Our first speaker for SW 325 The Helping Professional in Health Settings class was Sharon Boudreaux. Sharon has a Master of Arts in Teaching of special education. She focused on Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) for teaching children with autism and other forms of developmental setbacks. Sharon is currently the Director of Education Outreach at the Autism Center of North Mississippi (ACNM). The ACNM, which Sharon helped in creating and growing, provides educational and behavioral services to families and schools to help support children with autism spectrum disorders, developmental delays, learning difficulties, and challenging behaviors. The ACNM offers a multitude of services. Such services may include parent counseling, skill assessments, ABA therapy, services for schools, and parent and teacher training. Autism is a disorder that I seem to hear more about every day. I hear about it on the television news, in news articles online, and even personal blogs that I read. It seems that everyone has some knowledge of autism and most people know someone personally that it affects. As far as my own personal knowledge and experience of the disorder, I learned it at camp. I have volunteered many years for at Camp Tik-A-Witha. This camp provides a week long session for children with special needs (mental and physical handicaps) called Elizabeth Gwin Session. While volunteering at camp, I have seen children with blindness, Cerebral Palsy, Down syndrome, and autism.
Each child with
I know very little about autism other than a few very obvious things. First off, it affects the brain and the person's personality. Secondly, people have autism from birth. Lastly, they can have things that they are good at or very interested in.
While engaging with ABA coursework, I became an intern at the university’s Autism Center for Excellence, where I began my journey of applying what I learned in the classroom to implementing behavioral strategies for children with developmental delays. After a year of being a dedicated intern, I was invited by the center’s clinical supervisor to attain a position as Program Team Staff. I enthusiastically accepted the role and assumed responsibilities that the position required.
There is a lot of research on Autism. Many people do not know what autism is. “Autism spectrum disorder covers a set of developmental disabilities that can cause significant social, communication, and behavioral challenges. People with ASD process information in their brain differently than other people”(Communication Problems in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder. 2012). Autism can range in severity and is different with each individual child. Autism affects every race, gender, ethnic, and socioeconomic groups. People may wonder how does this affect communication? Well ASD people tend to live in a world all about them. People with ASD tend to not understand others emotions or understand what is said. ASD can effect a person’s communication
Autism affects people in many different ways. First, There are multiple levels of Autism Spectrum Disorder. Some people are affected by A.S.D ( Autism Spectrum Disorder) differently. Some have more trouble with understanding than others. “A kid's symptoms could be very mild, severe, or somewhere in the middle. Someone with mild symptoms might need only a little bit of help. But a kid with severe symptoms might need a lot of help with learning and doing everyday stuff” (Source 3). Next, “People with autism may struggle with speaking, expressing their emotions, and understanding the emotions of others. Some people with autism have extreme sensitivities to sound or touch” (Source 2) A.S.D affects everyone differently, no one with A.S.D is exactly the same.
We’ve been calling autism a disease for decades. That’s one mistake. We might have viewed it as a major disability of which an increasing number of children are “victims”. That’s another mistake. Everybody has a different brain, hence the term neurodiversity. Whilst people with typical brains make up the majority of the population, we should definitely encourage the acceptance of individuals who have variations on this, including those on the autism spectrum. The man who discovered autism, Austrian psychiatrist Hans Asperger, described it as being a different way of thinking that brings blessings as well as hardships. A different psychiatrist, Leo Kanner, claimed credit for Asperger’s discovery and introduced a harsher view of autism, which has subsequently paved the way for decades of brutal
Autism is a disorder that affects millions of people with the number increasing with each passing year. Compared to other development disorders, autism today is still widely undiscovered with several holes. It is an important developmental disorder that everyone should understand because most people either know someone personally with autism or have come in contact with an individual who has autism. Knowing about how autism works can allow the world to help those with autism and know how to interact with them.
Autism is a disorder that impairs a child's ability to communicate and interact with others. The number of children being diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is slowly rising. According to the NIH, It is estimated 1 in 68 child in the United States has autism. The exact number is unknown, but it is still a serious problem that needs to be handled.
Autism, also referred to as Autism Spectrum Disorder(ASD), is a neurological disorder that causes difficulties with social interaction and affects 1 out of 68 children in the United States. People with this diagnosis have difficulties with social interaction, challenges with communication, and often engage in behaviors that are repetitive but are different with every child. With no known cause, autism is on the steady rise and it is important for people (especially parents) to learn how to help them succeed in life. Early diagnosis has been beneficial as it can help to reduce the symptoms and begin supporting therapies. People with autism have been able to live a normal life by through the use of medications, therapy, and the interests of the child.
