Autism Awareness - Locked Within Oneself

I open my eyes and awaken to the delicious smell of chicken pies and pancakes drifting from the kitchen.

IT’S CHRISTMAS MORNING!!!!!!!!!!!! I race down to the living room; the sight of the beautifully decorated Christmas tree sends bolts of excitement through my body. I can barely contain myself when I see the stack of colourful presents beneath the tree. My mom and dad are in the kitchen busy preparing breakfast. Our home has that wonderful Christmas atmosphere. I grab a present and tear at the wrapping paper; I turn around and call out for my eight-year-old sister, Lucy, to join me. My heart saddens a bit; I wish that Lucy would share my excitement.

Lucy is just sitting on the rug behind me, she does not seem aware of her surroundings. Even my voice does not seem to grasp her attention. Lucy is like this every day. She is not figuring out how her world works. She does not ask a million annoying questions that every eight-year-old does. If she does focus on anything, it is on tiny particles of dust or hair from the rug, which she picks up and studies with great concentration. Even worse … Lucy does not pick up on the feelings and emotions of others. Lucy has Autism …

Autism Spectrum or Autism are severe developmental disorders characterized by abnormalities in three areas, namely:

• Social Functioning
• Language and Communication
• Unusual Behaviors and Interests

Children with Autism behave in unusual and frequently puzzling ways. They may squeal with excitement at the sight or sound of a wheel spinning on a toy car, yet ignore or throw a full-blown tantrum if someone attempts to play with them. At times they may look through you as though you are a pane of glass and at other times stare directly at you or tug on your arm to lead you to something they want.

When you speak to a child with autism, she may act as though she is deaf, but then quickly turn to the direction of the faint crinkling sound of a candy wrapper in the other room. Some children with Autism display extreme fear or avoidance of noisy or moving objects such as running water, vacuum cleaners, vehicles, even the wind.

Although children with Autism fear many things, they are also attracted to and preoccupied with other objects and activities, for example, a rotating fan or flickering light. These children often develop unusual attachments or reactions to odd objects such as a rubber band, a piece of sandpaper or string. Other children with Autism have extraordinary perceptual abilities – for example, identifying the brand of a vacuum cleaner by its sound alone. They seem to have an attention for detail and may have a severe distressed response to minor changes in their environment such as if a chair is moved from its usual place in the living room.

Children with Autism may spend hour after hour playing in the corner of their room, engaged in one type of behaviour such as rocking back and forth or flapping their arms or lining up objects.

Rather than seeing the big picture, children with Autism are much more likely to fixate on a small object or event in their world, such as a tiny spot on their shirt or small particles of dust on a rug.

Whereas most of us see the hugeness of trees in the forest, a child with Autism is more likely to fixate on one pine needle. Although Autism may prove to be indeed very challenging for both the children and parents, they are numerous approaches that help with the management of Autism and some techniques that improve the developmental capacity of the Autistic child. A few approaches can be named.

ABA Therapy

Applied behaviour therapy is based on praise and reward. Since many Autistic children do not speak, ABA Therapy focuses on teaching the child to speak by rewarding them with a sweet for every word that they are able to say.

Floor Time Play Therapy

In this form of therapy, the child is made the centre of a play session and the parent or facilitator guides the process in a structured manner with the intentions of forming a routine and improving behaviour.

Modern Technology

Autistic children have difficulty in communicating. The use of IPads and computers has been proved to be an excellent mode of communication and may also be used as a learning tool because Autistic children are visual –they think in terms of images.

Love and Patience

This is the most important and most efficient form of treatment. The Autistic child requires the love and patience from not only his parents but from all individuals around him. He needs to be accommodated into this world where he can safely develop and grow. We as outside individuals can contribute to this form of treatment by actively getting involved by raising awareness.

THEY MAY NOT BE ABLE TO FEEL LOVE … SO WE WILL SHOW THEM.

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