Autism Essay Example For Students

Autism Essay #65279; There are several reasons why I chose the topic of Autism Essay. First, autism is intriguing because it is very hard to understand. Medical science is at a loss to explain why and how it occurs. Second, I have had occasion to develop a personal relationship with children who are afflicted with autism. At The Childrens Institute, where I volunteer, I sit and play with many kids, two of whom are very hard to play with. Even though they are five and six years old, they avoid making eye contact with others, and often refuse to play with the other kids. Also, once they start watching something, like television, it is very hard to get them to look somewhere else. They are focused, almost mesmerized by the television, especially if there are flashing lights or colors. One child rocks back and forth, sometimes slowly and sometimes faster. An older child makes noises a lot, hums and randomly laughs for no reason. My observations prompted me to do some research into autism and I found that these were traits which others had also observed in patients afflicted with autism. Autism has mystified scientists and doctors for more than a century. So, what do we know about it now? It is a complex developmental disability that usually appears during the first three years of life, and it arises from a neurological disorder that affects the functioning of the brain. The brainstem of a person with autism is shorter than a normal brainstem, lacks a structure known as the superior olive and has a smaller than normal structure known as the facial nucleus. Scientists who have observed the brainstems of autistic patients have reported that it is though a band of tissue is missing. The symptoms of autism vary from one person to another. Some people can be affected greatly by one symptom, while other may be affected more strongly by a different symptom. This developmental disability impacts normal development of the brain in areas such as social interaction and communication skills. Children with autism cannot interpret the emotional states of others, they dont recognize anger, sorrow or manipulative intent. Their language skills are limited and they will often fail to initiate and sustain conversations. It is common for an autistic person to avoid being touched because of a heightened sense of touch. A light touch to most people may hurt an autistic person. On the other hand, some autistic people are insensitive to pain and wont notice injuries. Hearing can also be heightened so that a noise that would not bother your or my ears, may hurt an autistic persons ears. Autistic peoples vision can also be affected. They have trouble recognizing people. They can also have their eyes hurt by a bright light or a certain flickering. People with autism lack normal non-verbal communication and body language. Because of this, they will seem more literal minded and unemotional than those around them. They also have trouble with verbal communication which sometimes means they will take a question or statement in a literal or unusual way. Some autistic people display communication difficulties such as difficulty remembering vocabulary and pronouncing words. Some are mute. Many need extra time to process verbal questions or comments and to reply. From time to time they will repeat things they hear or even their own words. As you can see, autism affects its victims in a wide variety of ways. Some do well in special supportive environments, other are completely independent and function fairly well, and still others may never learn to talk or be able to work or live independently. Problems arise when autistic people attempt to handle multiple stimuli. Because they have very narrowly focused attention, they can only keep up with one thing at a time. Most people have a mind like a flashlight, with an area of high focus, and a larger area or partial awareness. The autistic mind, though, is more like a laser-pointer that highlights only a single small dot to the exclusion of all else. Autistic people often dislike, or display a pronounced dislike for change. In cold blood - truman capote Essay By identifying any absent or impaired neurological functions , it is possible to determine specifically where in the central nervous system a dysfunction exists. 2. An individual program of developmental activities is assigned to the patient. The activities trigger reflexes which stimulate the development of the absent or impaired functions using the profile of normal neurological development. Starting at the earliest .