Autism is one of the disorders categorized under autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) but has its distinctive characteristics. Autism spectrum disorders s comprise of disorders such as Autism, Asperger’s syndrome, Children disintegrative disorder (CDD) or the Heller’s Syndrome, and Rett’s Disorder.
Autism and Other Related Disorders
An article by Brentani and colleagues (2013), with the title “Autism spectrum disorders: An overview on diagnosis and treatment” differentiates autism from other related disorders. This article is crucial in that it analyzes the symptoms of each disorder included in the ASDs category making it easy for one to note the distinction. The major characteristics exhibited by ASDs include Poor social interaction skills at the core of all the other attributes. These are characterized by difficulties in the utilization of non-verbal cues, such as eye contact, body posture, and facial expressions; difficulties in forming age-appropriate peer relations; inadequacies in sharing of interests and affect with others; and lack of reciprocity skills in social and emotional occurrences. Secondly, ASDs are characterized with poor communication skills depicted by delays in early language development; difficulties in initiating or maintaining a conversation; usage of repetitive or idiosyncratic language and stereotypes; and difficulties in the establishment of age-appropriate pretence play or engagement in social imitative games. Third, ASDs include evidenced restrictive and monotonous patterns of conduct, interests, or endeavors.
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An autistic child must depict a total of six elements or more derived from the categories of characteristics listed above, which include poor social interaction skills, poor communications skills, and monotonous pattern of interests, behavior, or pre-occupations. At least two of the elements must be from the social interaction attribute with the other two categories comprising on one element each. 60 to 70% of autistic patients depict signs of intellectual disability. There is a group of individuals in the ASD category, approximated at 10%, that depict extraordinary skills for their age and are referred to as “savants” (Bretani et al., 2013, p.64).
Landry, Smith and Swank (2006) explore the interrelationships between various biological characteristics, learning responsive conduct, and infant development. These authors also offer insights into how responsive parenting may help autistic individuals in the course of their development. Supportive parents play a role in mitigating the symptoms of autism, particularly in the social interaction realm which carries the most weight.
Prognosis of Autism
Guinchat et al. (2012) discuss the signs reported by the parents of infants and which later become predictive of autism. According to these authors, physicians tend to ignore some signs reported by parents during the early stages of an infant’s development due to the belief that autistic signs will mostly be evidenced when the baby is three years old. Parents have depicted high stress levels when they report signs of autism at an early age of six months to two years just to be told to wait for the attainment of three years before the child is diagnosed. Although children will rarely show symptoms of autism at the age of six months, some scholars argue that two years could be predictive of autistic outcomes and, therefore, there is need to start diagnosis at an early stage rather than the mandated three years (Guinchat et al., 2012). The American Academy of Pediatrics suggests that parents should be encouraged to present any developmental concerns of their children as families tend to note a problem at an early stage in alignment with autism. Delays in speech and linguistic development, poor eye contact, abnormality in social responsiveness, difficulties related to eating and sleeping, inattention, failure to interact, and play deficiencies, are some of the signs of concern reported by most parents. Some parents have also reported abnormal development where some children lose skills that they had acquired at some point in life. Guinchat et al. (2012), however, suggest three major signs that are predictive of autism: anomalies in gaze, delays in linguistic development, and failure of the child to respond to his or her name.
The Biopsychosocial Paradigm of autism
Most of the signs associated with autistic outcomes align with the psychological and social domains of development. Despite a consensus about the biological and genetic causes of autism, it remains an issue of controversy as to what really causes it. The social domain seems to have the most effect on autistic outcomes. As per the prerequisites of its diagnosis, an individual must portray two or more signs that align with social interaction deficits. When it comes to the psychological domain, cognition and emotional development are critical. These are categorized in the second and third elements that predict autistic outcomes. Difficulties in maintaining a conversation for instance, can be a psychological problem as it may imply that the mind is congested with some other issues that distract the individual from the current undertaking (Brentani et al., 2013). The notion of some autistic children depicting extra-ordinary skills is one that leaves one wondering whether excellence in some endeavors is a disorder. It has been proved that some individuals may depict high intellectual skills yet they are autistic or patients of another condition under the ASDs. As per the claims of Brentani, 60-70% of autistic individuals will depict cognitive problems yet 10% may depict extra-ordinary intellectual skills. One may, therefore, conclude that the notion of social interactivity deficiencies is transferred to the mind to culminate into pre-occupations that enhance the individual’s intellectual abilities.
