Understanding Autism

I just attend a workshop about "Understanding and Helping A Child With Autism". The speaker is from Malaysia. Her name Mrs. Mery. She has teaching for 15 years and then she help for a child with special need. Now, she's helping in a social institute for child with special need.

I wanna shared what I've got, so we can see that Child with Autism is a human too, they need us more than we know. So we can understand their behaviour which sometimes make us angry, give up, or the worst is neglecting them.

This time I wanna shared about Understanding Autism first, so we can understand them, look at them closely, hug them tight with love. This is if you want to know about my next article "Helping a Child With Autism". This information is from Mrs. Mery, I just want to share it. Thanks for Mrs. Mery who shared it for us ^^

First time that you have to know about Autism is that Autism is a Syndrome, not a disease. If you know the cause of fever is virus, cough is a bacterias or anything else. But autism isn't the same. You don't know what the cause of autism. Child with autism looks the same like us, we don't realized at first. Not like Down Syndrome, there's characteristic that make someone with Down Syndrome looks different from us, but Autism... there's no characteristic in common.

There's some news that child with Autism is tied up in their house, get beat cause they scream, crying, kicking, or something else. Some news tells that they sent to the orphanage and many more. This treating is cause their parents don't know what to do, don't know what they want, don't understanding why they screaming, or crying, or angry and threw things. This is wrong. Sent them to the orphanage or tied them up, or beating them, never make them stop screaming, crying. They don't understand us. This is Autism. They will asking and wondering, why people beat them ? why people shouting them. They want to tell what they feels, but they don't know how to do, so they scream or babbling, or anything else.

Second, a child with autism has behaviors that separates individuals with or without a disability. Maybe you ever seen child with autism, they like to be alone. Maybe if someone approach them, they get away. With a different language, they have their own world. A small world that they like to live. Real life makes them confused, they don't know what to do, just in their small world that they know.

Autism is a life-long developmental disability. They will life like that. but the different is... if you know how to teach them, they can do several things for them self, indeed they still need helping. Some Autism child have a great mind. Like they can know what this article tells about with just a second-attention. They can read all pieces of the article even if you close the article. And my friend told me that she know one autism child who can counting vibration of machine per second. They have spacial ability if we can teach them right.

The most areas that wrong in Autism is Communication, Behaviour, and Social Skill. Like I said before, autism child can't communicated well. They don't know how to greeting people, say thank you
and others. They just quite looking at you, or ignoring you like you never exist.

Child with autism like to run, flapping his hand, play with his fingers, screaming, crying, anything. Normal people used to do that, but at this case, autism child do it over react. We don't know why, but they like do odd things cause they like the sensation that they receive. That is the behaviour of autism child.

As a normal people, we like to make a friend. join in club or organization and make friends. But autism child, they can't do this, it's hard for them to socialize with other people. That's why they like to be alone. Other than they like to be alone, they don't know how to socialize, why we have to make friend, they have their little world remember ?

And the last, Autism is often known as "Autism Spectrum Disorder". Why spectrum ? cause there's no autism child has the same problem. They have different problem, that's why it called spectrum. Spectrum it self is a color of a rainbow, it has many color, so autism child, they have their problem.

There's 3 of Characteristic of Autism, the lack of ability for social communication (verbal or non verbal), the lack of ability for social interaction and the lack of imagination. The two of them is explained before. The lack of Imagination... they don't know what have to do. For example, if you face the door, what you have to do ? of course you will open it and entering that room. If we face the stairs, we can go up on and on. But for autism child, they can't. they don't know what he has to do if he face the door, the stairs. So, other people always have to help him for everything. The mind of autism child can't process cause their neuron isn't function.


