AUTISM by Akshata Kamath

English Project SANTHOSH KUMAR KANA, PGT-ENGLISH DONE BY: AKSHATHA KAMATH XI SCIENCE KENDRIYA VIDYALAYA DONIMALAI

Autism - a disability for some

What is Autism? Autism is one of the mental, emotional, and behavioral disorders that appears in early childhood. Autistic children may have a serious lifelong disability

Autism is a brain disorder that typically affects a person's ability to communicate, form relationships with others, and respond appropriately to the environment. Some people with autism are relatively high-functioning, with speech and intelligence intact. Others are mentally retarded, mute, or have serious language delays. For some, autism makes them seem closed off and shut down; others seem locked into repetitive behaviors and rigid patterns of thinking.

Isolated in worlds of their own, people with autism appear indifferent and remote and are unable to form emotional bonds with others. Although people with this baffling brain disorder can display a wide range of symptoms and disability, many are incapable of understanding other people's thoughts, feelings, and needs. Often, language and intelligence fail to develop fully, making communication and social relationships difficult. Many people with autism engage in repetitive activities, like rocking or banging their heads, or rigidly following familiar patterns in their everyday routines. Some are painfully sensitive to sound, touch, sight, or smell. Symptoms

From the start, most infants are social beings. Early in life, they gaze at people, turn toward voices, endearingly grasp a finger, and even smile. In contrast, most children with autism seem to have tremendous difficulty learning to engage in the give-and-take of everyday human interaction. Even in the first few months of life, many do not interact and they avoid eye contact. They seem to prefer being alone. They may resist attention and affection or passively accept hugs and cuddling. Later, they seldom seek comfort or respond to anger or affection. Unlike other children, they rarely become upset when the parent leaves or show pleasure when the parent returns. Parents who looked forward to the joys of cuddling, teaching, and playing with their child may feel crushed by this lack of response.

What Are the Signs Of Autism? When an infant or toddler: does not cuddle or respond to affection and touching. does not make eye contact. appears to be unable to communicate. displays persistent failure to develop two-way social relationships in any situation. does not show a preference for parents over other adults. does not develop friendships with other children. has poor language skills; or nonexistent ones. shows unusual, extreme responses to objects – either avoidance or preoccupation. finds moving objects, such as a fan, hold great fascination. may form an unusual attachment to odd objects such as a paper or rubber band.

Repetitive behaviors and obsessions Although children with autism usually appear physically normal and have good muscle control, odd repetitive motions may set them off from other children. A child might spend hours repeatedly flicking or flapping her fingers or rocking back and forth. Many flail their arms or walk on their toes. Some suddenly freeze in position. Experts call such behaviors stereotypies or self-stimulation . Some people with autism also tend to repeat certain actions over and over. A child might spend hours lining up pretzel sticks. Or, like Alan, run from room to room turning lights on and off. Some children with autism develop troublesome fixations with specific objects, which can lead to unhealthy or dangerous behaviors. For example, one child insists on carrying feces from the bathroom into her classroom. Other behaviors are simply startling, humorous, or embarrassing to those around them. One girl, obsessed with digital watches, grabs the arms of strangers to look at their wrists.

What Causes Autism? Researchers are unsure about what causes autism. Several studies suggest that autistic disorder might be caused by a combination of biological factors, including exposure to a virus before birth, a problem with the immune system, or genetics.

How Common Is Autism? Recent studies estimate that as many as 14 children out of 10,000 may have autism or a related condition. About 125,000 Americans are affected by these disorders, and nearly 4,000 families across the country have two or more children with autism. Three times as many boys as girls have autism.

Autism Effects the Whole Family In addition to working with autistic child, the child and adolescent psychiatrist can help the family resolve stress – for example, a feeling among the siblings that they are being neglected in favor of the autistic child, or embarrassment about bringing their friends home. The child and adolescent psychiatrist can help parents with the emotional problems that may arise as a result of living with an autistic child and also help them provide the best possible nurturing and learning environment for the child.

This is a list of noteworthy people known or speculated to have been diagnosed with autism, Asperger syndrome (AS), or another condition on the autism spectrum. Due to the fluctuating and imprecise criteria for the diagnosis of Asperger syndrome and of autism, even a formal diagnosis cannot be taken as certain proof that a given person is on the spectrum. Speculation and doubts continue about well-known autistic figures such as Donna Williams. Also, self-diagnosis of Asperger syndrome is common, and some doctors may over diagnose in order to enable a child to receive taxpayer-funded special education, or for other reasons; see reliability of AS diagnosis.