Autism emerges as one of the disorders that are hard to identify in an individual unless a parent is very keen and responsive to the child. It would be hard for one to realize that a child has social interaction deficiencies unless through interaction. Movies have been said to play a role in a child’s lack of interaction skills (Guinchat et al., 2012). As such, autism seems to be more of socially constructed phenomenon rather than an innate condition. Continuous social interactions may play a critical role in mitigating the symptoms of autism in the long run.
Treatment of Autism
Since autism is more of a psychosocial rather than medical problem, it emerges that behavioral interventions and therapy may play a critical role in mitigating the symptoms and such interventions have been used in the past. Applied behavioral therapy has been the most common intervention method in the treatment of autism (Brentani et al., 2013). It is an intensive technique that involves choosing pre-occupations for the patient while observing his or her reactions to various occurrences in the environment. This intervention also involves reinforcement, such as rewards and punishment, to drive or stop specific conduct. Family-centered care is also a productive intervention technique for autistic children, particularly with parents being the observant of their children (Brentani et al., 2013).
Insights from Autistic Individual
While people with various disorders tend to portray every negative outcome, a major insight with the autistic behaviors is that such individuals may be very reserved. Reservation is an attribute that is observed among many people who are normal and this may be an indication that the individual hates distraction. This emerges as a major barrier in the identification of autistic individuals, particularly when they are in a crowd.
The notion of being repetitive in a task may be misinterpreted to mean a hobby. If a child likes reading so much, for instance, it implies that one will mostly find him or her with books yet this may be a sign of autism.
The notion of forgetting a skill that was once learnt is a useful insight in the upbringing of children. From a personal perspective, I have met parents who claim that a child was very good in a particular skill at a specific age but is no longer good at it. One may experience complaints that this could be a predictor of autism but it is highly opposed by Guinchat et al. (2012).
Reflection
My research about autism has expanded my knowledge in various ways. While I was readily aware of some of the symptoms that could predict autism, such as poor linguistic development and speech, there are some claims that are new to me. First, as a disorder, I considered autism to be associated with all the negative traits of a disorder. However, I was overwhelmed to realize that even a genius can fall in the category of autistic individuals. My anticipation at the beginning of this research was that only idiosyncratic persons could emerge as autistic.
Taking into consideration that social interactivity deficiencies form the most part of autistic predictors, I realize that autism is not so much a biological problem as is a psychosocial phenomenon. As such, it is imperative to engage a child in behavioral and psychological exposure from a tender age.
Conclusion
Autism is one of the conditions that are categorized under ASD. Most of its characteristics align with social interaction deficiencies and the other minor attributes draw from poor communication skills and repetitive behavior. An autistic individual exhibits six elements or more that draw from the aforementioned deficiencies. Two or more elements must align with social interaction deficiencies. Poor linguistic and speech development, coupled with repetitive or monotonous endeavors are the major predictors of autism in an individual. Though intellectual incapacity is a symptom of autism, 10% of autistic individuals may depict extra-ordinary skills in any of the developmental realms. The recommended diagnostic age for autism is three years though some children will depict the symptoms at an age below that. Parental concerns of their children deficiencies in development have in most cases predicted autistic outcomes.
References
Brentani, H., de Paula, S. S., Bordini, D., Rolim, D., Sato, F., Portolese, J., …McCracken, J. T. (2013). Autism spectrum disorders: an overview on diagnosis and treatment.
Guinchat, V., Chamak, B., Bonniau, B., Bodeau, N., Perisse, D., Cohen, D. & Danion, A. (2012). Very early signs of autism reported by parents include many concerns not specific to autism criteria. Research in Autism spectrum Disorders, 6, 589-601. Doi: 10.1016/j.rasd.2011.10.005
Landry, S. H., Smith, K. E. & Swank, P. R. (2006). Responsive parenting: Establishing early foundations for social, communication, and independent problem-solving skills. Developmental Psychology, 42 (4), 627-642. Doi: 10.1037/0013-1649.42.4.627.