Early Detection

1. Lack of Social Relationship Skill :

• Avoids eye contact : They will never look at you into your eyes. even you talk to them, their eyes would look at other things except your eyes.
• Resists cuddling, detached from care giver, seldom smile, reject comforting : They would avoids all this. They don't like it.
• Prefer to play alone, lack imitation skills : They can't imitated anything. if normal child like to imitate what they saw, autism child can't do that.
• Unaware of other people : Like I said before, they would never saw your appearance like you never exist.
• Resist physical affection : If his mom, dad or other people hug him, kiss him, they will avoids it. They don't like.
• Lacks appropriate emotional/social responses

2. Behaviour Pattern

• Stares for extended period : For example, they like your hair, they can look at your hair all day long.
• Preoccupied with hand flapping, twirling or rocking movements : If they happy, they flapping hands, twirling or rocking his body. but remember, this is do over.
• Resists changes in routine and surrounding : If they have a routine activity, they won't changes it. For example, he always drink milk before eat, he always do that over and over. if someone give his food before milk out first, he become angry and asking for his milk. They can't accept the changes.
• Attaches inappropriately to object
• Shows distress for no discernible reason : Like they angry for no reason, throws things, beat something, anything. They angry without reasons.
• Preoccupied with narrow interests : For example, he like kick boxing, so he always talk about kick boxing to other people he meet, know or not he always talk about kick boxing over and over.
• Insists on following rigid routines : Example, if he want to eat, he don't know how to tell you, so he will take your food from your plate, your hand or even from your mouth.

3. Lack of Social Communication

• Displays delays in language ability : Example, baby age 5 mounts started to mumble something, but autism child does not.
• Unable to understand language : They don't understand the language. so, some case you have to do body language to shows some activity.
• Lack suitable gestures
• Echoes language, repeats what they say : They will repeat what you say. example you say "how are you ?" they won't say "I'm fine." or anything, but they will say "How are you ?" too.
• Fails to initiate conversation : They won't say a thing if you don't.
• Uses pronouns improperly
• Talks in unusual voice pitch and pitch : Sometimes they talk with high voice, or very slow voice
• Make unusual sound and comment : They like to make sound and play by himself.

4. Lack of Self-help Skills

• Problem eating and sleeping : Some autism child has problem eating or sleeping
• Overactive or extremely passive : Some autism is overactive, like to run around the room maybe. but there's axtremly passive, they just laying in thr floor and looking at roof quitely without doing anything.
• shows extreme fear : For example, if there's cockroach, they will scream, run over even hiding under the table.
• Has difficulty in toilet training :Maybe they can do things in their pants.
• Display no fear or real fear
• Injures self : Example, they like to bite his self
• Displays uneven independence in dressing, tooth-brushing and bathing : for example, if they usually use that tootbrush, they don't want to used another.
• Display unusual rote memory or savant skills : Like I said, autism child have great memories.
• Has difficulty in abstract learning : He don't know why like this, why like that , how do this, how do that.

Difficulties faced by Autism Children

1. Hard to understand what other say to them
2. Hard to put things into words, to talk.
3. Hard to understand your tone of voice
4. Difficult to understand body language : Like, if you angry, your face changes, right ? They don't understand why you making face like that.

The Frustrations of an Autism Child

1. He is not mad or angry : If they looks like always mad, but they're not. He want to say that he's not mad or angry, but they can't say that. They don't know.
2. He sees things differently from us
3. He cannot make sense of the world around him : They don't understand this world. They can't accept the changes in this world.
4. He cannot relate to emotions of people
5. He cannot understand what you say
6. He is rigid and cannot take changes
7. He is easily confused and frightened

Key to Success

1. Love, understanding and acceptance : We have to love them, understanding and acceptance them. As normal people, we have to, cause they can't understand us, so we must to.
2. Hope and persistence : If there's hope and persistence, always there's way. We can't just give up like that.
3. Be actively involved in early intervention program, specialized therapy and quality education : If a child shows sign of autism like like to be quite and always avoid eye contact at 1st year, take to the doctor who can help him before too late.
4. Get the whole family to be involved. It is not a one man's battle : If you have schedule to remove his behave of like to jumping in the sofa in this week, whole family have to do that act, not just you. you can't do some act at once, the child would be confussed. Do it one by one.
5. The journey is long but the potential is limitless : even so, we have to try. Don't give up or leave it like that.

Learning continues into Adulthood

• When disruptive behaviour dissipates, learning take place and a higher intelegence may be revealed
• The ability to learn Social Skills are indicators of future independence and community acceptance.

This is it. Now we understand them. We hope that there's no unproper things will happen to them anymore. They can be teach even it is hard and take times.

If you like watching movie, I have recommendation of movie about Autism Child, the title is "Temple Grandin". It's a true story and a great story. You can understand about autism child more.