Autism - Health

What Is Autism?

Autism is a developmental disability in which a person has trouble with communication and social interaction with other people. There are many different levels of autism, collectively known as autism spectrum disorder, which affect each person differently. This causes a wide range in symptoms and disabilities for each person that suffers from the disease, with some being very much independent while others require constant care.

Known as a spectrum condition, autism will produce some level of disability for anyone diagnosed with the condition, and while every person with autism will face some sort of mental difficulties in their lives, some are far less affected by it than others. Symptoms usually emerge in childhood, which is when most are diagnosed with the disease.

For these reasons there is a massive scope of problems that those with autism suffer from. These can be categories into three main categories, with each individual having varying levels of severity of the symptoms. All are based on social skills which is the most notable issues those with autism have, including communication and interaction with other people.

For example, Asperger’s syndrome is a form of autism. This type of autism tends to give people a higher level of intelligence but social skills are lacking. Those with this form of the condition can be better at communication as they tend to be able to speak, yet they can struggle to process or understand others talking to them.

How Does Autism Affect A Family?

Autism will lead to drastic changes in the lives of the person’s family, as a completely new approach to caring and communicating with a child with autism will be needed. Coming to term with the fact that their child has autism can be difficult on a family, as can the challenges that will arise from their special care requirements.

As there are no cures for the disease, there is no way to ever have your child fully cured of autism, which could mean a lifetime if care is needed for them, depending on the severity of their conditions. Caring brings many challenges, such as how to communicate with your child, how to help them deal with the challenges they face.

One of the most notable challenges is being able to talk and communicate with someone with autism. Learning how to create a successful way to communicate with be the biggest challenge, yet once this hurdle is cleared, life caring can be much easier. Nonverbal communications can be vitally important for those who struggle with speech and other forms of communication.

What Are The Signs That Your Child May Have Autism?

The thought of a child having a disability is always hard for any parent to take, but to understand that the sooner a child is diagnosed with autism, the better it is for them in the long run. The symptoms happen to appear from an early age with, mostly as infants or young children, and may appear as more standard learning difficulties that children are known to suffer from.

But due to the different levels of severity of autism from each person, it can be hard to pin point whether a child has it or not. A child could show very mild symptoms while another displays more extreme impairments, the bottom line is that the child will be going through difficulties processing the world around them.

The most notable signs earl on however includes trouble communicating with others. This can be with speech or otherwise or both, but they tend to show more struggles with communication than others their age.

The second would be how they can relate to other children or even adults. The very world around a child with autism is very different from what others experience, meaning they may struggle processing everything going on around them, including how people will act. This could be from playing a game of peek-a-boo to how they play with other children.

Signs do tend to show up early due to the fact that it is a developmental disorder, and due to the fact the development of children growing up is very noticeable, it should be possible to note some symptoms should they arise.

What Should Families Do?

First and foremost, they should learn as much as possible about autism. There are many forms of autism, so it’s best to be educated on as many different ones as possible. This will provide a better understanding of the condition, which one your child may have, and how to best approach possible treatments.

Studying a child with autism is also important. They will be sensitive to certain things and could be easily triggered into some negative behaviour traits that are difficult to deal with. The better you know what can stress, anger or upset the child, the easier it will be to manage their day to day lives.

Creating a safe environment for them is important too. Families should always be consistent with children with autism to help reinforce any attempted treatments, as they can often struggle to translate these further.

Treatment plans are also very good ideas, as they allow special focus on the child with autism and what will work best for them. Things to consider on this would be their likes and dislikes, creating a structured schedule to help them better deal with life, how to teach them things, how to communicate (verbally or non-verbally) and just how to better engage the child.