Different Types of Autism
Outline
Autistic disorder
Children with Autistic disorder
Adults with Autistic disorder
Asperger’s Syndrome
What causes Asperger’s syndrome?
Symptoms of Asperger’s syndrome
How is Asperger’s syndrome diagnosed? Treatment for Asperger’s syndrome
Living with Asperger’s syndrome
Pervasive Developmental Disorder
Children with a pervasive development disorder
Treating the pervasive developmental disorder
Introduction
Autism refers to a developmental disorder that emerges during the early childhood stage to adulthood and affects social and communications abilities. It is also known as an Autism spectrum disorder. It is a disability and not a disease. The condition does not go away, but people remain autistic forever. Three different classes of autism exist; these types include autistic disorder, Asperger Syndrome, and Pervasive Developmental Disorder (Not Otherwise Specified).
Autistic disorder refers to the thinking of people concerning the term autism. It is also called classic autism, severe autism, or Kenner’s Syndrome. It includes a triad of impairments in communication, social interaction, language use, including poor imagination as portrayed within repetitive, restricted, and stereotyped types of behaviour and skills. Individuals having autistic disorder most often have severe language delays, communication, and social problems, including abnormal interests and behaviours. Additionally, victims also experience intellectual disability and are usually hypersensitive, including avoiding being in contact with other individuals on most occasions. Therefore, Autistic disorder is the most severe type of autism and has no dignity of authenticity, religion, age, and socio-economic conditions.
Children with autistic disorder are at the severe end of the autistic spectrum disorder, thereby creating disturbance among the parents of these children. From the age of three years to adulthood, the child begins to show signs and symptoms of autistic disorder. These signs and symptoms include hard dogmatic habits, repetitive speech, and actions, harming themselves, being silent, and most often avoid social occasions, and finally, they are obsessive. Moreover, children are susceptible to any kind of sensory activity which involves smell, sight, touch, and sounds; therefore, they respond violently to physical contact, tone, colour, light, and texture. Autistic children hate being either hugged or touched in any means. They hare either standard or less average intelligence and have the most significant problems with verbal communication. The speech of classic autistic children is poor to the degree that they find it difficult to articulate words and sentences, thus making them depend mostly on sign language and other related forms of conveyance (Hartley, Sikora, and McCoy, 819-829).
Adults with autistic disorder show signs and symptoms similar to the ones displayed by children. Therefore, adults experience difficulties while speaking and conversing with other people and are unable to interpret gestures and also have an inappropriate reaction. Whenever they make to speak, their speech is clumsy and is in a monotone manner. Most adults cannot make eye contact with other people and are introverted with most of the times avoiding social meetings. They feel safe whenever they interact with either an inanimate object or a given subject such as a television program. Autistic adults find it difficult leaving their comfort zone or even trying something different. They desire common and set up methods of actions; therefore, repetitive activities are probably suitable for them. However, some autistic adults have some specific skills such as an interest with figures and artistic capability, together with exceptional recall that emerges to be in straightforward opposition to their other abilities. Therefore, these autistic adults with a field of expertise are called savants. An example of savant with an exceptional memory is the character of Raymond Babbitt within the film of Rain Man, played by Dustin Hoffman. Autistic disorder, however, has no cure, but various services of supporting, helping, and advising the victims can help in controlling the condition (Matson and Rivet, 323-329).
Asperger’s syndrome is a type of autism that affects how individuals interact and converse with other people, including how they view the world. Individuals with Asperger’s syndrome have mild symptoms and rarely experience learning challenges; therefore, the affected individuals are very brilliant. It is most common in boys and girls, and the reason behind the occurrence is unknown. However, several researchers suggest that a combination of environmental, genetic, neurological, and psychological factors are the causative factors of autism, but this research is still on. Experts believe that the risk factors of autism may include either smoking or getting an infection like rubella during pregnancy and exposure to dangerous pollutions and chemicals. The studies also indicate that brain development associate with the autism condition because individuals most often experience problems while controlling their emotional reactions. However, the actions of people to themselves, their childhood, and their social health do not cause Asperger’s syndrome (Attwood).
The individual having Asperger’s syndrome faces challenges in three significant aspects, such as social interaction, communication, and imagination. These situations cause difficulties in forming friendships by those affected by the syndrome, making them seem unfriendly and isolated. There are several signs and symptoms of Asperger’s syndrome, namely hard to begin a conversation, challenging to understand humour, hard to understand abstract and imaginary conceptions. Additionally, they have an uneasy way of reading expressions and moods of others, finding it hard to comprehend other individuals, seeming not interested and isolated in other people, routine preferences, and interest in logic. Also, they have problems with social norms; for instance, victims stand too near to other individuals. Besides, people with the syndrome find it hard to imagine and provide opinions; for example, a child mostly plays with one toy and repeats the action daily while struggling with active play and fake games. However, affected individuals develop an intellectual, nearly obsessive craving in a subject or hobby.
