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As parents and as individuals, we want to fit in with everyone else. We want to feel loved, respected, and to belong.

Life happens, however, and not everyone fits into the mold. But then, think about it. Would you like a million of “you” walking around the planet? The world ‘autism’ may conjure up all sorts of associations. In older times, it unfortunately had the associations of mental institutions and disability.

I want to do something a little different with this article. Rather than talk about what is wrong with children on the autism spectrum, I want to talk about how they are unique. This uniqueness and particular hardwiring they are born with is what makes them who they are. As a parent, it’s your job to become a lifelong student of your child and of his abilities, and of her challenges.

Generally speaking, autism manifests itself first in early childhood, from as early as six months to three years of age. Some children may appear like every other child, then suddenly lose all their speech (this is called regressive autism). Other children have unique patterns that distinguishes autism in them in what has been known as a triad of symptoms.

Social Interaction

Children with autism communicate differently than neurotypical children. They have their own thoughts, feelings, and experiences, but they may have difficulty communicating them in a neurotypical manner. Children with autism typically have difficulty maintaining eye contact, a hard time understanding emotions, and struggle to understand other people’s facial expressions and social cues.

As a child gets older it’s important that we, as parents, be understanding, compassionate, and respectful of these differences. We need to accommodate our expectations of our children at times, but they will also need to compromise at times in order to learn the “customs” of NT (neurotypical) culture.

Communication

This is where the rainbow spectrum of autism manifests itself. On one end of the spectrum are individuals who have no speech, but who are very much alive and attentive to what is going on around them. On the other end of the spectrum are children who can speak and appear to ‘fit in’ to a group of peers. They can actually be very gifted with vocabulary and memorizing facts. However, all individuals on the spectrum share the difficulty of understanding figurative speech, and non-verbal nuances of communication. Without the help of speech therapy and group skills, it’s like you and I, as Americans speaking only English, being dropped off in Japan and told to “fit in”. We would need a language helper and a consultant who could help us understand the language, customs, and culture of Japan.

Repetitive Behaviors and Restrictive Interests

Stereotypical movement is a fancy term for hand flapping, rocking, or making certain noises.

Compulsive behavior manifests itself, for example, in a child lying on the ground and watching a wheel turn around and around, or rewinding a videotape of Thomas the Tank Engine over and over to watch the same scene, or lining objects up in a certain manner.

Restricted Behavior may include preoccupation with a narrow range of interests, such as Pokemon cards, or baseball statistics, or any other subject.

Ritualistic Patterns, from my observation, seem to come about from a preference of keeping seems stable and predictable, perhaps dressing the same way every day, or driving a certain route to school every day.

In some children, there autism can manifest in the form of self injury. Some forms of self injury can include skin picking, eye poking, head banging or head biting. Not every child with autism will experience this, but it can occur in up to 30% of children with autism.

Other Ways that Autism Can Manifest

Autism can also manifest itself in unusual talents and abilities, such as an extraordinary grasp of music, or art, or the ability to memorize huge amounts of information. A child with autism may be able to focus and pay attention more than other children.

Sensory issues are common for nearly everyone on the autism spectrum. These issues can manifest in difficulty with eye hand coordination, or fine motor coordination, walking on one’s toes, or even walking into things. Individuals with autism may be very sensitive to wearing certain textures, to certain noises, or even certain tastes or smells.

I may have missed some characteristics in this brief article. Please comment and let me know what positive characteristics of the autism spectrum I have missed, or what challenges I may not have listed here.

There is more than one type of autism. Even though most people in society know only the umbrella terminology for the disability, it should be known that there are all types of autism, in fact that various degrees are a part of a spectrum. No one individual experiences autism in the same exact way. It is time society started acting like that. An individual is not only autistic because they have a learning disability. An individual should be looked at from a much deeper standpoint. Here’s a brief look at autism underneath the surface.

Asperger Syndrome
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Asperger Syndrome is one of the few ASDs (autistic spectrum disorders) and is diagnosed by the absence of significant socialized tendencies. These characteristics include finding difficulty in social interaction and the limited and monotonous patterns of an individual’s behavior and what happens to keep their interests. Other symptoms can include clumsiness and abnormal use of jargon. Asperger differs from other ASDs because it seeks to preserve lingual and the development of cognitive capabilities. There is no known cause for the disorder and no treatment to cure the disorder.

