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Psychological Disorders: The Role Of Autism In Children

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In this paper, we will discuss the term Autism, the benefits of behavior therapy, and how such therapy is been used to help children that are suffering from the disorder. Autism is the fastest growing developmental disability in the United States. According to Center for Disease Control’s 2014 report, there are 3.5 million Americans affected by Autism; while one in 68 births are diagnosed with Autism. The increase of Autism has led to funding for a number research studies and various behavior therapy services.
In 1943, Leo Kanner, an Australian-American psychiatrist, was the first to coin the term “infantile autism” based on observations made in a study. Kanner observed 11 children with communication problems and repetitive behaviors, such as rocking, sucking, and lack of social interactions. The cause of Autism is still unknown to researchers, although researchers believe that genes and environment formulate a big contribution to the cause. …show more content…

Some early signs of Autism in babies are the following: avoiding eye movement when being fed by their caregivers and not reaching out to be picked up by the familiar faces of their caregivers. Caregivers must pay attention to the development of the child because each child must acquire certain skills at every milestone of their growing stages. For example, by 12 months, the baby should babble; by 24 months, the child should be able to express meaningful two-word phrases without imitating or repeating others. Autistic babies may not reach these milestones. Some of the symptoms of Autism affect communication in different ways. When communication, many Autistic children may not understand the purpose of communication, lack of meaningful speech, delay communication processing, and have limited or no eye

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