We Write Essays for Students
Tell us about your assignment and we will find the best writer for your paper
Get Help Now!Autism: Cause, Symptoms, and Treatment
Autism is one of the disorders that are major concern today both to parents, physicians, and nutritional experts. It is a common and complex development disorder or disability that presents itself within the first three years after birth. According to Trottier, Srivastava and Walker (105), autism is described as a neurological disorder with the ability of impairing normal functioning of the brain. Autism also affects ones’ social interaction and communication skills. Persons suffering from this disorder often have problems with wide social interaction, elements of banter or playing, and non-verbal communication. Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) also called Autistic Spectrum Disorder is, therefore, a development disability caused disorders and abnormality in the functioning of the brain. Autism, as earlier stated, is characterized by communication and social problems. Those suffering from autism are resistant to any change in their daily activities. This being a wide-spectrum mental disorder, it shows different symptoms and signs across different persons diagnosed with the disorder. A genomic research has established that autism display the same symptoms as attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, clinical depression, schizophrenia, or bipolar disorder. This complex neurodevelopment disorder is also characterized by social impairments, and stereotypic, restricted, and repetitive behaviors. Autism occurs in all socio-economic and ethnic groups irrespective of the age group. According to the Mortality and Morbidity weekly report by the CDC in 2012, male children are four times vulnerable to autism compared to females who are less vulnerable to this disorder. The same report revealed that 1.13 percent of children aged eight and below suffers from autism (Trottier, Srivastava, and Walker 108-9). It is, therefore, imperative for all the concerned parties to deeply explore this disorder.
Although the symptom has varied symptoms, its core symptoms are common to all persons suffering from it. The core symptoms of autism include non-verbal and verbal communication problems and social interaction dysfunction, and limited interest in play or regular activities. With respect to social relationships and interactions, children diagnose with autism have problems in developing friendships and interest in achieving with their age mates. In addition, this disorder is characterized by lack of empathy and sympathy, thus making it hard for them to have a strong feeling about others people’s pain, sorrow, or feelings. Secondly, autism children experience non-verbal communications problems such as body posture, eye gazing, and facial expression. Besides, those suffering from autism suffered from delay or inability to verbally communicate (with over 40 percent of those suffering from autism permanently unable to speak) (Zafeiriou, Ververi, and Vargiami 265). The few that can verbally communicate repetitive use language and are stereotyped in their words; a condition described as echolalia. Thirdly, persons with autism show limited interests in plays or activities as their minds are ever pre-occupied with unusual activities given their stereotyped behaviors as body rocking. These, among others, are the key symptoms of autisms.
There is no doubt that genetics and environmental factors are the primarily responsible for autism. Medical literatures assert that biochemical abnormalities are involved in the development of this disorder. Environmental susceptibilities such as mitochondrial dysfunction, oxidative stress, transsulfuration issues, methylation problems, toxicity, inflammation, and immune dysregulation are responsible for autism development (Freitag 21). Although genetic predominate, environmental variables also play significant role autism with respect to causal factors. The rise in the case of autism over the last two decades cannot be solely associated to genetic factors. Genetic and hereditary factors account for nearly 90 percent of autism spectrum disorders. However, given the complexity of genetics in autism, linkage analysis between autism and genetics have so far been inconclusive. Researchers have established that different genes are implicated; therefore, contributing to the autisms inheritance through gene mutations that further increases autism risks (Freitag 18). It is hypothesized that genetic predisposition and early environmental insult interaction are the primary causes of autism. These theories emphasize on the role of prenatal environmental variables such as birth defects and children’s diet as key environmental causes. Genetically, autism risks increase with advancement in parental age. According to this hypothesis, older sperms are mutation burden, hence increasing the risk of autism in new births (Freitag 45). Early birth is critical to reducing the risks and exposures to autism.
Children that have autism disorder, show signs of developmentally delayed communication and social interaction and are fascinated by repetitive activity. The individuals with autism have limited ability to participate in or understand social interactions and further they do not understand other people’s feelings (Mandy and Skuse 799). The disorder does not only affect the child, but also the entire family. The major outstanding effects of autism are that it leads to loss of acquired skills in children. A child may lose her or his previously language, mastered cognitive skills, and further loses bowel and bladder control. This conditions leads to severe mental retardation and metabolic disorders that may require a pediatric neurologist attention.
