Question:
Discuss About The Victims Low Levels Of Social Interactions?
Autism is a mental disorder, long term in nature which is diagnosed in young children of ages as low as one and three years old. It is a pervasive disorder in the course of development in children and it is characterized by poor communication methods, being extremely unresponsive to other children and adults, having a rigid behavior and being highly repetitive (Kenny et al., 2016). The pervasive development disorder is a form of the autism spectrum in which in which the victims have low levels of social interactions, unnecessary response to varied stimuli in the environment in which they live in and poor communication methods. This paper will cover several aspects related to autism such as etiology, history, causes, and treatment. Based on the Statistical Manual on Mental disorders part 4, impairments in terms of social interactions and communication problems observed by autism children are lack of eye to eye contact, inability to use gestures as a form of non-verbal communication and lack of nonverbal behaviors among others. In other cases, the autism children are unable to form peer relationships with their colleagues, while they also indicate a repetitive behavior in their activities (Case-Smith et al., 2015).
These repetitive behaviors include the continued preoccupation with some restricted pattern of activities and motor manners such as twisting hands or flapping fingers. For children below the age of three years, there is an observable delay in the development such as the language, participating in imaginative plays, understanding symbols and social interaction with the people around them.
The autism disorder was first described by a Swiss psychiatric and psychologist Bleuler Eugene. In this case, autism has been described as a basic disturbance in schizophrenia such that an individual is withdrawn from the social life. On the basis of the Diagnostic Statistical Manual of mental disorders, the spectrum of autism disorder is composed of childhood disintegration, pervasive development disorder, autism disorder, Asperger disorder, and Rett disorder. The reports from clinicians indicate that the symptoms of autism disorders begin to be observed at around eighteen months during childhood days (Brunsdon & Happé, 2014).
One of the criteria used to detect the possibility of autism by clinicians on children is the use of language. This criterion is more specific because it is easy to detect an abnormal verbal or nonverbal form of communication. Some of the common indicators using language criteria are the body posture, eye to eye contact, use of gestures and much more during a social interaction session. There are varied causes of autism but they vary from place to place, and one person to another, although other causes may be common (Talkowski et al., 2014). Although iodine deficiency is a known cause of autism, this condition has also been known to be both genetic as well as hereditary. Food which is deficient of iodine causes low IQ, cretinism and other negative effects to the growing fetus. In other cases, pregnant women who do not give their bodies enough time to heal may lead to the birth of the next child being with an autism disorder (Alexandra, 2015). There is a close association which exists between iodine deficiency in the diet and the development of low attention and hyperactivity, especially in the United States.
Considering the fact that iodine deficiency is at a marginal state in most families, exposure of children or expectant mothers to anti-thyroid materials like organochlorines, and tobacco smoke lower a number of thyroid hormones. This leads to the development of hypothyroxinemia which in turn causes the birth of autism children. Although autism was reported in the 20th century, it has been on the rise even throughout the 21st century. It is also important to note that in the United States, the African Americans and Hispanic males are the highest groups with autism children.
It is clear that there are more males than females who are affected by autism disorder. While there is no clear reason for the gender split in autism, it is clear that the women are less affected because they have better verbal skills while men have visuospatial skills.
There is an increase in the number of children suffering from autism in this decade as compared to the previous decade. This is true especially due to the observed increase in the incidence, that is the number of diagnosed cased per year as well as the prevalence, which is the sum of the affected people in the overall population suffering from autism in the previous half century. While various studies have reported increasing diagnoses of autism from year to year, it is apparent that these cases are on the rise. The most recent accepted prevalence is that in every one hundred people, one of them suffers autism (The conversation, 2011). However, the severity of this condition varies from time to time and with the individuals. For instance, sometimes back, autism was referred as infantile autism, because the diagnosis was based on the child demonstrating low and slow language development process.
However, with time, it has been found that autism affected children may present some symptoms that are less severe and hence the need for the development of other diagnostic methods like pervasive developmental disorder-not otherwise specified. It is also worth noting that there has been an observable rise in the cases of the infantile autism for the last two decades, meaning that there is a broad gap in terms of the diagnostic methods. This clearly means that there are some people who previously were categorized into a certain diagnostic banner but currently, they are receiving the primary diagnosis for autism. The increase in the current high cases of diagnosis as opposed to the previous decade are due to the fact that there are modern methods that have been developed to screen whole populations and are thus very sensitive in the identification of the autism affected people.
