autism

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Presented By Phr. Deepa kumari karn
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CONTENT

• Introduction
• Prevalence
• Symptoms
• Social difficulties
• Communication difficulties
• Unusual behaviors
• Associated symptoms
• Causes
• Genetic disorder
• Brain abnormalities
• Infections and drugs

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• Treatment
• Therapy and training approaches
• Medications
• Diagnosing Autism and related disorders
• Aspergers Syndrome
• Perasive development disorder not otherwise
  specified
• Education of children with Autism
• Life of adults with Autism
• Controversies
• Famous people with unspecifiedforms of autism

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INTRODUCTION

• Disorder that affects the social, emotional and
  behavioral development of children
• Marked by serious difficulties in interacting and
  communicating with other people
• American Psychiatrist Leo Kanner first described
  this disorder in 1943.
• It may be related to abnormal response to sensory
  input

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• Autism is at least 4 times more common in boys
  than in girls
• Autism comes from Greek word Auto self means
  an abnormal withdrawal from the world outside
  oneself
• Causes of Autism remain a major area of research
  and controversy
• There is no cure for Autism but some T/T and
  therapies can lessen the symptoms
  

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PREVALENCE

• The number of children diagnosed with Autism has
  increased since the 1990s
• Most recent estimates suggest that Autism occurs
  in approximately 1 in 500 children and that 1 in
  150 children may be on Autism spectrum
• Girls with Autism, however tend to show more
  sever symptoms and mental impairment

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MECHANISM

• How Autism occurs is not well understood. Its
  mechanism is divied into two main areas-
• Pathophysiology
• Neurophysiology
• Pathophysiology-
• Linkes the Brain Structure and process associated
  with Autism

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Fig-Pathophysiology
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• Neurophysiology-
• Two major categories of cognitive theories have
  been proposed about the links between autistic
  brains and behavior
• The first category focuses on deficits in social
  cognitive. According to this theory-
• Autistic child can develop internal rules of
  operation to handle events inside the brains- but
  are less effective at empathizing by handling
  events generated by others agents

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• Second category focuses on nonsocial or general
  processing. According to this theory-
• Autistic behaviors results in part from deficits
  in working, memory, planning, inhibition and
  other form of executive functions

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SYMPTOMS

• Social difficulties-
  
  
• It is first sign of Autism
• Lack of social smile with in 2nd or 3rd month of
  life of infant
• Child dont share their enjoyment with others
• Lack of social communication
• Fail to develop typical friendships
• Seem unaware of the feeling of people

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• Communication difficulties-
• Child have difficulties with communication
  including both geoture and speech
• In some cases child dont speak atoll.
• When they are able to speak they may repeat back
  exactly what is said to them(echolalia)
• Sometimes quote whole conversation or dialog from
  a movie

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• Unusual behaviors-
• Insist on doing things exactly the same way or
  on following the same routine from day to day.
• Become very upset in response to a minor change
• Repeat body movement such as spinning, rocking or
  flapping hands

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• When upset or excited they may also harm
  themselves by skin biting or head banging
• Repetitively stacking or lining up objects is a
  behavior occasionally associated with individuals
  with autism

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• Associated symptoms-
• Belly pain, constipation or diarrhea are
  frequently reported
• Increase in allergies and in problem with immune
  system
• Sensory sensitivity is quite common especially to
  some texture, sounds or smells

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• Mental Retardation and Savant Skills-
• Demonstrate a particular skill, such as
  memorizing phone number, drawing landscapes
• Have wide variation in their intellectual
  abilities

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CAUSES

• Studies indicates that Autism is often associated
  with abnormalities in functioning of brain and
  disorder may have a genetic basis
• Genetic Disorder-
• Mutation in MECP2 gene on the X chromosome(only
  in girl)
• Variation in FMR1 gene on the X chromosome(only
  in boy)
• Defect in cholesterol pathway leads to small
  head, upturned nose and undersized lower jaw

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• Risk is doubled in children who inherit a common
  variation of the MET gene
• Brain Abnormalities-
• Increased level of serotonin
• Decrease in the size of particular brain region
• Defects in the mirror neuron system
• Infections and drugs-
• Children born to mothers who were infected with
  certain illness or took particular drug during
  pregnancy

