Archive for October, 2007
Autism is caused due to neurological disorders and can affect language and social development in a person. The severity and the symptoms of autism vary widely and hence it is considered as a broad-spectrum disorder.
A person affected with a low degree autism can never live his/her life in full and independently and where as the high degree autism affected person is at the other end of spectrum meaning that the person will be normal and some times superior also. One example for the high spectrum autism is the classic aspergers autism.
What you mean by Aspergers autism
Many researchers opine that aspergers autism is different form the regular autism disorder, but few people argue that it is the same autism occurring in higher degree or a high functioning one. One can have a clear idea about the aspergers autism from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders where it has been clearly spelled out as follows:
1. Absence of qualitative interaction in any social environment.
2. Occurrence of stereotype, repetitive and restricted behaviours and interests.
3. Conspicuous and noticeable defects in major areas of day-to-day functioning.
4. There will not be any noticeable delay in language development.
5. Other than the social interaction area, there will not be any noticeable delay in psychological development, adaptive skills or behaviour and self-help skills.
6. The symptoms resemble very much to the cases of schizophrenia or pervasive developmental disorder.
In autism, though the psychological development, self-help skills and adaptive behaviour seems to be normal the other behaviours such as social development or adaptability, language skills and creative skills take a beating and are very conspicuously absent or different from other normal individuals.
Academic Speech
The majority of the speech by people suffering from Aspergers autism will always centre on various intellect aspects and can never be about the people or surroundings. Persons affected by aspergers autism communicate for the main purpose of sharing the knowledge and they always tend to sound that of a teaching professor and the merit of identifying this particular behaviour in 1944 should go to Dr. Hans Asperger.
Many of the Dr. Hans Asperger’s findings and studies were not made public due the reason of World War II going over at that time. His widely researched studies were also not translated and made public in the last 50 years. He was the first person to tell the world that many adults with Aspergers autism were never diagnosed when they were children.
Medical Condition – both Physical and Psychological
There is no record to prove that Aspergers autism can reduce the patient’s life but the autism can set in psychological conditions such depression, mood disorders, and the popular OCD (obsessive-compulsive disorder).
Persons afflicted by autism will display impairment in socialising and this can cause an anxious and debilitating situations that are very difficult to manage and tolerate.
However, the eagerness to learn any new things and intense concentration power displayed by autism affected persons were found to be very useful in persons who have a high IQ level. Persons with Aspergers autism can excel in all fields such as science, music and mathematics barring only a situation where social interaction is involved. Persons affected by Aspergers autism are absent minded and never like socialising.
[tags]Autism, Aspergers Autism[/tags]
Autism is a neurological disorder resulting in impairment of speech and other social interaction behaviour and it generally affects children in the age group of less than three years. For long the autism disorder evaded the various researches undertaken to know the exact cause.
The only known factor is that autistic people tend to react in a different manner to the external stimulus due to the reason that they process and interpret information differently from that of any normal person. Despite many numbers of diagnosed autism cases, as of today there is no autism cure.
Learning and Liking to Live Without a Cure
It is an interesting fact to know that many people who have been diagnosed with autism have expressed their desire to live with the disorder and never looked for an autism cure. Many people afflicted with autism have taken the disorder in their stride and started to live their lives the way nature has given to them.
They also consider that living in a autistic condition is in fact a blessing showered on them for the reason that they know how to fight the odds in life and come out successful.
Autism afflicts different people in different ways meaning that there are no two autistic people with the same behavioural symptoms. However, with prolonged and intensive therapies, many autistic people have started living a near normal life without the debilitating autistic disorders.
Only few people seek for an autism cure when they find living with the disorder difficult or in other words only people who are unable to live with the disorders turn to seek for an autism cure.
Autistic people fail to keep a normal or cordial relationship with the outside world and normally like to be in solitude always. They will also be indifferent and sometimes shun away from affectionate behaviours such as touching or hugging and they also show undesirable or inappropriate reactions to certain external stimulus.
They also exhibit uncontrolled scream or tantrums when their regular routine is disturbed or altered. In many cases, autistic people cannot stand loud noises and very bad odours. Almost all the autistic people react or respond differently for any given stimulus or occasions. Hence, it is important for you to involve the autistic people in activities that encourage social interaction so that they can be made to live normally.
Awareness is the Key to make Situation Better
In the absence of any autism cure, the only available method is to understand the autistic people and make their life better by constantly engaging them in social interactions. It is a pity to see that many people taking the weird or eerie behaviour of the autistic people as just “crazy” and even start advising to behave properly. Only here comes the role of awareness or education that can make general public to see autistic person as a yet another general person and accept the way they are.
Though there is no doubt that one day researchers will come out with an autism cure, till such time people can be made to be aware of this disorder and can be made to contribute liberally for the cause.
[tags]Autism, Autism Cure[/tags]
Studies have established that an early diagnosis of autism in children can help in starting treatments early and the chances of bringing the children form their personal fantasy world to the real world will be bright. If the autism diagnosis in done on the children before they reach three years of age, then the results of treatments will be very promising.
Impact of treatment on the Age of Autism Diagnosis
As of today medical world is yet to give us a cure for autism. However, a specialised, intensive and a prolonged treatment can make the autistic child to respond and show improvement in their communication level and in social interaction behaviour. Though the process of recovery is slow and may cost little more in financial terms, it will be a sustainable one that makes worth the effort and the money spent.
In few cases, the treatment may involve separation of the child from the parents for a longer period so as make it convenient for the treating specialists to observe the autistic child’s behaviour in detail and document for proper follow-up. Unfortunately, each and every autistic child has to undergo autism diagnosis, and in each case the treatment will be different and has to be specifically made to suit to the child’s level of disorder.
The Subtle Difference between an Autistic Child and a Genius Child
You may come across many incidents where in autistic children excelling in many areas of study without even proper guidance. Many of the autistic children do not even take books in their hands but show very keen interests in learning things.
For example autistic children take very less time in mastering the operation of a computer and this can well be compared to the popular saying “ducklings to the water”, meaning that ducklings start swimming the moment they enter into water for the first time.
Autistic children also exhibit a very great affinity to numbers and they love to solve mathematical problems with ease. Further, they also show keen interests in literary field and may even create few masterpieces.
You can take consolation in the fact that autism diagnosis need not necessarily be considered as a sign for “mental retardness”. Autism is in fact a neurological disorder that results in impairment of social interaction and the child retracts from the outside world.
The condition makes the autistic children refuse to take interest or study. Though they have the capacity to read and understand, the impairment just keeps them separated from other normal activities.
After autism diagnosis, modern therapies aim at identifying the areas of interest in the autistic child and utilise such areas of interests to make a bridge to other favourable behavioural changes in a slow and steady manner.
The catch is in finding the exact interest of the autistic child and this may take even months together and is posing a challenge to the doctors. Identifying the interests of an autistic child may be very arduous and time consuming and once exact interests are identified, the satisfaction knows no bounds. Then the identified interests can effectively be made use for treating the autistic child and bring him/her to the real world.
[tags]Autism, Autism Diagnosis[/tags]