There is a close association of autism with genetics especially through the involvement of the de novo mutations (Toriello, 2016). Some of these mutations may be passed from parents to the children while others just arise spontaneously. For instance, the effects of recessive genes in the development of autism disorders have been explored. These recessive genes are passed from one generation to another although their effects are only found in case a person inherits two copies of identical genes, that is one from each of the parents (Nadesan, 2013). The recessive mutations in the inherited genes thus destroy the normal functions of a gene. In other cases, the risks of genetic causes of the development of autism make the inherited mutations to cause a partial loss of gene roles. When the roles of the partially disabled mutations have altered this results in a total loss of the functions of a gene (Ronemus et al., 2014). accounting the most common genetic disorders that are linked to autism disorder is the fragile X syndrome.
While the level of inheritance characteristics is high in autism, the manner in which inheritance takes place is still not clear (Chen et al., 2015). Sometimes, there may be multiple interactions of genes and several loci predispose one individual to autism as opposed to the other. There are some methods used to determine the inheritance methods of autism. Use of cytogenetic studies through molecular biology are used to determine the de novo problems in the chromosomes among individuals or families (Gooney & Isere, 2013). The use of whole genomes makes it possible to make a prediction on the exact location of the disease. In other cases, the structural differences on the chromosomes involving the copy number can be used in the study of the development of autism in genetics.
There are changes which take place when making a diagnosis of the autism disorders in the context of the diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorder for DSM 5. This has enormous results and benefits especially for psychologists when evaluating the children affected by autism (Esler & Ruble, 2015). The adoption of DSM 5 from the previously used diagnostic methods has led to the elimination of subthreshold categories as well as high-level reliance on instruments in providing the validity of data. However, this method has specific issues related to making decisions and revision on how best to evaluate this criterion (Volkmar & Reichow, 2013). Some valuable advantages of DSM 5 that are very useful in autism diagnosis include the enhanced description of the level of disorders as well as the use of combined dimensions.
For parents whose children have been diagnosed with autism disorders, it is paramount for them to seek interventions early enough. These interventions include speech as well as occupational therapy, which is commonly offered in special schools and hospitals respectively. However, this strategy requires that the parents find out the behaviors of their children so that they can know the specific needs that they require or are deficient. For instance, a parent might consider things like the anti-social behaviors, the amount of words that the child can speak at a certain age and the nonverbal communication capabilities (Pellicano et al., 2014). As the autism affected child develops, there are times when the child may develop aggressive behaviors, indicating a need to seek treatment as early as possible. Other recommended treatment options for autism disorders include supplementing foods with vitamins and minerals, use of exclusive diets and use of heavy metal ions chelation methods.
Generally, there is no approved method of preventing autism disorders, more so when its etiology is considered. However, when it is diagnosed early, there could be higher chances of improving this condition by seeking early interventions which in turn prevent the condition from further development (Croen et al., 2015). Considering the arguments that autism is genetic and hereditary, then it would be important if spouses get to understand their genetics as well as family history preferably before they get married. Other strategies would involve seeking less exposure to chemicals, alcohol, and tobacco smoke. All in all, the preferred autism prevention method is getting to fully understand the condition, through communal or individual education and understanding one’s family background on the basis of this disorder. While autism is described as knowing no family, level of income, race or ethnic group, high prevalence are found in African Americans as well as Hispanic men.
Conclusion
It is thus clear that autism disorders affect children and have grave consequences. In the United States, it has been found that less of the Latin American have this condition while high prevalence is found among the Hispanics and African American men. Of great importance is that the parents need to have their children diagnosed early enough so that they can commence the treatment methods. Some of the notable symptoms include delayed speech, antisocial behaviors, and others. It is also true that parents who have children suffering from autism spend so much time giving them attention and in many cases may tend to live in denial. At this point, it is crucial to focus on seeking treatment such as in special schools which offer occupational therapy and speech therapy. Moreover, the parents need also to join support groups that best understand their conditions. Understanding the family history in terms of the possibility of autism disorders is also important before partners decide to marry so as to avoid having any of their off springs from suffering from this disorder.
