Autism-Articles

Echolalia is a repetition of some form of dialogue that the Autistic child has heard. It can be repeated immediately or in can be repeated per verbatim at a later stage. An example of immediate echolalia would be when someone asks the child "how are you?" and the child repeats "how are you?" This can include complete dialogues that the Autistic child has heard from a conversation or a movie or radio broadcast. It may not have a meaning to them at the time but they just repeat it. Echolalia can be a little confusing when the child uses it all the time and then gets frustrated when people don't understand what they are trying to communicate. An example of this would be if you asked the child what they wanted for lunch, a hamburger or a hotdog. An Autistic child with echolalia would say hotdog as it is the last thing they would have heard even if it was the hamburger they really wanted then they may get upset when presented with the hotdog. Echo...

I am a teacher and recently, I assisted to one of these workshops meant to improve the quality of your teaching methods. I also am the mother of two young autistic children. My oldest is a 5 years old boy, which is considered to be non-verbal as he may not have used more than six words in his life. "Mama" was said for the first time about a year ago when he was 41/2 years old. I can't describe to you how precious this magic moment was. I still enjoy it every time he pronounces it. Sometimes, teachers need to be taught a few things! During this workshop, we were studying the multiple ways that a person learns new information. Some are visual and learn using diagrams, drawings, pictures, etc. Others are using manipulative to understand new concepts. There are eight types of learning styles. One of them is called: "verbal". This type of processing is done orally and using written material such as books, essays, etc. One of the statements that w...

A relatively new method for treating individuals that are suffering from autism is musical therapy. When discussing treatment options, serious consideration should be given to incorporating this method. Musical therapy often helps patients improve their temperament as well as their learning skills. By connecting to the non-verbal sections of our minds, music proves to be an excellent form of therapy for those suffering from disorders that limit their communication skills. If you haven't had much success with other forms of autism treatment, you may be pleasantly surprised by how much this method may help. The reason that musical therapy can be so effective is because you can use it in addition to other treatments for learning social skills. By its very nature, music therapy is non-threatening to patients allowing behavior and social skills to be improved by the many games that can be played using this method. Autistic patients can break through social barrier...

Do you have a child with an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) who is challenged socially? Do you realize that you don't have to rely on the professionals who provide services to your child to enhance their social skills. Social skill groups and classes led by experts in the field are extremely beneficial but you also have the power to take every social interaction your child experiences and turn it into a teaching/learning opportunity. As parents we interact with our children numerous times during the day. Each interaction has a specific reason attached to it, helping a child dress, tucking them into bed, or reading them a story are simple encounters that are almost done by default as if we are on automatic pilot. These can be anything from a greeting, asking them a question or giving them a direction that may be brief yet powerful. When you think of it, every contact we have with our children is a social one and as simple as it might be we can make it even more ...

Autism is currently affecting 1 in 150 children, but children who suffer from the effects of Autism are much higher. In a family with more than 1 child who have a child with Autism, the effects on the non-autistic sibling can be life long. For a family whose Autistic sibling is the eldest, it creates an entirely different family structure with the younger non-autistic child either taking on a caregiver or guardianship role or emulating the behaviours of the child with Autism. Children with Autism take up a lot of the parent's time and energy often leaving little for the younger non-autistic sibling. Sometimes a non-autistic younger sibling feels that they have to compete for their parents attention and that the extra attention somehow means that the child with Autism is the more loved child. This can lead to resentment of their disabled sibling and sometimes negative behaviour. To these children, any attention is better than no attention - even if it is negat...

Children with autism commonly face problems with verbal communication. This is usually due to the frequent speech and language problems associated with the disorder. Though the actual reason that these problems are faced by autistic children is unknown, many experts believe that they are the result of several conditions occurring before, during, or after the child's birth that have had an impact on the development of the brain. The inability to properly communicate verbally can make interpretation and interaction with the child's world much more difficult. The communication problems experienced vary from child to child, depending on the individual's social and intellectual development. While some may not be able to speak at all, others may maintain extensive vocabularies and can express themselves regarding complex topics. However, most children with autism experience some form of communication difficulty usually with the appropriate use of the langua...

