Which Symptoms of Autism Should Be Treated?
These symptoms are not "autism." They are issues often associated with autism, and as such they are amenable to treatment and, sometimes, to cure. Treatment may be covered under insurance, but just as often may be expensive or hard to find.
Many people with autism cannot communicate with typically developing peers. Without spoken language, they have no tools to get their basic needs met, or to get across their own ideas and perspectives. Signing, picture cards, computer-based assistive communication devices and other tools can change all that, and help people with autism gain a great deal of independence and respect.
Then there are the symptoms, such as lack of eye contact, "passions" for particular areas of interest, disinterest in social interaction, and lack of social reciprocity, that actually define autism in the diagnostic criteria. These symptoms may cause far more discomfort to caregivers, teachers and families than they do to people with autism. Yet treatment for these symptoms, in the form of behavioral therapy, speech therapy and social skills therapy are often available - sometimes free of charge - through schools and other agencies.
There's a great deal of debate within the autism community as to whether this last group of qualities are "symptoms" at all. In fact, many autism advocates feel they are personal traits which deserve respect and acceptance.
Do you have a stand on this issue? If so, what's your point of view? Which symptoms of autism should be treated?
Comments
I personally don’t like the word “treatments.” It makes us sound diseased. I prefer “teaching.” I think it’s very important for autistic kids to have a reliable communication system to let their needs be known. If you help a child develop this, I would call it TEACHING him or her to speak, sign, whatever.
If a child has gastrointestinal problems or sleeping problems, these are medical issues that warrent treatment. I don’t think this is autism.
You mentioned, “Then there are the symptoms, such as lack of eye contact, ‘passions’ for particular areas of interest, disinterest in social interaction, and lack of social reciprocity, that actually define autism in the diagnostic criteria.” I am very opposed to forcing children with autism to be social with their peers. I had no interest in this as a teen (as well as now), and I am just fine. This does not mean that children should be allowed to be impolite or rude. I also think that children’s interests and passions should be encouraged, because this could lead to a satisfying career later in life.
AspieMama
~A Blog for Parents with Asperger’s~
http://aspiemama.blogspot.com/
I think generally there’s a certain percentage of kids with autism that share many symptoms listed. Some of these things may not be related to autism, but because of autism any of these things can become a larger issue than if autism wasn’t there.
I was very against forced eye contact for years. Direct eye contact when directed at my son does look like it causes great pain to him. Last year it was presented to me in a different manner. I believe it is true that if my child avoids eye contact, he’ll never have the hope of reading others facial expressions. He can label expressions in pictures, but not a real true living face. I also agrred he may be loosing conversation content due to his else being else where. So I agreed this year we’d sloooooooowly work on this, since my son has IBS this sort of eye contact will irritate that IBS. Half the year is over and I cant say there has ben any progress noticed with eye contact.
My child has all of the above listed in the first paragraph plus some not listed. I was never a big fan of ABA but we do Dyads since my son was 5, and social skills class at school. I believe many things deserves attention and intervention, and why not? There is another boy in my child’s school with autism that we socialize with a lot. He’s a bit older than my child is. Both express social issues they just do not understand, or interpret correctly. They both want friends and a best friend but have a hard time with that. They both know each other has autism but friendship between them never clicked. If a child expresses the want for this, give them the intervention to help make that happen. Generally speak, if there’s discomfort, that child will make that very clear.
I am a special ed teacher (MA degree), a parent of a child diagnosed as being Aspergers, and formally diagnosed NLD myself, with most people who have been around me for a while having no doubt that I’m Aspie.
Autism is one of the few “disorders” in which diagnosis, and treatment, is indeed primarily based on the convenience and perceptions of caregivers rather than on the individual’s experience.
I strongly advocate a focus on sensory integration techniques, treatment of pain-sources such as the higher incidence of immune-system disorders (allergies, diabetes, MG/MS, etc.), as well as a focus on public education on the why and how of autism communication.
Autistic communication is genuine and honest, and misinterpreted by others because they don’t know the autistic’s language, and don’t want to accept that the words are everything, the look on the face or the context of the environment minimal or nothing. Most higher-functioning autistics that avoid verbal communication do so out of fear rather than lack of ability, because they’ve been snapped at or punished so often for their own natural and honest responses.
I have a student who started with me this year, age 8, who everyone thought was pretty much non-verbal, and appeared not to read and write. He can read, I discovered, at about a 1st grade level, and we’re working on clear writing… he’s up to short paragraphs (if they can be about pizza) with only a few spelling errors. I’m actually having to correct him for too much talking at the wrong times in class, now!
