Talking Autism

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  • Sleep Disturbances in Children Affected by Autism Spectrum Disorder

    Sleep Disturbances in Children Affected by Autism Spectrum Disorder

    Little is known about the sleep habits and characteristics of children with autism. The present study aimed at describing these aspects, as well as any possible associated factors. Exploring parents’ perception on their child’s insomnia problem (including its consequences for family life) using melatonin hormone in a small subgroup who were believed to have trouble sleeping due an diagnosed condition with Autism.
    It was found that those individuals affected by this disorder either had longer duration or more frequent Nocturnal Wakefulness Syndrome episodes when compared against other controls despite taking medications regularly throughout childhood .

    These results show that children with ASD often have trouble sleeping, and the most common complaint is insomnia. This finding suggests these kids are missing out on restful slumber because their bodies aren’t accustomed to it yet.

    It was also discovered that melatonin may help ease these symptoms by acting like an natural tranquilizer without any side effects unlike prescription medications currently available on shelves today. Read More

  • A Nightmare of Scatolia – Fecal Smearing

    A Nightmare of Scatolia – Fecal Smearing

    Why Fecal Smearing Happens in Individuals with ASD?

    When parents find out their child is feces smearing, it can be an extremely painful situation. They worry that other people will judge them for allowing this might happen in front of friends or family members. A lot of families keep this behavior a secret because it’s either embarrassing or just doesn’t feel right speaking with anyone else about what goes on at home.
    Imagine the ugly scene of toilet or even living room! What are you going to do then, when your child starts defecating everywhere and not just in their diapers or toilet? There’s an enormous mess that has been created which your child and needs to be cleaned up by you. That’s why it is very important for parents with Autistic kids that they know how this disorder works so there can be no surprises.

    The most common poop related behaviors reported in autism are fecal smearing, pica , anal poking, feces related sexual behavior. There has been little research into why these things happen or what you should do about them if they occur!

    There are no simple answers for fecal smearing. Understanding the causes and treatments is where you have to start with. An occupational therapist would recommend sensory integration strategies. A psychologist might ask about a history abuse leading up this behavior. Including your one not all children who experience childhood trauma develop these issues later on in life.

    Some of the causes that may lead to smearing like medical issues (constipation,GI issue). Some psychiatric disorders such as anxiety, schizophrenia, depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and post traumatic stress syndrome(PTSS) might be the issue. Sensory factors can also cause bathroom accidents in kids who don’t know they have go until it’s too late. Unfortunately your child might enjoy from smell or texture of his/her own creation. Difficulties around teaching toilet training skills could be related. Some children may not able to understand themselves correctly because of not controlling their muscles.

    You should consult with a physician to rule out possible medical causes for fecal smearing including infections, hemorrhoids,rectal prolapse and poor interception.

    Can You Stop It?

    Scatolia is typically a more powerful and messier form of diarrhea. There are many ways people deal emotionally-neutral scatological behaviors such as through social stories or children’s books about potty training like “everyone Poops!”

    To address this issue, try to keep your emotional reactions neutral so that you can better control the situation with words instead if necessary! Take a deep breath, slowly let it out and focus on your breathing prior to clean up. If frustration builds during this process then go ahead an have some emotional release but keep everything under control.

    It is important to keep your voice calm and low key when cleaning your child even it is so hard to do so. If you are upset and show a huge reaction that will only lead to more stress for yourself.

    With the right support, your child can learn to manage their poop problem on their own! Working with specialists such as a doctor or psychologist might be helpful. It the matter is clothing there are adaptive clothing options out there for everyone involved.

    No one should have to deal with this poop problem alone! Share your story so you can get the support from other parents and save yourself some time.

    Solutions for sensory substitutions

    Start with play-dough, toothpaste, clay or even water mix with sand until it becomes routine. Have these items available at all times so that he/she may become familiar to them. Be patient! It could take weeks before finding what works best. Later on you can introduce finger painting, shaving cream and even play with bread dough for touch and visual help.

