Programs that make use of applied behavior analysis have become widely accepted as the standard of treatment. In most programs, parents are encouraged to be highly involved in their children’s care. What is the male-to-female ratio in autism spectrum disorder? Sometimes contact sports can be difficult for autistic children. You can instead encourage other forms of challenging yet strengthening exercises. Get started with these tips on arm circles, star jumps, and other autism exercises for kids. Many resources are available to help autistic children as well as their loved ones.
Health Topics
Comorbidity may increase with age and may worsen the course of youth with ASDs and make intervention and treatment more difficult. Distinguishing between ASDs and other diagnoses can be challenging because the traits of ASDs often overlap with symptoms of other disorders, and the characteristics of ASDs make traditional diagnostic procedures difficult. Exposure to air pollution during child pregnancy, especially heavy metals and particulates, may increase the risk of autism. Some, such as the MMR vaccine, have been completely disproven. Some people with ASD show unusual or notable abilities, ranging from splinter skills to rare talents in mathematics, music, or artistic reproduction, which in exceptional cases are considered a part of the savant syndrome. One study describes how some people with ASD show superior skills in perception and attention relative to the general population. Sensory abnormalities are found in over 90% of autistic people, and are considered core features by some.
Restrictive / repetitive behaviors may include:
Intensive, sustained special education or remedial education programs and behavior therapy early in life may help children acquire self-care, social, and job skills. Available approaches include applied behavior analysis, developmental models, structured teaching, speech and language therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy, social skills therapy, and occupational therapy. Among these approaches, interventions either treat autistic features comprehensively, or focus treatment on a specific area of deficit.
Two theoretical frameworks outlined for early childhood intervention include structured and naturalistic ABA interventions, and developmental social pragmatic models . One interventional strategy utilizes a parent training model, which teaches parents how to implement various ABA and DSP techniques, allowing for parents to disseminate interventions themselves. Various DSP programs have been developed to explicitly deliver intervention systems through at-home parent implementation.
Read more about Autism here.
People who have this type may have problems with social relationships and restrictive behaviors. They usually only need minimal support to function in their normal daily life. During regular developmental checkups during childhood, doctors track a number of developmental milestones and screen for different types of developmental delays. When children don’t meet certain milestones, they may receive further evaluation. Advocates point out the valuable skills and contributions of different types of minds, just as they highlight the value of other types of diversity. At the same time, some researchers and medical experts believe the concept of neurodiversity can be reasonably applied only to those with high-functioning autism.
Talk to your doctor before trying something different, like a special diet. There’s no hard evidence that special diets help children with ASD.
In the UK, from 1998 to 2018, the autism diagnoses increased by 787%. It has been established that vaccination is not a risk factor for autism and is not a cause of any increase in autism prevalence rates, if any change in the rate of autism exists at all.
Treatment
While the exact causes are not known, research suggests that there is likely a genetic aspect to the condition. Prevalence statistics also indicate that autism is more common now than in the past. It also appears to be increasing, growing as much as 10 to 17% over the past few years.