Archive for August, 2012
The Link between Brain Functions and Lack of Social Skill in Autism
Autism is a neurological brain disorder which develops in infancy and continues till adulthood. The autistic chil has poor communication and social skills along with many behavior problems. They lack in creativity, cannot relate to people and things, had repetitive behavior and never accepts change. Some children show mental retardation to a certain extent due to autism.
Autism ia a serious brain disorder found in children and this disorder has increased manifold in the past decade and is still rising. There are around 1.5 million in US and studies say that there are chances of its increase by 10% every year. Autism mostly affects boys than girls and the reason is unknown.
Research is going on the subject of autism, the factors that trigger it but medical science is yet to get an answer. But scientists believe that genetic malfunctioning along with abnormal functioning of the central nervous system causes autism.
The improper interaction in the brain is the reason for the lack of social interaction in the autistic child. Studies and experiments say that autistic people have a very low brain activity in contrast to the normal people and the lack of social interaction skill is due to the weak performance of the brain.
An experiment done with 16 autistic people and 16 normal people by measuring the brain activity and reaction by showing them a series of images revealed the brain activity in both. They had to spot the differences between the objects and the human faces. Normal people showed high level functioning when shown the human faces and low level functioning when shown the representation of the objects. But all autistic people showed low functioning level of the brain irrespective of the image shown.
Different people explain the results of the experiment indifferent ways. Some are of the idea that the impairment in the brain is the reason for low response in the autistic people. Some say that the inability to focus is the problem than the inability to recognize the objects and human faces. Finally scientists believe that improper interaction between the areas of brain is the reason for their indifference and poor social interaction.
Thus the experiment shows a distinct relationship between the brain function and the poor skills of the autistic people and also the physiological traits of autistic people.
The Autism Spectrum Disorder displays different types of impaired behavior and skills due to the neurological brain disorder. This type of autism also begins in childhood and continues till adulthood impairing social and communication skills. Every ASD child is unique and the same signs and symptoms may vary from mild top severe in two different children. Given below are some common behavior problem spotted with ASD.
The children affected by the ASD lack eye to eye contact and never mix in a group. They never like being cuddled or touched and stay aloof doing things by themselves. Some people act indifferent when trying to draw their attention which depends entirely on the severity of the condition. When the disorder is mild children do not know to mix with other children of their age group and as adults they do not know to relate.
They lack communication skill and in some cases children affected with ASD do not speak at all. Some have repetitive behavior and so keep repeating the words said to them instead of replying to our question. Children who talk stop talking totally as they grow up.
Children with ASD cannot modulate their voice which is another type of poor communicational skill. They are also poor listeners and cannot listen to a topic discussed for long. Some stand very close to the person talking and keep talking not allowing the other person to speak.
Some ASD persons set a certain routine for themselves and stick to it very ritually. Any change in this routine disturbs them very much and such repetitive behavior becomes a vital part of their life style.
Children with ASD progress in a different manner when compared to normal children. The motor skills of such children are normal but their communication skills are impaired. Although they find it difficult to make friends and mix with children of their age there are brilliant enough to solve a complex puzzle.
Depending on the environmental factors the signs and symptoms of the ASD patients may improve or deteriorate and also varies from one individual to another.
