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Autism spectrum disorder
- March 2, 2024
Contributor,
Dr. Teresa Davis
Occupational Therapist
Tiny child Development center
Dr. Teresa Davis
Occupational Therapist
Tiny child Development center
What is Autism?
Autism is a childhood neurodevelopmental condition that makes children struggle with communication, socialization, appropriate emotional attachments and certain odd behaviours that they keep doing over and over again and may have some repetitions and deviations in their speech and language development. It occurs as a spectrum disorder having various causes with children having a range of functioning levels with a probability of boys carrying it more than girls. These signs when seen consistently for a prolonged period of time may be because of an underlying condition which may be on the Autism spectrum disorder.
Autism is a childhood neurodevelopmental condition that makes children struggle with communication, socialization, appropriate emotional attachments and certain odd behaviours that they keep doing over and over again and may have some repetitions and deviations in their speech and language development. It occurs as a spectrum disorder having various causes with children having a range of functioning levels with a probability of boys carrying it more than girls. These signs when seen consistently for a prolonged period of time may be because of an underlying condition which may be on the Autism spectrum disorder.
How to identify it?
You may notice a child who is consistently being very aloof or not wanting to mingle with other kids his/her age or running away when he sees them, not promptly responding when their name is being called or very hesitant or frequently won’t look at you when you’re trying to talk to them. Most of the time you may feel they keep repeating your questions without giving you a definite adequate answer.
There is no definite reason known yet for why children have this condition, but it can be attributed to a list of causes like genetic or psychosocial etc.
You may be able to notice these changes by the first two years of their development or as complaints start coming home from play school like a child is not mingling with other children or seems to do some odd behaviours regularly when in class or doesn’t respond to people talking to them.
Children with autism may have specific difficulties with processing sensory information like vision, hearing, taste, smell, touch etc., from their outside environment and hence may tend to show some differences in their behaviours, the various body sensations may sometimes in their brain be intercepted as either too much sensory input, or maybe too less. For some children it may not register properly in the brain.
At times for some of them the sensations may come in all at once making it hard for the child’s brain to differentiate the input and provide the adequate behaviour responses needed for the child to act properly or function normally in his environment.
You may notice a child who is consistently being very aloof or not wanting to mingle with other kids his/her age or running away when he sees them, not promptly responding when their name is being called or very hesitant or frequently won’t look at you when you’re trying to talk to them. Most of the time you may feel they keep repeating your questions without giving you a definite adequate answer.
There is no definite reason known yet for why children have this condition, but it can be attributed to a list of causes like genetic or psychosocial etc.
You may be able to notice these changes by the first two years of their development or as complaints start coming home from play school like a child is not mingling with other children or seems to do some odd behaviours regularly when in class or doesn’t respond to people talking to them.
Children with autism may have specific difficulties with processing sensory information like vision, hearing, taste, smell, touch etc., from their outside environment and hence may tend to show some differences in their behaviours, the various body sensations may sometimes in their brain be intercepted as either too much sensory input, or maybe too less. For some children it may not register properly in the brain.
At times for some of them the sensations may come in all at once making it hard for the child’s brain to differentiate the input and provide the adequate behaviour responses needed for the child to act properly or function normally in his environment.
Who you can talk to?
If you notice a child struggling with these similar issues you can consult a Paediatrician who can help you by understanding what the problem may be and suggesting various tests for further required information. Early therapeutic intervention gives the child a chance to pick up new skills faster or learn to adapt better to their environments as their brain development is maximum at this stage and is best achieved at these early years in life.
A Speech therapist would be able to apply the right techniques needed to help with speech development and clarity, gestures, language and communication skills to help them better communicate their needs and wants when needed.
A Behaviour therapist would help your child to ask for their needs without creating tantrums, problematic behaviours, being aggressive or defiant or putting up a bad attitude and learning the right positive behaviour patterns.
An Occupational Therapist can play a vital role for the child to better cope with their sensory needs and age appropriate development in various day to day life activities.
All children have a biologically fixed developmental pattern called milestones to mark approximately when a particular skill must be achieved and mastered, any deviation of more than 2-3 months can be an indication that one may require extra attention or timely therapeutic intervention. An Occupational Therapist can help you identify these unachieved skills and how to work consciously with the child to achieve them.
Eye-contact and name call response is the ability of an individual to purposefully, consistently and spontaneously look at the person he is talking to while engaging in a conversation and responding promptly when his name is being called.
Play skills is the ability of an individual to purposefully play by himself or a group of other children following his age appropriate developmental stage.
Gross motor skills is the ability of an individual to be able to do various basic skills like walking, running, jumping, climbing stairs and more advanced skills like hoping, climbing a ladder, riding a cycle etc., according to their age appropriate skills and having the needed body coordination to perform it without falling over.