Kanner’s Syndrome

Kanner Syndrome, otherwise known as autism, is autism in its classic form. It is defined as a neural developmental disorder and is characterized by weakened communication and social interaction and the limitation and repetitiveness of behavior. Autism is usually diagnosed by the time the child hits the age of 3. It affects information the brain processes by changing the way nerve cells and synapses are allotted to connect and be organized. Just like Asperger Syndrome, Kanner Syndrome is one of the few ASDs.

PDD-NOS

The acronym PDD-NOS stands for Pervasive Developmental Disorder – Not Otherwise Specified and is defined as a pervasive developmental disorder and the disorder that completes the group of ASDs. With the diagnosis of PDD-NOS, an individual can qualify for some of the characteristics found in autism and Asperberger, but because they do not fit all of the criterion for the disorders, they become diagnosed with PDD-NOS. It is commonly referred to as atypical autism because although it is autism, it is very hard for it to fall in the category of autism.

Rett’s Syndrome

Rett syndrome is a developmental disorder of the neurological system that affects a major component of the central nervous system, known as “grey matter”. This is generally characterized by the outward appearance of small feet, hands, and a decrease in the rate at which an individual’s head is supposed to go. Hand movements are repetitive. Scoliosis, constipation, and the failure to grow are also common problems with Rett. It is very rare, but when it does happen, it usually only affects girls.

Childhood Disintegrative Disorder

Similar to Rett Syndrome, Childhood Disintegrative Disorder is also rare. Children who have it typically appear to be normal at birth, growth occurs when it is supposed to occur, no signs of anything potentially problematic. However, at age two or four, things take a shift. Instead of progressing, the child seems to regress. They will have no desire to interact with kids and have no interest in playing. Talking will either end completely or decrease in skill from what it previously had been.

For a child affected with autism, the world appears to be entirely different. A lot of difference appears in the way the child behaves and interacts with the surroundings and his reaction to different external forces. Overall, this disorder in small children affects the perception and the way the child reacts to different levels of requests.

The reality and the environment may appear different for the child with varying intensity with unique orientation. The child develops a different world where things might take a different shape that is quite different from the real world. Basically, a lot of difference is noted in the way the child communicates, behaves, learns and socializes with the world and people.

The Symptoms of Autism in the Developing Child

The best way to detect autism in any child in initial stage is to study the symptoms and the signs. The way the child reacts to different people, communicates and perceives them can help us a lot in studying the symptoms. Even the level of understanding and his performance can give us an indication of the stage of autism, if exists. The most common symptom noted is the apathy of the child towards other small children and freckle nature. The child world show signs of no interest and normal tools of play would not impress him.

He would get easily distracted, might get upset due to some reason, hatred towards touch or overstimulation. These also can be disorder in terms of learning, communication, manipulating things, calculations and perception of behaviors. It can also be concluded that this psychiatric problem is a set of disorders that might be the result of any circumstance.

Tackling the Difficulties of Autism in the Developing Child

In a lot of cases it has been reported that child show irregularities and difficulty in speaking and interacting with people. These disorders affect the way the child learns different new skills and the development of the brain might tend to slow down. Even the child tends to get frustrated and this might lead to attention getting diverted and loss of interest in learning. You might also note your child being very aggressive on touch of on specific instances that completely disturbs him.

It is very important that the parents of the child are very vigilant and they should know the symptoms very well. They should note the interests and the circumstances that disturb the child. You should help your child to learn and absorb some of the skills and understand how to understand the physical contacts. Try to set a barrier and motivate the child to set rules for himself so that he is able to learn the expected behaviors and the unexpected ones. Praising the positive deeds can be a good idea since the child can get a lot of confidence and learn much faster.

Experts always advise parents to develop a relationship of friendship so that the child never feels reluctant to express his feelings. He should get the confidence to talk to people and interact with them. If they find a friend in you, they might start learning faster and the push required for them to understand might reduce a lot. Being a parent, you must keep in mind that your efforts should be consistent, regular and patient. You should work towards identifying the different signs the child can show for development and expressing feelings.

Receiving a verdict of Autism can seem overwhelming. You may possibly be left with a lot of unanswered questions regarding the verdict. You may possibly be thinking the verdict is wrong. This cannot be happening to your young baby. You can find several feelings and emotions you could expertise when dealing with a verdict of Autism. The following are some about the means you can be emotion, and methods to come to terms using the verdict.

