Autistism
By: Sharon Namarome
According to Centres of Disease Control and Prevention organisation (CDC), autism is a complex, lifelong developmental disorder that typically appears during early childhood and can cause impureness in person’s social skills, communication, relationship and self-regulation.
There is no single cause of the disease but it’s accepted to be by abnormalities in brain structure and function.
The learning, thinking and problem solving of autistic people may range from gifted to severely challenged.
Actually, there is nothing strict different between the normal people and the autistic people, but the only difference that comes in is how autistic people communicate, behave, relate and interact.
The signs mostly begin at early childhood and lasts to adulthood. In children, some of the signs of autism include;
(1)Have troubled expression of their needs using words or motions,(2)They don’t play “pretend games” such i.e. feeding a doll, (3)Have unusual reaction to the way things smell, taste, look and feel,(4)Loose skills they once had before developing the disease i.e. proper pronunciation of words,(5)Appear to unaware when people talks to them but tend to respond to other sounds,(6) Prefer not to be held or cuddled, can only be held or cuddled when they want,(7)Avoids eye contact with people and normally wants to be alone.
There is no medication taste for diagnosis of autism but specialist in autism diagnosis the disease by looking at how the child’s develops and behaves.
There is no treatment as per now but research shows that early intervention and treatment can improve the child’s development. This Early intervention and treatment entails therapy services which helps children talk, walk and interact with others.
There is also associated risk factors that tend to lead one develop autism. These risk factors maybe genetically or environmental.
The genetical risks may include; (i) Individual with certain genetics or chromosal conditions i.e. those with tuberous scheloris have greater risks of having autism,(ii)Some drugs like valporic acid administered during pregnancy are also liked with high risk,(iii) Children born to older parents tend to develop autism, and (iv) Children having siblings with autism have also greater risk of having autism among many.
Managing autistic children is very expensive and affects the family as well as the nation. In United States the years 2011, it’s estimated that $11.5 billion-$60.9 billion was used to cater for autistic kids. This estimation represented a variety of direct and indirect costs from medical care to special education as well as parental productivity.
The United States Study to Explore Early Development (SEED) is working on possible risk factors of autism such us genetic, environmental, pregnancy and behavioural factor, something that at least gives a glimmer of hope that maybe in the coming years the solution to autism will be available. We hope that soon, in the coming days we will not be marking 2nd April each year as Worldwide Autistic Day to honor and recognize those with autism but to celebrate because after a long time we will have victory over autism!
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