Before any symptoms begin, a child with ASD often shows signs of normal development.
Possible causes of ASD
Over the years there have been conflicting theories about the possible causes of ASD. Theories, such as the link between the Mumps Measles and Rubella (MMR) vaccine was said to be a cause of ASD. However, research over the years now suggests that a faulty gene could be the reason why children are born with autism.
Genes
The human body is made up of billions of cells and at the centre of each cell is a compartment called the nucleus that stores threads of DNA (Deoxyribonucleic Acid) arranged in chromosomes. Chromosomes are composed of 50,000 to 100,000 genes that contain the genetic blue print determining each individual's characteristics such as eye colour. There are 23 chromosomes in the ovum and 23 chromosomes in the sperm and on fertilisation of the egg the chromosomes come together to give a total of 46 chromosomes.
The status mode of the gene: autosomal dominant, autosomal recessive or X-linked recessive and the arrangement of the genes will make up the human body’s inheritance. This suggests that inheritance of genes depends on a number of biological processes that the human body goes through during pregnancy.
So with this in mind, if one parent, say in this case it’s the father, has a faulty or mutating gene, then the risk of passing down this faulty gene to the baby is increased. The father’s faulty gene could be the genetic blue print for autism or another disease that is gene related such as Limb Girdle Muscular Dystrophy.
To get a better understanding of the above points, turn over the page to see a diagram clearly showing how faulty genes are passed down from mother to baby during pregnancy.
Fig.1 and Fig.2 show the chances of having a child with ASD one or both parents have a faulty gene.
Figure 1: The faulty gene containing a dominant mutation is shown by "D". The correct copy of the gene is shown by "d".
Figure 2: The faulty gene containing a dominant mutation is shown by "D". The correct copy of the gene is shown by "d".
Both figures from
Figure two on page 9 illustrates that if both parents have a faulty gene, then the chances of conceiving a child with a condition such as ASD is increased. Faulty genes are linked to conditions such as Limb Girdle Muscular Dystrophy and cancer. However, where there is biological proof that LGMD is due to a specific faulty gene, there is still very little proof that ASD is caused by a gene defect.
If, on the other hand, only one parent had a faulty gene, as shown in figure one, then the chances of having a child with a disorder such as autism are reduced to 25% for each pregnancy.
Single Abnormal Gene
An abnormal gene is when a gene is no longer the same as other genes as it has changed characteristics. Whereas this change can occur suddenly by chance, it does not necessarily mean that it has any significance for the individual concerned. On the other hand, the gene that may change its character may give reason to specific inherited disorders where there has been no previous family history. In this case it could possibly be ASD.
According to Professor Michael Patton (paraphrased), research has shown, there may be, in many conditions, different spelling mistakes or mutations in the gene that can cause the disease. For example, he says, ‘in cystic fibrosis over 200 different mutations can occur in the gene, but they mostly produce the same disease pattern.’ ()
AUTOSOMAL DOMINANT INHERITANCE
Autosomal means there is no discrimination between whether or not males or females are affected as both have a 50/50 chance of inheriting a faulty gene. In dominant inheritance, the chance of passing on a disorder is 50 per cent for each pregnancy and if the gene is inherited, it will result in an affected individual. ()
AUTOSOMAL RECESSIVE INHERITANCE
This form of gene-affected inheritance is referred to as recessive because two of the same gene mutations are required for a child to be affected by a disorder. This suggests that both parents must be carriers of the faulty gene. The risk of having an affected baby if both parents have faulty gene is about 25% for each pregnancy. Unless the parents are related, the chance of marrying a carrier of the same recessive gene is low. (Paraphrased, , 2006)
There are many types of gene make-ups and mutating gene patterns and this could be the reason why there is no inconclusive evidence to suggest that ASD is inherited or even gene related.
