Transcript Autistic Disorder

By: Elizabeth Hernandez
 Autistic
disorder or also known as autism
 This disorder is described to be
“mindblindedness.”
 Autistic disorder is a neurological and
developmental disorder that usually appears
during the first three years of life
 Those with this disorder have an impairment
in their ability to communicate and relate
emotionally to others
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tend to seem to be living in their own world, show
little interest, and lack of social awareness
have problems in communication, avoid eye contact,
and show limited attachment to others
have the habit to rock and hand or finger flipping
don’t like noise
imitate others actions which works with mirror
neurons
tend to preoccupy themselves with lights, moving
objects, and parts of objects
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it is not known but research suggests that autism is a
genetic condition in which some genes are involved in
the development of autism
as an example: a twin study in which the concordance
rate among monzygotic twins was 92% and pointed to
patterns of inheritance (Bailey et.al., 1995)
some other evidence from family and genetic studies
says that abnormalities on chromosomes 7, 15, and 16
(Lauritsen and Ewald, 2001; Rutler, 2000) that may be
part of in genetic transmission of autistic disorder
Continued
• there had been a variety of abnormalities in the
brain structure and chemicals in the brain
• there has also been abnormalities found in blood
flow patterns through frontal lobes of the brain, that
suggested a maturational delay (Zilbovicius et. Al.,
1995)
• men with autism have greater brain volume and
greater ventricular volume which has been shown in
MRI scans (Hardan, Minshew, and Keshavan, 2000)
• approximately 15 out of every 10,000 children born
are diagnosed with autism
• it is more common in boys than girls with four times
as many boys affected than girls
• also once believed to affect 1 in 2,500 children
(Lillienfield and Arkowitz, 2011)
• there are behavioral and educational programs
• behavioral therapy is used to teach social skills,
motors skills, and cognitive (thinking) skills
• it is useful in reducing or eliminating maladaptive
behaviors
• education programs focus on developing social skills,
speech, language, self-care, and job skills
• medication can help in treating some symptoms
• specific treatment is based on an individual child’s
treatments and determined by the child’s physician
based on:
• child’s age, health and medical history
• the extent of the disorder
• symptoms
• tolerance for specific medications or therapies
•Expectations for the course of the disorder
• there is no cure for autism but there are ways in which
a person can be treated for it
• they have normal living expectations with the adequate
treatment and early intervention but there are those
who need lifelong treatment
• for an example: Lovass reported a high rate of
success was being achieved after of 40-hour-perweek treatment in a research project begun in 1970
• the result of a long study being done in UCLA
showed that children starting at the ages 2 to 6
showed that those who had better skills in
communication and play had better language and
social skills in their early preteen years (Sigman et
al., 1999).
Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin. Autistic Disorder.
2011.
http://www.chw.org/display/PPF/DocID/22122/router.a
sp
Halgin, R.P & Whitbourne, S.k.(2005)
Abnormal Psychology Clinical Perspective on
Psychological Disorders, New York, NY:
McGraw Hill
• What do you think makes an autistic child have an
extraordinary skill but yet have a disorder?