Additionally, individuals are the best in solving problems, counting and recalling facts and dates, and other likes for collections of items. Moreover, persons with Asperger’s syndrome can have sensory issues that may vary in severity, with senses being under or overdeveloped. For example, children mostly get disturbed on hearing hard noises and seeing brighter lights (Roy et al.,59).
Asperger’s syndrome is hard to diagnose due to individuals having the syndrome looking like others and also mild symptoms. Therefore, the diagnosis of most cases of the condition is at the adulthood stage. Asperger’s syndrome is a condition with no cure. Its treatment mostly includes a combination of intervention therapies that are established for the promotion of independence and address problematic fields, which include communication, interaction, and behavioural. Instances of treatments include diet and nutrition changes, educational support, communication skills presentations, and behavioural therapies (Toth and King, 958-963). It is a permanent condition, but the affected individuals can live a lengthy and rewarding living standard with the aid of the proper support and help from healthcare, teachers, and professionals (Mitchell).
Pervasive Developmental Disorder (not otherwise specified) is used to refer to individuals having some symptoms of autism and not the entire signs of the condition. It is a group of various disorders, including different forms of autism, such as Autistic disorder and Asperger’s syndrome. This condition is less severe than autistic disorder, but it is more critical as compared to Asperger’s syndrome form (Towbin).
Children living with pervasive developmental disorders mostly have signs and symptoms of autism, but the level of intelligence is lower than that of the children having Asperger’s syndrome. However, they lack proper verbal skills concerning this condition. The most signs of this disorder include difficulty social and conversing skills, which involve socialization, talking to other people, and utilizing an individual’s imagination. Affected children are confused by their surroundings, thus making them find it hard to understand and interpret the world that surrounds them. They can participate in some types of social activities; therefore, they are not referred to as autistic children since most autistic children keep away from social interactions (Leaf et al.,186-198).
However, these children find it difficult to associate with others, getting interested in the person, and empathizing together. It is tough for them to endure body language and put an accurate interpretation of all things uttered during communication; this situation implies that they cannot deal with humour, sarcasm, and irony. Moreover, slang is another field of difficulty. Therefore, the language skills of the affected children associate with the utilization of repetition, poor word choice, and intense target on a specific subject. Most of these language skills are spoken in a monotone because children do not know the use of emotion to emphasize a given point during their speech. Many children with pervasive developmental disorders are mostly obsessive regarding a given subject. Other signs and symptoms comprise of difficulty in adhering to routine, challenging social behaviours, sleeping and anxiety problems, and lastly, their tendency for repetitive activities which include hitting their head on the floor.
There are no medicines to treat the pervasive developmental disorder, but various behavioural therapies can help in curing the disease. The behavioural interventions comprise speech therapy, behavioural analysis, education for special needs, and treatment for several symptoms, for example, anxiety. These interventions have skills in which children can learn how to initiate a conversation, share, and use the proper language to engage in society effectively. (Reichow et al., 2435-2441).
Conclusion
Works cited
Attwood, Tony. The complete guide to Asperger’s syndrome. Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2006.
Hartley, S. L., D. M. Sikora, and R. McCoy. “Prevalence and risk factors of maladaptive behaviour in young children with autistic disorder.” Journal of Intellectual Disability Research 52.10 (2008): 819-829.
Leaf, Justin B., et al. “The effectiveness of a group teaching interaction procedure for teaching social skills to young children with a pervasive developmental disorder.” Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders 4.2 (2010): 186-198.
Matson, Johnny L., and Tessa T. Rivet. “Characteristics of challenging behaviours in adults with autistic disorder, PDD-NOS, and intellectual disability.” Journal of intellectual and developmental disability 33.4 (2008): 323-329.
Mitchell, Chris. Mindful Living with Asperger’s Syndrome: Everyday Mindfulness Practices to Help You Tune in to the Present Moment. Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2013.
Reichow, Brian, Fred R. Volkmar, and Michael H. Bloch. “Systematic review and meta-analysis of pharmacological treatment of the symptoms of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in children with pervasive developmental disorders.” Journal of autism and developmental disorders 43.10 (2013): 2435-2441.
Roy, Mandy, et al. “Asperger’s syndrome in adulthood.” Deutsches ärzteblatt international 106.5 (2009): 59.
Toth, Karen, and Bryan H. King. “Asperger’s syndrome: diagnosis and treatment.” American Journal of Psychiatry 165.8 (2008): 958-963.
Towbin, Kenneth E. “Pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified.” (2005).