Health and Beauty Les Halles

To children with autism difficulties or delays appear.These are reported by parents before the child is two years of age. If the child is not four years of age or older the diagnosis cannot be made. The improvement outcome for children with autism is the placement in early intervention programmes before four years of age. If the diagnosis of autism is made after four years of age those children may be missing the opportunity for early intervention.

The early characterizes of autism in infants and preschool children are described by recently studies. These studies are based on the parents interview for establish the initially problems which cause them the concern, and by the observation of children in controlled play and assessment situations.

To children with autism appear early features in social life like: poor social interaction, lack of interest in other children, lack of seeking to share own enjoyment, failure to develop peer relations and to join in activities of others and to direct adult’s attention to own activity, does not show affection, seek or offer comfort, dislikes social touch and being held, lack of social responsiveness, ignores people, lack of social play, being in own world, prefers being alone, indifferent with others, no social smile, lack of eye contact, of gesture or of facial expression, no greeting behaviors.

The children with autism have problem with communication like: lack of verbal communication, no social chat, lack or limited range of facial expression, loss of previously acquired words, problems with language comprehension, does not express emotion, poor imitation, use of other’s body as a tool, lack of infant babble, echolalia, no gaze monitoring, no pointing to express interest, no use or understanding of gestures. In the emergence of autism appear the following symptoms: stereotyped and repetitive routines, behaviors, interests; verbal rituals, hand and finger mannerisms, unusual preoccupations, unusual attachment to objects; play and sensory, lack of spontaneous play, lack of imitative play, no pretend play, sensitivity to noise, insensitivity to pain/cold.

Others symptoms are unusual sensory interests, deafness suspected, mouthing of objects, unusual looking at objects, distractibility, behavioral variability, sleep problems, self-injury, food fads, unusual fears, lack of curiosity, lack of response to name; running away, overly quiet, indifferent to animals, having an intelligent looking face. In young children with developmental delay some of the features listed above are also present. Studies that have compared the behavior of young children with autism with those who have developmental delay without autism provide the best information on the features and symptoms of autism in infants and preschool children. In very young children the absence of stereotyped and repetitive behavior does exclude the possibility of autism.

The obsessional behavior may be dependent upon more advanced language and cognitive skills and emerge later as the child makes developmental gains. In the first two years of life in young children with autism differences between speech delay and developmental delay may occur. Delayed speech is often reported by parents of young children with autism. Speech delay is not specific to autism because delayed speech is also present in young children with global developmental delay caused by intellectual disability and those with severe to profound hearing loss. The children with speech delay or hearing loss compensate for their lack of speech by the use of non-verbal communication skills such as using gestures, eye contact and facial expression to get their message across.

The children with autism can also respond to praise, can empathize, imitate engage in make believe play. The child with autism continues to have ongoing problems with delayed and disorder language, social and communication skills, empathy and pretend play skills regardless of developmental level. Sameness, distress over change in routines, adherence to rituals and routines, abnormal comfort seeking and unusual attachment to objects that are present in child with autism. Other problems present in older children are impaired conversational skills and problems with speech production. Standard diagnostic criteria should be modified from children under two to take into account the presentation of autism in infants and preschoolers. The access to early intervention programs may be useful in an early identification of autism.

In cases of children with autism the following aspects must be regarded: lack of social smile, lack of appropriate facial expression, poor attention, aversion to being touched, not responsive to name, unusual looking of objects, ignoring people, preference for aloneness, lack of or impaired eye contact, lack of gesture, lack of emotional expression and lack of age appropriately with toys.

Children with autism should not be avoided by the others and they must be treated like normal people.

More informations about autism causes or about autism symptoms can be found by visiting http://www.autism-info-center.com/

After yet another display of lining up toys or endlessly performing the same behavior over and over it’s not unusual for parents to wonder if their child may have not one but two disorders – autism and OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder).

OCD is a neurological disorder that causes obsessive thoughts and behaviors and can greatly disrupt a person’s life. There are two main elements to OCD, thoughts or obsessions and compulsions or behaviors.

The obsessions are experienced as thoughts, images or impulses and can be persistent. Whereas compulsions are repetitive behaviors that the sufferer feels compelled to carry out whether they want to or not. The performance of the repetitive behaviors is usually done to reduce distress or to stop a particular event.

It is common for people with an autism spectrum disorder to also display repetitive behaviors and have repetitive thoughts, comparable to those who suffer from Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). OCD is a condition that generally makes sufferers feel uncomfortable with their symptoms, and wish that they could get rid of them. On the other hand children with autism are usually unconcerned with their various obsessions or behaviors and may even see them as comforting, increasing the frequency during stressful situations as a calming mechanism.

