Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a pervasive developmental
disorder (ICD 10, DSM-IV) that occurs on a spectrum and thankfully is no
longer considered a psychosis. Persons diagnosed with ASD are commonly
accepted as presenting with a triad of impairment.
These impairments
usually include; 1) social skills deficits which mean that forming
friendships is a frequent difficulty, 2) language and communication
difficulties which often mean that the person will have trouble
understanding and retaining information provided in the verbal format
and will struggle with subtleties of language such as sarcasm or
inuendo, and 3) difficulties with flexible thinking which often means
that a person with ASD has difficulty taking different perspectives,
empathy, and any sudden changes to routines.
Persons with ASD will often
find comfort in repetitive routines which others cannot understand or
may find unusual. Persons with ASD also regularly have difficulties with
motor coordination and may have difficulties processing incoming
sensory information.
This list of difficulties is by no means
exhaustive. There are many other daily struggles for a person presenting
anywhere on the Autistic spectrum.
But whether you are into brain
training for children, are a parent or a teacher of a child with ASD, or
are a certified Applied Behavior Analyst, here is a list of things that
I think a child with Autism wants
you to know.
1. We struggle to make friends
This doesn’t mean that we don’t want to have friends, but we have
varying degrees of success depending on how we seek people out. In Lorna
Wing’s classic book,
The Autistic Spectrum, she identifies
four types of social interaction impairments faced by persons with the
condition.
These included the aloof type (who often behave as though
other people simply don’t exist), the passive type (who accept social
approaches but do not initiate them), the active-but-odd type (this
group will often actively seek out social contact but often will do so
in a peculiar, one-sided fashion, or can go on about their own interests
only without realizing that others may not share those interests), and,
finally, the overly formal or stilted type (who try very hard to behave
well and rigidly adhere to all rules and conventions).
So, whichever
category your autistic person falls into, struggling socially tends to
be part of their condition.
2. We struggle to communicate, but this does not mean we are not trying to be heard
In 1943, when Leo Kanner first started talking about ‘early infantile
autism’, this was one of the things that he reported. A person
with autism may or may not have difficulty with their grammar or
vocabulary, but most of them will struggle in the manner in which they
use language. Many children with autism never learn to speak.
However,
many others do learn to speak and can speak quite well, but may learn
much later than their same-age peers. Please do not confuse a difficulty
communicating with not wanting to be heard.
A person with Autism may
try very hard to have their needs met or their feelings understood, but
it can be very difficult to effectively get your point across when your
expressive language skills are limited or your manner of communicating
is not the same as those around you.
3. We have difficulties understanding the spoken words of other people
People with autism have extremely varied abilities to understand
language. Lorna Wing reports that most do have some understanding, but
this often does not include things like jokes or the finer nuances of
language.
Many take a literal interpretation of language that can make
things like sarcasm and analogy quite confusing. However, many persons
with autism, with practice, can make great gains in these areas, even
though it may not ever come as naturally to them as it does their to
their peers. We also have trouble understanding and using non-verbal
communication.
Sign language may not be enough if our spoken language is
not well developed, because we often have equal difficulties
understanding facial expressions, body language, and any range of
gestures that usually coincide with the spoken word.
4. We sometimes use a different intonation than other people
In fact, sometimes we use a different accent from our families and
communities completely. Sometimes our voices sound robotic or
mechanical. This is not atypical for someone with autism, even though it
might sound unusual to other people.
5. Imagination and pretend games are not fun for us
We like repetition and routine, not spontaneity and surprises. So,
what seems like great fun for a person without Autism may actually be
very upsetting for someone on the Autistic spectrum.
6. We love simple, repetitive activities, but we may graduate to more elaborate, repetitive routines as we get older
In 1973, Kanner described how some autistic children would invent
routines for themselves such as tapping on a chair before sitting down
or standing up and sitting down three times before eating a meal.
He
went on to describe how other children might require each member of the
family to always sit in the exact same place at the dinner table or
insist that a morning walk should always take exactly the same route.
This is all part-and-parcel of how persons with ASD find comfort in
sameness and are fearful of changes, but it can seem quite unusual to an
outsider looking in.
In fact, sometimes in our need for sameness, we
might cling to an object that others simply cannot see the value of.
Indeed, some of these objects may become our most preferred items.
7. Many of us like Thomas the Tank Engine
Some experts have speculated that this is because of the mechanical
and repetitive characteristics of the characters in the show, but nobody
really knows exactly why there is such a draw to
Thomas the Tank Engine.
Of course, there are many other shows and television characters that
people with autism enjoy, but they often tend to be programs where there
is a significant amount of repetition by the actors in a certain
sequence.
8. We often engage in stereotyped movements
In plain English, this means that we might do things like
repetitively flick our fingers, flap our arms and hands, jump up and
down, roll our heads around, or rock while standing up. It is not known
why autistic people perform stereotyped movements, but there seems to be
an escalation of these movements when the person is excited or when
they are trying to seek sensory input.
Typically-developing babies and
toddlers will engage in a lot of these movements too, but with
increasing age and self control, many of these physical behaviors cease
or greatly decrease. However, they may not cease in people with ASD. In
fact, a person with ASD can become very distressed if forced to suppress
these movements.
If you want to help a person with ASD when they are in
distress, please be aware that they may need this type of sensory
stimulation, and indeed it might be very calming for them to engage in
it.
