Autism

2024 Author: Harry Day | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 15:43

Signs of Autism

1. A child with autism does not develop well speech, both receptive (understanding) and expressive. Often, speech is in the form of echolalia (repetitions of elements of speech heard from others or on TV). Only simple, unambiguous instructions are available for understanding ("sit down", "eat", "close the door", etc.). Abstract thinking lags behind in development, which manifests itself in a lack of understanding of such elements of speech as pronouns (yours, mine, his, etc.), etc. The child's inability to speak or understand speech is the most frequent complaint of parents during the initial examination of the child. Speech problems become apparent in the second year of a child's life.

2. The child behaves as if he had a clear deficit of sensations and perception - that is, as if he is blind and deaf, but a more thorough examination reveals the safety of all sensory modalities. Parents of children with autism complain that it is very difficult for them to get the attention of their babies. They usually do not maintain eye contact with their parents and / or do not turn their heads in response to speech addressed to them.

3. Children with autism do not usually develop close emotional relationships with their parents. This is revealed in the first months of life, when parents discover that the child does not cuddle with the mother, being in her arms, and sometimes resists physical contact, straining his back and trying to slip out of the parental embrace.

4. Children with autism do not play with toys like normal children do. They do not show much interest in toys and do not play with them in their free time. If they play, they often play in very peculiar ways, such as spinning the wheels of an overturned toy truck, twisting a piece of string, or sniffing or sucking on a doll. The inability to play with toys can be detected in the second year of life.

5. Absent or noticeably limited play with peers. The child may either not show interest in such games, or he may lack the necessary play skills and, as a rule, he does not pay attention to other children, unless he participates in a simple game of the "give-and-take" type. This symptom is also easily detected in the second year of life.

6. Self-care skills are absent or severely delayed in children with autism. It is difficult for them to learn how to dress themselves, use the toilet and eat without assistance. These children do not recognize common hazards well and need constant supervision so that they do not get serious injuries when crossing a busy street, playing with electrical equipment, etc.

7. In children with autism, outbursts of rage and aggression are very frequent. This aggression can be directed towards themselves when children bite their hands, bang their heads on the floor, furniture, or punch themselves in the face. Sometimes aggression is directed at others, and then children bite, scratch or beat their parents. Most parents of children with autism complain that they find it difficult to cope with them, their low tolerance for frustration and their response to even the slightest obstacle or prohibition with an outburst of rage.

8. Children with autism may often exhibit "self-stimulating" behaviors in the form of ritualistic, repetitive, stereotypical behaviors. They swing their whole body while standing or sitting, clap their hands, rotate objects without stopping looking at the light, fans and other rotating objects, arrange objects in neat rows, jump and crouch or spin in one place for a long time.

A number of normal behaviors, referred to as "splinter-skills" or "islands of intact intellectual functioning," are often found in children with autism. This normal behavior manifests itself in the following areas:

1. Autism is often diagnosed during normal developmental stages such as mastering independent walking at 15 months. There are frequent reports of unusually good motor development in children with autism who can walk and balance easily.

2. It has also become customary to look for signs of adequate memory when diagnosing autism. For example, a child with autism may be able to repeat in the form of echolalia or otherwise the voices of other children or TV commercials. Or he may be good at remembering visual details.

3. A child with autism may have quite developed specific interests - to play with mechanical objects, devices, clockwork toys. Some show great interest in music and dance. The ability to put together jigsaw puzzles, a love of numbers or letters, etc. may be noticed.

4. Some children with autism have limited but specific fears that exist in a shorter-term form in ordinary children. For example, a child with autism may be unusually intimidated by the sound of a vacuum cleaner on or a passing ambulance siren.

What to do for parents - general recommendations

Early childhood autism is a medical diagnosis, so only a pediatric neuropsychiatrist can make it. Be sure to go through a comprehensive examination with your child, and then, together with doctors and a child psychologist, develop an individual treatment and corrective education program. The main thing is to be patient, kind and always firmly believe in success.

Parents must first of all create emotional and psychological comfort for the child, a sense of self-confidence and security, and then gradually move on to learning new skills and forms of behavior

It is necessary to understand that it is very difficult for a child to live in this world, which means that you need to learn how to observe the baby, interpreting aloud his every word and every gesture. This will help expand the inner world of the little man and push him to the need to express his feelings and emotions in words

As a rule, even non-speaking autistic children willingly perform non-verbal tasks, that is, those in which you do not need to use speech. It is necessary to teach the child with the help of lotto, puzzles, puzzles, mosaics to establish contact, to involve him in individual and joint activities

If a child approaches any object, name it, let the baby hold it with your hands, because in this way all analyzers are connected - vision, hearing, touch. Such children need repeated repetition of the names of objects, they need to be told what they are intended for, until the children get used to them, "turn on" them in the field of their attention

When an autistic child is completely busy with something (for example, looking at himself in the mirror), you can carefully connect the speech accompaniment, “forgetting” to name the objects that the child touches, This provokes the non-speaking baby to overcome the psychological barrier and say the right word

If a child is immersed in games-manipulations with objects, you need to strive to ensure that they have some meaning: laying out rows of cubes - "building a train", scattering pieces of paper "let's arrange a fireworks"

When “curing by playing”, it is advisable to use games with clearly established rules, and not role-playing games where it is necessary to speak. Moreover, any game needs to be played many times, accompanying each action with comments so that the child understands the rules and the game for him was a kind of ritual that little autists love so much

Problems of an autistic child need to be solved gradually, setting the immediate goals: to help get rid of fears; learn to respond to outbursts of aggression and self-aggression; connect the child to general activities

Since it is difficult for autists to distinguish the emotions of other people by facial expressions, not to mention their own, you need to select cartoons with characters who have understandable facial expressions to watch. For example, many autistic children are "friends" with the train Tom, a cartoon character and a toy. In the cartoon "Shrek", the mimics and emotions of the characters are also very expressive. Let the child guess the mood of the characters in fairy tales (for example, using a freeze frame), try to portray them himself. In moments of immersion of the baby in himself, try to distract him, play in the mood, but your facial expressions should be expressive so that he can guess your mood

Introduce your toddler to theatrical performances. Of course, at first, the child will strongly resist attempts to involve him in these activities. However, if you persevere and use reward, the autistic person will not only obey, but will also experience tremendous joy

It can be very helpful to come up with stories that feature good and bad characters. This will help the child subconsciously learn what is good and what is bad. You can act out these stories with both children and dolls, explaining that each will play a specific role. "Performances" must be staged many times, each time making some small changes

Despite the peculiarities of communication, an autistic child should be in a team. If kindergarten teachers cannot work with your baby, find a special educator who will teach your child to interact with adults and children in a team. Optimal school preparation is a small, integrated group in a rehabilitation center. At first, until the baby gets used to it, the parents can be present at the lessons.

It is important to remember that in difficult cases, correctional and developmental classes should be sufficiently intense and long. The choice of specific methods and determination of the load lies with the parents and the specialist psychologist, family therapist.