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Autism Spectrum Symptoms

By: ememichael Home | Health-and-Fitness


Autism spectrum disorder is basically a wide range of behavioral and developmental disorders that results from a combination of certain traits. The autism spectrum disorder will range from low functioning autism to high functioning autism to normal behavior and to possibly hyper socialization.

Autism Spectrum disorders (ASD) is also known as autism spectrum conditions (ASC) or the autism spectrum. The autism spectrum is a variety of psychological abnormalities in social interactions and communication. It may also be displayed as severely restricted interests and exceedingly repetitive behavior. Autism is one of the five autism spectrum disorders.

It is based on the presence of these symptoms that children are placed on the autism spectrum, which decides their further course of treatment. However, children who display one or more symptoms on this spectrum might become quite keen in other areas, which might actually make them prodigies. For instance, a child who cannot understand language might develop a keen understanding of music and become a child genius.

The primary symptoms of the autism spectrum disorders are social difficulties, communication troubles, unusual behaviors like repetitiveness and restricted interests, associated symptoms like sensory sensitivity and occasional bowel problem (about the only physical symptom that accompanies these disorders), and mental retardation or savant skills which causes them to appear like they are really good at something that nobody else is.

Treatment

Finding a permanent cure for autism can be more difficult than it seems, however if you do some research you'll find loads of treatments offered for autism. But if you are looking for scientifically proven treatments, there are two kinds of therapies which are believed to be effective. The first is the ' Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA)'. This approach does not involve use of medication and is based on planning to achieve measurable goals.

The term autism describes a neurodevelopmental disorder with a variety of symptoms and characteristics whose focus is on abnormal social relationships and interplay, difficulties with communications of both the verbal and non-verbal kind, a lack of focus in normal play and repetitive pattern behaviors.

The sight of this teenager emerging from of his shell, responding socially to this new and different environment when he was all but unreachable in the classroom, made me wonder. Perhaps there was a key to unlocking the barriers to interaction inside of the other kids. I wondered if perhaps there was a solution to the mystery that kept their social abilities sequestered inside of these young people. Perhaps theatre activities might be the answer for many kids with autism.

symptoms:
* Delay in speech with identifiable speech patterns. Often when these children try to copy someone they do it with precise intonation, often repeating word to word what has been said.
* The tone of speech may be high pitched or flat.
* These children often lack the ability to understand changes in tone or body language to express irony, sarcasm or humor.
* Lack of eye contact

The kids who appeared to be completely unmindful of what was going on I soon discovered, were anything but oblivious. The almost completely silent teenagers soon proved to me that they were not only aware, but that they were all the time processing what was happening around them. I found that with enough support, they could participate and communicate appropriately.

Having worked as a psychologist on a multi-disciplinary team diagnosing autism spectrum disorders, I have observed the interaction of many children who present with symptoms of developmental delays and difference so a few alarm bells were triggered for me.

When it comes to communication skills, more often than not, individuals with ASDs will show lack of development in these areas, as well. Many children that have been diagnosed with ASDs do not talk at all. Some may display a repetitive speech, such as echolalia, where they repeat the words that are said to them. Instead of answering a question, they'll simply repeat what was asked of them. A child with ASDs may be able to talk and then at a later date, stop talking altogether.

A distinction is made in assessing the needs of people with autism between those who have an IQ of less than 70, who are described as low functioning and classified as having a learning disability, and those who have an IQ above 70 who are often described as high functioning.

Applied Behavior Analysis therapy works by encouraging behavior patterns and repetitive actions in order to teach basic tasks. These exercises also help teach the mind how to learn by developing new neural connections that allow children to literally learn how to learn. These new pathways help children learn to connect the various parts of a task or concept together so that they can understand how and why things work. This is an essential part of learning, but many teachers fail to understand that autistic children do not innately have this ability.

ABA Therapy has existed for decades, and has consistently been the most successful and most recommended treatment for autism. It is the only treatment utilized by a majority of school districts as well as the only treatment covered by many insurance programs. There are many years worth of studies to back up the results of ABA Therapy, with results showing improvement for children on all degrees of the autism spectrum.











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