SD3 - Sep 2012

Angels or Demons?

 

In the previous issues, SD3 has told you some symptoms about dyslexia and ADHD. This time, it will continue to introduce another disorder particularly related to children. Autistic disorder is the theme here.

 

Autistic children show impairment in mainly three areas, including social interaction, communication and also restricted, repetitive, stereotyped behavior and interests. Starting from infancy, they show distinctive character from other infants. They are less responsive to their own names, and do not like body contact. They have joint attention deficit, in which their attention can hardly be attracted by people and objects. It is common we find them staring at no-where or nothing. Moreover, impaired ability to recognize the emotional expressions is also observed.

 

Upon communicative deficits, autistic people often show diminished NVC (non-verbal communication) on the faces and eyes. The term “pronoun reversal” is used to describe such case, that they confuse the use of “I”, “me”, “he”, “them”, etc. They may be obsessed with some numbers or objects. Never mess up their furniture or desired routine, because you can never tell how upset it can be to them.

 

Somehow it may be true that autistic people are generally less intelligent. Statistics shows that about 75% of the sufferers are mentally retarded. But still, some of them score even higher than the average IQ score. Due to their undersensitivity (or oversensitivity in some situations) to the surroundings, their learning ability may be disrupted. They may be focused on the wrong matter instead of listening to what the teacher says.

 

On treating the autistic people, the three ways most useful are medication, education and behavioral reinforcement. Have you ever heard a saying that autistic children are angels from heaven? This is why they do not communicate the way we do. To open their heart, much effort and patience are needed. If you treat them good, they will know it. They do distinguish family members from other strangers. All they need is love and care.

Image: blog.blogthings.com

Venus Lai

Refercence:

Wicks-Nelson, R. & Israel, A.C. (2006). Behavior Disorders of Childhood (6th ed). New Jersey: Pearson International Edition.