How Would Autism Affect Your Child?

Imagine a regular 4th-grade classroom full of all kinds of students talking to each other and having fun. Now, think about the student sitting alone in a corner who doesn’t talk to anyone, doesn’t do well at studies, keeps on stacking erasers and stares blankly at others. Does he have Autism?

What is Autism?

First of all, it’s essential to know that Autism is characterized by a massive impairment in an individual’s ability to communicate and relate to others emotionally.

Secondly, children with autistic disorder show strange behaviors in several areas by the age of three. These oddities are easily detected by others. The list includes:-

• Stacking objects
• Not expressing any emotion
• Not being comfortable with hugs and cuddles from parents
• Delay in language development
• Very few and repeated patterns of behavior
• Sticking to a few objects

Also, these disturbances are usually visible in the early months of infancy. However, the case might not be so in nearly 20% of all the cases of Autism.

The parents of such infants become aware that their child seems to be different in some way. They might even attribute the child’s unresponsiveness to deafness by mistake! But they realize sooner or later that their child is able to hear well enough. Rather, what he lacks is the ability to respond like others do. They are likely to turn to a pediatrician or clinician for help at this point.

How is Autism Diagnosed?

Clinicians diagnose of the Autistic Disorder based on symptoms that fall into three groups:

• Impairment in social interaction- This includes avoiding eye contact, odd facial expressions, abnormal body postures, avoiding peer relationships, preference for isolation, poor communication skills, lack of age-appropriate play etc.
• Impairment in communication- This refers to delayed language development, unusual voice quality, confusion of pronouns, repetition of words (echolalia), incessant monologs etc.
• Oddities of behavior, interests, and activities- This includes exclusive interest in certain parts of objects, repeated movements, engaging in dangerous and harmful behaviors like banging one’s head, temper tantrums, childish expression of anger, failure in toilet training etc.

Additionally, an unusual variant of this disorder called Autistic Savant Syndrome , occurs in people with Autism who possess an extraordinary skill, such as the ability to perform extremely complicated numerical operations — for example, correctly naming the day of the week on which a date thousands of years away would fall (Thioux, Stark, Klaiman, & Schultz, 2006).

It is noteworthy that Autistic Savant Syndrome typically appears at an early age when the child seems to have exceptional abilities. This may include musical skills, artistic talent, or the ability to solve extremely challenging puzzles. The tendency of such students to focus intensely on the physical qualities of objects is put to use here. Seeing the trees but not the forest can be an example of such behavior. For example, they can solve jigsaw puzzles with pieces by only seeing the shapes of the pieces (Rimland, 2003).

Early intervention usually helps the most in treating autism in the best possible manner. Besides this, behavioral training and management, medication (used mostly in severe cases) for conditions associated with Autism (like anxiety and Depression) and training parents to help the child are some of the most common approaches to treating Autism. These methods help in managing the behavior of the child. He may then lead a life that is functional and integrated with the society.

We may thus conclude that children with Autism can live healthy and happy lives with the right kind of help which various Psychologists can provide. Some of them may even turn out to be exceptionally talented!What are your views on Autism and children who suffer from it? Let us know in the comments below!

Click here to contact a Psychologist who can help your (or your acquaintance’s) child fight Autism.

Finally, what are your views on Autism and children who suffer from it? Let us know in the comments below.

Originally published at blog.mindsolace.com on June 18, 2017.