escort are on holiday or away? Who will replace them? Will you get prior notice so that you can explain the change to your child, autistic children like things to remain the same and a simple thing like different driver or seat could cause anxiety and stress.

After you have gathered all the relevant information you will need to establish a social story which will explain what is going to happen to your child.

A good social story (autism social stories) will help your child understand the what, why, where and when of the situation.

You will need to add specific details yourself like the names of the driver the name of the school etc to the story. Choose autism social stories with pictures. Autistic children will take in information a lot easier if it is visually presented.

Autism social stories are an excellent tool for giving your autistic child clear social cues and coping strategies for all those situations they may find difficult, stressful or distressing.

The social story will give your child clear instructions and help them feel more comfortable with and in those situations a social skills story is needed for.

To view an example autism social story visit us at:

www.autismsocialstories.com  the story link is roughly half way down the page.

To obtain autism social stories for the classroom and school visit us at

www.autismsocialstories.com/school

jANINE
http://www.articlesbase.com/learning-disabilities-articles/what-questions-to-ask-autism-school-autism-social-stories-672348.html

There is a lot of info for moms to digest on the subject of autism and vaccinations. There is one camp that claims that it is the over 40 vaccinations each baby receives in a span of four years that causes this handicap, and others who believe it is genetic and has nothing to do with shots at all.

Autism does seem to run in families, with males being 4 times more likely to have it than girls. This would seem to promote the idea that autism is NOT in fact related to vaccinations. So does the fact that in identical twin boys when one has autism the other has over a 60% chance of having it too, and in fraternal twin boys, there is only 10% chance (much less genetic material in common).

However, many celebrities, most notably Jenna McCarthy, maintain that their children were diagnosed shortly after their vaccine shots – pointing the finger more specifically at the mercury found in the MMR shot for measles, mumps and rubella. However, the level of mercury in the vaccine is harmless, and there have been no reports of autism in children genuinely poisoned by mercury.

One study run in Japan pointed to a population of 300,000 that stopped vaccinating with MMR, and the number of autism cases went up, not down. Opponents of vaccination still point to Amish communities and state they have never vaccinated and have no autism. If autism is a gene related disease, however, it may not be prevalent in the genetically isolated Amish communities, which are legendary for rare genetic diseases due to a tight gene pool and repeated inbreeding.

Info for moms on the possible side effects of vaccines is confusing and runs on both sides of the arguments. Children who are not vaccinated do run risks of dying from childhood diseases all but eradicated except where vaccinations are not administered. On the other hand, there are those who insist their vaccinated children are permanently damaged as a result of the vaccine.

Some have put forth the theory that the vaccines don’t actually cause the autism, but simply act as a trigger in those who have a family history of it. If this is the case, then anyone with autism in their family may wish to hold off on vaccines.

Karina Lawrence

Preschoolers with autism: mostly young infantile autistic children or babies are normally not cuddly babies.

They will not normally raise their arms to be picked up…and will avoid eye contact, or make eye contact then quickly look away.

Sometimes your autistic preschooler or baby may stare into your eye, as if they are looking into a mirror.

You will probably find they lack interest in objects and the ability to point…some infantile autistic children will point but this is normally quite a vague point and not necessarily at any thing. Some autism preschoolers will have an unusual interest in an object or thing, to the point of an obsession, which they will find difficult to share.

They may show very little variation in facial expression in response to others. For example, if smiled at they may not smile back.

Autistic preschoolers will usually have impairments in the ability to make friends.

They may latch on to another child at preschool and want to be with them all the time regardless of the child’s reaction to them.

They may display a particular preference for some children based on their appearance, hair color, or other quality in the child’s appearance rather than their personality or whether they actually like them.

Sometimes this can work also the other way an infantile autistic child may not like someone for the way they look.

They will have difficulties with ‘autism and play’ and interaction with other children and may prefer to play or be on their own. Preschoolers with autism will normally have difficulties with things like group activities and sitting on the carpet for story times or teaching.

They will not have the ability to share or understand why we share; autism preschoolers may have tantrums and outbursts of aggression.

Their ability to joint sharing will be missing, this is the ability to concentrate and share an object with another person, for example reading or looking through a book with a teacher or parent.

However there are strategies you can put in place now which will help your autistic  preschooler better cope with preschool and home life, also the transition to school.

One such strategy is something called autism social stories, these marvelous tools can be shared by home and preschool keeping a routine. Autism social stories work best when they are introduced at home and preschool at the same time, this keeps continuity.

….Autism social stories are short pieces of text and pictorially rich, normally only one page long. They can be read to your preschooler with autism by the teacher or another adult, and used for all situations they are finding difficult like toileting, sharing or other behavior issues.

They are excellent tools to help you deal with aggression and other problems you may well be experiencing with your autistic preschooler.

When introduced an autism social skills story will help your autistic child understand and better cope with the frustrating and often stressful situations they encounter like playing games, turn taking, listening to stories, snack time and tidying up.

Even if the child has little or no language, autism social skills stories are going to prove valuable resource and may well be treated by your preschooler with autism as their favorite.

To obtain autism social skills stories visit

www.autismsocialstories.com/preschool_one

jANINE

Preschoolers with autism: mostly young infantile autistic children or babies are normally not cuddly babies.

They will not normally raise their arms to be picked up…and will avoid eye contact, or make eye contact then quickly look away.

Sometimes your autistic preschooler or baby may stare into your eye, as if they are looking into a mirror.

You will probably find they lack interest in objects and the ability to point…some infantile autistic children will point but this is normally quite a vague point and not necessarily at any thing. Some autism preschoolers will have an unusual interest in an object or thing, to the point of an obsession, which they will find difficult to share.

They may show very little variation in facial expression in response to others. For example, if smiled at they may not smile back.

Autistic preschoolers will usually have impairments in the ability to make friends.

They may latch on to another child at preschool and want to be with them all the time regardless of the child’s reaction to them.

They may display a particular preference for some children based on their appearance, hair color, or other quality in the child’s appearance rather than their personality or whether they actually like them.

Sometimes this can work also the other way an infantile autistic child may not like someone for the way they look.

They will have difficulties with ‘autism and play’ and interaction with other children and may prefer to play or be on their own. Preschoolers with autism will normally have difficulties with things like group activities and sitting on the carpet for story times or teaching.

They will not have the ability to share or understand why we share; autism preschoolers may have tantrums and outbursts of aggression.

Their ability to joint sharing will be missing, this is the ability to concentrate and share an object with another person, for example reading or looking through a book with a teacher or parent.

However there are strategies you can put in place now which will help your autistic  preschooler better cope with preschool and home life, also the transition to school.

One such strategy is something called autism social stories, these marvelous tools can be shared by home and preschool keeping a routine. Autism social stories work best when they are introduced at home and preschool at the same time, this keeps continuity.

….Autism social stories are short pieces of text and pictorially rich, normally only one page long. They can be read to your preschooler with autism by the teacher or another adult, and used for all situations they are finding difficult like toileting, sharing or other behavior issues.

They are excellent tools to help you deal with aggression and other problems you may well be experiencing with your autistic preschooler.

When introduced an autism social skills story will help your autistic child understand and better cope with the frustrating and often stressful situations they encounter like playing games, turn taking, listening to stories, snack time and tidying up.

Even if the child has little or no language, autism social skills stories are going to prove valuable resource and may well be treated by your preschooler with autism as their favorite.

To obtain autism social skills stories visit

www.autismsocialstories.com/preschool_one

jANINE