Autism Course Analysis

A lot of people don’t realize the challenges of living with a child who has been diagnose with Autism can be. It is a twenty-four-hour seven day a week job no vacation, no sick time and no pay. From the time the child is diagnosed it is a constant worry especially if the parents don’t know much about the condition. It starts with continuous Doctor visits, social services, and therapy sessions, just to figure out how serious the condition may be and what level of the disability the child has and this is only this beginning. Next, to find the tools the child needs to overcome the disability, like learning development and cognitive process, social skills, comprehension capabilities, and many more depending on the severity of autism.

Let’s say you have a box of crayons. It represents ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder), now inside the box you have different colors of crayons. Each color/crayon is a different disorder. The color we want to talk about today is teal, the official color for autism. Stuart Duncan once said, “Autism, like a rainbow, has a bright side and a dark side and even though it can mean rough waters it can be beautiful.” Autism isn’t a label, it’s a diagnoses. People with autism can be just as successful as neurotypical people. People with autism have been the subject of stereotypes and neglect for decades. Only in the last 150 years or so have things started to change. We don’t know what causes autism, but thanks to increased research and awareness we’re making more progress than ever. People with autism face many challenges everyday, autism is a spectrum. It’s not the same for everyone. Due to it being a spectrum it can be hard for people without autism to understand the challenges autistic people face, and how to go about interacting with autistic people. There are lots of autistic people worldwide, it’s time we start making them feel more like people.

Autism has been made to seem like this huge issue, something that needs to be stopped. While there are many issues that come with autism, it is not something that should be getting such negative attention. People with autism seem to be the most extraordinary out of any of us. “They are usually intelligent, gifted, honest, hard workers when interested in a task and excellent problem solvers. People with high-functioning autism are thought to become excellent scientists and engineers or enter other professions where painstaking, methodical analysis is required. Some believe this particular assertion is a stereotype, as some high-functioning autism adults tend to struggle with the traditional work setting and the surrounding societally accepted ways of behaving,” (Synapse, Pg 2). There

Most parents wonder what is the next chapter after their child with autism spectrum disorder graduate from high school, for some individuals, it is to move onto higher education. As stated by Cai and Richdale (2015), the USA has one of the lowest rates of college enrollment for individuals with ASD, with over 50% of these individuals being in neither education nor employment following their secondary school, with similar finding in the UK (p. 31). For the individuals with ASD who move forward in gaining a higher education will have to learn to adapt and determine how to transition into higher education. Mentioned by Cai and Richdale (2015), a USA national survey illustrated poor outcomes from transitioning from secondary school into adult-hood. “The findings showed that after young adults with ASD left the public school system, 80% continues to live at home, only 32% attended postsecondary education, just 6% had competitive jobs, while 21% had no employment or education experience at all. Further 40% reported having no friends. (p. 32)”

I observed the interviewee as a concerned and caring mother who wanted the best for her child with autism. She was educated enough to know it was a process beyond her knowledge. The mother is a young Caucasian adult with a college education, she allowed the process and was opened minded with what the coordinators and specialists had to say. Stating, that it could be difficult to get resources because the client is unsure where he or she is to go and turn to. Autism is a disorder of social interaction, communication and behavior. Autism typically manifests itself within the first three years of life and there is usually cognitive

The issue that is in our world today would be that there is not enough education presented to the public about autism, as well as any or all special needs. Everyone should in some way be educated about these things, at least in a generalized aspect. There are so many families that have a child in their lives who struggle with a disorder that they have no control over, it takes control of them. It is very typical for families to go out with one another, to shop or eat. Environments as such may be an everyday thing to an atypical person. However, everything is heightened to an individual with autism. This causes an overstimulation for an individual, which ultimately results in misconduct. One common thing amongst these individuals is that how they look physically may not represent how they think mentally. For someone from the outside looking in on a situation, seeing someone with a physical characteristic one way, yet behaving another looks absurd. We as a society need to change people’s understanding of the functionality of a person on the spectrum. A negative response can affect this individual’s behavior, take someone approaching them in the wrong way, and ultimately not comprehend a situation correctly. Autism awareness should be understood unanimously, offering people the right education, getting them to be compassionate, and simply showing manners there would be much more respect shown to people with autism.

Autism Speaks. (2012). The Federal Response to Autism. Retrieved June 17, 2012, from HYPERLINK "http://www.autismspeaks.org" http://www.autismspeaks.org.

“It’s a sad reflection on society of how little we care for those with other needs. It’s especially visible within our school students. If around $12,000 dollars is spent on the average student at the school, only around $8,000 is spent on a student in an autism or special needs program.”

Program Code: 3017X07PWO I wish to pursue a career working with individuals who have Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) / developmental disabilities, as a part of a multi-disciplinary ASD treatment team. Teaching ASD individuals new skills (social, self-help, language and academic) using, “principles of ABA; specifically in the application of these principles to Intensive Behavioural Intervention (IBI).” Supporting them in ways that are respectful of the dignity and individuality of each person. Education: • Developmental Services Worker Diploma, Algonquin College, June 2015. • Three first semester courses in Autism and Behavioural Science Graduate Certificate.

