Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)

Children with ASD develop differently from other children. They must overcome challenges in interacting and communicating with others. These challenges can affect their development, learning and future trajectories of their lives. This diagnosis is particularly difficult on low income families and minority groups as well as for parents with low educational attainment and those living in rural areas who may not have the financial means, suitable knowledge or access to resources to care for their children’s needs.

Over the years, more people are becoming aware of Autism Spectrum Disorder, ASD. The growing number of individuals who are affected by ASD have been increasing over the years. This could be do to the new DSM development of what is considered ASD or simply more children are being born with ASD. Either way, ASD is more predominate in our society today. ASD is defined in the DSM 5 as having abnormal social aspects, lack of social skills, non-verbal communications skills, deficits in development, lack of understanding of relationships, and self-stimulation through repetitive behaviors (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). Although these are not all of the symptoms caused by ASD

According to the National Institute of Mental Health (2017), ASD is a group of developmental disorders that impacts 1 in 68 children and includes “a spectrum” of symptoms, skills, and levels of disability. Individuals with ASD may face challenges with social skills, repetitive behaviors, language and communication, and learn differently than

One can state that the ASD is challenging to be: diagnosed, treated, and assessed. In this paper, high

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a developmental disability that can cause significant social, communication, and behavior challenges and was first described by Dr. Leo Kanner in 1943 (Brown & Percy, 2007). Individuals with ASD can range from high functioning to low functioning in their ability to learn, think, and problem solve (Brown & Percy, 2007). Behavior problems are common among individuals with ASD (Hill at el, 2014). Kogan (2009) estimates that approximately 637,000 children in the U.S. alone have ASD and within those 637,000 children, Hagopian (2007) suggests that half of those children, who are diagnosed with ASD, also display problem behavior. According to Hagopian & Hardesty (2014), Applied Behavior

ASD is a neurodevelopmental disorder. The DSM-V includes a list of criteria that mentions what characteristics are present in a person with ASD. These include deficits in social communication

The effects in communication skills in those who have ASD may tend to be very verbal or nonverbal. In children language will begin to develop then stop. It is difficult for a person to engage in a conversation. They may also find it difficult to take turns in a conversation, or not understand humorous comments and are not able to pick up on innuendos. Some behavior effects of ASD are not being able to focus on many details, they tend to be preoccupied with a simple object and require stability and routine. Effects are also, rocking the body back and forth or flapping or clapping their arms and legs or both. Their senses may be sensitive or on overload. he effects of ASD in social interaction are difficulty in maintain eye contact, and reading facial expressions and their own facial expressions may not be easily read as well. They have difficulty with emotion

There is a wide variety of symptoms that have been associated with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD, the name adopted in 2013) including, repetitive movements, emotional difficulties, sensory problems, etc. The exact cause of these symptoms is a widely debated topic. In this paper, I will discuss the overall prevalent causes for Autism as well as the different variations and subgroups. People are familiar with other disorders such as Down syndrome or Trisomy 21. These types of disorders are discusses frequently because of the knowledge and commonality of them. However, not everybody is familiar with a disorder such as Autism. This is due to the uncertainty of the cause for Autism. The overall concept of Autism is simple, but the causes are widely disputed.

Autism Spectrum Disorder, as defined by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders, refers to a group of complex neurodevelopment disorders characterized by repetitive and characteristic patterns of behavior and difficulties with social communication and interaction (ninds.nih.gov). Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a very complex developmental disorder and the term ‘spectrum’ was added to the original term simply known as ‘Autism’ due to the wide range of symptoms associated with the disorder and the scale on which people were diagnosed. While it would be impossible to fully understand what a person with ASD feels and endures on a daily basis, taking a closer look at the signs, diagnosis, causes and treatments for ASD will help us gain knowledge and allow us deeper insight to individuals on the Autistic spectrum.

The diagnosis for ASD relate to a comparison with parents unmet needs and children’s functioning to provide a more clear solution for service provision [5]. The result

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a continuum disorder in which symptoms usually arise in early-childhood. Some individuals with ASD will display mild symptoms, while other individuals with ASD may display more severe symptoms, the spectrum aspect of autism causes this widespread diagnosis. Recognizing the spectrum disorder as a whole, and continually focusing on the strengths and weaknesses of each individual child’s development across all areas, is one of the many difficult factors of ASD. Among other deficits, communication deficits are especially prevalent for many individuals diagnosed with ASD. Some individuals are considered nonverbal or mostly nonverbal, while others may struggle solely with social communication, others still may not have any difficulty communicating with other individuals (DSM-5, 2016).

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a term used to describe a category of conditions also referred to as pervasive Developmental Disorders (PDD). Some of the PDD include: Autism or Autistic Disorder, Rett’s Disorder, Childhood Disintegrative Disorder, Asperger’s Disorder, and Pervasive Developmental Disorder---Not Otherwise Specified (PDD-NOS) which includes Atypical Autism (Yapko, 2003). These disorders affect three primary areas of development. First is communication, which is verbal and nonverbal. Second there is social interaction. Lastly, there is repetitive patterns of behavior. Children with Asperger’s may not always get along with other children around them. They tend to asphyxiate themselves with one hobby, and learn everything there is to know about it. All of the disorders mentioned can be grouped together under a single heading: Pervasive Developmental Disorders in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV).

These four disorders share some common penchants; most notably communicative difficulties, where individuals struggle to interpret social scenarios accurately, people with ASD struggle to establish and maintain friendships. ASD sufferers are often dependent on routines and often don’t react well to change within the learning environment, Machalicek, O’Reilly, Beretvas, Sigafoos, & Lancioni (2007) allude to the small changes which may throw a child into distress for a whole day making them struggle to stay on task or even lead to disruptive behaviour. Along with the reliance upon routine, individuals with ASD tend to struggle in the formal learning environment; with many struggling with direct instruction; with many struggling to generalize or transfer newly acquired skills to other settings (The National

ASD is a neurological disorder, and children who are diagnosed as autistic are often considered to have a severe disability, but the range of ability within this syndrome is broad (Westling & Fox, 2000). ASD affects one in sixty-eight children and boys are four times more likely than girls to have this disorder. Characteristics of this disorder can vary from mild to severe and may include the following characteristics: communication problems, for example, with the use or comprehension of language, difficulty relating to people, things, and

Not everything that I’ve discovered about ASD is for all children. Because each child is his or her own person, every child is different and every child is special in his or her own way. There’s a saying, “If you see one child with ASD, then you’ve seen only one child with ASD. Meaning, every ASD child is different from that of any other child with ASD even with different situations. So everything explained here are just the basics should help you assess your approach.