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TREATMENT

• No known cure for Autism
• Use of individualized education, communication
  tools, behavioral management and medication
• Parents, teachers and therapist need to work
  together to help a child gain new skill and
  abilities
• When a child is diagnosed with autism, the normal
  opinion is that the child will end up spending a
  lonely life without being able to achieve
  anything in life. However, this notion is not true

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• Therapy and training approaches-
• Picture schedule of time-limited task
• A controversial aspect is the use of electric
  shock to deter self-destructive behavior in
  extreme cases
• Floor system(frequent play sessions with a parent
  to connect therapy goals activities that a child
  finds exciting or fun)

with
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MEDICATION

• Medication is not a primary treatment for autism
  itself but can be helpful for related symptoms.
• Risperidone (Risperdal) is the first medication
  to receive FDA approval in treatment of the
  disordertreatment had significant aggression
  toward themselves or others or episodes of
  extreme anger or frustration.
• A group of medications called the serotonin
  reuptake inhibitors have been used successfully
  to treat compulsive behaviors in autism

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• Serotonin include-
• fluoxetine (Prozac)
• fluvoxamine (Luvox)
• escitalopram (Lexapro)
• No medication has been shown to have significant
  effects on the social or communication
  difficulties seen in autism

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DIAGNOSING AUTISM AND RELATED DISORDERS

• Autistic children not show all symptoms of
  disorder and hence need to get a clear diagnosis
  and T/T plan by psychologist or physician
• Two main diagnosis are Asperser's syndrome and
  Perasive development disorder not otherwise
  specified
• Two diagnoses, Rett syndrome and childhood
  disintegrative disorder, are much rarer and have
  a worse prognosis.

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• Aspergers Syndrome-
• Lacks delay in cognitive development and
  language or no clinically significant delay in
  language or developmental age appropriate skills
• Autism and Aspergers syndrome are often
  difficult to separate
• Children diagnosed with Aspergers syndrome often
  use unusual words and may sound old-fashioned

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• 2. Perasive developmental disorder not otherwise
  specified(PDD-NOS)-
• Children with this diagnosis can be very
  different from one another
• Additionally, it is often difficult to separate
  children who have PDD-NOS from children who have
  speech or language problems that result in
  difficulty forming relationships
• The particular areas of difficulty should be used
  to shape the goals for each individual child,
  both at home and at school.

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EDUCATION OF AUTISTIC CHILDREN

• Variable
• Some children need self-contained classroom with
  special education classes
• No single approach will be correct for every
  child with autism
• Federal Law obligates public school to assess
  each childs individual needs

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Life of Adults with Autism

• Some people are able to live and work
  independently and pursued professional carriers
  like Veterinary medicine, mathematics etc
• Some people have extremely unbelievable memory
  capacity
• Some adults with severe autism requires social
  support like either within a family or in a group
  home or other residential placement

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CONTROVERSIES

• Autism is a devastating disorder whose cause
  remains poorly understood
• The fear that vaccines somehow lead to autism
  i.e. persistent infection from the
  measles-mumps-rubella vaccine
• Others fear that exposure to heavy metals such as
  mercury and cadmium could lead to autism
• The frequent occurrence of gastrointestinal
  symptoms in autism leads some to advocate for
  various diets that remove wheat products, dairy
  products, or even all carbohydrates

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Famous people with unspecifiedforms of autism

• The following people have been diagnosed as being
  somewhere on the autistic spectrum but the
  specific classification is unknown-
• One of the most famous people in the world of
  science was Albert Einstein. He was brilliant.
  Today, there is some speculation over him
  suffering from autism. However, this cannot be
  proven. These speculations are based on how he
  behaved.

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• Michael Moon, adopted son of author Elizabeth
  Moon
• Robert Gagno, actor from Vancouver,
• Christopher Knowles, American poet
• Jasmine O'Neill, author of Through the Eyes of
  Aliens
• Richard Borcherds, mathematician specializing in
  group theory and Lie algebras
• Stephen Wiltshire, British architectural artist
• Tony DeBlois, blind American musician

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REFERENCES

• Microsoft Encarta 2009. 1993-2008 Microsoft
  Corporation. All rights reserved

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THANKS A LOT FOR YOUR KIND ATTENTION!!!!!!!!!!!!