    Smell is the hardest to find out but garlic, onion, vinegar, marmite, essential oils, spices, scented lotions can be solutions for you to try.

    When you touched the texture, it felt like an elastic substance that would ague when squished between your fingers. The use of slime for kids on the spectrum is a great way to relieve stress. It messes everywhere including their clothes. Squeezing makes sound similar to making wind or pooping, so it’s perfect substitutions for sound.

  • Choosing a Right Therapy for Your Child.

    Choosing a Right Therapy for Your Child.

    As a parent, you want nothing more than to see your child happy and healthy. But when they are diagnosed with a condition that requires therapy, it can be hard to know where to turn. With so many options out there, how can you be sure you’re making the right choice?

    Children with learning disabilities face many challenges in life, but choosing the right therapy, they can overcome anything. Just as importantly, parents play a vital role in supporting their children through these challenges. With the right attitude and approach, you can help your child develop resilience and strength to overcome anything.

    Wide variety of specialized treatments available, therapists will be able to tailor a treatment plan specifically for your child’s needs. Learning disabilities can make life challenging not just for children but their families too. Continuous therapy for children with learning disabilities can make progress and lead happy, successful lives.

    The first step is to become your own expert on learning disabilities. Educate yourself about the condition and how it impacts on your child. Then, you can be an advocate for your child, working with educators and therapists to ensure that he or she gets the services and support needed to succeed.

    Next, it’s important to keep things in perspective. Learning disabilities can be tough, but they are not insurmountable. By clarifying your goals, staying positive, staying calm and excepting new solutions, you can help your child for challenges and reach your child’s mile stones.

    When you find out that your child has autism, it can be a shock. You might feel like you’re all alone and that there’s no hope. But there is hope. There are families out there just like yours who have gone through the same thing. They know what you’re going through and they can help. They are a great resource for information and advice.

    Make appointments with a few different therapists. Talk to them about your child’s condition and what you hope to accomplish with therapy. This will help you get a feel for their approach and whether or not they would be a good fit for your child.

    Next, search all of the possibilities and find the one that seems like the best fit for your child. And don’t forget, you know your child better than anyone else. You will be able to make a decision once.

  • Autism and Developmental Approaches

    Autism and Developmental Approaches

    Developmental therapy is an approach that focuses on improving specific skills or a broader range of interconnected abilities. Developmental approaches are often combined with behavioral treatments, such as speech and language therapies.

    Occupational therapists work to teach people how they can care for themselves as best possible. The skills Occupational Therapy teaches include dressing, eating and bathing; it also includes Sensory Integration therapy if necessary or helpful with fine motor movements (such picking up small objects) .

    Other therapies included under this category would be sensory integration where they teach how it feels when something new enters into their world through sight or sound. Physical rehabilitation may focus on fine motor movements like fingers close together (or apart), larger trunk movement etc.

  • Effects of Intervention Intensity and Intervention Style on Outcomes for Young Children With Autism

    Effects of Intervention Intensity and Intervention Style on Outcomes for Young Children With Autism

    Objective
    This randomized, multisite, intent-to-treat study tested the effects of 2 levels of treatment intensity (number of hours) and 2 treatment styles on the progress of young children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). We predicted that initial severity of developmental delay or autism symptoms would moderate the effects of intensity and style on progress in 4 domains: autism symptom severity, expressive communication, receptive language, and nonverbal ability.
    Method
    A total of 87 children with ASD, mean age 23.4 months, were assigned to 1 of 2 intervention styles (naturalistic developmental/behavioral or discrete trial teaching), each delivered for either 15 or 25 hours per week of 1:1 intervention for 12 months by trained research staff. All caregivers received coaching twice monthly. Children were assessed at 4 timepoints. Examiners and coders were naive to treatment assignment.
    Results
    Neither style nor intensity had main effects on the 4 outcome variables. In terms of moderating the effects of initial severity of developmental delay and of autism symptom severity, neither moderated the effects of treatment style on progress in any of the 4 domains. In terms of treatment intensity, initial severity moderated effect of treatment intensity on only 1 domain, namely, change in autism symptom severity; in a secondary analysis, this effect was found in only 1 site.
    Conclusion
    Neither treatment style nor intensity had overall effects on child outcomes in the 4 domains examined. Initial severity did not predict better response to 1 intervention style than to another. We found very limited evidence that initial severity predicted better response to 25 vs 15 hours per week of intervention in the domains studied.
    Clinical trial registration information: Intervention Effects of Intensity and Delivery Style for Toddlers With Autism: https://clinicaltrials.gov/; NCT02272192

  • Am I a Good Parent?