9. Some of us can be very clumsy, and we might have unusual gaits and posture
When Dr. Hans Asperger originally described the syndrome as he saw it
in 1944, he noted that many of these children had underdeveloped motor
coordination skills, handwriting, and time management. This is still
true today, but not every person with ASD has awkward or underdeveloped
fine or gross motor skills. Indeed, there are many persons, particularly
those that are on the higher-functioning end of the Autistic spectrum,
that can be very skilled athletes.
10. We have great difficulty imitating other people’s facial
expressions, and yet we often imitate other people’s actions or echo
their words
The technical terms for these behaviors are echopraxia and echolalia
(Wing, 1996). It is often seen as paradoxical that it is so common for
an autistic person to echo another person’s words and actions in what
seems to be a meaningless fashion, when it is so essential to social
development to meaningfully imitate things like two-way conversations,
facial expressions, and eye contact.
11. We may ignore or seem not to hear loud noises, yet we might be extremely sensitive to sounds that other people barely notice
This is another paradox of the autistic spectrum. It was first noted by Itard in 1801 in
Victor, The Wild Boy of Aveyron.
Itard noted that Victor never responded at all to the loudest of noises
like the explosion of firearms, yet never failed to respond to the
sound of a walnut being cracked open or any other “eatable” which he
enjoyed. Other children with autism can become extremely distressed by
certain sounds and noises, but this will often fade with increased age.
12. We can have seemingly contradictory responses to visual stimuli
For example, we may be fascinated by bright lights, but very
distressed by flash photography. We also may not always look at a whole
item or person, preferring instead to focus on an outline of a person or
what others might consider some arbitrary physical features of an
object (e.g., the leg of a chair rather than the whole chair). It has
been suggested that the autistic child may make more use of the
peripheral part of the retina which focuses on outline and movement,
rather than central vision, for details.
This part of the retina is
mainly used by others in near-dark conditions. It is interesting to note
that many autistic children can find their way perfectly well in the
dark and may not always turn a light on. This, too, tends to fade with
age.
13. Certain textures, tastes, and smells that are barely noticeable to others can be very offensive and distressing to us
While we might not be able to handle certain fabrics of clothing, we
might not notice when something is too hot or too cold. We may not even
notice if we have been badly hurt or injured.
This seems unusual to
non-ASD people, but it is seen regularly in someone with ASD. It seems
that, like with all of our other senses, we just don’t seem to interpret
incoming stimuli the same way that other people do.
14. Many of us prefer the same narrow range of foods again and again
This may be related to our need for uniformity, but some have
speculated that we don’t always recognize the sensation of hunger.
However, many of us drink liquids excessively and our thirst cannot seem
to be quenched. One piece of good news here is that when we are engaged
in other activities, we can forget about this sometimes constant
thirst.
15. Many of us have high levels of anxiety and fear, but this is not necessarily because we are autistic
Much of this anxiety and fear comes simply from the fact that a
situation has arisen that we do not understand or did not expect. If you
were in our shoes, you might be scared too.
16. Learning difficulties are common for those presenting with ASD
That being said, about 10% of autistic children have very strong
skill sets, even compared with typically-developing, same-age peers.
This can sometimes come about because we practice a task in such a
repetitive manner that we can become much more skilled than others.
We
also tend to obsess about small details in our special area that
other people may not take the time to notice. This can really be to our
advantage in developing a specialized skill set and can set us apart in a
very positive way.
17. We don’t always act the way you think we should
In fact, very often, because we struggle with language and
communication, we might do things that other people think are downright
strange. We might think nothing of stroking the hair of a stranger on
the bus or taking off our clothes for a dip in a neighbor’s swimming
pool.
We might also say things that will make others very uncomfortable,
like commenting on your friend’s weight gain or the bus driver’s bald
patch. Furthermore, it is difficult for an autistic person to tell a
lie. We describe the world as we see it, without sugar-coating or
rose-colored glasses.
18. The most capable of us may go on to lead completely normal
lives, and many of us might marry and even have children of our own
However, for those with more significant impairments in intellectual functioning and social skills, we may need lifelong care.
19. Whatever our age and intellectual ability, we can improve our skills
We can make progress beyond what anyone has ever thought possible
through the understanding and application of the science of human
behavior. Behavior analysts have published hundreds of research papers
in the area of autism.
For this reason, Applied Behavior Analysis is
regarded as the only scientifically validated treatment for autism.
Click here to see more on how ABA can be used in the treatment of autism.
Click here
for conferences and training for educators, parents and clinicians
interested in using behavioral technologies for effective change.
20. Finally, and for the last time, the MMR vaccine does not cause autism!
There is no debate in the scientific community about this. Read Chapter 16 in
Bad Science by Dr. Ben Goldacre if you don’t believe me. Check out the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s 2014 report
if you don’t believe Dr. Goldacre.
If you still remain unconvinced, you
should note that the only scientist who ever published a paper
suggesting that the MMR vaccine caused Autism was stripped of the right
to practice medicine in the UK as a result of the paper he published
being deemed fraudulent.
The journal that published that paper,
The Lancet,
retracted the paper in part in 2004 and in full in 2010.
Featured photo credit: Shannon O’Brien via shannonrosephotography.weebly.com
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Source:Lifehack
