The subject of Autism is personal for me because one of my good friends has a son who has autistic. All this week CNN has been doing a study on autism which I found to be very interesting; this is why I am doing my report about the Autistic disorder.
Autism which is short for the term autistic disorder is an unusual and severe disorder that can be
diagnosed during infancy. According to the Surgeon General autism affects about 10 to 12 kids for each 10,000 kids (Smith, 2008). Autism can be described as an extreme lack of ability to participate in different settings, and by a lack of interest in, societal relations (Smith, 2008).The lack of social interaction, imaginations and communication are other distinct characteristics of Autism. People with autism normally have a limited array of interest and often produced the same behaviors and gestures.
According to the University of Phoenix “the specific source of autism is not known, though most theorists believe that autism is for the most part a product of genetic conditions (University of Phoenix, 2006). The Surgeon General has posted on his state website that “there is verification to facilitate numerous but dissimilar reasons of toxic or infectious harm to the central nervous system throughout a Childs early development as well might add to the autistic disorder (Smith, 2008).
There are some signs through social impairments, and communications that will help determine and diagnose weather a child has an autistic disorder (Slonims, 2003). Autistic children may have problems in developing critical language skills particularly understanding verbal communication; or an abnormal use of speech. Some autistic kids have a hard time responding to there name; Some have partial non-verbal communication. Some other signs of autism in kids are that the baby is not pointing, making gestures, and babbling. Baby’s should be able to say a complete word by 18 months, and there should not be much loss of social skills or language. There may also be minimum appreciation or receptiveness to other people’s joy or suffering. There will be very a partial range of creative pretence or, engage in recreation particularly social imagination (Slonims, 2003)
Treatment for autistic disorder at an early age is very important. The earlier a child is diagnosed with the autistic order the sooner they can get the help and therapy they need to live the best life possible. My friends son John who is autistic saw me playing the piano one day at church, and started clapping and jumping up load. I told my friend Dave to bring him in before one of lessons with a student which he did. I sat John down and put his hands on the piano, John played about 3 notes before I stopped him, and hummed a Bflat. To my surprise John laughed and played the same note I just hummed. I laughed as well because he played the B flat fast without even thinking about it. I continued to test John for about 20 minutes on recognizing notes, “he did not miss one”. I discovered that John had perfect pitch. He had the ability to her a sound and duplicated it on the piano. In the first lesson I show John how to play Marry had a little lamb, and I’ve got the joy, which he learn in minutes. John’s parents told me that John was not suppose to be able to talk, and now they can not get him to stop talking, Because of the progress of John the school district has allowed John to leave school early every Tuesday and Thursday to come to my office for a piano lesson which the district considers to be therapy. Since John has started playing the piano his hands are getting stronger, with more dexterity. I have noticed that John is more calm than usually, and he also likes to create his own music.
The majority of behavioral treatment plans contain understandable instructions to the person, prompting to achieve exact behaviors. Another key is to give attention, rewards, and praise for doing those behaviors. I think the main key is for parents to know how to take care of there autistic kid so that they child can grow up to be all that they can be.
References
Slonims, V. (2003). Diagnosis of autism. BMJ , 1.
Smith, B. &. (2008, 02). Other Mental Disorders in Children and Adolescents. Retrieved 04 05, 2008, from public health services: http://www.surgeongeneral.gov/library/mentalhealth/chapter3/sec6.html#autism
University of Phoenix. (2006). Psychological Disorders . In U. o. Phoenix, Psychology: An Introduction (12th ed.).