References
Alexandra, S., (2015). This may explain the rise in autism diagnoses. Retrieved from https://time.com/3652619/autism-diagnosis/
Brunsdon, V. E., & Happé, F. (2014). Exploring the ‘fractionation’of autism at the cognitive level. Business, 18(1), 17-30.
Case-Smith, J., Weaver, L. L., & Fristad, M. A. (2015). A systematic review of sensory processing interventions for children with autism spectrum disorders. Autism, 19(2), 133-148.
Chen, J. A., Peñagarikano, O., Belgard, T. G., Swarup, V., & Geschwind, D. H. (2015). The emerging picture of autism spectrum disorder: genetics and pathology. Annual Review of Pathology: Mechanisms of Disease, 10, 111-144.
Croen, L. A., Zerbo, O., Qian, Y., Massolo, M. L., Rich, S., Sidney, S., & Kripke, C. (2015). The health status of adults on the autism spectrum. Autism, 19(7), 814-823.
Esler, A. N., & Ruble, L. A. (2015). DSM-5 diagnostic criteria for autism spectrum disorder with implications for school psychologists. International Journal of School & Educational Psychology, 3(1), 1-15.
Gooney, E., & Isere, E. (2013). Genetic and environmental factors in autism. In Recent Advances in Autism Spectrum Disorders-Volume I. InTech.
Kenny, L., Hattersley, C., Molins, B., Buckley, C., Povey, C., & Pellicano, E. (2016). Which terms should be used to describe autism? Perspectives from the UK autism community. Autism, 20(4), 442-462.
Nadesan, M. H. (2013). Autism and genetics profit, risk, and bare life. In Worlds of Autism: Across the Spectrum of Neurological Difference. University of Minnesota Press.
Pellicano, E., Dinsmore, A., & Charman, T. (2014). What should autism research focus upon? Community views and priorities from the United Kingdom. Autism, 18(7), 756-770.
Ronemus, M., Iossifov, I., Levy, D., & Wigler, M. (2014). The role of de novo management in the genetics of autism spectrum disorders. Nature Reviews. Genetics, 15(2), 133.
Talkowski, M. E., Minikel, E. V., & Gusella, J. F. (2014). Autism spectrum disorder genetics: diverse genes with diverse clinical outcomes. Harvard review of psychiatry, 22(2), 65-75.
The conversation, (2011). Do more children have autism now than before?. Retrieved from https://theconversation.com/do-more-children-have-autism-now-than-before-4497
Toriello, H. V. (2016). Autism and Genetics. In Health Care for People with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities across the Lifespan (pp. 713-721). Springer International Publishing.
Veronica, M., (2013). New research investigates inherited causes of autism. Retrieved from https://www.broadinstitute.org/news/4624
Volkmar, F. R., & Reichow, B. (2013). Autism in DSM-5: progress and challenges. Molecular autism, 4(1), 13
Essay Writing Service Features
Our Experience
No matter how complex your assignment is, we can find the right professional for your specific task. Contact Essay is an essay writing company that hires only the smartest minds to help you with your projects. Our expertise allows us to provide students with high-quality academic writing, editing & proofreading services.
Free Features
Free revision policy
$10Free bibliography & reference
$8Free title page
$8Free formatting
$8How Our Essay Writing Service Works
First, you will need to complete an order form. It's not difficult but, in case there is anything you find not to be clear, you may always call us so that we can guide you through it. On the order form, you will need to include some basic information concerning your order: subject, topic, number of pages, etc. We also encourage our clients to upload any relevant information or sources that will help.
Complete the order form
Once we have all the information and instructions that we need, we select the most suitable writer for your assignment. While everything seems to be clear, the writer, who has complete knowledge of the subject, may need clarification from you. It is at that point that you would receive a call or email from us.
Writer’s assignment
As soon as the writer has finished, it will be delivered both to the website and to your email address so that you will not miss it. If your deadline is close at hand, we will place a call to you to make sure that you receive the paper on time.
Completing the order and download