Birth-Order In Sociology

Parents’ own birth orders and children experience can impact family dynamics, such as, firstborn parents getting into “raging battle” with a firstborn child, youngest-born parents not having high expectations on their kids or seeing their children’s abilities, biases based on their own birth positions, sticking up for the children with the same birth order, and birth order affecting the children’s personalities.

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)”

At the autism conference that was held on April 12, 2017, Slippery Rock University provided a few different speakers to talk about different aspects of autism. Ms. Rebecca Klaw was the keynote, and she focused her topic on steps to inclusion through the lifespan. Dr. Jan Singletary focused her topic on sensory issues and inclusion. Dr. Rishi Parikh focused his topic on social anxiety and inclusion. Following these speakers, we had a panel of self-advocates and family members speaking about their personal experiences on autism.

Specifically, how the parents are affected with this change as well. My mother worked with a child with autism for the first years of elementary school up until the child’s freshman year of high school. I had the opportunity to experience one on one interaction with the student, which led me to curiosity as to how the individual’s disorder has transformed over time. After speaking with her parents on how difficult it is to cope with the child’s diagnosis, I am eager to research more on this topic. I am excited to share the new information that I discover with the student’s family and eventually find unique information that will help me with my future career.

Working with children with autism and their families is an important issue. According to the U.S. Department of Education, identification of children with autism increased 79% from 1993-1997. This increase is not proportional to other disabilities, since the increase in identification of all disabilities from the same period was only 9.5% (National Center for Education Statistics, 1998). Over 500,000 people in the U.S. have some form of autism or pervasive developmental disorder, making it one of the most common developmental disabilities (Autism Society of America, 1999). Yet many professionals in healthcare and education do not have the knowledge or preparation to work with this growing population (Autism Society of America, 1999; Hart, 1993; Jordan & Powell, 1995; Muskat & Redefer, 1994).

Mental illnesses have been changing how Americans view one another. A major disability that wrecks havoc on citizens and their viewpoints is the list of disorders under the autism spectrum. Many styles of aid are available to these people, most beginning with younger, school age children. However, the question stands whether they actually need all the assistance being thrown at them. While students diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) or Asperger’s Syndrome (AS) should be given the help they need to flourish, their needs are different from others with special needs. Furthermore, while their grades are likely maintain a decently high average, they may not manage all too well socially.

Most parents wonder what is the next chapter for their child with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) after they 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 (p. 31). 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 show that after young adults with ASD left the public school system, 80% live at home, 32% attended postsecondary education, only 6% had competitive jobs, and 21% had no employment or education experience at all. In addition, 40% reported having no friends. (p. 32)

One in every hundred people has autism. This means that a big percentage of people in the world have autism. Autism is a disorder that causes social impairment, difficulty in communication, and difficulty taking an interest in activities, I will be researching how these and other aspects affect an autistic person’s life. Being autistic makes it very difficult to socialize and it makes it hard to be socially accepted especially when someone is told they’re different. When someone is told they’re different, they actually start treating themselves differently and pulling themselves away from society and start believing that no one will ever want to be around them because they’re a little different.

With lungs to breathe, a beating heart, eyes to see, a thinking brain, and a nose for smell, the human specimen is made up of specific components that keep each alive and mobile. But what truly makes someone unique if all humans are fundamentally knit together in the same fashion? Stitched together by the same thread? Where can the fountains of uniqueness and individuality be discovered? The most important component woven into the deoxyribonucleic acid of every human being is the personality, and from it comes the key that unlocks the unmatched characteristics in each individual. Personality is what drives the human race to flourish and sets human beings apart from a plant or animal. Unfortunately, gaining a general knowledge of the true

With limited literature, people are not exposed to ASD. If they are not going for a major in school where they might encounter individuals with autism, or if they do not have friends or family that have autism, they most likely do not really know much about it. They might be open to people with special needs, but their reactions might differ. The purpose of this study was to have your typical college study read short stories on different characters to see what their thoughts and feelings were. They wanted to see their attitudes towards peers that might differ from them. They wanted students "to contribute to a more complete understanding of the likely acceptance by peers of college-bound

Autism is a term many have heard but not many know what it entails. I chose to learn more about autism because I have seen many people with this disability and want to learn more about it. My first college roommate has? autism and I was bothered by her actions that I had to move to a different room the next semester. I was able to interview her and get her take on autism and how it affects her life and daily tasks. I interviewed a college student named Ana and she had many views and opinions on her disability and how it makes her not only different but unique. She is studying Spanish and meteorology and has love for both. She loves sharing about herself she is bilingual and says that meteorology is her ‘‘favorite thing in the whole world’’.

Most media outlets use children to tug at the hearts of the viewers and usually when you mention Autism people automatically think of children. To be honest, before this class I was guilty of this assumption as well. But, the reality is, these children on the spectrum eventually grow up to be adults, and unfortunately people forget or fail to consider what happens when they hit adulthood. The amount of supports are drastically diminished because the services, interventions and attention they used to get in school are now gone. These adults on the spectrum are now expected to find services elsewhere. Which, may not seem like much of a problem, until you realize the amount of programs and services are slim and, even more frustrating, find that there may be waiting lists or criteria you have to meet to be considered for a spot. Group homes are a hallmark example, due to the limited number of homes, people face waiting lists for years before granted a spot. This is a huge problem for those individuals who may need some extra help to live on their own, forcing them to live with family. I heard about these problems when talking with participants at the Hussman Center, they also discussed how difficult it was to find jobs. These are the type of problems society needs to straighten out, we are providing so much effort to help child with Autism but it’s pointless if, when they reach adulthood, they struggle to become an independent contributor to society due to lack of funding and

Firstborn children in families develop a higher I.Q. than their siblings. The New York Times used a study that found that the average difference in I.Q. was three points higher in firstborn than closest sibling. Even though it is only three points it is significant according to researchers. While three points may not seem like a huge differences, experts say that “it can be a tipping point for some people- the difference between a high B average and a low A” (Carey, 2007). The results also show that it was because of family dynamics and not biological factors. In the study, analyze the data of Norwegian men born from 1967-1976 and found that firstborn had three percent higher than second child and four percent higher than third child. The

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is the name given to describe a wide range of behaviors amongst the autistic population Children with autism are less able to interact with the world as other children do. Normally they have shortfalls in four key ranges: verbal, non-verbal correspondence, social mindfulness, and connections.” (This is one of the disorders that can either be recognized right away in a child, take a long time to diagnose, or might not even be noticeable; the lack of diagnosis can also become a negative issue in an autistic person’s life. Because this disorder is fairly common, and can be devastating should a child have ASD but remain undiagnosed, public schools should train their teachers and staff to recognize autism and its symptoms. There are many students that are being failed rather than receiving the help required to help these kids succeed. Many in the general public as well aren’t informed of what autism is, and can be judgmental towards these kids without understanding why these kids act the way they do. People need to be educated about this disorder.

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.