Autism: Social Disability?

From the point of view of the acceptance of the majority group, the person with autism or Asperger is bordered, it is not understood that it should be accepted in the group, given its difficulty for this interaction.

Every day more people refer to autism spectrum disorders (ASD) as social disabilities, and it indeed has a lot of social components. We are not talking about a matter of physical health, but about a social health one. One of the most significant problems that the person with ASD faces is the social exclusion at all levels, which in many cases also affects the family.

This exclusion generates a series of problems. The society in which the person with ASD must develop is usually not prepared for the social inclusion of such a “novel” concept of diversity.

Is autism a social disability?

Initially, the term “social disability” was attributed to people who were at risk of social exclusion because of poverty or race. In the case of people with autism, it’s the difficulty to establish channels of social interaction according to the accepted cultural norm of the environment in which the person lives.

The person with autism is ruled, it’s not understood that it should be accepted in the group, because of its difficulty for this interaction. The social group is simply inaccessible to those who present a minimum degree of difficulty. Therefore, the “disability” of the person isn’t something attributable to it, but rather a social imposition.

This social exclusion can affect not only the person with ASD but also their family members. Most people with ASD don’t have problems of mobility or health, but they do have deficiencies in the communication aspects of social management. Gaps that can be improved if the person has access to the media and to society, which generates an interaction that could help them integrate with their peers.

Although there’s much talk about inclusive education, the reality is that it doesn’t exist. It’s not the education the one that should be inclusive, but the society. Technicians, specialists, relatives, and affected people see with despair how the future of these people is obscured by the lack of consideration and inclusion.

Autism spectrum disorders aren’t known, they aren’t understood; thus they aren’t contemplated. This situation entails the elimination of the identity of the person with ASD.

More inclusion, less rejection!

Autism itself can't define a person, the use of the attribute as a social conditioner entails the impulse of exclusion, and of the social rarity.

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Educational Strategies for Children with Autism

Some types of ASD involve a certain degree of intellectual deficiency. On the other hand, it's usual for those affected by the Asperger's syndrome to have an IQ higher than the average.

Autism is a disorder of a biological origin and a genetic component that qualitatively affects various psychological functions such as social interaction, verbal and nonverbal communication, symbolization and imagination, rigid, inflexible and stereotyped modes of behavior, and restricted and obsessive interests.

Some types of ASD involve a certain level of intellectual deficiency; meanwhile, on the other hand, it’s usual for those affected by the type of autism known as Asperger's syndrome to have an IQ higher than the average.

Autism and education

Establishing an educational strategy for students diagnosed with ASD is difficult because of the existence of differences in the level of intelligence, capacity, and potential of the children. The most advisable one, said by experts, is that the children carry out their education in an ordinary classroom.

Boys and girls with autism are part of the group of students with special educational needs and will always present problems in some specific areas, whether it's in a greater or lesser level.

Problems of social interaction

• Isolation and lack of social and affective contact with people.
• Category of empathy and inability to express their own feelings.
• Alterations of behavior, repetitive or disruptive behavior.
• Cognitive disorders.
• Deficit in communication and language (verbal and non-verbal).
• Motor problems, with great variations between one case and another. Movement and coordination issues are observed.

These problems require specific educational needs in which the main objective is to alleviate, strengthen, and improve as far as possible the alterations in the cognitive, intellectual, and social level of these students.

The general objectives of educational strategies in autistic children should have the following goals:

• Power the autonomy and personal independence of the child.
• Develop self-control of their behavior and their adaptation to the environment.
• Improve the social skills of students, promoting their ability to develop in the environment and understanding and monitoring of norms, keys, and social and emotional conventions.
• Develop functional, spontaneous, and generalized communication strategies.
• To promote communicative intention and reciprocity in communication.
• Develop basic cognitive processes.

The activities focused on autistic children in each of the strategies must be very functional, organized, and structured. Clear and simple.

For the activities, visual supports like drawings, photos, and posters are very useful in autistic children as not only a reminder but also a motivational reinforcement of daily actions and tasks.

The experts consider that the most beneficial thing for these children, except for the most severe cases, is that they carry out their education in the ordinary classroom.

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Down Syndrome and Autism: Can They Coexist?

Sometimes, children with Down syndrome begin to develop atypical or strange manners in their behavior and in the relationship with others that could be related to ASD.

Sometimes, children with Down syndrome begin to develop atypical or strange behaviors in their relationship with others, either at an early age or in adolescence. When this occurs, it’s possible that a Down syndrome with an autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) is coexisting. Although it can differ between studies, it can be from 5 to 10%.

During childhood, it’s possible to observe a series of motor behaviors in children with Down syndrome that may lead us to believe that they are also affected by ASD.

How to Recognize this Coexistence of Down Syndrome with Autism?

-Repetitive motor behavior.

-Focus on lights or other objects, keeping an eye on them.

-Extra rejection for certain foods.

-Problems of receptive language, poor comprehension and use of gestures, possibly giving the-ppearance that the child doesn’t hear.

-Highly repetitive spoken language.

-Sometimes, convulsions, dysfunctional swallowing, a constant movement of the eyes, or severe hypotonia.

-Considerable delay in motor skills.

However, if a child with Down syndrome presents one or more of these behaviors, it doesn’t necessarily mean that he or she has or will have ASD. The diagnosis must always be made by a specialist doctor.