Once the individual with autism transitions into adulthood, the parents have the right to choose what is best for their child. If that is placing them with another sibling or even placing them into a home where they can receive better care that is up to the parents, but society looks at it as abandonment or that the parents just do not want the responsibility anymore. According to the article, What Happens When My Child with Autism Becomes an Adult with Autism?, by Dana Meijler, states “Let’s face it, while the media pounds us with messages of hope for people with disabilities and there are some truly remarkable achievements going on out there, the number of high functioning people with autism who live either without support of some kind or without loneliness and isolation is not very high”(Meijler 36-39). The media and society place such a heavy weight on families with autistic children or autistic adults. Depending on how severe the case is per child is how well their parents can base whether the individual can live on their own, be taken in by a sibling or family member, or placed in home for constant care. Most autistic children, but not necessarily all, cannot make it on their own and will always need to be under someone’s watch and care. As the child transitions into adulthood, parents can teach them basic life skills that may include the following: light cooking, cleaning, laundry, and even possibly driving. Parents that have autistic children may choose to parent their children up to their best knowledge and their

When you hear about Autism you generally think of children; however, the children with Autism grow up. Most people with Autism are adults. Autism research from 1998 shows that adults are: underrepresented in autism research and studies into old age are extremely needed. Most of the Autism adults lack services or even diagnosis. People with Autism are inclined to anxiety and depression. The young adults are vulnerable to anxiety and depression when leaving high school especially in low income families, previous gained skills and their behavior slowed down or plateaued. Some good news emerged from Mailick’s study: Autistic symptoms: Impaired verbal and nonverbal communication and social interaction decreased over time among one-third to half of the study participants. They stayed stable in many others. Independent living skills remained stable. The adult autistic women showed a decline in vocationally occupied hours.

I truly feel empathy for every family that has to deal with the challenges presented by this disorder. There are still many people who believe that it’s just kids being spoiled by their parents and discipline is all that’s needed to cure an autistic child. There are still many people who will turn their nose up and act irritated when an autistic child is acting strange in public. I know my mom hates taking my brother out because of the stares. For every story of compassion toward an autistic child there is a thousand stories of intolerance. Society just does not know what to do. Autism is becoming more and more prevalent and we don’t have the therapists and specialists to keep up and as this generations autistic children get older I don’t know what is going to happen to them. Not every one of those 1 in 68 children need total care, but I’m afraid that those who do won’t be cared for, certainly not with compassion. As the parents get too old and the kids are left behind what happens? Do we have space for all of them? The support for parents with autistic kids is just not there. If you yell at the school enough you might get something, but it’s tiring. I understand that a lot of parents get tired of having to fight constantly to get any kind of help. I hope that in the years to come the government continues to make strides to truly help disabled children. Many of them can take care of themselves and even work if given the right support and training, but this is something that has to be done early it can’t wait until the individual is eighteen and unable to do anything. I’ve been really impressed by the efforts to promote autism awareness in the last few years and I hope that these efforts will promote understanding and sympathy in people, so that my brother and others like him can go to the park or a restaurant without being treated like a blight on

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the effects processing has on Autism Spectrum Disorder and in the special education classroom. Autism (ASD) is a neurological disorder that affects student’s cognitive behaviors, social interaction and communication. A positive method used to teach students has been processing. Processing consists of memory retention through visual or auditory methods in an effort to create new ways to understand and remember the words. A difficulty that occurs for students with Autism depends on their placement in either special or general education classroom. This paper will look at how Autism and processing can alter the special education classroom. We will also discuss how processing can lead to optimal outcome and cause people to lose their Autism diagnosis.

Autism is a complex disability, as the way it manifests in each child differs in severity across numerous characteristics. Children diagnosed with autism qualify to receive special services and a “free, appropriate public education in the least restrictive environment” under the federal legislation, Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (Hunt & Marshall, 2012, p. 15). Autism was added to IDEA in 1990 as a new disability category. The legislation defines autism as “a developmental disability significantly affecting verbal and nonverbal communication and social interaction, generally evident before age 3 that adversely affects a child’s educational performance” (Hunt & Marshall, 2012, p. 301). The “Rules for the Provision of Special Education” from the State Superintendent of Public Instruction of Washington state also outlines eligibility and individualized education programs for children diagnosed with autism (Rules for the Provision of Special Education, p. 11 & 46). Furthermore, the DSM diagnoses autism when a child shows “qualitative impairments” in social interaction, communication, and “restricted repetitive and stereotyped patterns of behavior, interests and activities” (Hunt & Marshall, 2012, p. 302).

I am very passionate about working with kids with autism. They have such amazing personalities and I feel like people don’t see past the disability to the unique person they are. For several years I worked at a residential facility for kids on the spectrum. I was a direct care staff that worked one on one with them to work on their goals their treatment plan was focusing on. My passion to help kids with autism comes from my previous experience working with these kids and watching them grow and learn new skills. This transformation that I watched happen and helped be a part of with these kids made me want to help more kids with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). There are a lot of skills that need to be taught to these children. Socialization, communication, and positive behavior are just a few kids with autism need help improving. I believe that the earlier that you teach a child these skills the more successful they will be. Early intervention has had a positive outcome within many research experiments that professionals have done. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (2004) also requires schools to teach kids with disabilities alongside typically developed kids as much as possible.