Phillipa "Pip" Brown (aka Ladyhawke), pop musician . William Cottrell, student sentenced for fire-bombing SUV dealerships. Robert Durst, American murderer Tim Ellis, Australian magician and author. Peter Howson, Scottish painter. Luke Jackson, author. Heather Kuzmich, fashion model and reality show contestant on America's Next Top Model. Clay Marzo, American professional surfer . Gary McKinnon, British computer hacker . Robert Napper, British murderer

Jerry Newport, American author and mathematical savant, basis of the film Mozart and the Whale. Craig Nicholls, frontman of the Australian garage rock band, The Vines.

High-functioning autism High-functioning autism is an informal term, not an official diagnostic category. Compared to diagnostic criteria for the official ASDs, descriptions of HFA tend to align most closely with Asperger syndrome. Christian Weston Chandler, the creator and sole writer for the highly popular web comic character Sonichu. Michelle Dawson, autism researcher and autism rights activist. Temple Grandin, food animal handling systems designer and author. Caiseal Mór author, musician, and artist. Hikari Ōe, Japanese composer. Dylan Scott Pierce, wildlife illustrator. Jim Sinclair, autism rights activist. Donna Williams, Australian author; this diagnosis is controversial

Some Important Personalities with Autism Albert Einstein Bill Gates

George Bernard Shaw Thomas Edison

Thomas Jefferson Emily Dickinson

Treatments Parents who suspect autism in their child should ask their family doctor or pediatrician to refer them to a child and adolescent psychiatrist, who can accurately diagnose the autism and the degree of severity, and determine the appropriate educational measures. Drugs are of minor importance in the treatment of autism. Antidepressants occasionally help a little. Standard antiviolence agents, especially antipsychotic drugs, lithium, and beta-blockers, may be needed for autistic persons who strike out at themselves or others.

Conventional anti-psychotic drugs are often highly sedative and have serious side effects, including body movement disorders. Anticonvulsants may be useful; some researchers have suggested that unrecognized partial complex epileptic seizures, which cause changes in consciousness but not physical convulsions, are one source of autistic behavior problems. Little is known about the long-term effects of drugs on autistic persons. They should be used only for specific symptoms, not merely to keep a child docile or quiet the anxiety of a parent or doctor.

For unexplained reasons, people with autism demand consistency in their environment. Many insist on eating the same foods, at the same time, sitting at precisely the same place at the table every day. They may get furious if a picture is tilted on the wall, or wildly upset if their toothbrush has been moved even slightly. A minor change in their routine, like taking a different route to school, may be tremendously upsetting. Scientists are exploring several possible explanations for such repetitive, obsessive behavior. Perhaps the order and sameness lends some stability in a world of sensory confusion. Perhaps focused behaviors help them to block out painful stimuli. Yet another theory is that these behaviors are linked to the senses that work well or poorly. A child who sniffs everything in sight may be using a stable sense of smell to explore his environment. Or perhaps the reverse is true: he may be trying to stimulate a sense that is dim. Imaginative play, too, is limited by these repetitive behaviors and obsessions. Most children, as early as age 2, use their imagination to pretend. They create new uses for an object, perhaps using a bowl for a hat. Or they pretend to be someone else, like a mother cooking dinner for her "family" of dolls. In contrast, children with autism rarely pretend. Rather than rocking a doll or rolling a toy car, they may simply hold it, smell it, or spin it for hours on e

Autism and Mental Illness: What's the Connection? According to an article in today's Science Daily , there is an association between mental illness in parents and autism in children. Parents of children with autism were roughly twice as likely to have been hospitalized for a mental disorder, such as schizophrenia, than parents of other children, according to an analysis of Swedish birth and hospital records by a University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill researcher and colleagues in the U.S. and Europe.... Establishing an association between autism and other psychiatric disorders might enable future investigators to better focus on genetic and environmental factors that might be shared among these disorders," said study author Julie Daniels, Ph.D., an assistant professor in the UNC School of Public Health's epidemiology and maternal and child health departments.

INSTITUTES FOR AUTISTIC PEOPLE IN INDIA

Institute for Remedial Intervention and Research (IRIS

Websites www.autism.com www.autismindia.com National Mental Health Association http://www.nmha.org/ National Institute of Mental Health http://www.nimh.nih.gov/publicat/autism

AUTISM by Akshata Kamath

More Related Content

What's hot

Similar to AUTISM by Akshata Kamath

More from santukana

Recently uploaded

AUTISM by Akshata Kamath