One way to benefit the behaviors of autism is by using ABA, this form of intervention has been documented to have positive improvement with individuals with autism (Hillman 2006). ABA requires a team of Psychologists, behavioral specialists, educators, social workers, medical professionals, and most importantly the unlimited cooperation of parents. A positive outcome requires thirty to forty hours a week of intensive treatment. The process of starting new routines and time modifications of the parents’ schedules can be overwhelming, the support of psychologists is crucial for the parent’s support during this process (Erba, 2000). Other team members also have crucial responsibilities, educators are responsible for producing materials to motivate the client to engage during interactions. Behavior specialists personnel (BSCs) then can target skill development through one-on-one therapy (Hillman 2006).
Autism is a neurodevelopmental condition that many of us know very little about. Autism Spectrum Disorder, however, is a condition that many of us may have some exposure to. Within high schools, public events, or family gatherings, it is possible that in some way we have met, or know of, a person that is autistic. The term autistic that seems to naturally invoke fear in people. Also, it is not very helpful when people hear the constant stories of what will give your child autism or how to avoid this disability. However, children with autism are just as intelligent as any child and can they can live full lives. The truth, however, is that autism is a neurological condition that many neuroscientists and psychologists seem to know very little
Autism is a disability that affects a large group of people in the United States and throughout the entire world. Autism is also referred to as ASD which is Autism Spectrum Disorder; those how have it usually have a huge difficulty talking or interacting with others. The autism spectrum also includes Asperger syndrome, pervasive development disorder, the what others call just simply autism (Rodriguez). People with autism also have a problem with changing their schedules. While one person not diagnosed can change their schedule so easily, an autistic child would not be able to comprehend the idea and may shut it out or become frustrated. They also have a trouble with properly expressing themselves, it does not mean that they do not have feeling or love things they just show it properly. They are known to have obsessions, they can be fixed on an idea or topic for very long amounts of time (Nordqvist) it’s about 1 out of every 50 kids who are diagnosed with autism (Willingham). Even with that statistic boys are common to have it than girls. These are just of the more common problems people with autism have to deal with.
I know autism when I see it. For those not familiar with autism, Autism Speaks, the world’s leading autism science and advocacy organization, defines autism and autism spectrum disorder (ASD), as both general terms for a group of complex disorders of brain development. These disorders are characterized, in varying degrees (hence, a “Spectrum” that includes both low- and high-functioning individuals), by difficulties in social interaction, verbal and nonverbal communication and repetitive behaviors.
Autism is a disorder of neural development characterized by impaired social interaction and verbal and non-verbal communication (Grandgeorge, Hausberger et al., 2009). The group that I have chosen for this study are children from the ages of 2 to 12 years. I chose this topic because it has always fascinated me, as well as I have a personal experience with this topic, my 10 year old cousin has autism. At the age of 2 he was diagnosed with autism and his parents were able to prepare him for his future, by providing him with a speech therapist and sending him to a special needs school. I think this topic is important because the more we learn about autism the more we can understand about the issue and not be surprised or confused when we are confronted with an autistic child.
Having autism in children is a very difficult syndrome to have because doctors cannot seem to find a cure for them because, not enough fund is able to be put in for a research. Besides education and a lot of medical procedures they have to go through, it is hard for autistic kids to communicate with kids without autism because of a speech impediment. Taking them out in public places can be hard at times for an example, taking them out to the park to play with kids their own age is very difficult to do because, certain sounds hurt their ears when you are screaming and playing they tend to shut down and separate themselves from the world. Autistic children cannot be by their selves all the time because they may have 50% of special needs. They cannot live by their selves, they will need either a nurse or a relative to take care of them, but half the time they are being abused because they have nobody to help them whereas children that can get help. Autism kids have trouble communicating and interacting with kids so they tend to separate themselves and do things on their own. If people actually knew what they were going through and the challenges they have to go through just to earn some respect. Today's society will help better their social skills to interact with people and to be around kids with
When it comes to understanding autism there are still certain problems in society, like the belief that I am some affront to nature caused by environmental toxins or vaccines, or there's the dangerous theory that autism (among other things) has been fabricated by pharmaceutical companies to make money.