Autism Research Paper

In this paper, I will discuss the developmental disorder Autism. Per Mayo Clinic, Autism is a serious neurodevelopmental disorder that impairs a child’s ability to communicate and interact with others which also includes restricted repetitive behaviors, interests and activities. I will talk about the description, risk factors, signs and symptoms, diagnostic tests, and treatments of autism. By researching and learning more about autism will help me and other people in the health care field to better care for a person who suffer from autism.

Autism Description Autism is a disorder that a person will have to live with for the rest of their life. Having autism can cause behavior problems because it interferes with how the person can comprehend

The three categories are social challenges, communication difficulties, and repetitive behaviors. Infants who develop autism display signs of not responding to their names, no interest in people, and decrease in babbling. A toddler with autism don’t like playing with others, they would rather play alone, and don’t like playing social games. Children with autism are attached to their parents but their parents don’t notice because they think the child is being disconnected. They get frustrated often because they don’t know how to express their feelings to other people. Their frustration can lead to self-harm behaviors like biting, pulling hair, and hitting head. Children with autism use speech in different ways. They have trouble binding words together to form a sentence that makes sense. Some will only use single words or try to repeat what others are saying. A person with autism body language, facial expression, or tone of voice may not actually express how they feel. Some repetitive behaviors that people with autism display include hand-flapping, rocking, jumping, and twirling, arranging and rearranging objects, and repeating sounds, words, or phrases. You can notice the repetitive behavior when the child with autism is playing with a toy. They will spend hours lining up the toy a certain way. If someone or something interrupts them, they will become upset and anger. People with

Doctors will use certain autism evaluations to help them with the diagnosis. Usually parents are the first to observe their child’s unusual behaviors like not making eye contact, failing to respond to their names, and plays with toys in a repetitive pattern. The Modified Checklist of Autism in Toddlers (M-CHAT) is a questionnaire for the parents to answer about their child’s behavior. The answers the M-CHAT will help to see if the child needs to be further evaluated by certain specialists. Parents should trust themselves and find a doctor that will listen and send them to the right specialist for their child. From birth until 3 years of age, a child should be screened developmental to make sure they are meeting the milestones for their age. When children don’t meet certain milestones, doctors will refer the children to a specialist for developmental evaluation and early intervention. The evaluations will include hearing and lead exposure screening along with an autism screening test. A diagnosis autism will include a multiple team of doctors like a pediatrician, psychologist, speech and language pathologist, and occupational therapist. Autism usually isn’t diagnosed until the child is older because their learning, social, and emotional difficulties are noticed until