As a child, I was constantly lectured for pouting all the time by my mother, when I was just relaxed and concentrating. I learned to paste a fake smile on my face constantly, except when she felt I should be sad, although it was horribly uncomfortable, in order to accomodate her perception of how I should be.
I am teaching my son masking skills, but I make sure to discuss how we are accomodating others, rather than telling him he’s wrong.
Autism currently is one of the few conditions with such a high demand on the person diagnosed with it to accomodate others rather than being accomodated.
That needs to change.
In America, people are supposedly given freedom of speech, freedom of faith, freedom to pursue careers of personal choice, etc.
However, there is limited freedom of personality.
As a parent and wife to autism, I can say with some authority that most of our struggles center around ignorance and unrealistic expectations by the rest of society.
My son does struggle with anxiety. However, I well imagine if he had been accepted in the regular public school system, his anxiety levels would have been tolerable. However, the public schools did everything within their power to pound my square peg into their precut round holes.
Requiring autistics to make eye contact is like requiring a deaf person to speak. Its unecessary and only done so that society doesn’t think they are “different”. So wrong.
Better we should cure the “ignorance” problem in society.
While I agree that people need to be more understanding and accepting of people with differences, I think that it is the height of arrogance to demand that the majority dance to the tune of a small minority.
I want my Aspie to recognize that his condition is, in fact, a disability, not just a difference, and I want him to have as much help as possible in overcoming it. Much of his frustration and depression occurs because he can’t do things he wants to: like make friends, carry on a casual conversation, understand the “secret code” of non-verbal communication, etc.
Most of the behavior issues that he has, that keep him out of a mainstream classroom, are due to poor understanding of social rules and being overwhelmed sensorially. I want him to have treatment for that.
Some Aspies like the way they are, but some don’t, and there should be as many treatment options as possible.
Plain and simple with both my NT child and my child with autism: I provide every opportunity I can to help them reach their full potential. For my son, that has involved speech, OT, ABA, PRT, a few supplements here and there and lots of love and laughter.
ASD treatment is most certainly not a “one size fits all” sort of thing.
Except for that whole “love and laughter” thing … That’s a must for every kid!
Interesting points. I believe offering the help is an option, and one wont know a child’s potential if they never give them a chance.
My child is quite opposite in social situations and has a ready-made mask. It takes a bit of work to help him be more expressive and to speak. As for eye contact, many kids have that and autism and my son always gave me eye contact and I had the selfish view that as long as he could with me, I didn’t hardly care if he ever gave you eye contact. That’s exactly what I said at the IEP last year However my son just doesn’t in a social setting consisting of many. I realized I was being selfish, and it is not impossible for a child to be able to learn eye contact just as they learn to deal with any other sensory issue they may have. At the same time a parent like me and many more understand these things take time and force is not the way to do it. No child reacts to force and demands well, and neither would my child. My son never talked to peers. I held him back a year and the next year he was taller than all the other new kids, and only then did he talk to peers but no eye contact of course. It was amazing to see how eye level peers made my child so withdrawn, and how shorter kids made this difference. So of course expecting eye contact and child ever being able to achieve are two different things, but there is hardly harm in trying and offering a child the tools. My sons anxieties are brought on by his own doing as well. He worries about things I know kids his age never think about. For instance he needs a wheel chair right away in case he one day cant walk. He also misinterprets social situations and conversations. A simple game of tag, he ran until his heart ached because he thought these little kids were going to hurt him, even though there was no indication or meanness about these little kids. This child does need intervention or he’ll spend his whole life running until his heart aches. Living in the world at all is all about accommodating. It’s give and take and true with those kids with autism. Unless we all find our own islands to live on, people aren’t going to go away so we all work to accommodate each other every single day.
Only some parents look at a behavior and would demand it to stop. Most who do research and there’s much of it out there these days, would know some sensory stimulations is how a child with autism functions and you cant easily remove those things, and certainly not without substituting that behavior with another behavior that would supply the same thing. You always knew when my son was having a harder day, his inner ears were bloody and so was one cheek. Yes, you have to replace some behaviors that are coping behaviors to one that don’t require a band aide.
What’s sad is when others judge what parents choose to provide for their own child, or what other parents believe you should be doing because what they do works so well for them. Each person is an individual, not a mass population of kids simply grouped by a disorder and a disorder that is one size fits all. there is a wonderful site created by a man. He has many article but one every parent should read Thanks, Mom: What My Mother Did Right, in his eyes at least.
Over all, which symptoms do you treat? Very hard to answer but if you offer a child no intervention or help, you’re doing a great disservice to that child’s grand potential. It’s not really about who the child is, but who that child can be. My child happens to want to be many things.
