Autism Essay, Research Paper
INTRODUCTION
Today in America autism is still a mystery to the medical profession. They have discovered the symptoms and how to curve some of the autistic behaviors, but did not discover what causes autism. Cowley defines autism:
It is a complex developmental disability that typically appears during the first three years of life. The result of a neurological disorder that affects the functioning of the brain, autism and its associated behaviors have been estimated to occur in as many as 1 in 500 individuals. Autism is four times more prevalent in boys then in girls and knows no racial, ethnic, or social boundaries. Family income, lifestyle, and educational levels do not affect the chance of autism’s occurrence (46).
Over one half million people in the U.S. today suffer some form of autism. Children and adults with autism have a difficult time communicating, verbal or non-verbal, socially interacting, and play situations. Most of the public, including educational and vocational fields, does not know how to work with individuals with autism.
STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
When dealing with autism, there are many ways to simplify the problem. Examples of successes with psychiatric counseling, behavior modification, special education programs, and drug therapy can be found, yet the underlying problem is well stated by Magda Campbell (1975) “drugs currently in use treat symptoms, not diseases” (Coleman 2).
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BACKGROUND AND SIGNIFICANCE
According to Rutter he redefines autistic syndrome:
When it is known which symptoms in autism are primary and which secondary, or when the casual mechanisms are understood, it will be essential to redefine the syndrome. As things stand at the moment, there are good pointers for the elucidation of both primary symptoms and casual mechanisms. However, even the best ideas remain at the hypothesis stage and it would still be premature to redefine autism in terms of any of the existing views (19).
Symptoms in autism is a withdraw into a state of “aloneness”, delays in physical and cognitive development, and apathy towards attempts at stimulation. Language behavior is a major problem stated Menyuk:
The language difficulties of autistic children involve both the acquisition of the system itself and the use of the system. That is, they have difficulty in acquiring the phonological, morphological, syntactic, and semantic rules of the language (the system) and, also, the pragmatic ruled (use of the system) (105).
There are two types of measurements that are used in observing autistic children. One is to evaluate the child’s intellectual and social development using the Standard-Binet Intelligene Scale and the Vineyard Social Maturity Scale. The second measurment is direct observation of the deviant behavior.
Blackham stated that the behavior observed and recorded consists of the following:
1. Self stimulation: Stimulation of the body by rocking back and forth, moving arms up and down, sitting and rocking, scratching or tickling
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CONCLUSION
Autism is evidently a disorder of many different causes and wide range of severity (Maurice 308). The knowledge about autism is imperfect, and the best available treatment is imperfect. They are a very long way from a cure. Even though the road may seem long before discovering a cure, people can take hope for people that do suffer from autism. Remember that each individual with autism is unique and may act or react differently.
CONCLUSION
Autism is evidently a disorder of many different causes and wide range of severity (Maurice 308). The knowledge about autism is imperfect, and the best available treatment is imperfect. They are a very long way from a cure. Even though the road may seem long before discovering a cure, people can take hope for people that do suffer from autism. Remember that each individual with autism is unique and may act or react differently.