Autism Case Study

Associated with autism, there are a number of conditions comorbid to ASC. There is a high prevalence of epilepsy in individuals with autism, with a 1 in 4 prevalence, with seizures often starting in early childhood or adolescence. Tourette’s syndrome also has a higher prevalence within ASC then the neuro-typical population, with a prevalence of 6.5% compared to 2-3%. This may be due to abnormalities in dopamine, glutamate and serotonin abnormalities in autism. There is also a high proportion of individuals with learning difficulties, whether mild, moderate or severe, with a reporting from as low as 20% up to 70% prevalence.

Autistic spectrum condition is a lifelong disability which affects how an individual communicates and relates to, other people. The understanding of autism has greatly improved since the 1940s when it was identified and one thing that we are aware of is that there is no cure however, there are many things that can be done to support people with autism. There are a large number of symptoms that are in relation to autism, such as a delay in speech development, not responding when their name is called and despite being able to hear, being intolerant of others entering their personal space. In addition to these, there are behavioural symptoms such as insisting on a familiar routine and becoming very anxious or upset if this is disrupted or changed, they will sometime talk at people rather than having a two-way conversation and a failure to understand or implement social rules.

Many treatment approaches have developed different ways of dealing with the challenges of autism. First, there is the theory of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA), which consists of giving a child a specific task, which teaches skills from basic ones to more complex ones, such as social interaction. Children taking this approach, work 30-40 hours a week with a trained professional. (West 66) It may be emotionally difficult for the child, and his/her parents to dedicate so much time, yet it is worth it. However, it has been proven that ABA methods have shown consistent results in teaching new skills and behaviors to children with autism. (West 68)

Autism is the main form of autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Autism is a developmental disorder that is manifested in problems with communication, impairment of social functioning, and repetitive behaviours. According to the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-V), ASD diagnoses must meet four different areas of criteria. There are three symptoms of "deficits in social communication and interaction across contexts," four symptoms of "restricted, repetitive patterns of behaviour, interests, or activities," "symptoms must be present in early childhood," and the symptoms must "together limit and impair everyday functioning" (Carpenter, 2013). There are many theoretical positions on the causes of autism spectrum disorders. Some of which have been discounted by empirical studies that have been researched and performed.

This paper focuses on applied behavior analysis (ABA). The concept of ABA in definition is the use of knowledge gained within science of behavior to improve behaviors that are socially crucial. The researchers of this paper focus not the importance of having parents use ABA training when working with their children who have autism spectrum disorder (ASD). There has been a large amount of research done on ABA techniques and it is something that has been used in many different fields of practice. Areas such as social work, education, medicine, etc have benefited from the ABA approach. Now it is important to distinguish what the views of parents using ABA are.

A child’s diagnoses of autism affects the every member of a family. Parents or guardians must place their full attention on helping their child with autism. This may cause marriage problems or stress on other children, work, responsibilities, finances etc. They must shift their focus to their child and also provide money and time for treatments. Although the child may never have to feel

Pandina et al, conducted an 8 week double blind placebo-­‐controlled trial do risperidone for autism the ABC-­‐I subscale was the primary efficacy measure used. Out of the 55, 27 were given risperidone and 28 were given the placebo (14).

In a wide-ranging study, Gresham, Beebe-Frankenberger & MacMillan (1999) reviewed and critiqued several of the most cited treatment programs for children with autism, including Applied Behavioural Analysis (ABA). In essence, they concluded that there was no one flawlessly reliable treatment protocol for autism. However, they found that virtually all programs reviewed, showed some degree of developmental gain in each of its participants. Particularly when it came to measurable IQ gain. With direct reference to the Applied Behavioural Analysis approach, it would appear that there is not sufficient evidence to promote it as being a superior or universal treatment program for all children with

The interviewee's child was diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder when he was just 2 years old. The child had been enrolled in the public school system since he was able to attend school. The types of classroom settings have been majority of self-contained classrooms, however, in kindergarten he attended a regular education classroom. Currently, his placement is in a self-contained Autism classroom. The family comes from a middle socioeconomic background. Furthermore, the behavior analyst has worked with all types of families and children from many different socioeconomic

Motivated in part by biochemical evidence of hyperserotonemia in PDDs, researchers have evaluated a variety of serotonergic agents for their effectiveness in treatment of PDDs. These studies first focused on fenfluramine, an agent that lowers both peripheral and central serotonin levels. The results of these studies are contradictory, but generally speaking, there appears to be only weak evidence that fenfluramine is an effective treatment for autistic behaviors (Campbell, 1987).

A group of adolescents with autism and severe behavioral disturbance ranging from the ages of 5-17 were given a risperidone and/or placebo. The adolescents were randomly selected on who would receive the risperidone and who would receive the placebo. “A double-blind placebo-controlled parallel groups design was used. Dependent measures included tests of sustained attention, verbal learning, hand-eye coordination, and spatial memory assessed before, during, and after the 8-week treatment.

Each ABA session provides a safe and reinforcing environment for children to learn. By providing therapy in the child’s own home by visiting therapists children are provided a consistent schedule of 25-40 hours of therapy in the safest environment possible. Additionally, ABA providers are able to work on behaviors that matter the most in environments that matter the most with family, school, and community support and involvement. Board Certified Behavioral Analysts, Olive, Fishetti, and Holt describe the numerous capacities which ABA improves the lives of children with Autism “As a discipline, ABA providers are charged with the improvement of socially significant behaviors. Socially significant behaviors include communication, social skills, academics, reading and adaptive living skills such as gross and fine motor skills, toileting, dressing, eating, personal self-care, domestic skills, and work skills. ABA treatment is often extended to other family, community and school environments to help children with Autism Spectrum Disorders live their highest quality of life. All of this provides consistency to clients and paramount to success is consistency across all environments of a child’s

Parents, caregivers and educators have the challenge of giving a child with Autism the best caregiving and strategies that they need, which can be very stressful and tasking. So, this is where evidence based practices come in. Evidence based practices are practices brought about through quality and reliable research to be effective, which is so valuable in the field of Autism. This research can be experimental, replicated several times and published by credited peer reviewed journals. According to Simpson 2005, he provides us with categorization of practice for those diagnosed with ASD including: scientifically based practices (Applied Behavioral Analysis), promising practices, limited support practices and finally recommended practices. Common

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is now described by the continual deficits in social communication, including, non-verbal communication, understanding relationships and the ability to reciprocate communication socially. In addition, the diagnosis of ASD includes the existence of restricted and repetitive behaviors (APA, 2013). The newly revised criterion has changed the way clinicians will have to diagnose individuals with impairments in regards to the aforementioned deficits.

Tens of millions of people have been diagnosed with Autism worldwide, effecting both genders, all races, ethnicities and people from all socioeconomic classes. In 2010 a Surveillance Summary was conducted in the United States, where it identified that one in 68 children are diagnosed with Autism (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2014). It has been recognised