Autism
...e respect Geoffrey was functioning below his age. In others he was way a head, so work with a speech therapist began. Meanwhile, the two youngest who were twins were approaching two, with no language skills at all. So, in April 1999, they were refered to Speech and Language Pathologist Yvonne West. After hearing the family history, she asked to see Geoffrey as well, and promply recommend that he go aboard for testing. Mrs. Crow took her oldest son to Toronto Hospital for Sick where he was diagnosed with high functioning autism. It was clear that he was bright but he could not communicate with people. She was told that he needed a minimum of 20 hours of intensive speech, behaviour and socialization therapy. They were presented with a dilemma, because in Bermuda they could only get 90 minutes a week. Only it they went private that they could get the amount of hours that they needed. So Geoffery was getting far below the recommended amount of therapy. Meanwhile the twins where also diagnosed with autism. But were functioning at a lower level than their brother. Richard was diagnose with moderate autism at the milder end of the scale while Michael Jr. was deem moderately autistic at the severe end of the scale, meaning each was completely different. Again the recommendation for Richard was for a minimum of 20 hours of multiple therapy per week with much more for Michael. Many of the simple things family of regular children take for granted are not avilable to these parents. Mrs. Crow cannot for example ask Geoffrey if he has a good day at school because he does not know what a fun is nor a good day, he has to be thought how to play and manners are always learned by rote. Mrs. Crow has established a timetable for certain things to take place right form birth. That way, the children came to understand that a specific sequence of events meant bedtime. The screaming fits, however, are a major disruption because they occur without warning and are unstoppable. Autism is a spectrum disorder. The symptoms and characteristics of autism can present themselves in a variety of ways, form mild to severe. Although autism is defined by a certain set of behaviours, children and adults can exhibit any combination of the hehaviours in varying degree. Two children with the same diagnosis, can act very differently form one another and have varying skills. These are some of the behaviour that an autistic person may exhibit: · Unrelatedness to other—this characteristic is related to affect isolation. · Twiddling behaviour—this is the term that is use to describe the autistic person tendency to rock themselves, spin objects, flap their arms and flick their fingers. · Self-destructive behaviour—when children are forced to comply with the wishes of other, they tend to become distraught, angry and aggressive, hitting and biting themselves and others. The question has been asked if this behaviour should be punished. · Temper Tantrums-Anxiety—most children throws temper tantrums, but autistic to exhibit such tantrums frequently and it is often difficult to isolate precisely what condition are prone to start them. · Concrete thinking—most experts agree that autistic persons have difficulty with abstract concepts. They are not inclined to use metaphors and sometimes find it difficult to follow humorous remarks. · Language lacks—this disorder makes it hard for them to communicate with others and relate to the outside world. Not only is expressive language frequently impaired but it is common for receptive language to be deficient as well. · Excessive activity—It is often observed that autistic children seem to need less sleep than other children.(Webster et al., 1980) Children do not ‘outgrow’ autism, the symptoms may lessen as the child grows and develop with the aid of treatment. There is no known single cause of autism, but it is generally accepted that it is caused by abnormalities in the brain. It interferes with the normal development of the brain in the area of social interaction and communication skills.(ASA-2004). Brain scans show difference in the shape and structure of the brain in autistic children versus non-autistic children. Researcher is investigating a number of theories including the link between heredity, genetics and medical problems. In many families there seems to be a pattern of autism or related disabilities. Genetic factor is one area that is been looked at While no one gene has been identified as the cause of autism, research are in the process of searching for irregular segments of genetic code that autistic children may have inherited. Autism tends to occur more frequently than expected among individuals who have certain medical conditions, including Fragile X syndrome, tuberous sclerosis, congenital rubella syndrome and untreated phenyketonuria. Some harmful substance ingested during pregnancy have also been linked to an increase risk of autism. The question was also raised about a link between and MMR vaccines and autism and the possibility of a link could not be ruled out. The data does not support this claim but more research is clearly needed to find out if there is any relationship between MMR vaccine and autism. (ASA 2004). The behaviours exhibits by children with autism are frequently the most troubling to parent and caregivers. These behaviours may be inappropriate, repetitive, aggressive and/or dangerous, and include hand-flapping, finger-snapping, rocking, placing objects in one’s mouth and head-banging. Children with autism may engage in self-mutilation, such has eye-gouging or biting their arms, may show little or no sensitivity to burns or bruises; and may physically attack someone without provocation. The reason for these behaviour is complex, but some professionals think that certain integration issues contribute to them. Communication skill- both the spoken and written word- is an issue for children with a...