Communication is the biggest part for me but she seems to out grown the not wanting to be around other people. I wish she could understand more of what I am saying. I think she is sweet, funny, lovely kid. I am so glad I am her mom.
I think a good rule is ‘do not be afraid to change society’. An autistic person doesn’t fit well in society. Partly, this will probably have to be dealt with by a change of behavior by the autistic person, but they shouldn’t be doing all the accomodating. This is not in the autistic person’s best interests. Some people (eg Ron Leaf, a well-known ABA practitioner I met) advise only accomodating if they *can’t*, but that means they are putting out maximum effort all the time to meet your expectations. This is not good for anyone. Parents are advised not to pressure typical kids to get perfect grades and do piles of extracurricular activities because their child will be overstressed – similarly, it’s important not to overstress an autistic person with the constant pressure to conform. Sometimes I see people rightly saying it’s like their child has a second ‘full-time job’ dealing with their differences in addition to doing regular kid things, but they never seem to think maybe the status quo isn’t OK in that case. If they are coming home and going straight to their room to stim for several hours, not only should you not be interfering with that stimming, you should reduce the expectations placed on them in school. Chronic stress can kill – it’s a major contributor to heart disease and associated things. And doing things differently can give your child real tools for handling life, once they become an adult. Adults have to deal with more than kids, and young adulthood is when many autistic kids, especially the higher functioning ones who get less assistance, reach their limit and are no longer able to deal with everything they need to deal with. There are autistic adults starving, losing jobs, having their homes condemned, because no one ever thought of how they’d cope with the added demands of adulthood when the only way they know how to do things is 10 times harder for them than it’s supposed to be.
Blood Levels of Mercury Are Related to Diagnosis of Autism: A Reanalysis of an Important Data Set
M. Catherine DeSoto, PhD
Department of Psychology, University of Northern Iowa, Cedar Falls, Iowa, cathy.desoto@uni.edu
Robert T. Hitlan, PhD
Department of Psychology, University of Northern Iowa, Cedar Falls, Iowa
The question of what is leading to the apparent increase in autism is of great importance. Like the link between aspirin and heart attack, even a small effect can have major health implications. If there is any link between autism and mercury, it is absolutely crucial that the first reports of the question are not falsely stating that no link occurs. We have reanalyzed the data set originally reported by Ip et al. in 2004 and have found that the original p value was in error and that a significant relation does exist between the blood levels of mercury and diagnosis of an autism spectrum disorder. Moreover, the hair sample analysis results offer some support for the idea that persons with autism may be less efficient and more variable at eliminating mercury from the blood.
Are you kidding me?
You say, “These symptoms are not ‘autism’”.
Autism is nothing BUT symptoms! If not symptoms, then tell me, what ELSE DEFINES autism?
Diane – the physical symptoms such as GI issues, seizures, etc. that sometimes (and by no means always) go along with autism are not included in the official diagnostic criteria.
In fact, all of the diagnostic criteria for autism are behavioral and/or language-based, and relate to things like perseveration, self-stimulation, idiosyncratic use of language, etc.
You can take a look at this fact sheet for a lot more specifics on how autism is officially diagnosed.
Best,
Lisa (autism guide)
Diane, “autism” properly refers to a specific personality type. Leo Kanner understood this when he (like Eugene Bleuler and others before him) borrowed the term for use as a descriptive label for the discrete set of “symptoms” he described. He never meant for the word to be understood to be synonymous with “disorder”. The current practise of using the term as a catch-all label for: “any seeming disorder for which there is no evident clinical explanation, and which cannot be otherwise classified” is a complete perversion.
Such usage is etymologically and historically incorrect, and scientifically unhelpfull; researchers would do better to junk this “ASD” nonsense, and, if they must have a collective term for these disparate issues, they should opt for a label which reminds them that there is no demonstrated relationship between them. Perhaps then they’ll start making progress, instead of going araund in ever decreasing circles, as they have been for several decades.
As for the official diagnosis that Lisa describes, when understood from the perspective of personality and described objectively (rather than being presented as defects) it becomes apparent that, in most cases, they are just a different set of preferences, which only appear odd because they are natural to what is a very small percentage of the current population. As someone pointed out above, whilst most minorities are accorded the legal right to their own behaviourisms, there is no such acceptance for a different personality. What we have here is the people of one extreme (which, for this purpose, we could think of as Extreme Female Brained types) imposing their own preferences on their polar opposites (Extreme Male Brained) when both are, nevertheless, part of the Normal distribution.
It continues to astonish me that this research industry(sic) seems entirely people by “scientists” who can’t seem to grasp this simple fact, nor take into account the autistic personality type which was well understood and clearly described over 80 years ago.