Denial

Denial is normally a popular emotion when dealing with any medical problem. Often it can be much easier to deny that there exists even a problem. Some father and mother don’t need to consider that there may possibly be one thing wrong with their baby. So they pretend like there exists practically nothing wrong. The doctor was wrong, their baby is perfectly standard. Getting in denial regarding the verdict will not help something. The quicker that you accept that your young baby is Autistic the superior both of you is going to be. The problem will not go away if you ignore it. Accepting the verdict and moving on is going to be a enormous move in your case as being a mother or father to bring. The quicker this is completed the quicker you’ll be able to start out seeking into treatment method selections.

Anger

Anger is 1 of various emotions you could think when you get a verdict of Autism. You may possibly be angry with yourself, or angry with God. Why is your young baby Autistic. You may possibly be angry with other father and mother which have wholesome children. This is normally a standard emotion to expertise. Recall whilst you happen to be emotion angry to believe of all the fantastic things about your young baby. Share your feelings with other people. Keeping anger bottled up can often be a bad point.

Grief

Often every time a mother or father gets a verdict of Autism they go though a grieving period. They are sad that their baby has one thing wrong with them. They may possibly be emotion sad that the dreams they had for their baby may possibly must change. They can be sad much more than the way the planet will deal with their baby, plus the hardships they’ll face. Grief is normally a standard emotion to go via. The essential is normally to get via the grief, and on about the acceptance. Look at not to take a appear at the things which have been wrong. There can have to become some adjustments created in your plans for ones child’s long term. That’s what life is all about, change. If you uncover yourself unable to move past the grieving stage you could ought to talk to anyone. It may possibly help getting a handful of remedies sessions to deal with the feelings you happen to be experiencing.

Acceptance

Being a final point coming to terms using the verdict of Autism can bring awhile. Some men and women are just glad to own an solution to what is wrong with their child. Other people have a very difficult time accepting their child is several from other kids. Ultimately you could accept that your child is several, and which is okay. As soon as you may possibly have accepted the verdict of Autism you’ll be able to start out to support your child. Do all the investigation you’ll be able to on Autism. Feel of how difficult it can be for ones child. They have to own you to become behind them in their treatment options 1 hundred percent. The extremely initial move to doing this is acceptance.

There are many ways in which occupational therapy can help people afflicted with autism. Since autism is usually detected in very young children by parents and pediatricians, the main goal for all concerned is to help the child to become the very best, and most independent person he can be as he enters adulthood.

The first goal of the occupational therapist is to help the child to integrate with and react to the world around him while at the same time assisting parents, family members and others with whom he comes into contact to understand some of the basic reactions exhibited in very common situations. For example when an autistic person shies away from being touched or from merely be greeted such as saying ‘hello’ to him, the autistic person is simply trying to indicate that he is over-sensitized or simply not ready to react since the touch or greeting may have be viewed as a distraction or interruption from the stimulus he was processing at that moment.

Autistic people, particularly children often have problems controlling their body, blending into the space around them and relating to the space between them and another person. The main goal of the therapist is to aid the child in learning to perform basic tasks as dressing himself and communicating with others. While some autistic people have some speaking ability, others may be classified as non-verbal meaning they can only make sounds such as grunting or groaning. Thankfully for these people, there are tools available such as specially-designed ‘talking boards’ which allow the person to click on pictures and basic phrases to communicate with others.

In the United States, in order to become an occupational therapist, one must have a masters degree, with a concentration or undergraduate degree consisting of courses in biology, psychology, sociology, anatomy and basic liberal arts. A license to practice occupational therapy is also required along with the passing of a national certification exam.

For many people, there is another avenue which is to become an occupational therapy assistant or aide. In order to achieve entry, one must have an associate degree from a community college or technical school and obtain on-the-job training working with a licensed occupational therapist. The median salary is around $26,000 with an average hourly wage of $12. Since 1 in 100 babies are born with autism, occupational therapists are critically needed in the medical profession.

