Please come back and visit our site for more information. You will not be disappointed in the information and knowledge you will gain from this series.
I intend to also add a page that has many other websites who offer more knowledge or specific help regarding many issues that children with Autism and their family face every day. I have also added a page for Early Learning Exercises that offer many children's websites for learning and growth during those all too important early years.
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) are characterized by evaluating many areas of your child's behavior. Children with Autism possess the following systems:
Students on the ASD spectrum can also benefit from social skills training which can increase and improve building friendships and creating positive social interactions and avoiding negative responses. These methods can also increase a child's conversation and interaction skills with their peers and the adults in their life.
My son, Jacob was diagnosed over 15 years ago during a time when there was not much known about Autism and it certainly was not an everyday word that the majority of people knew something about. Most people's response would be "What's that?" when I would try to explain to them what Jacob was diagnosed with. There is so much information out on the internet now, I am having to open multiple windows to view each site. I will be closely monitoring which sites I place on the new page I am building for Autism Awareness Month along with the video I made for this month.
Many websites claim to have knowledge about ASD spectrum and offer great content but that simply is not the case. Many of those sites are biased in some way whether they are affiliates of the treatments or information they provide or they are just outdated material. I am not biased and in fact, like to know as much as I can about what new information is found lately in research and development for those who are on the ASD scale. I am not opposed or supportive of any particular therapy. All I can do is explain my son's symptoms and therapies we have tried and tested over the years. Some have worked great and others have bombed but that is no reason not to share them with others. As each child on the ASD is different from another, I intend to list as many therapies, tips, advice, feel good stories, and my personal experiences with Autism/Asperger's. So, let's get started.
NEUROTYPICAL CHILDREN
Most children learn new discoveries each day as they grow. There are templates for parents to show where their child should have progressed to when you visit each time for a well-baby check. Most children follow these same patterns of growth while lack of these milestones is one way to possible suspect a child has Autism. Each milestone page listed below will allow you to view where your child is on the neurotypical scale. Each has been divided to when you should be visiting the doctor.
GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT AUTISM
- Severe deficits in social skills including communication issues and social interaction among peers and others
- Restricted, repetitive patterns of behaviors, interests, and activities that can sometimes be confused with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
- Symptoms are noticed in early developmental stages during a child's life up to two years of age
- Symptoms cause clinically significant impairment in social, occupational, and other necessary areas of activities of daily living.
The reason that this disorder is referred to as a "Spectrum" disorder because it refers to a wide range of symptoms, skills, and various levels of impairment. Some children are affected mildly while others are severely disabled.
GENERAL SYMPTOMS
Symptoms of the ASD vary from one child to the next but generally fall into one or more of these categories:
- Social impairment
- Communication issues
- Repetitive and stereotyped behaviors
Children diagnosed with ASD do not follow typical patterns when developing social and communication skills. Parents are usually the first to notice unusual behavior or lack of reaching milestones. ASD may be different in their early development. Most babies become overly focused on certain objects, rarely make any eye contact, and do not engage in typical back-and-forth play with their parents, siblings, or other children around their age. Slightly fewer children develop normally until around two or three years of age, however; then begin to regress, become silent, withdrawn, or indifferent to social skills signals.
Children thought to be on the ASD are diagnosed through a two-stage process. The first is through general development screenings that occur with each pediatrician's routine appointments. The second stage is screening and thorough evaluation by a team of doctors and other health care providers who have a wide range of specialties. Children can usually be reliably diagnosed by age 2, however; studies suggest that some screening tests are helpful at 18 months or earlier.
Some parents and doctors do not want to diagnose their children and cloak this behavior in the thoughts and sayings of "he/she will catch up" with milestones, etc. The downside to this is that early intervention is children on the ASD spectrum is key in helping your child meet their best potential. Early intervention also can improve your child's IQ, language and everyday functional skills of activaties of daily living.
TREATMENTS
There is no cure for children on the ASD spectrum but using early intervention through school-based programs and receiving proper medical care generally reduce the symptoms and increase your child's ability to grow and learn new skills. Research shows that using early intervention can improve cognitive and language skills in young children. Since the ASD spectrum varies so much, doctors do not have a set course of treatments for children. There are however, some common intervention techniques used:
- Starting early invention as soon as a child has been diagnosed
- Providing focused and challenging learning skills at the proper developmental level for your child for at least 25 hours a week 12 months a year.
- Having small classes to allow each child to have one-on-one time with therapists and other professionals
- Parents and other family members receiving special training that best suits their child's needs
- Encouraging typically developing activities to help your child to learn a specific goal.
- Measuring and recording all progress (good and bad) consistently
- Providing a high degree of structure, routine, and visual cues to reduce distractions
- Guiding your child into adapting learned skills in new situations
- Using a curriculum focusing on the following
- Language and communication
- Social skills
- Self-help skills
- Activities of daily living skills such as dressing and eating
- Research-based methods to reduce challenging behaviors such as aggression and tantrums or "melt-downs"
- Cognitive skills such as sharing and noticing someone's needs
- Typical school-readiness skills such as colors and counting
A wide range of children on the ASD spectrum are treated with applied behavior analysis (ABA) therapy which involves intensive, one-on-one child-teacher interaction for up to 40 hours a week. ABA therapy is based on interventions that include verbal behavior issues and pivotal response training. Other forms of treatment include the Developmental, Individual Difference, Relationship-based (DIR)/Floortime Model and TEACCH (Treatment and Education of Autistic and related Communication handicapped Children) and Interpersonal Synchrony Model.
Students on the ASD spectrum can also benefit from social skills training which can increase and improve building friendships and creating positive social interactions and avoiding negative responses. These methods can also increase a child's conversation and interaction skills with their peers and the adults in their life.
HOW COMMON IS ASD?
Studies across the globe show varying results to research in how common ASD is. Many studies use different scenarios and control groups. However, as of 2014, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found based on a study completed throughout the country, that 1 in 68 children have ASD and that boys are at a four to five times higher risk of developing the disorder then girls.
Well, that concludes today's information. There is so much to go over with Autism and I hope you will return each day for more information or to spread this information around to your friends and families. You don't need any money to help a cause like Autism, just spreading the word is enough. Spreading the word about Autism accomplishes two things; first, shows support for others besides yourself, but also keeps Autism in the forefront of our politicians and government so we can continue with the research and development that is now able to give us a lot more information than I had over 15 years ago. Please share via your social media or email this article to loved ones, friends, co-workers, and anyone else you can possibly think of.
Please join me tomorrow for more important information on Autism Spectrum Disorder.
Regards,
~ Holley Jacobs