    Am I a Good Parent?

    This is the question as parents, we spend a lot of time thinking about. You spend plenty of time focusing about your child’s future. Even more so if they are on the spectrum! But what can you do as simple things to help them thrive in this world?

    We all know that kids with special needs need extra attention and care but did you also realize there is such thing as “special needs parenting?

    Some of the most important decisions you will make in your child’s life are happening right now. You don’t want to miss out on these opportunities because they may not come around again soon!
    The best way for parents with autism or other cognitive delays is by practicing good communication skills. Each individual will know exactly what he/she needs from him-or herself at all times. You need to rule out misunderstandings which can lead down a harmful path when both parties feel left behind without understanding.

    It’s important not to give up on your child. You might try many techniques, treatments and approaches before finding what works best for them – but don’t lose hope! Stay positive as you figure out new ways of helping him/her learn better behavior controls by taking these steps: go grocery shopping together every day; make sure they’re exposed during everyday errands like postal runs at post offices (keeping track is key!).

  • Can You Test My IQ?

    Can You Test My IQ?

    The way people communicate with one another can be broken down into a number of different channels, including body language and facial expressions. Sometimes it’s not what is being said but how we show our emotions through tone or pitch that gives away all the information needed for understanding.

    Autistic kids can be both verbal and non-verbal. Although there is no clear line between the two, some people with autism may develop enough communication skills that they could answer questions or interact in some way but still not know how to use more than a few words at once.

    They often struggle with communicating their feelings and ideas, especially non-verbally. This can make it hard for them to form relationships or interact socially on any level – verbal or not!

    Intelligence without words is often misunderstood. Non-verbal children with autism have been considered intellectually disabled because their score on a IQ test fell below 70. It’s now known that this measurement doesn’t capture intelligence adequately and these individuals may possess unique abilities not captured by traditional cognitive assessments. It’s recently become clear that typical IQ tests are in poor tools for measuring intellectual ability when children have autism.

  • If Both Meltdown?

    If Both Meltdown?

    Having an autistic sibling is challenging. Even siblings have empathy most time there are some moments they both cross each others border. Fight between them and meltdowns afterwards creates negative energy that’s so hard to solve the problem; as parents you need strength in numbers!

    If you’re both kids have a melt down together, it might be difficult to calm them down. This can create hard feelings between the two children which will make solving problems more challenging. As time goes by they both don’t feel safe enough anymore due to fear being hurt again. No matter how much love there was at first ; everything might changed in a second again.

    Your child might think his or her family doesn’t care anymore due to circumstances out of control. However just because something happens in life does not mean those ties were destroyed permanently. Sometimes individuals need some space away from each other before being able to fill up again with emotions towards one another.

    They might even say they will never talk to each other again. Wrong. Love is still there, even if it takes a bit of time-you might find them sitting on the couch and playing with their favorite game.

    The key to understanding your child with autism is not always easy. As a parent, you have an even greater challenge of trying figure out what they are feeling or thinking when it can be difficult for both parties involved in conversation because there’s no eye-contact and emotions. We have to be bridges between our children if they suffer from autism or not. It might take some time and so hard for us to understand their behavior or read their emotions. You feel like trying in vain against the waves of an ocean but you are a parent and you have to find away a solution for them.

    Take time for yourself, imagine the smell of fresh flowers, grass in your backyard on a sunny day. Take deep breaths as you close your eyes and imagine yourself there! Imagine what it feels like to be inside that perfect little house light from outside spills into every room. Everything within its glow while filling up our lungs with clean air.

