autism awareness month

[AbbaRabbit]

Posted: 4/1/06 at 3:55pm

i got this information from several different sources including the autism society of connecticut's website, and a mailer that was sent from the school.

autism is a neurological disorder that affects communication, behavior, and socialization. specifically children and adults with autism may:

-not understand what you say and probably would not understand non-verbal communication like facial expressions, and my appear deaf
-be unable to speak, or speak with difficulty
-exhibit behaviors that may be repetitious, seemingly without a purpose, or inappropriate
-have difficulty understanding social cues and relating socially
-act upset for not obvious reason
-appear insensitive to pain
-seem anxious or nervous
-dart away unexpectedly
-engage in self-stimulating behaviors, such as hand-flapping or rocking

there are approximately 150 different symptoms that can charecterize autism. the symptoms can occur in any combination with varying degrees of severity, which means that no two people with an autistic spectrum disorder (asd) will behave or respond in exactly the same way.

the autistic spectrum includs people with five different diagnosis:

asperger’s disorder – or asperger’s syndrome is characterized by a lack of social skills, difficulty with social relationships, restricted range of interests or activities, but normal or above normal intelligence, and at least adequate language skills, many exhibiting no clinically significant delay in this area. however, conversational or communication subtleties such as humor, irony, idioms, tonal inflections, or non-verbal communication, may escape their understanding. ssperger’s also tends to be recognized or diagnosed later than the other asd’s in that its symptoms are a more subtle variation of the standard areas of impairment.

pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified – pdd-nos, pdd, or atypical autism is used as a diagnostic category when children do not fully meet the criteria of symptoms and/or do not have the degree of impairment that would clearly place them in the other categories, either for pdd’s or other psychiatric disorders. however, inclusion in this category suggests that significant and/or pervasive impairments in communication, socialization, and behaviors are present.

autistic disorder – also referred to as early infantile autism, childhood autism, or simply autism. persons in this diagnostic category frequently also have some degree of mental retardation and fall within the moderate to severely impaired range for communication, socialization, and behavior deficits.

rhett’s disorder – or rhett’s syndrome, occurs primarily in females where typical development occurs to approximately 6-18 months, at which point, changes in behavior, regression in speech and/or reasoning, or loss of previously acquired skills may be noticed. gross motor skills and use of hands may deteriorate into repetition of meaningless gestures or movements; generally observed as constant hand wringing or hand washing.

childhood disintegrative disorder – characterized by clearly normal development for at least the first two years with definitive regression in several areas of functioning including social language skills, gross motor skills (moving), and bladder/bowel control, and the onset of the regression is prior to age 10. the child will have the clinical presentation of autism, but not the early developmental history that would be typical of an asd.

according to the ceter for disease control, 1 in 116 children will be diagnossed with an asd.

asd's are more common that childhood cancers, juvinile diabetes, cystic fibrosis, and muscular dystrophy combines.

there is no know single cause of autism

when interacting with someome with autism:

speak in simple language
use concrete terms
repeat questions if asked
allow time for responses
give priase
to not attempt to physically block self stimulating behavior
remember that each individual with autism is unique and may act differently than others
think of autism as a different way of processing one's environment, not a disease.

[JerseyGirl2]

Posted: 4/1/06 at 4:50pm

Thanks for the post Abba. :)

[cturtle]

Posted: 4/2/06 at 10:34am

thanks for the info, abbadabba. we have an autistic class at the elementary school where i work.