Medical professionals often use the term Autism Spectrum Disorders (or ASD for short) to explain the large variety of symptoms, signs and characteristics associated with a diagnosis of Autism. As we all know, more and more children are getting diagnosed with Autism everyday. According to the Center for Disease Control, Autism now occurs in one out of every 150 individuals. Some researchers account for the increase in Autism due to us better understanding the entire Autism spectrum. The Autism spectrum, however, is sometimes difficult for parents to understand. Some parents say things like: "My child has Autism, but he does not do that!" or they will ask "My child will interact with other kids, does he still have Autism?" The answer is simply that Autism is a spectrum, but what exactly does this mean? A spectrum means that there are children with Autism symptoms on one side, the other side, and everywhere in between. For example, let's take ...

Books for children with autism - whether autism books or not - are very important. Reading is a skill that will take a child with autism very far. Literacy skills are important for all people, of course, but for people with autism, the skill of reading can help them to communicate and explore in a world that may otherwise be closed off to them. 1. Communication Improves with Reading Skills Many autism books will tell you that if an autistic child is nonverbal, you will need to find an alternate communication system for them. Many children do this by typing on a small computer device that reads what they wrote, or by typing on some other device. Of course, you have to know how to read in order to be able to write, so reading is an important skill to have. Being able to read also serves other important safety skills, like reading signs when you are walking on the street, being able to read letters that come to you in the mail, and just generally being able to inter...

Most autistic people have some kind of social anxiety. This is a list of some of them: Don't like making eye contact: This can be for a number of different reasons. One of the main reasons I've heard though, from autistic people, is that they have trouble looking into someone's eyes because they cannot predict what that other person is going to do and that's scary. Another thing that I've heard an autistic person tell me is that when he looks into someone's eyes, he feels as though the other person is seeing straight into his soul and it makes him feel very uncomfortable. Some autistic people simply look away from the person talking to them because they can only focus on one or two senses at a time and for him to be able to listen to the words being spoken to him, he has to avert his eyes or close them altogether so he can concentrate on what is being said. It is not a sign of disrespect and is in fact a sign of great respect because the au...

How Do YOU know if YOUR Child has Autism? Are you worried that YOUR child may have Autism? Would you like to Learn to spot the Signs and Symptoms of Autism to look out for? My background I am a mother who has an autistic child who was diagnosed when he was just two and a half years old. So this is written from a real person with first hand practical experience of dealing with Autism. It is an article written by an experienced person not a Ghost Writer writing about Autism! Want to learn more? Here are just 22 Signs and Symptoms of Autism to look out for. Most of these signs and symptoms were displayed by my Autistic Son. The list is not exhaustive. Just a few of these symptoms will give you the knowledge to determine whether Your child may have Autism or is showing signs of Autism. 22 Signs and Symptoms of Autism 1 Difficulty in expressing needs 2 Little or no smiling 3 At 1 year: no babbling, no pointing or these have stopped 4 At 16 months: no words or words have di...

One of the symptoms of autism that nearly always need major attention in anyone with autism is that of social skills. As you probably know, people with autism have a lot of difficulty making friends and, later, having romantic relationships. Why is this? There are many reasons. One of the Classic Symptoms of Autism - Reading Social Cues People with autism have a lot of trouble reading social cues...and this is one of the most challenging symptoms of autism. They cannot understand, for example, when they have been talking too much and it's time to be quiet and let someone else talk. They can't understand from someone's face if they've said something inappropriate or offensive, or if the other person is bored. This can create a lot of issues with miscommunication. Another of the Symptoms of Autism - Understanding Social Norms There are so many social norms that we all take for granted, but that those with autism often have no idea exist. For example, ...

I found myself shouting at my brother who is autistic, because I had my doubts he could not hear, understand, or communicate with me, when I was speaking to him. Have ever felt you were not being heard, understood, and communication was not present with your autistic child, while you were speaking to him or her? I remember I could be no less than two feet away from my brother when talking to him. Being that close to him, he was ignoring what I was saying and not giving me a response. I became frustrated. I was curious why I was not being heard or understood when I spoke to my brother, who has autism. I decided to do research on this subject and I was informed, some children with the disorder of autism might be behaving in a way that you feel they have not heard you, but in reality they did receive your message, and the conversation that was given. I have experienced, when you think you are not being heard or understood, when speaking to an autistic person, he or ...