    Warm up by making tea or coffee while listening in on some soothing music – it’ll help give you the energy needed when dealing with angry kids. Take a deep sip of tea or coffee to calm yourself down while you wait for the kids’ moods to improve too! Once they’re both happy again, offer some treats ( popcorn sounds great)to help get their minds off everything that has happened today. it’ll be worth it when you watch your favorite movie later on tonight together as one big family.

  • Having an Autistic Sibling

    Having an Autistic Sibling

    Having an autistic sibling is both enriching and challenging. For example, siblings often feel compassion for the needs of others because they have empathy towards those who may not understand. What it’s like being different from everyone else or why someone would choose this life over any other one available in society today?  

    It can be a lot of fun being an older sibling. You get to take care and nurture your younger siblings, but you also have lots on your plate with homework assignments from school or just everyday life things like making sure that they don’t hurt themselves when playing outside!

    The authors of a new study found that parents who have had children diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are more likely to produce subsequent siblings also impacted by the condition. In fact, 20-50% percent chance can be expected if 1 child is already affected – which means there’s up tp 4 out 10 chances!
    The research was led by Dr John Constantino from Boston College’s Kennedy School for Health Care Studies & Research.

    The similarities between having typical brothers/sisters compared with those who suffer from disability can vary greatly depending on how severe his/her condition is. There will still likely always arise some level-of supportiveness towards family members which holds true no matter what type autism you have in your house.

  • Genetics

    Genetics

    AUTISM CAUSES

    GENETICS: When we look at the resources and see the families have autistic relatives or siblings we might say autism has a genetic background. Human DNA contains up to 50.000 genes but still not easy to say how do they work. On the other hand autism is a spectrum and each person is unique so each of them has to deal with different issues. When some autistic people has hyperactivity, sleeping problem, gastrointestinal problem or mental illnesses some others may not have any of it. In that point which gene or genes will we think about if we even we don’t know how they do work? Last studies show many genes up to 20 or more might involved with autism.Every study gives more hope for solving autism.

  • Autism and Late Speech Development

    Autism and Late Speech Development

    When children reach around 3 years old they normally start to talk after having taking a number of different steps or stages on learning how to talk. Around a year they might say some words after babbling long term, they respond if you call their names. A child may also point with its index finger if they want  something or even shake their head if they wish to avoid something. Some children might talk with sentences even before than 3 years old. Girls mostly talk before boys, and children who live in one language home tend to talk earlier than other children who lives in a home where several languages are heard.

    It is one of the signs speech and language problem that cause talking late with an autistic child. They often speaks late or they stars to talk and lose their talks after autism , uses metallic abnormal tone, does not understand any simple sentences, repeats the same words again and again, does not respond their name, doesn’t respond to your question and mostly answers with the question instead of answering, they mostly do  grammar mistakes, they don’t point the things they don’t know how to use their body language. On the other hand some of them just makes noises not even words.

    Talking late should not call you just autism; your child might have some other problems like language disorder, hearing problem or some other developmental problem. Talking late one of the most common problem in autism spectrum. The best thing you can do correct diagnosis  and good  treatment like speech and language therapy.

    There are so many types of speech threapies you can reach. If you find the best one which suits your child then you can find a way to connect his/her world. Sign language or PECS or some others can be the way to communicate. There is always a way to communicate.

  • Did I Cause my Child’s Autism

    Did I Cause my Child’s Autism

    Did I cause my child’s autism?

    This is another question that makes you unhappy as a parent. Actually what cause your child’s autism? There is no agreement about it but you can see so many theories like

    • genetics
    • prenatal and post natal environment
    • developmental aphasia
    • autoimmune disease
    • viral infections
    • heavy metals like lead
    • leaky gut syndrome
    • seizures

    etc.

    As a parent when you hear all these theories you should not blame your self. There is no proof about you causing the problem. It might take very long time to find out. The best thing you can do research and trust your physicians and therapists and teachers for a god treatment.