Fine motor skills is the ability of a child to be able to use his hands efficiently to carry out basic and advanced fine hand skills, pinches, and grasp patterns like picking minute beads, buttons, grains of rice, writing, prewriting, threading beads etc., that are age appropriate with the required amount of coordination, precision and control.
Cognitive skills is the ability of the child to understand concepts and to be able to sort, match, identify, name and be able to generalise these concepts in day to day life when needed according to the child’s developmental stage with the required amount of attention span, concentration, memory and problem solving skills etc.
Social and Emotional Skills ability of the child to understand social situations and interact in social groups provide the adequate responses in the right reactions, to be able to regulate his feelings and understand that of others in a social setting according to his age and developmental stage.
Communication Skills ability of the child to either verbally or non verbally express his needs and wants his others.
Learning and scholastic skills is the ability of the child to learn and perform all the additional required skills like concentration, attention, new learning, writing skills etc., to ensure he receives his continuous formal education and his performance is up to the mark.
Self care skills is the ability of the child according to his age and developmental stage to be able to take care of his basic hygienic and his bodily needs independently like feeding ,bathing, toileting, dressing, brushing and grooming himself.
Sensory therapy consists of helping a child to manage his sensory needs like visual, tactile, auditory, oromotor, vestibular and proprioceptive and ensuring his body gets the right amount of needed sensory input from the environment on a day to day basis.
If you notice a child struggling with these similar issues you can consult a Paediatrician who can help you by understanding what the problem may be and suggesting various tests for further required information. Early therapeutic intervention gives the child a chance to pick up new skills faster or learn to adapt better to their environments as their brain development is maximum at this stage and is best achieved at these early years in life.
A Speech therapist would be able to apply the right techniques needed to help with speech development and clarity, gestures, language and communication skills to help them better communicate their needs and wants when needed.
A Behaviour therapist would help your child to ask for their needs without creating tantrums, problematic behaviours, being aggressive or defiant or putting up a bad attitude and learning the right positive behaviour patterns.
An Occupational Therapist can play a vital role for the child to better cope with their sensory needs and age appropriate development in various day to day life activities.
All children have a biologically fixed developmental pattern called milestones to mark approximately when a particular skill must be achieved and mastered, any deviation of more than 2-3 months can be an indication that one may require extra attention or timely therapeutic intervention. An Occupational Therapist can help you identify these unachieved skills and how to work consciously with the child to achieve them.
Eye-contact and name call response is the ability of an individual to purposefully, consistently and spontaneously look at the person he is talking to while engaging in a conversation and responding promptly when his name is being called.
Play skills is the ability of an individual to purposefully play by himself or a group of other children following his age appropriate developmental stage.
Gross motor skills is the ability of an individual to be able to do various basic skills like walking, running, jumping, climbing stairs and more advanced skills like hoping, climbing a ladder, riding a cycle etc., according to their age appropriate skills and having the needed body coordination to perform it without falling over.
Fine motor skills is the ability of a child to be able to use his hands efficiently to carry out basic and advanced fine hand skills, pinches, and grasp patterns like picking minute beads, buttons, grains of rice, writing, prewriting, threading beads etc., that are age appropriate with the required amount of coordination, precision and control.
Cognitive skills is the ability of the child to understand concepts and to be able to sort, match, identify, name and be able to generalise these concepts in day to day life when needed according to the child’s developmental stage with the required amount of attention span, concentration, memory and problem solving skills etc.
Social and Emotional Skills ability of the child to understand social situations and interact in social groups provide the adequate responses in the right reactions, to be able to regulate his feelings and understand that of others in a social setting according to his age and developmental stage.
Communication Skills ability of the child to either verbally or non verbally express his needs and wants his others.
Learning and scholastic skills is the ability of the child to learn and perform all the additional required skills like concentration, attention, new learning, writing skills etc., to ensure he receives his continuous formal education and his performance is up to the mark.
Self care skills is the ability of the child according to his age and developmental stage to be able to take care of his basic hygienic and his bodily needs independently like feeding ,bathing, toileting, dressing, brushing and grooming himself.
Sensory therapy consists of helping a child to manage his sensory needs like visual, tactile, auditory, oromotor, vestibular and proprioceptive and ensuring his body gets the right amount of needed sensory input from the environment on a day to day basis.
What can you do?
As parents and family members it is important to be patient and supportive and understand that each child is unique and so is their learning pace so each one’s ability to pick up skills will be different from another and timely and regular therapy sessions would help the child to learn the needed skills, and be able to function more independently in their day to day lives and gradually reduce their amount of parental dependence and supervision.
As parents and family members it is important to be patient and supportive and understand that each child is unique and so is their learning pace so each one’s ability to pick up skills will be different from another and timely and regular therapy sessions would help the child to learn the needed skills, and be able to function more independently in their day to day lives and gradually reduce their amount of parental dependence and supervision.
