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Outline
Autism is a disorder that affects the development of children and it is presented in form of abnormal functioning in the areas of socialization, self-direction, and communication. Autism is caused by a variety of factors which include the environmental as well as genetic factors. Autism symptoms are accelerated by risk factors that also increase the level of susceptibility of a child to autism among them being parental age, other disorders, and family history. Since autism cannot be cured, it is managed in various ways which include behavioral, educational, and medication interventions.
Development and Management of Autism
Introduction
Autism is a constituent of developmental problems known as disorders of the autism spectrum and it is noticed in the early years of child development. Although there exists a variety of causal factors and symptoms, autism normally presents itself in form of difficulties in socialization, restricted behavior patterns as well as communication in the affected individual. In the U.S. the estimated prevalence of this disorder is that, in a thousand children, about six of them have autism and this number is increasing. Studies show that, autism cannot be cured but can only be managed which becomes more effective when carried out during its early stages of development. (Robin, 2007)
Measurement of Autism Development
Autism can be diagnosed when a child reaches three years old, though its symptoms can be noticed even before the child is two years. The current model of diagnosis is dependent on signs presented by autistic childrens rate of reasoning, thinking as well as behavioral signs. These are expected to show the level of development in a childs brain, though there are instances where brain developmental irregularities may occur before the presentation of physical symptoms. Biological factors are efficient determinants of autism on individual levels, which can help in detection of the presence of this disorder before behavioral manifestations present themselves. Biological factors may include irregularities in the patterns through which the brain functions and an abnormal brain structure.
Autism is also found to develop from its existing interactions between the nervous and immune systems where the human immune system is found to cause transformations in the nervous system. For instance, when a childs immune system is negatively affected during its early stages, it may cause slow development of the brain, which in turn results in alterations in the normal growth of the child.
Causes
Genetic errors are one of the causes of autism, where several genes have been identified to be associated with autism. Genetic errors vary in terms of their originality as some occur in human systems spontaneously without being expected, while others are inherited. There is also another variation of genetic errors, where part of the causative genes increases an individuals vulnerability to autism, while others directly affect developments of the brain. The level at which autism symptoms are severe in an individual may also be determined by genetic errors. Another cause of autism is environmental factors which are found to interact with genetic factors, where environmental factors accelerate the effects of genetic factors. Some factors of the environment that play this role are air pollutants as well as infections from viruses. However, how the different environmental and genetic factors interact has not been clearly shown, which calls for more research on the area.
Other causative factors are still been investigated upon among them being complications that may occur to a mother during labor as well on the actual delivery of the baby. Explanations of these two factors are based on the belief that a particular brain section that helps it to detect danger may be affected during the complications which result in autism. However, controversies have emerged in the determination of the role played by childhood vaccines in autism. The category of vaccines that have been mostly associated with autism is those that are given for the prevention of mumps and measles as well as those containing thimerosal, which is a special kind of preservative containing mercury. This controversy resulted in the removal of the dangerous preservative in childrens vaccines in 2001, though studies to settle the controversy continued, with the largest percentage of results showing a lack of correlation between vaccines with the dangerous preservative and autism.
Symptoms
Signs of the presence of autism in human bodies and especially that of children are presented in three different developmental areas. These include a childs behavior, manner of interaction in society as well as language. However, these signs have registered a high level of variation which results in findings that, similar results of diagnosis may be presented in different behavior of affected children, where children with similar diagnostic results act very differently. The time which autism symptoms show in childrens behavior varies, wherein some instances; it may show during infancy while in other instances it shows in later stages of childrens development. In the second case, children portray normal developments for some time which then changes at a particular stage, where the children lose some skills of behavior they had acquired and start portraying autism symptoms. The social skills category of autisms symptoms includes situations where a child fails or takes time before responding when his name is called out. This delay or failure may be interpreted as a slow interaction of the brain and language where the childs brain is not quick in realizing that the name belongs to him. Another symptom of social skills is the lack of direct eye contact with the child suffering from autism. This child may seem like he is not hearing what is addressed to him due to the extra time taken in correlations. A child suffering from autism also prefers to stay alone most of the time and dislikes being touched or held due to detachment of his emotions with the physical body.
Dianne (2005) states that, when looking at the language category of autism symptoms, those children who are affected at infancy take more time than required before being able to talk, while those that are affected in later stages lose the language skills they had learned. The tone of autistic children is also different as they normally speak with either a rhythmic tone or a very quick speech, stopping abruptly in the middle of a sentence. They also have difficulties initiating conversations or even keeping a conversation alive. They are usually eager to end conversations since they tend not to enjoy talking to people. Due to low levels of understanding things, the child may be able to recite words comfortably but have difficulties in applying them when required like in exams.
The behavior category of autism symptoms includes the situation where a child enjoys routines which he develops and sticks to them and is usually not comfortable when those routines are interfered with. An autistic child may have specific movements that he performs repetitively and is always in motion which results in the love of objects in motion like spinning wheels. Such children may also be used to painful experiences, but portray abnormal sensitivity to soothing touches, sound as well as light. Some signs only show during the early developments of children and then get diminished as they become adjusted to the environment in which they live.
