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| Living with Autism |
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| Autism affects every
single member of the household. Simple everyday activities, such as
going shopping or inviting friends to stay, suddenly become a logistical
nightmare. The person with autism becomes the centre of attention
and this increases tension in the family, especially among siblings. |
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| Early diagnosis can be difficult and
confusion with other language and learning disorders, such as attention
deficit and hyperactivity disorder and dyspraxia is common. |
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| There are also issues around finding suitable educational
and support services and residential and respite care. Parents also
worry about how they will cope when they get older or if they become
ill themselves. |
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| Observable Features of Autism and Behaviour
you can see in the Autistic Person |
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| The three main features
of autism are known as the Triad of Impairment: |
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- A person on the autistic spectrum will have difficulty with
Social Interaction (Relationships).
They may appear aloof or indifferent to people around them.
- They are likely to have difficulty in Social
Communication. They may not speak or understand what is
said to them. They may not understand facial expressions or even
gesture or tone of voice in the way intended by another person,
and also take things literally. They may have no acceptable ways
of letting other people know what they want or what is the matter
with them.
- They are unlikely to play imaginative games with other children
and have a rigid way of thinking using toys without Imagination
preferring always to handle them in obsessive/repetitive ways.
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| These features form the basis of all
other observable difficulties for the person with an autistic spectrum
disorder and result in a general resistance to changes (in the environment,
places, routines or people). |
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- Playing alone in their space with one familiar toy or
piece of equipment. May play alongside other children but not
with them. Will only join in play with other children if the adult
insists and assists.
- Lack the ability for creative play - with toy cars or
dolls or any symbolic toys - lining them all up regardless of
possible use.
- Displaying indifference to incidents, activities and
sounds close by - often seemingly unaware of new people entering
the room or the TV that everyone else is watching.
- Using other people to meet their needs -e.g. Takes an
adult's wrist to put their hand on the door they wish to be opened
- point the hand towards the biscuit tin that is out of reach.
- Laughing or crying or giggling inappropriately for no
reason that others can see. They may be thinking back to a funny
or sad incident totally unconnected with the here and now but
cannot tell us that is why they are laughing/crying, nor what
the memory is.
- Making no eye contact when talking or even when signing.
With teaching they may respond by sign to hello but perhaps under
the table - not in sight of the person they are responding to.
- Talking incessantly about one subject - maybe washing
machines or trains, saying everything they know or want to know
and demanding answers but taking no notice of what others may
want to talk about - continuously bringing the topic back to the
one of their choosing.
- Making a one-sided interaction - saying what they want
to say - using the other person as a sounding board, not responding
to what is said to them at all. This can happen with children
playing - 'everyone has to play my game - I don't even see that
what you are doing is playing'.
- Spinning objects - very skilful spinning of balls, hoops,
string, wheels almost any object.
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| What to Expect |
| Autism affects a person for the whole of their
life, in all aspects of living, the way they communicate and make
relationships. The sooner an accurate diagnosis is made then the sooner
appropriate help and information and support can be found for the
autistic person and their family. With an early intervention program
the autistic child can be helped to better understand the world around
them and learn appropriate means of interacting with people. |
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| Careful early diagnosis and intervention
can help parents to understand why their child does what he does and
provide information on approaches to use with their child. With more
information parents are then able to make informed choices for the
most appropriate form of education for their child, which can continue
their progression towards a more independent and fulfilling adult
life. As people diagnosed within the autistic spectrum will also come
within the full range of intellectual abilities, any future plans
will need to be made individually as, like all of us, autistic people
are all very different and progress at different rates with different
abilities, likes and dislikes. |
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| Challenging Behaviour |
| When we meet someone new who does
not speak our language or is from a different cultural background
and reacts to situations in ways we do not expect, we are presented
with a challenge. We have to find out how to communicate with them,
how to help them understand what is going on, what we want of them
and how to find out what they want of us. It can be the same with
an autistic person. |
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| Sometimes the autistic person's anxiety and frustration
can lead to extremely challenging and acting-out behaviour such as
tantrums (at any age), screaming, throwing things and hitting out
at those nearby (usually the most loved and familiar person - their
parents/carers). At these times a person experienced in working with
autistic children/adults will be needed to provide practical help
and advise to those close to or living with the autistic person. |
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| The experienced worker will be able
to help them to clearly observe and analyse the problem behaviours
and develop tactics to lessen them. They will be able to help calm
the whole situation by changing the surroundings/their reactions and
responses to the behaviour aiding the communication with the autistic
person and giving the autistic person a more socially acceptable means
of expressing their need. |
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