Similar to the classical description and as documented, the etiology of how Jelly was diagnosed with autistic disorder is unknown. Jelly began to show deficits at a very young age and referred for evaluation. During the evaluation, observation and asked tasks were used to define the scope of Jelly’s deficits. As suggested, autism can only be diagnosed during observation.
The symptoms were all similar. What I observed during fieldwork is exactly as what is described in the classical description. There were many redirection cues, verbal cues, and physical assists (from time to time if redirection/verbal cues are not sufficient) in order for Jelly to complete certain tasks. When Jelly gets excited, she rocks back and forth and flaps her arm. When jelly gets frustrated, she whines and cry, but have learned somewhat of a self-control method: stop, count to three, and breathe.
Typical deficits include lack of eye contact, dysregulation, and habits / patterns. During communication, Jelly can hold a conversation but lacks eye contact. She may hold eye contact for no more than three seconds at a time. Jelly’s dysregulation occurs during classwork and homework. Her emotions in performing certain tasks, such as writing, confuses her because of how far she needs to copy from the board and not recognizing the letters. Another emotion dysregulation occurrs during art class. Jelly needs to color in her sea creatures but cannot because other children were doing other activities that she wanted to. She was not able to understand that she needed to first complete her activity before moving on to the next. A habit, and can be described as an unusual attachment, is smell. Every time she opens a marker to color, she has to smell it. ...
... middle of paper ...
...s that we have yet to learn, such as the Schoodles. I am not aware of how reliable and valid the Schoodles is, but it does provide somewhat of a baseline of where the child’s education and performance skills are. What it did not do for me was advance my knowledge of autism spectrum disorder. Down to the etiology, it is the same: unknown. There are research to discover and uncover the underlying representation cause of autism, but it is in development. Symptoms vary, but it is engraved in my mind when I see a child flapping their arm, rocking back and forth, and having unusual attachment to objects or smells that they may have autism spectrum disorder. My clinical reasoning skills appears to be improving because I can point out symptoms and occupational performance that appears to be deficits or needs improvement, and make suggestions to how it can be improved.
Stephen M. Edelson, Ph.D. . Center for the Study of Autism. Web. 23 October 2011.
For today’s assessment we have administered the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule – Second Edition. The ADOS-2 is a standardized semi-structure assessment of language, social interactions and play, or imaginative use of materials in individuals who have been referred because of a possible autism spectrum diagnosis. The ADOS is designed to elicit behaviors that are relevant to the diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder. The module used is determ...
It is most often characterized by difficulty in the child's ability to respond to people, events, and objects. Responses to sensations of light, sound, and feeling may be exaggerated. Delayed speech and language may be associated. Other characteristics include: impairment in ability to make peer friendships, absence of imaginative activity, stereotyped body movements, persistent preoccupation with parts of objects, marked distress over changes in trivial aspects of the environment, unreasonable insistence on following routines in precise detail, a restricted range of interests and a preoccupation with one narrow interest, along with many others.
Autism was first discovered by Leo Kanner in 1943, he labeled it as early infantile autism. Most causes of autistic children before Kanner’s discovery were thought to be possessed and were put through very inhumane conditions. Autism is the prototypical form of a spectrum of related, complex, neuro developmental disorders referred to as autistic spectrum disorders (ASDs), also known as pervasive developmental disorders (PDDs) (Berry 73). The main symptom of Autism is the inability to easily communicate and interact with others. A cure for autism has not been discovered, but there are reports of some children that have naturally recovered. Symptoms are noticed in early years of life, normally around the age of three. The onset of the disease must be before the age of three years (Berry 73). The families with an autistic child have to adjust their daily activities around the child at all times. It is very difficult for an autistic child to be in a crowded area or in new environments.
The specific array of symptoms used to diagnose an individual as autistic do not appear as straightforward as Frith's simple statement. It seems hard to fathom that they could all arise from one similar defect in a certain part of the brains of all autistics. Examples of these symptoms include a preference for sameness and routine, stereotypic and/or repetitive motor movements, echolalia, an inability to pretend or understand humor ((3)), "bizarre" behavior((4)) and use of objects ((2)), lack of spontaneity, excellent rote memory ((2)), folded, square-shaped ears ((3)), lack of facial expression, oversensitivity, lack of sensitivity, mental retardation, and savant abilities.
Early intervention is effective in treating autism spectrum disorder in many ways. One important way it has been proven effective by research is by increasing a child’s cognitive skills. When a child is first diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, they will likely be diagnosed as having a cognitive delay. Research shows that early invention services, such as applied behavior analysis, occupational, and speech therapy has helped increase IQ scores in children with autism spectrum disorder. In one study, children who received up to twenty hours a week of early intervention services had an average rise in IQ points of 17.6 (Solis, 2010). This increase in cognitive skills benefited children in the classroom setting. After receiving extensive early intervention treatment, children typically performed better on standardized testing. With an increase in cognitive skills and better achievement on standardized testing, children were able to be placed in less restrictive classroom settings (Smith, 199...
