Help With Autism

As anyone who is parenting a child with autism or is familiar with the disorder knows, those suffering with the disease fall under a wide spectrum. These variations make it difficult for physicians to correctly categorize and diagnose individuals, but that may soon be changing. Yesterday the American Psychiatric Association released their revisions Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, the handbook for diagnosing various mental disorders.

One of the most notable—and controversial—proposed changes is classifying Asperger’s disorder under the spectrum of autism disorders. Proponents claim that this revision will make diagnoses more accurate and reduce the litany of labels that are now used, while teens and adults who currently are described as having Asperger’s are opposed to now being known as autistic. The new version of the DSM will not go into effect until 2013.

We spend so much time highlighting the symptoms and potential treatment options for autism on this blog that the rest of the autism spectrum disorders occasionally go unacknowledged. The fact is that parents of children with Asperger syndrome can be equally distressed and frustrated as they try to diagnose the disorder and seek a cure.

Asperger’s is unlike autism in that a child’s linguistic and mental development continue unabated by the disorder. But as soon as the child is put into a social setting, the disorder makes its presence felt fast. Kids with Asperger’s tend to be loners as their disorder often prevents them from demonstrating empathy for others. They instead seem to lack any social graces that would come naturally to other children: making eye-contact, displaying an interest in others, appropriate facial expressions and so on.

As is the case with other disorders on the autism spectrum, some medical professionals have theorized a link between thimerosal – a mercury-based preservative used in some vaccines – and the onset of Asperger’s. The onus is on parents of afflicted children to seek out as much autism information as possible – both online and from trusted physicians – before seeking a remedy.

Autism information begins with the first published academic paper identifying autistic children.  The paper was published in 1943 by Leo Kanner and was titled “Autistic Disturbance of Affective Contact”.  Before Kanner’s observations were recorded, such children were being classified as emotionally disturbed or mentally retarded.  Kanner’s work pointed out that these children often demonstrated potential that did not allow them to fit comfortably into either prior diagnosis.  His response was to invent a new diagnostic category called Early Infantile Autism, sometimes called Kanner’s Syndrome.  Hans Asperger essentially made the same discoveries at the same time independently of Kanner in his academic paper “Autistic Psychopathy in Childhood”.  The difference in the subjects being studied by these two pioneers was that Asperger’s subjects had speech, so Asperger’s Syndrome is often still used today to classify autistic people who have speech.

The word “autism” already had a meaning before Kanner coined it as a diagnosis:  “escape from reality”.  It is speculated that Kanner appropriated this word because he believed that the classified children were either actually trying to escape from reality or gave that impression.  Other terms have applied to what we now call autism:  childhood schizophrenia, infantile autism, Asperger’s Syndrome, and Kanner’s Syndrome, and other autism spectrum disorders have also been identified, such as Sensory Integration Disorder.

Asperger Syndrome is one of several Autism Spectrum Disorders.  It is characterized by a lack of social interaction, repetitive behavior and speech abnormalities.

Kids who suffer from Asperger Syndrome have difficulty interacting in social settings and are often skilled at memorizing numbers, facts or puzzles; they’re also unable to pick out metaphors and literal interpretations in speech.   Like other forms of ASD, there is a treatment for autism in the case of Asperger’s.  Helping a person develop their skills is the most popular and overtime, further practice can assist a child into sharpening their focus in areas that were lacking before.  

It looks like the UK is making big strides in the recognition, diagnosis and treatment for autism. With an eye to the future the government seems to realize that instances of autism are not decreasing. In fact, quite the opposite seems to be the case worldwide. It’s good to see a government making big gains in the social, economical and health-care impact of such a prevalent disorder.

Conference to give a voice to those affected.

People living with autism will share a conference platform with experts and researchers from the USA, Australia, Belgium to make their voices heard.

The third Wales International Autism Conference, to be held next month, will examine where we have come from in our understanding and management of autism, where we are today, and what lies ahead for everyone involved in the worldwide autism community.

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Education and information about the austistic spectrum is a critical starting point for anyone parenting a child with autism.  

The autism spectrum, also called autism spectrum disorders (ASD) or autism spectrum conditions (ASC), with the word autistic sometimes replacing autism, is a spectrum of psychological conditions characterized by widespread abnormalities of social interactions and communication, as well as severely restricted interests and highly repetitive behavior.

The three main forms of ASD are autism, Asperger syndrome, and PDD-NOS. Autism forms the core of the autism spectrum disorders. Asperger syndrome is closest to autism in signs and likely causes. Pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified (PDD-NOS) is diagnosed when the criteria are not met for a more specific disorder. Some sources also include Rett syndrome and childhood disintegrative disorder, which share several signs with autism but may have unrelated causes. Unlike autism, Asperger’s has no significant delay in language development.

The terminology of autism can be bewildering, with autism, Asperger’s and PDD-NOS sometimes called the autistic disorders instead of ASD, whereas autism itself is often called autistic disorder, childhood autism, or infantile autism. ASD, in turn, is a subset of the broader autism phenotype (BAP), which describes individuals who may not have ASD but do have autistic-like traits, such as avoiding eye contact.

One review estimated a prevalence of at least 1.3 per 1,000 for autism and 6.0–6.5 per 1,000 for ASD; PDD-NOS was the vast majority of ASD, Asperger’s was about 0.3 per 1,000 and the atypical forms childhood disintegrative disorder and Rett syndrome were much rarer.

We have a lot of friends with Asperger’s children, especially in the Bay Area.  Something the parents of these Asperger’s children tend to discover is the Asperger’s symptoms can be genetic, meaning the parents find out later in life that they may be suffering from Aspergers or autism as well.  We’ve found that lots of parents also use your natural autism remedies and products to improve the quality of their own lives as well as their childrens.

It’s nice to find a product line that’s versatile enough to help parents, too.  Although most of us with autistic children know it’s not a genetic disease it’s still comforting to know that such high qulity products exist when we need them.  Your selection and prices make the perfect blend of accessibility, convenience and value.  Thanks again!