Curing Autism

762 Words2 Pages

Autism which is also known as Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), is a neurodevelopment disorder that is due to abnormal functioning in social behaviors, language, communication skills, unusual behaviors, and unusual interests or fixations on objects. Autism is a spectrum disorder as the symptoms, abilities, and characteristics are expressed in a variety of ways. There are many symptoms that coincide with Autism. Therefore, there are multiple types of treatments that are effective in reducing the symptoms of Autism. These treatments include using a variation of intensity among treatments, visual treatment, increasing social skills, behavioral treatments, use of operant conditioning, reinforcement treatments, and environmental treatment.
In order to understand the implemented treatments of Autism it is important to understand the diagnostic criteria along with the symptoms related to autism. This means that in order to be diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) according to the DSM V a child must show delays in functioning while socially interacting, in language, or while playing prior to the age of three. In addition to these criterion individuals must display the core symptoms of ASD. This means that children must display a total of six of more of symptoms listed in the Diagnostic criterion for Autistic Disorder such as lack of emotional or social reciprocity, delays in development of language, repetitive use of language, preoccupation with objects or parts of objects, or a lack of seeking to share enjoyment by pointing out objects that are of interest. Although these are common symptoms of Autism, Autism is expressed in a variety of ways therefore each individual may express symptoms in a variety of ways. This means that the...

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...form of therapy to another along with multiple routine changes. This is detrimental as individuals with autism need to implement a daily routine as change is a struggle. Overall, the IBT group had substantially higher gains from the treatment. This suggests that intensive behavioral analytic treatment is a very effective form of treatment as it had brought functioning levels from below normal to normal levels.
While there has been significant improvement in functioning due to intensive early behavioral interventions (IBT) as Howard and et al. (2004) had researched, these approaches are typically very expensive and effective if they are implemented early in life. However, Woo and Leon ( 2013) conducted a study that implemented treatment that affects a significant amount of autistic along with individuals who are past the age that treatments are no longer effective.

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