Autism-Articles

Autism affects each child differently. Some children with autism can live in mainstream society with very little struggles or disruptions to their daily lives. It isn't that way for all children though. Some children have severe difficulties even coping with life. Their senses overwhelm them, their problems consume their daily lives and the lives of those who care for them and living in general is just plain difficult. It doesn't have to be that way though. In fact with modern treatments, many children can reach a level of normalcy and reduce the struggles of living with autism. One such method is occupational therapy. No, this doesn't mean helping them find a job, it means providing therapy for them that will help them with their daily tasks. This method of therapy can help them learn to cope in the world around them, and can give the child a sense of control and empowerment they may not have had previously. Another therapy that can help is speech th...

Articulation is the most common type of speech disorder among children. Disorders of articulation are characterized by the omission, distortion, or substitution of speech sounds. "Tootie" instead of "cookie," "wed" instead of "red," "thop" or "top" instead of "stop" - these are examples of common articulatory errors that can be easily overcome with a speech therapy at home. Sometimes only one or two sounds are defective, but sometimes there are so many errors that the speech is unintelligible to everyone with the possible exception of the parents. Voice problems are not as common as articulatory problems. They include voices that are too high or too low in pitch, too loud or not loud enough, voices that are harsh, breathy, nasal or otherwise unpleasant, and voices that are monotonous - that is, lacking in flexibility of expression. Problems of the understanding and use of words constitute anothe...

If your child has been diagnosed with autism you are not alone. Nearly one in every one hundred and ten children are diagnosed with autism. That makes autism more common than juvenile diabetes, pediatric AIDS, and childhood cancers combined all together. Every year, this rate goes up 10%-17%. Boys are more likely than girls are to have autism. However, there is no known cause at this time but there are some facts that are known. No two children have the same symptoms. There is no set pattern to explain why some children have it and some do not. Possibilities of the cause are believed to be the time of exposure, the environment in which the child lives, and genetics. The symptoms of autism is displayed in three areas; social interaction, language, and behavior. When a child has a severe case of autism they are not able to interact or communicate with others at all. Social Skill Symptoms: The child may have poor eye contact, fails to respond to their name when call...

Children with autism not only have trouble communicating socially, but may also have problems behaving. The goal of speech therapy is to improve all aspects of communication. For example, sometimes children with autism have trouble understanding when it is acceptable to use bossy or polite requests. Speech therapy can help children to learn what sort of tone they should use when speaking. Speech therapy sessions will vary greatly depending upon the therapist and the child. Augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) is one type of speech therapy that is used for children who do not imitate the sounds of others. For these children, several speech therapy methods may help them learn to speak. AAC is often the first strategy to help them learn enough communication to be able to have some social interactions. There are five other methods that may also help these children: 1) avoid pressuring children to speak, and using puppets and play as encouragement instead;...