Research also suggests that the risk of having autism is increased if a previous sibling was born with autism. However, this research; according to NHS, cannot prove that the cause of ASD is dependent on a faulty gene as the exact causes of ASD are still unknown. (Research from NHS direct online, 2006)
Mumps-Measles and Rubella Vaccine (MMR)
There has been speculation over the years and more recently that mercury based vaccines and MMR jabs are linked to the increased risk of autism. However BBC news reported in July 2006 that mercury based jabs such as the MMR do not lead to an increased risk of contracting autism. The BBC reported that the McGill University Health Centre was investigating patterns between autism and jabs. They achieved this by working with 28, 000 children. The University did find however, according to the BBC news archives, that autism rates were higher in children after Thimerosal was eliminated from vaccines and after MMR vaccination coverage decreased. The only link to autism was the Thimerosal, which was traditionally used as a preservative in vaccines and that was phased out after the link between the two was made. However, it is also said that before the 1980s, one in 2,500 children was diagnosed with the developmental disability autism and now that figure is suggested to be close to one in 250. So it may be the case that when Thimerosal was eliminated from the vaccines and the MMR coverage fell, the risk of having autism rose, suggesting that MMR jabs prevent ASD. (BBC news online, 2006) Professor Simon Baron-Cohen of Cambridge University said that unidentified environmental factors might play a role in the causes of ASD but the ‘new study suggests MMR and thimerosal are ruled out.’ (Baron-Cohen, BBC online, 2006)
Further research from the Public Health Institute of Scotland (PHIS) suggest that autism affects 60 per 10 000 children in the UK, affecting three times more males than females. (PHIS online report, 2006) According to the National Autistic Society ‘autism touches the lives of over 500,000 families throughout the UK.’ (NAS online, 2006)
Diagnosis of having ASD
A diagnosis is important for any individual who is suspected of having ASD so that access to the right services and treatments are made available to support the individual. However, there are those that may not achieve a diagnosed status until such time a child is much older. A reason for this could be that the individual concerned may have Asperger’s syndrome. As already discussed, if a child has Asperger’s syndrome the symptoms are harder to spot, thus making it more difficult to diagnose.
If there is concern from a doctor about any child having ASD then he/she may refer children to health care specialists. This would include a child psychiatrist; specialising in children’s mental health, paediatrician; a doctor who specialises in children’s health and a psychologist; who is a specialist that studies individual behaviour.
A diagnosis is based on the symptoms of ASD, which means that a diagnosis will be made after a number of observations. This observation includes children’s communicational skills, development skills and observing their behaviour patterns. To make sure that a correct diagnosis is made, observations may be made in such a place that is familiar to the child, such as school or whilst at home playing with their toys. Observations on how a child reacts to new places or people will also be noted.
Are There Any Treatments Or Cures?
There is no known cure for ASD; however, there is support available. The type of support offered can effectively help to manage or control the symptoms of ASD. The support and management offered is often referred to as interventions. There are those who will need specialist care and support, both medically and emotionally throughout their lives. Healthcare workers and families working together as a team can make this support viable.
It is also important to recognise that families of those with autism suffer a great emotional burden. It could be said that it’s those families that provide continuous care who are at the front line of autism, whilst it could also be said that those families could be just as easily forgotten, whilst attention is focussed on the sufferer. Parents need information about autism and they need home training that focuses on autism and how to deal with it, otherwise it could be argued that ‘help’ will be more of a burden than relief.
‘High Functioning Autistic’
In relation to treatment and cures there are some people that disagree with finding a cure. In an article from the New Scientist Journal, a ‘high functioning autistic’ that suffers from Asperger’s Syndrome, says that autism is not a disease and does not require a cure. Roy, who was 28 when the article was published in 2005 is said to live a ‘monastic’ life. It says that Roy chooses to seclude himself from society, but because there is talk of an epidemic rise in ASD sufferers, he feels threatened and feels that he needs to express his views to set the story straight. On the other hand, Roy could be blinded by the fact that his symptoms of autism, no matter how mild they are, could be the reason for his isolation as seclusion is a common symptom in those with Asperger’s. Roy told Trivedi that it is ‘ok to be alone.’ And about him feeling threatened he said “I feel stabbed in the back when it comes to ‘curing’ or ‘treating’ autism, it’s like society doesn’t need us.” (Trivedi, B. New Scientist Journal, 2005)
According to this same article many autistic people share the same view. They do not want to be seen as a medical problem. Roy said that autism is apart of ‘human diversity’ and not a disease. Autistic people should ‘embrace their neurodiversity.’ However, whereas ‘activists’ such as Roy want to fight for social diversity, it is worrying parents of children that have a more severe form of ASD. From the same article, one parent wrote ‘the bottom line is I want to help my kid.’ That parent was Peter Bell, chief executive of the LA-based foundation Cure Autism Now, who is also the father of a 12-year-old autistic boy.
