Isolated in their own world people suffering from autism have a life that is so less normal and so less easy than ours. Autism is a developmental disorder in which a person has disability in interacting and communicating. The symptoms of autism may or may not surface when a child is around three years old. It is a disorder of the neurons where in the information processing in the brain is altered due to which an autistic person is unable to understand other people’s emotions, feelings and thoughts. Teaching language and subjects to such children becomes difficult and so autistic children have difficulties in communicating and socializing. Some children even develop painful sensitivity towards stimuli like smell, sight, touch or sound. There are many other disabilities that an autistic child can develop.

A child with autistic disorders may show symptoms at around three years of age but in some the symptoms appear at a later stage when the child is noticed lacking in maturity and understanding far behind the children of his age. Parents may find such a child behaving repeatedly in a strange way often rejecting the company of other people around much to cause frustration and anxiety to the parents. Their actions may sometimes be bizarre also that may be depressing for their family. The disorder is not confined to a special creed or sec of people but is found in every country around the world and there are many ways that are coming up to help such children to make a place for them in the community and live a meaningful life rather than being deserted o isolated. Autism occurs in 1 or 2 people in every thousand and is found to have an occurrence more in boys than girls. 

Behavioral traits that can be noticed

A child with autistic disorder throws tantrums when things do not turn up as he or she may have expected. Such a child when angry or anxious may smash objects around and even may get scared of the sound that the falling objects create. An autistic child is confused about most of the things and can lose temper vey easily. They may even cause ham to themselves by biting them or banging their hands or heads on the walls or at objects. Autistic children are found to be confused when they hear or see unexpected things o behaviors so when around people they get to see so many different faces they become anxious. Such children suddenly explode to unexpected sounds or happenings in their surroundings; however they may react normally and calmly under sound and ordered surroundings like their school in the stating years. While some children repeatedly do activities that parents may find amusing. Sometimes they may even be found looking at things with great concentration isolated from all that is happening in their surroundings and not responding to anyone around. When autism starts showing the symptoms the child may not relate to the family, may not like to play with other children of the same age, and may even stop talking to anyone. Such children may even stop others from coming nearer to them by throwing objects at them from a distance.

Autism - the deeper understanding

As already told autism is a disorder of the brain in which a person is not able to relate to people or surroundings, not able to form emotional bonds with family or any person, not able to express their emotions and communicate their thoughts, feelings or emotions. Some autistic people lack speech and intellects while some can be blessed with intelligence and speech. Some may even be retarded or be hearing or vision impaired. There may be certain differences between two autistic people by that I mean that the symptoms and signs can be varied but the underlying root cause is the same and the fact that they are socially not flexible enough and need intensive care and love from their parents and family. Here are some comparisons between a normal child and an autistic child that may help parents in early detection of the disorder in children. These symptoms should not be taken as a diagnostic measure and a specialist must be consulted to confirm if the child is autistic.

• An autistic child avoids eye contact while a normal child does not.
• An autistic child seems deaf and does not react to your words or other sounds in the surroundings while a normal child is stimulated by sounds and even responds to your words.
• An autistic child may at first start speaking and understanding language but later may stop talking abruptly or completely may give up talking. While a normal child develops language skills smoothly.
• A child with autism doesn’t respond to people and may not like them to come nearer and even attack them if they come closer. While a normal child is able to recognize familiar faces and smile or give any response depending on their likings.
• May not be able to build a bond with the mother and is insensitive towards her presence or absence whereas a normal child cries on not finding the mother around.
• Autistic child can be seen to act strangely like continuously thumping feet on the floor while normal children may happily play around and likes to get attention of the parents.
• Autistic child may be insensitive to own bruises or cuts also while a normal child will not be so.
• An autistic child may often like to be alone concentrating on a single thing or repeatedly doing the same activity whereas a normal child often is amused to see different new things and likes to explore.

The possible causes

• Heredity is being considered as one of the factors that causes autism in children. The abnormal genes may be passed on from the parent to the infant.
• Various conditions during pregnancy like viral infections or anything that affects the brain development in the fetus may be attributed to be a cause of autism. Complications during delivery may be yet another condition that affects brain development.

However the exact cause of autism is yet not known and the area is still under research.

Diagnosis of autism

The diagnosis of autism starts at home first by the parents. If they notice their child to be very different, insensitive to people and things, unresponsive or far behind in language learning from the children of his age they may consult a specialist to seek help. Generally the symptoms are visible during the second or third year of the growth of the child and till that age the child may be normal.

There is no specific diagnostic test to detect the abnormality. An autistic child may be prescribed to undergo a hearing evaluation test, blood lead test and finally a screening test to detect autism. The child is made to undergo an evaluation to screen if the brain is functioning normally or not. The various parameters on which the child may be evaluated or tested are language, hearing, communication and basic thinking abilities. A complete physical and neurological examination may be conducted on the child. The screening test may have the following five phases – Autism Diagnostic interview, Autism Diagnostic Schedule, Childhood Autism Rating Schedule, Giliam Autism Rating Scale followed by Persuasive Developmental Disorder Screening.

Treatment available

For a timely and effective treatment it is necessary that the parents consult a specialist as early as possible after they notice their child with an unusual behavior or the symptoms that are associated with autism. Visual aids and constructive activities are used to teach the child. The treatment basically aims at making the child capable of living an ordinary life, so that such children are able to cope up in the society. There is no scientific solid proof for the treatments used for autistic children but the research is going on widely and we may expect some good and result driven treatment to treat the disorder. Besides a special treatment for autistic children it has been found that some cases of autism responded well to a gluten free or casein free diet. The specialist may include various therapies for the treatment like

• Medications- to treat anxiety, mood swings, hyperactivity, sleep problems and various other behavioral problems that an autistic child may have.
• Occupational Therapy,
• Physical Therapy,
• Applied Behavior Therapy where the child is taught skills in a manner to make him fit for living a normal life. This treatment is given by a behavioral psychologist who may have to be at the home of the child all throughout the day and till the time the child learns all the skills. Visual aids are mostly used to explain to the child.
• Therapy of speech and language. It is important for parents to be alert of the behavior of their children and be good observers as the more the delay the more difficult it becomes to handle the child.

Besides that there are some complications that may arise due to autism like Mental retardation, metabolic defects, Seizures and Fragile X syndrome. It can make the life of the parents stressful and depressing to many folds.

Conclusions

It is the parents who have to be most patient with the child and calm in the approach towards such children. Parents often may find it frustrating and depressing to deal with an autistic child who may challenge their patience level up to extremes. Some parents may try consulting different specialists and offer prayers wishing their child turn to normal like other children. But they have to realize the fact that their child is special and so needs their special attention. Early detection followed by proper therapy and medication to educate the child is available and can be availed to help their child live a normal life. Their child may not fulfill the dreams or expectations they had of him/her but they can impart the child with the basic skills so that they grow up into well made adults. The family that has an autistic person needs to be strong and not disheartened. There is help and so is hope for a good life for autistic people who have had a special treatment during their most crucial years of childhood.