Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Monday, September 26, 2011
What Does Autism Mean?
Autism (say: awe-ti-zum) is a kind of brain disorder that causes kids to experience the world differently from the way most other kids do. Those differences make it hard for kids with autism to communicate with others and react to things going on around them in the usual ways.
When someone smiles, for instance, a kid without autism knows that the smiling person is happy or being friendly. Kids with autism, however, have trouble connecting a person's gestures - such as a smile or frown - with the person's feelings. It's difficult, too, for kids with autism to link words with their meanings. Imagine trying to talk with someone or learn from a teacher if you couldn't make sense of their words and gestures and couldn't come up with the right words to express your own thoughts!
Autism also creates a confusing world of senses. Quiet sounds may be loud and distracting to a kid with autism. A sudden noise could be terrifying. A person's touch might set off a wave of strong sensations - like when a chill gives you the shivers, but much worse.
The disorder makes some kids with autism behave differently, too. Some flap their hands or say certain words over and over, have temper tantrums, or play only with one particular toy. Most kids with autism don't like changes in routines, which means they like to stay on a schedule that is always pretty much the same. They tend to keep to themselves and many can't communicate without special help.
Autism is a problem in the way the brain works, probably due to too few or too many brain chemicals called neurotransmitters (say: noor-oh-trans-mit-erz). It can range from mild to severe. Some kids with autism have fewer or less serious problems. For example, learning and reasoning can be especially difficult for many kids with autism, but others may learn quickly.
In the United States, over 500,000 people have autism or one of several other similar disabilities. Doctors call these similar disabilities pervasive (say: purr-vay-siv) developmental disorders, or PDDs. About one in every 500 kids has some type of autism or PDD. Kids who have autism usually start having symptoms between the ages of 18 and 36 months. More boys have autism than girls.
Autism isn't contagious, which means you can't catch it from someone who has it.
What Causes Autism?
Nobody knows for sure what causes autism. Some scientists think that some kids might be more likely to get autism because it or similar disorders run in their families.
Knowing autism's exact causes is hard because the human brain is very complicated. The brain contains over 100 billion nerve cells called neurons (say: nuh-rons). Each neuron may have hundreds or thousands of connections to other nerve cells in the brain and body. The connections (which are made by releasing neurotransmitters) let different neurons in different areas of the brain - areas that help you see, feel, move, remember, and much more - work together.
For some reason, some of the cells and connections in an autistic kid's brain - especially those that affect communication, emotions, and senses - don't develop properly or get damaged. Scientists are still trying to understand how and why this happens.
Children with Autism
Treatments for Children with Autism
It is certain that you must have ever heard about autism. This term has become very common like a boom since there are so many occasions of the autism that appear in public and become exposed. Yes, indeed, autism is usually associated to children. It is because the children are the ones who often show the autism phenomena. For your information, the autism makes the children behave abnormally. The behavior might be varied from introvert behavior which makes the children are like mute or they can even behave drastically different. It is very possible for the children with autism to act overly.It seems that they cannot stay calm for couple of minutes. However, no matter the behavior which is shown by the autistic children it is obvious that they have become anti social. It is hard for them to make social interaction with the other people even with their parents. They seem to have their own world and thus, they do not care with the other. Indeed, such condition is very pathetic especially for the parents. However, as the parents, you must not feel desperate about this. You need to believe that if there is a will then there is a way. Autism is not a disease that cannot be treated at all.
Well, although autism seems too complicated to be treated but it is possible. You might think that it is impossible to give treatments to the autistic children because you are dealing with brain and mental disorder. That is why there are some occasions which are so pathetic actually. We know from the television that there are a lot of parents who ignore their autistic children because they think that they cannot be helped anymore. Such thing is totally wrong.
No matter how bad the children, they are still the children of the parents who need to love them and take care of them. Well, now that we have come to this point, let us discuss about the treatments which can be given to the children with autism. Indeed, the first thing that you need to do in giving the treatments is that you need to convince yourself that you can do it. Such mindset is very important for the parents because the treatments might be hard and takes a lot of time until the treatments can give the effects. Well, by considering such thing, it is also important for the parents to have unlimited patience. However, although it might take a long time, but your patience will definitely give the sweet result.
The first treatment which can be given to the children with autism is called pharmacotherapy. This kind of therapy is using some medicines. The medicines will help the children who are overactive to be calmer and the children who are too introvert to be quite active. However, this treatment is not enough. The parents still need to make sure that the autistic children can have the proper education. Of course, the education which is needed by the autistic children is different from the normal children. Actually, this kind of education is quite complicated. If you do not have the knowledge about it, you might be confused.
Thus, it is highly recommend to you to enter your children to certain educational institution for autistic children. After that, you can continue the education which is gotten by the children at home. The main point is that you need to show your love and care. Keep talking to them although they do not respond properly. This way will definitely teach them to communicate with the other people. As the time goes by, the autistic children will have the ability to make social interaction with the other people. Just remember that you need to keep doing those things over and over.