Depending on the symptoms and effects, this disorder varies from one person to another. Some researchers have divided the effects of autism into three main categories that include; effects on social interaction, effects on social imagination, and effects on social communication. The exact effects differ from one individual to another. For example, a child with autism can become adept at verbal communication while another child with the same disorder may fail to learn how to talk and this case is called autism spectrum disorder (ASD). In many occasions, parents may notice the effects of autism when the child is almost or above two years of age. At this stage, the child is most likely to develop developmental delays in both social interaction and verbal and non-verbal communications. This condition can make the child not to respond to his or her name when called and also may not show any signs of facial expressions. Further, the child may typically become unimaginative and does not engage in constructive play out, but instead be more fascinated with lining up objects or stacking them repetitively. These are some of the differences observed in persons suffering from autism.
The effects of autism become even more profound as the child grows in to adulthood. These children do not play or engage their peers to play while in school and they do not have friends as they do not recognize their peers as one of them. To be precise, children with autism have trouble initiating and sustaining conversation with other people. They do not cope well when interrupted and always fights those who interrupt them as they display aggressive behavior in all their actions (Mandy and Skuse 801). It is for this reason that autism children show mild or wild characters.
Treatment should be geared towards the child needs with proper therapy programs to help the child developed. The therapy activities are; occupational therapy, applied behavioral analysis, physical therapy, medication, vision therapy, sensory integration therapy, and speech-language therapy. Applied behavioral therapy is done for the younger children and it uses one-on –one teaching approach to reinforce various skills. Medicines are used to treat behavior and emotional problems like; aggression, anxiety, hyperactivity, attention problems, tantrums, outburst, impulsiveness, irritability, mood swings, and extreme compulsions that the child cannot stop (Doja 346). Another measure is the diet change, some children with autism respond to a gluten-free diet or casein-free diet that is found in wheat, rye and barley, and milk respectively. The dietary changes should be approved by the doctors or specialist in the field of autism.
Parents should minimize the exposure of their children to environmental toxins and at the same time maximizes the nutritional and the general health care of their children by providing nutritional foods to their children. Pregnant women should improve their dietary and make better lifestyle choices by consuming organically grown grains, vegetables, fruits, and proteins and at the same time avoiding taking alcohol and tobacco (Doja 343-4). It is by ensuring improved nutrition that it would be possible to reduce the risk of autism disorders in children.
Works Cited
Doja, Roberts, W. Immunizations and Autism: A Review of the Literature. Can J Neurol Sci. 2006; 33(4):341–6. Access from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17168158?dopt
Freitag, C.M. The genetics of autistic disorders and its clinical relevance: a review of the literature. Mol Psychiatry. 2007; 12(1):2–22. Available at http://www.nature.com/mp/journal/v12/n1/full/4001896a.html
Mandy, W.P, and Skuse, D.H. What is the association between the social-communication element of autism and repetitive interests, behaviours and activities? J Child Psychol Psychiatry. 2008; 49(8):795–808. Available at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1469-7610.2008.01911
Trottier, G, Srivastava, and Walker, C.D. Etiology of infantile autism: a review of recent advances in genetic and neurobiological research. J Psychiatry Neurosci. 1999; 24(2):103–115. Available in http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10212552?doptt
Zafeiriou, D.I, Ververi, A, and Vargiami, E. Childhood autism and associated comorbidities. Brain Dev. 2007; 29(5):257–72. Available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.braindev.2006.09.003
PLACE THIS ORDER OR A SIMILAR ORDER WITH GRADE VALLEY TODAY AND GET AN AMAZING DISCOUNT
The post Autism: Cause, Symptoms, and Treatment analysis appeared first on Grade Ninjas.
Welcome to originalessaywriters.com, our friendly and experienced essay writers are available 24/7 to complete all your assignments. We offer high-quality academic essays written from scratch to guarantee top grades to all students. All our papers are 100% plagiarism-free and come with a plagiarism report, upon request
Tell Us “Write My Essay for Me” and Relax! You will get an original essay well before your submission deadline.
