Autism(AW tihz uhm)

By, Zoe Sullivan

“People with autism are just dancing to a different beat”

Health Issues Autism pg.6

What is Autism?

Autism is a severe developmental disorder that is usually diagnosed before the age of four.

Autism is not something that you cannot just look at someone and automatically know they have autism.

It affects how the individual experiences and interacts with the world around them.

It does not affect a person’s appearance.

(Health Issues Autism pg4)

Autism is permanent. It does not go away and there is no cure. However, there are strategies and

therapies that help people with autism cope with their problems.

(Health Issues Autism).

(Google health pg 2).

Autism is linked to abnormal biology and chemistry in the brain the abnormalities remain unknown, but is very active in research

Twins can also have autism anyone can have autism no matter what.

However, identical twins are much likely to both have autism then fraternal twins.

http://web.ebscohost.com/src/detail?vid=5&hid=9&sid=1b04ef13-731d-45bb-b3fd-5dd33b0e73a6%40sessionmgr12&bdata=JnNpdGU9c3JjLWxpdmU%3d

Autism affects Children suffering from autism suffer from a

delayed brain where a teacher says elephant a child without autism would hear elephant and be moving on to the next word, while the child with autism would still be processing el-e–ph-ant by the time they processed that whole word the child will be behind.

What it affects? Autism affects the normal development of

the brain in areas of… social relationships verbal and nonverbal communication theory of the mind movement anxiety

Social Relationships With social relationships,

some people with autism find it harder to understand how other people…

think and feel To know when they are

being taken advantage of making friends playing games being a part of a team

With social interaction they do not make friends would rather play alone does not play interactive

games.

(Google Health ).

Verbal and Nonverbal Communications People with autism find it difficult to…

-develop speech-to understand changes in the meanings of words depending on the context of the sentence-to understand speech-understand body language-to take turns in conversations-having eye contact with

other people

(Google Health)

Verbal and nonverbal continued

cannot… -start or maintain a social conversation

-communicates with gestures instead of words-develops language slowly or not at all-does not refer to self correctly (like saying “you want water” when they actually mean I want water) -repeats words or memorized passages, such as commercials or television shows-uses nonsense rhyming

(Google Health)

Problems with communication

Theory of the mind With the theory of the mind it affects… how they understand other peoples points of

view, understanding that people are people and not

toys develops imaginative play.

(Health Issues Autism).

Movement Displays certain types of movements like… rocking hand flapping jumping up and down making strange faces or dancing in one place.

(Health Issues Autism).

Anxiety With anxiety people with autism can be rude

sometimes by inappropriately laughing when someone is hurt, they are not trying to be rude they simply cannot put themselves in that persons position to figure out how to respond correctly.

(Health Issues Autism).

Therapies & Treatments There are Many different types of therapies and

treatments that will help autistic children (or adults) communication skills and help them understand things better.

(Health Issues Autism).

Therapies Therapies are most effective when started at an

early age There are therapies like diet and vitamins, this

may help because some children have a condition called “leaky gut” what this means is that food that usually inside the digestive tract until broken down into harmless substances that can leak into the blood stream.

(Health Issues Autism).

Therapies cont. There is also applied behavior analysis (ABA),

which is a method of teaching that helps children with autistic spectrum disorder, this therapy teaches them skills and then rewards them for their achievements.

There is also… speech therapy, this helps autistic children

understand what people are saying. music therapy this helps because autistic children

pay attention to music more then they would pay attention to someone talking to them

(Health Issues Autism).

Medications There are medications that help treat the

behavior or emotional problems that people with autism have like…

(Google Health pg3).

Signs There are also some behaviors helps identify

autism… “Acts up” with intense tantrums gets stuck on single topic or task has a short attention span has few interests shows aggression to others or self shows a strong need for sameness uses repetitive body movements

Signs cont… People who suffer from autism also often

suffer from physical problems like, Allergies asthma Epilepsy digestive disorders persistent viral infections feeding disorders sleeping disorders and more

(National Autism Association).

Affects on family Many parents with autism after their children is diagnosed

go through Loneliness, isolated feels like no one understands how you

feel or what you are going through Denial, refusing to believe that your child has autism by

treating the child like they are normal and that this is just a stage that they are going through

Anger, thinking it is your fault, or anger at the other parent of the child.

Sadness and grief, some parents mourn that the hopes and dreams that they had for their child.

Shock, how could this happen? Why did this have to happen to my child I never did anything to deserve this?

(autismspeaks.org)

Autisms benefits? Autism is not always bad some children

have special skills like being good at drawing and painting, or excellent musicians or amazing engineers.

Benefits cont. Sometimes children that have autism understand

things a lot better then children without autism would understand things. They sometimes understand animals or are able to be kind and help other people when they are sad by trying to cheer them up. Sometimes children with autism are fun to be around because they say funny things or do funny things without knowing it is funny to the people around them.

The End