There are two possible treatments for autism and OCD-like behaviors: behavioral therapy, and medication. Frequently, these two forms of therapy are prescribed together.

The most common kind of medication prescribed for treating OCD behaviors in autistic individuals are SSRIs (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors). SSRIs are antidepressant medications that have also shown to be helpful in reducing OCD behaviors. However, they can come with some serious side effects including an increased risk of suicide. Parents’ whose children are on SSRIs should monitor behaviors closely and report anything out of the ordinary to a medical professional.

Behavioral therapy can be another way to reduce repetitive behaviors, however there is not one treatment that has been found to be consistently effective for all cases of autism. This is due to the fact that no two cases of autism are exactly the same.

Therefore, before a behavioral therapy is selected to deal with autism and OCD symptoms, an IQ test and/or functional cognitive level test will usually be administered. Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA) works well for lower functioning children or younger children, and Cognitive Behavioral therapy can show good results for higher functioning, more verbal children with autism.

To ensure best results it is often recommended that behavioral treatments and medication be combined. The medication is usually prescribed to help the child become more open to the behavioral therapy. Since behavioral therapy can be challenging – especially as most children don’t see their OCD behaviors as undesirable – medication can make the difference in encouraging children to be open to the suggested changes.

While autism and OCD can occur in the same individual, it is much more common for children with autism to simply display behaviors that are similar to those of OCD, but that are in fact a part of their autism symptoms and not a separate case of obsessive compulsive disorder. Nonetheless, it is believed that autism and OCD based repetitive thoughts and behaviors are quite similar in the early stages of development, but become dissimilar over time as they often serve different functions within the two disorders.

Dealing with autism and OCD at an early age should be prioritized to ensure that regular childhood and life experiences such as early education occurs more smoothly. The fewer obsessive-compulsive symptoms a child with autism has generally, the more positive their educational and life experiences will be.

If you believe your child is suffering from OCD contact your doctor to discuss diagnosis and treatment options.

If your child has a history of autism, then you will want to watch for one of the more serious symptoms: seizures. The first thing that you will have to learn if your autistic child experiences seizures is how to recognize an emergency. The following conditions make a seizure an emergency:

- If the seizure lasts more than 5 minutes, or if there are several seizures in a row without a full recovery occurring between them.

- Breathing difficulty that persists. Though it is common for an autistic child to look as though he or she has briefly stopped breathing during the seizure, breathing should quickly resume.

- If there are any injuries sustained during the seizure.

- Confusion or unconsciousness that persists.

- If it is your child’s first seizure.

- If your child has a history of seizures, but there is a significant change in the typical pattern, type, symptoms, or length of the seizure.

The occurrence of autism and seizures together is relatively common. The Journal of Child Neurology published a study called “Prospective preliminary analysis of the development of autism and epilepsy in children with infantile spasms” (Askalan R, et al) which showed that by puberty, 25 percent of autistic children will develop seizures. It is not known why the incidence of seizures increases so dramatically with adolescence. The study also showed a connection between babies who experience West Syndrome, which causes infantile spasms, and children who will later receive an autism diagnosis.

Autistic children who are at the highest risk for seizures are those who also have specific neurological conditions, for example, neurofibromatosis, tuberous sclerosis, and untreated phenylketonuria.

Many parents of autistic children who display unusual behaviors often struggle to recognize the difference between these behaviors and seizures, or whether their children are indeed having seizures at all. After all, some autistic behaviors can include sudden repetitive movements or swaying, as well as a decreased awareness of his or her surroundings. This can be exactly what a seizure looks like, depending on the person.

To tell the difference between these unusual behaviors and seizures, use the following information:

- Seizures occur suddenly without being provoked by a specific occurrence. On the other hand, unusual behaviors are usually brought about by frustration, fear, anger, or as a consequence of a certain event.

- Seizures will usually follow a type of pattern within one person, though the length and intensity may differ from time to time. However, autism behaviors will often vary in their movements and mannerisms.

- Seizures are often accompanied with a sensation of cold or fear and are frequently followed by weakness, headache, or exhaustion. After a seizure, it is unlikely that an autistic child will simply resume an activity right away.

- Similar to staring ‘off into space’ of an autistic child, absence attacks are a form of small seizure that cause a loss of consciousness for 10 seconds or less, and may involve some mild facial movements or eye blinking. Lip smacking or shuddering may also occur in more complex partial seizures. These people would not respond to any environmental stimuli. However, an autistic child displaying staring mannerisms will.

If your child has a history of autism and you believe that he or she may be having seizures, it is important to speak to your doctor or pediatrician right away to discuss the severity of the seizures as well as possible treatments and preventative measures.