...th Autism not only to typically developing children but to children with other disorders or a milder case of autism and using other methods of assessment would work for future research.
First off, autism is not a form of mental retardation despite what the general public may have you believe. In actuality, autism, which was first described by Kanner (1943) in his study of 11 children with “autistic disturbances of affective contact” (US: American Psychological Ass...
In 1943, Leo Kanner observed eleven children, each with similar behavioral patterns, and published a paper in which he stared,” The condition differs markedly and uniquely from any reported so far” (Miller). Although many cases of autism, and autism-like disorders appeared before throughout history, no one ever properly defined this disorder until Kanner’s paper. The first said to mention the word autism was Martin Luther during the Protestant Reformation, while describing a severally autistic boy, but this is a doubted speculation. The first to medically coin the term autism was Hans Asperger. Even though, he thought he was observing autism, he was actually observing and describing Asperger Syndrome, which doctors realized was a different disorder in 1981 (“Who discovered Autism?”).
3. Mesibov, G., Lynn, A. and Klinger, L. 1997. Autism; Understanding the Disorder. New York: Plenum Press
The Autism Spectrum is a mystery. With no cause or cure, researchers have been working hard, to the best of their abilities, to diagnose, treat, and educate those with autism. For centuries, since 1943, with enhanced technology, the view on autism has improved tremendously. New advancements have been developed to diagnose autism earlier, help create more successful treatments, and to help better an educational plan for people with autism.
There is no known single cause of autism. Researchers are investigating a number of possible theories including genetics, heredity, medical problems, problems during pregnancy or delivery, as well as environmental influences. It is widely accepted that it is caused by abnormalities in the brain structure or function. There is evidence from neuropathological studies that autism has its origins in abnormal brain development early in prenatal life which continues postnatally, showing acceleration in brain growth measured by head circumference (Zwaigenbaum, L., Bryson, S., Rogers, T., Roberts, W., Brian, J., & Szatmari, P., 2005). The disorder also seems to have a genetic basis, although researchers have yet to find the specific genes that link to the onset of autism. There could be a cluster of genes that have somehow interfered with normal brain development and function. Studies show that twins of children with autism were more likely to be autistic themselves than the regular population, demonstrating there is a heredity lin...
There is no standard ‘type’ or ‘typical’ person with autism. Parents may hear more than one label applied to the same child: autistic-like, learning disabled with autistic tendencies, high functioning or low functioning autism. These labels don’t describe differences between children as much as they indicate differences between professionals’ training, vocabulary and exposure to autism (1)
Autism is a pervasive developmental disorder of the brain that severely impacts socialization, communication, and may even cause obsessive or repetitive behaviors. Autism delays the brain's normal development, and is also correlated with a milder form of the syndrome known as a pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified (PDD-N OS). Since it was first identified in 1943, there has been increasing rate in new diagnoses each year. Muhle, Trenracoste, and Rapin (2004) found that the rate of diagnosis for Autism has risen 556% between the years of 1991 and 1997. Many feel that this increase is due to a shifting of diagnostic criteria, or newer defining characteristics of the syndrome. The expansion of the diagnostic criteria also indirectly relates to the increase of services provided for Autistic children, therefore increasing the shift. Because of this increase of diagnoses, more awareness has been brought to pediatricians, further increasing the rate in which Autism is diagnosed ("Autism," 2010). Glasson et al. (2004) found that the frequency in which the disorder is diagnosed has risen to almost 60 per 10000 people. Another factor in the increase of the diagnosis of Autism is that children are being diagnosed at a much earlier age. Parents are identifying problematic behaviors earlier in a child's life, sometimes as early as 8 months of age (Bristol-Power & Spinella 1999).
Two to six children out of every thousand will end up with Autism. Autism is one of the fastest growing disorders with a great amount of studies being put behind it. With its vast amount of different signs and symptoms, different forms, how its treated, and arguments about how exactly the disorder came to be , Austin can very well be one of the most confusing, and researched disorders, for its a disorder that stirs up tons of questions but yet gets hardly any answers. Autism is usually developed between ages of one and three, it effects communication and how the child interacts with others. It is defined by behaviors of the child and “ spectrum disorders” that re different with each person. (About Autism, 2008, para 1). Symptoms of autism can very in many different ways, and even different categories. Take the category of social interaction and relationships symptoms include : non verbal communication development problems such as , eye - to - eye gazing, body language, and facial expressions, failure to make friends with people their own age, lack of interest, and lack of empathy. The category for verbal and non verbal symptoms include : Delay or lack when learning to talk, about forty person of people with autism never speak, problems with starting, and keeping conversations, repetitive use of language, and difficulty understanding what someone is saying. Finally the category of interests and play include : unusual focus on pieces, preoccupation on certain topics, a need for the same routine, and stereotyped behaviors like hand flapping and body rocking.