Many risk factors are associated with autism among them being the sex of a child. It has been found out that, male children are more susceptible to autism development than female children. The history of a family is also an important factor of autism, where the presence of a child suffering from autism in a family results in an increased likelihood of more children with the same disorder in that family. The relatives of autistic children are also likely to possess specific autism symptoms. Another risk factor of autism is the age of a childs parents especially the father. Studies have shown that the old age of a childs father increases susceptibility to autism risk, while the age of the mother has a lesser level of effect. The presence of other specific disorders is also a risk factor for autism. Such disorders include tuberculosis sclerosis where there are developments of tumors in a childs brain, X syndrome where there is impairment of the childs intellectual as well as epilepsy. (Brenda, 2007)
Management of Autism
Extensive studies have shown that autism does not have a cure but can be managed to reduce its level of manifestation in those suffering from it. Several interventions can be used to manage autism in its various forms of presentation. Specialized interventions have been found to give considerably effective results to those children suffering from autism. These interventions give support to the childrens state in ways that fit in their environment and also provide adaptation mechanisms. However, autism is normally managed through behavioral as well as educational approaches, while other types of approaches like medication are used in conjunction with the main ones. (Robin, 2007)
Educational Approach
According to Robin (2007), this approach is applied in the management of autism at different levels with the first one being a collaboration of the childs family and school life. Parents of children suffering from autism are therefore expected to search for the necessary information to help manage the condition of their autistic child. This can be achieved by having interactive dialogues with the childs teachers as well as community professionals, which may result in development programs to cater to autistic children. Parents should make a constant follow-up of the childs behavior in school, which should be compared with how the child behaves at home.
Another type of educational approach is special education, where school administrations are expected to provide a curriculum that accommodates autistic children. Special education helps teachers to closely examine and evaluate the level of disability in autistic children which assists them to guide the child in ways in which to adjust to school programs. Speech therapy is among the methods used in special education which work to encourage the development and interaction of other skills. Special education also makes use of language therapy, psychological well as occupational therapy which gives consistency to the program of autistic children. Those enrolled in special education are engaged in planned opportunities of teaching with particular areas, where the children portray weaknesses being repeated as the teacher observes their progress from which necessary adjustments are made to reach the desired results.
Behavioral Interventions
Behavioral interventions in autistic children involve the use of instructions, where children are systematically instructed on various issues in which they show signs of abnormality, to change their abnormal behavior as well as help them develop acceptable behavioral skills. Autistic childrens behavior is normally corrected through interventions directed to improving their communication, self-direction as well as ways in which they socialize with other people in society. However, communication interventions are found to open ways for self-direction and socialization behavioral patterns. For instance, improved communication skills will enable autistic children to make friends and have conversations with other members of society comfortably. Communication interventions in autistic children are provided through support that enhances the development of other skills. Instructions give guidance at a considerably slower pace to allow the children suffering from autism to process information provided to them. Management of autism through communication also involves giving instructions in small manageable parts, which should be accompanied by visual supports to increase the correlation levels of autistic children.
Concerning interventions to manage autistic childs socialization, instructions are provided directly to the childs social skills, where teachers, as well as parents, guide them in their day-to-day interactions. Procedural support is also provided to autistic children to assist them in remembering tasks allocated to them as well as steps through which to accomplish those tasks. The time in which various tasks should be accomplished is fixed to enable the instructor to assess developments in a childs progress. Incentives in form of rewards are also important as they help in the motivation of autistic children to perform tasks that should lead to improvement of their situation. Visual aids that indicate the amount of time left before completion of certain events and others indicating when the autistic child should change from one task to another are also essential interventions to help improve the childs level of self-direction. (Brenda, 2007)
Medication Interventions
Management of autism through medication is applied as a form of therapy to help autistic children adjust to their environment and specifically assist them in learning processes. This kind of medication does not cure autism but manages behavior brought by autism. Medication addresses such problems as; sleep problems, aggression, self-injury, inattention, and repetitive behavior. Parents of autistic children, as well as their teachers, are expected to work hand in hand with doctors to monitor the effects of medication and then give feedback to the doctors. The medication used include antidepressants which help reduce anxiety in autistic children while antipsychotic drugs help reduce abnormality in their behavior . (Robin, 2007 p.19)
Conclusion
Evidence shows that autism has no definite medicine that can cure it completely but it can be managed. However, autism is effectively managed when interventions directed to its management are implemented very early in the developmental stages of a child. Other therapies have also been developed which have resulted in considerable improvements in autistic children, among them, being creative therapies and special diets. More so, information from parents and community members who would have tackled such situations before is usually very important in the processes of managing autism. Since autism cannot be managed in a single day, it would be appropriate for community members to join hands to assist autistic individuals in coping with their surrounding environment. (Robin, 2007)
References
Autism. Web.
Autism 2/04 blue M. Web.
Research to Address the Heterogeneity in Autism Spectrum Disorders. Web.
Brenda, Smith. Autism Spectrum Disorders: Greenwood publishing Group, 2007 pp 39-47.
Dianne, Berkell. Autism spectrum disorders; identification, education and treatment: Routledge, 2005 pp 44-49.
Robin, Gabriels. Growing up with Autism: Guildford Press, 2007 pp 12-20.
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