Characteristics observed among children already diagnosed with both syndromes (ASD and Down syndrome):

-Unusual response (weakness) to sensations; especially sounds, lights, touch or pain.

-Rejection for food.

-Verbalizations and babbling without meaning.

-Aggression or extreme disobedience.

-Hyperactivity.

-Low capacity for attention.

-Impulsiveness.

Correctly and accurately diagnosing the coexistence of Down syndrome and autism is very important and fundamental. Specialists doctors say that diagnosing this in time is the only way to take timely measures, both at the level of therapy and medication. At the school level, it’s also an important issue since the child would need educational strategies, support, methods, and adaptations for a good education and development of the same.

The knowledge and diagnosis will give confidence and tranquility to parents and family members of the child. In this way, they’ll know what to do and how to help for a good evolution.

From the strictly medical point of view, it's the only way that the appropriate and precise actions can be taken at the level of therapy and, in some instances, of medication.

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Frontiers of the mind, and how autistic children challenge this notion

Autistic children often provide people with unique insight for situations, helping create a broader understanding of the human mind.

Sensory alterations in children with autism may be due to a deficit or an oversensitivity.

Some sensations that are normal for others can be presented in children with autism with an intolerable intensity, preventing further normal activity. It’s important to assess vision and hearing whenever an ASD is detected, to correct possible deficits that would interfere even more in their neurodevelopment.

Sensory disturbance that many children with ASD have influences behavior

In most children, these alterations can diminish or even completely disappear when they reach the stage of adulthood, as they become accustomed or simply improve.

Auditory perception

Autism and noise

For children with ASD, certain sounds are unbearable.

• Phone ring, the school bell, fireworks; they are disturbing for them.
• High humidity like appliances, hair dryer, blender, garden trimmer.
• External sounds, accents in shopping centers, parties.

Faced with these noises mentioned above, children often react with irritability, excessive fear and may become isolated. Is important to know the auditory sensitivity of the child, because this allows us to recognize the origin of these behaviors and so help the children. Whenever the child can be anticipated the appearance of the noise will reduce his discomfort and anxiety.

Visual sensitivity

Some children often perceive specific objects that are distorted or fragmented. For others, things like bright lights seem to dance around them. They may refuse to enter a place. These distortions and visual overloads make children focus on detail instead of the whole object, to try to reduce their discomfort with the stimulus.

Tactile sensory alteration

Some children have diminished tactile alterations, that’s why they need a high-intensity stimulus to perceive. For example, they embrace with excessive force because they don’t notice the stimulus. Sometimes they can hurt themselves to perceive their body because they are insensitive to pain.

However, if the sensitivity is of a high level, they reject contact with other people, comb their hair, brush their teeth. It can be painful for them and undoubtedly affects their interpersonal relationships.

Food, taste, and smell

Hypersensitivity to taste is common in children with ASD, some flavors can be very strong and unpleasant food textures. In these cases, feeding turns out to be a problem for the child, causing nutritional deficiencies.

When they perceive strong smells, they refuse to enter places that seem deodorized to others, tantrums appear or refuse to enter specific places.

It’s extremely important to know the child well and in detail to have a better understanding of him/her. Your behavior will always have an important reason behind the child’s well-being. Knowing the sensory alterations that may be present in the autistic spectrum will help you a lot.

Learn how children challenge the perception of others when it comes to mental workings.

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Girls with Autism: They Do Exist

Autism is often associated with the male of the species, but it's not always the case.

Currently, autism prevails in males, and official figures indicate that for every four children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder, three are boys and only one is a girl. That is why society maintains a myth that autism only occurs in boys.

In this article, we will show you that this may not be true. Keep on reading!

Girls with autism do exist!

Recent studies have found that many of the symptoms that influence girls with autism are in many cases ignored by families and specialists, since they are similar to the behaviors expected of girls because they are so.

Female stereotypes seem to go against the diagnosis of autism. Sometimes symptoms such as extreme shyness, certain obsessions, and fears, extreme sensitivity are traits that although socially strange in a man, are considered appropriate in women and therefore aren’t interpreted as warning signals.

Simon Baron-Cohen, an autism specialist at the University of Cambridge, said:

“We know that people with high functioning autism have two basic problems: communication and socialization. However, we have discovered that in girls studied within this same spectrum, the symptoms are different, women tend to have an obsessive interest that is centered around people and relationships, but since these behaviors are expected of a girl, many times they are overlooked.”

Nowadays, in the scientific community is considered a mistake to have thought that the disorder of autism is the same in boys than in girls. And this has opened an exciting debate that is putting autism on girls in the spotlight.

It seems that girls may have more skills to camouflage their difficulties, and therefore their difficulties may be more unnoticed than those of boys. They learn to observe others and imitate their social behaviors, even if they don’t understand them and seem not to be spontaneous, they want to achieve social acceptance of the group. Girls with autism usually have a more significant interest in interacting with other children, especially younger ones, something that doesn’t typically occur in boys with ASD so frequently.

All this has led the scientific community to think that there may be more girls with ASD than those who are diagnosed, or that girls are diagnosed later than boys.

Diagnosis of Attention Deficit Disorder with or without associated hyperactivity is also being produced in girls and teens, who actually have features of ASD, but who haven’t been adequately detected and diagnosed.

We join the campaign and ask for more research on autism in girls.

Girls often live their lives not knowing they are within the spectrum, the reason of this lies on their behavior.

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