“I am very angry and filled with rage. I cannot express my anger, but I feel it. This anger permeates into every part of my being. It helps me to stay alive. It gives me energy to exist. It seems to be functioning to protect me. It is like a person standing over me and protecting me. It feels as if the rage has torn me apart and allows one part of myself to take care of the parts that cannot take care of themselves. My anger and rage are being put to work to function in a way that is helping me inside. This anger and rage is inside waiting to come out. It cannot come out now because it has an important job to do, but when it does it will fill a very large room.”

What is this autistic boy telling us? We can break up his message into two parts:

1) The dissociation experienced by autistic individuals and
2) How emotions such as rage and anger function within the autistic individual.

He seems to be telling us that he can feel his anger and rage, but more importantly cannot express it. From his vantage point, these emotions seem to be functioning as an internal protective mode. They protect the weaker parts of him that cannot protect themselves. It is like they are “people” protecting him.

In some regards this can make sense. The autistic individual has not had a completed attachment and thus is left in a dissociated unconscious state (lowest functioning autistic child). This changes as the child develops. Thus he can become more conscious and less dissociated and then we would call him high functioning or with Asperger’s. Eventually he may not be identified as being on the autism spectrum at all.

It is important to note that from the perspective of an Incomplete Attachment the child is functioning in a normal state of dissociation. Parts of the self are not conscious to or available to the person to use in their communications with others. It is the state that the ASD individual lives. Bromberg (1994)* believes all individuals begin life made up of multiple self-states. Our wholeness develops through a relationship with another person. Because the autistic person lacks an attachment, he remains in a non-whole state. Thus the individual has different parts of himself that have not integrated.
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In this situation, this autistic boy not only is in a normal state of dissociation, but also as he lives in this state of dissociation and as he develops, he learns to adapt to the situation and parts of himself (in this case his rage and anger) become internal methods to handle and cope with his situation.

I believe that as he develops a significant relationship with a person who understands his predicament, together they can forge an attachment that will help him to become less dissociated. He will be able to communicate his rage and anger and other emotions as he becomes less dissociated. As this occurs, he will be able to communicate the feelings that up to this point have only been internalized.

It is important to note that some autistic individuals are filled with rage and anger and that as they do develop we see more of the explosive anger coming out. Some individuals seem to be filled with inordinate amounts of anger. I think of this from three perspectives:

1) the excessive anger might be due to his rage at not having had a direct outlet for these emotions. In other words, he had to live without access to his emotions so he is filled with anger that has never previously seen the light of day,

2) when anger is dissociated the child does not have control over his emotions. Until his angry feelings are understood, they will come out as intermittent explosive acts of rage and

3) he probably has lots of angry feelings towards others that may not have helped him to express his anger.

This may not seem logical, but I would imagine the autistic child looks to the caregivers and others to know how to solve his dilemma and when this does not happen in a reasonable time, his anger may grow. When he finally has access to his emotions, there is what I think of as a lot of residual anger to deal with. Thus it would be important that when working with autistic individuals from a ‘relational perspective’, it would be important to expect this build up anger to come forward. This will be a positive move for the autistic individual, but caregivers and others may not know how to manage their own feelings when they are bombarded with these angry emotions.

Using medication with a child who has Autism is very similar to using medication for any other children. Several steps should be used to make sure the medication is safe and effective for your child.

The first step is to only use one medication or one technique at a time. In this manner parents will be able to tell whether or not it is working. If too many things are changed at once this is difficult to keep track of.

It is important when using medication for a child with Autism is to know exactly what the medication is expected to help with. Parents want to watch to see that if the medication is to help with behavior it is doing that.

The second step is to watch your child on a new medication for at least 24hours, preferably the entire weekend. Although teachers can be very good at watching for changes they have not been with your child in all the conceivable situations you have.

Parents have information no one else has about their child. I know some parents who even go so far as to keep their child home for the first 24 to 48 hours when starting new medication. If there are any strange reactions you can call about it right away.

The third step is to keep a journal. As the years go by it will be difficult to keep track of the different medications you may try. Keeping a journal will help you remember what your tried at what age and what dosage.

A typical medication that we tried for my child produced strange results. After the first two doses she could not seem to keep her head up. As the evening went on she started drooling. I stayed up the night and watched her.

This was not typical for her at anytime. Before she took the first dose the next day I called the doctor. The doctor agreed that even though what I was describing was not critical, it was enough to discontinue the medication. If I had sent her to school that day I may not have reacted as quickly.