autism

This afternoon, as I was reading an article on autism, I was actually quite surprised to see that autism
affects about one in every 625 Malaysian children born, according to a recent survey.
Autism is a permanent disorder and it is a lifelong complex biological disorder that affects some 35 million people worldwide today. Experts have identified some of the symptoms - inappropriate laughing, behaving in a stand-off manner, apparent insensitivity to pain, adversity to cuddling, extreme crying tantrums, unusual eye contact and uneven motor skills. There are generally two types of autistics: high-functioning and low- functioning. Low-functioning autistic adults need constant care and mostly stay at home with their parents or in residential homes where they can be looked after 24/7. But high-functioning autistic adults can be successful in their own right and lead relatively normal lives.

One fact that I learnt was, autism is more common in boys than in girls. A child with the "new autism" disorder is often the only child or the only other child to the parents.The child usually has a fairly normal development for the first 12 months, including the social relationship with parents. He or she may even have developed some spoken words with meaning between 12 and 18 months but, later, there occurs a sudden "loss" of recently acquired communication abilities. There is usually significant social impairment as well. The childhood has been rather restricted in terms of social interaction, especially with other children and at times even with adults. An extreme example is a child who spends almost all his time with his grandmother watching TV serials and seldom leaves the house or meets other children. There is no neurological abnormality in the vast majority of these children. Many are clinically bright children. With speech and language therapy, adequate socialisation with children in a normal nursery, and greater interest and involvement by parents, the child can do very well and often shows significant improvements. Many are able to enter normal mainstream education although they still require some support and understanding from the teacher.
Love is the key in preventing and healing the children with autism.