Always kiss your children goodnight - even if they're already asleep.
~H. Jackson Brown, Jr.
With the subject of autism on the news lately, I have decided to take a short break from mental health issues and let you in on some information that I have found from
my research about this troublesome condition. Since there are so many things about autism that I would like to relate, I am going to break my blog up into smaller segments. I will include the following: history, symptoms, causes, diagnosis, and treatment which will be in two parts. Part one will deal with how to work with an assessment team made up of doctors, mental health practitioners, educators, etc. The second part will focus on various methods of treatment. My last blog in this series will talk about how families deal with autism. Please read on.To a family with a child exhibiting the symptoms of one of the Pervasive Development Disorders such as Autism or Asperger's Syndrome, things may seem devastating. It is quite heartbreaking to find that your baby has not been able to meet the normal developmental milestones that most infants go through. According to an article that I read from Yale University, it stated that 1 in every 150 children is diagnosed with autism today, this has been a great increase from the amount of cases reported in 1980 where the incidence was 1 in every 2,500. Scary, isn't it!
Briefly, The initial discovery of autism goes back to the year 1911 when a Swiss psychiatrist by the name of Eugen Bleuler first named it. Autistic comes from the Greek word "autos," meaning self and refers to an extreme withdrawal of the self from social interaction like those afflicted with the mental health illness schizophrenia. Later, Dr. Bruno Bettelheim, thought that the early life of these children consisted of an environment with little or no stimulation. He believed that parents were not responsive to their children and their needs (L. Wing, ed, "Aspects of Autism", 1988). Bettelheim's ideology of the "refrigerator mother,"or cold mother has
carried on through the decades, thus adding salt to the wounds of already distraught parents. Modern medicine, however, has proven that this is not the case at all. There are many causes of this illness and it is not the mother or father's fault. How unfair it was, back then, when people thought that autism was because the parents weren't warm and caring enough. It must have caused a lot if suffering for those whom I am sure were feeling guilty already and blaming themselves for a child who was not normal.
By 1943, Dr. Leo Kanner of Johns Hopkins University, observed 11 children who had withdrawn from contact with humans as early as age one. He felt that these little ones exhibited "an extreme autistic aloneness." He and Dr. Hans Asperger believed that these infants were born with the syndrome. Thus, more evidence showing that autism did not come from the way parents cared for their baby.During the 1960's through the 90's people began to understand autism and more precisely identify it as a disruption in the normal development of a child because it affects the ability of the brain to gather and process information. Research also suggested that it was an auto-immune or degenerative sickness of nerve cells in the brain. This disorder is manifested differently from individual to individual and no two 
people share the the same characteristics. Also known as a spectrum disorder, because of the wide variety of symptoms, a person may be diagnosed with mild autism or Asperger's syndrome, to very severe autism and would need an individualized program different from others. The major difference between these two types of maladies has to do with patterns of speech. Those with asperger's appear to have normal speech patterns, and are usually quite intelligent but have social and behavior difficulties, while those with severe cases might not develop appropriate speech at all, may exhibit anti-social behaviors, learning disabilities and in some instances, mental retardation. Autism may show up in infants as early as 18 months usually before the age of 3. Early diagnosis, according to a Yale University study is essential in treating this illness.
people share the the same characteristics. Also known as a spectrum disorder, because of the wide variety of symptoms, a person may be diagnosed with mild autism or Asperger's syndrome, to very severe autism and would need an individualized program different from others. The major difference between these two types of maladies has to do with patterns of speech. Those with asperger's appear to have normal speech patterns, and are usually quite intelligent but have social and behavior difficulties, while those with severe cases might not develop appropriate speech at all, may exhibit anti-social behaviors, learning disabilities and in some instances, mental retardation. Autism may show up in infants as early as 18 months usually before the age of 3. Early diagnosis, according to a Yale University study is essential in treating this illness. Next up are some of the symptoms that an autistic child may exhibit.
Problems with social interactions
- Your child makes little or no eye contact with other people.
- Your child has problems developing a relationship with others.
- Your little one is not interested in sharing experiences that they have had.
- Your child does not respond to his/her caregiver, siblings, relatives, etc.
- Your child may exhibit impairments in communication and speech.
- Your child has problems expressing himself/herself with speech or gestures.
- Your child has a hard time putting words in sentences, but may repeat what he/she hears, this is called echolalia.
- Your child usually does not begin or continue a conversation.
- Your child does not know how to play pretend, or make-believe.
- Your child may experience extreme sensitivity or lack of sensitivity to sounds and noises.
- Your child may only be interested in playing with a few objects, or participating in a few activities and responding by doing the same things over and over again. He/ she is unable to vary their responses.
- Your child may continuously engage in repetitive routines and become very agitated with changes in their routine.
- Your child may show repetitive movements like rocking back and forth, or waving a hand in front of his/her face.
Stay tuned for my next blog about the causes of autism.
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