Some parents have reported, according to the New Scientist Journal, that they feel ‘threatened.’ Could it be that if activists such as Roy get their way, funding may become less in finding a cure and those parents of severe autistic children may have less hope of getting better? This could be true if there was more support in favour of Roy’s hypothesis. And there is more support. Valerie Paradiz, an autism rights campaigner who also runs the ASPIE (Autistic Strength, Purpose and Independence in Education) school in Boiceville, New York, promotes autistic children’s good and bad behaviour. Valerie is doing the opposite to healthcare workers here. So instead of expunging the social behaviours of autistics, Valerie is teaching students that it’s ok to “act autistic.”
Before information on ASPIE continues, it is best to look at sociological theories to try and explain why people like Valerie thinks the way they do. Does the rest of society think in the same way? NO, is the short answer.
It is quite common knowledge that disabilities hinder the capabilities of millions of people world wide. It is also accepted that disabled people have fewer opportunities and a lower quality of life compared to those without disabilities. To reduce or at best take away the disadvantages associated with disabled people, will depend on what is thought to be the cause of the disadvantages. There are two ways in which to explain what causes the disadvantages by using ‘models’ such as
- The Model of Disability
- The Social Model of Disability
The Model of Disability
A disability, under this model, is the reason why disabled people cannot interact fully within society and not as a result of the features in society that can be changed. Policy makers who think of disability in this way tend to focus attention on compensating people with impairments for what is wrong with their bodies by offering welfare benefits and providing special services for them such as disabled parking and disabled entrance.
However, this model could affect the way disabled people think about themselves. Many disabled people internalise the negative message that all disabled people’s problems stem from not having 'normal' bodies. Disabled people can also feel that their disability automatically prevents them from participating in social activities.
This internalised oppression can make disabled people less likely to challenge their exclusion from mainstream society. In the case of ASPIE, they are challenging society. They want this to stop. However, standing up for a disability is different to fighting for people to stop treating certain illness and live in a ‘neuro-diversity’, in the case of autism for example. There may be oppression, however, but if adequate changes were not made to accommodate disabled people, they’d be the first to complain. In any case, this model may affect those who suffer Asperger’s Syndrome, but it would not affect those with severe autism as their symptoms make it almost impossible to understand the world around them. On the other hand, it will be the parents, friends and family that will share the brunt of this.
The Social Model of Disability
This model distinguishes 'impairment' and 'disability'. Disabled people who felt that the individual model does not provide an explanation for their exclusion from mainstream society - because their experiences have shown them that in reality most of their problems are not caused by their impairments, worked out this model of disability but by the way society is organised.
The key definitions of this model are: (from )
Impairment
An injury, illness, or congenital condition that causes or is likely to cause a long term effect on physical appearance and / or limitation of function within the individual that differs from the commonplace.
Disability
The loss or limitation of opportunities to take part in society on an equal level with others due to social and environmental barriers.
(Definitions from )
In this model, the impairment and disability definitions are combined. This means that both the cause of functional limitation and the functional limitation within the individual itself are separated from external factors.
There are 'barriers' or elements of social organisation that cause disability, which take no or little account of people who have impairments.
Society stops those with impairments from taking part in everyday life and if they are to rejoin mainstream society, then society has to change the way it is organised. Removing the barriers that exclude people who have impairments can bring about this change.
Barriers can be:
- Prejudice and stereotypes
- Inflexible organisational procedures and practices
- Inaccessible information
- Inaccessible buildings; and
- Inaccessible transport
This model seems to allow disabled people a voice. This model is much more advanced and not as morally wrong as ASPIE’s approach. Disabled people, such as autistic children, especially those with Asperger’s, who attended segregated schools, may have gained lower academic qualifications than their non-disabled peers, simply because their 'special' school failed to provide a proper mainstream curriculum. To embrace their neuro-diversity, autistics are not getting the best education, thus not obtaining proper grades.
These barriers have nothing to do with individual disabled people's bodies; they are created by people, meaning it is possible to remove them.
From the information contained in the New Scientist Journal, further research led to an article in the New York Times accessed online. The NYT wrote an article about ASPIE and what their purpose is. ASPIE is an experimental program that has only 15 autistic boys (Suffering from Asperger’s). All of the children share the same opinion; that autism is not a disease, and that it cannot be cured. Also the opinion is that autism is just an ‘individual thing.’ One-tenth grader at the school told the NYT that ‘people do not suffer from Asperger’s. They suffer because they’re depressed from being left out and beat up all the time.’
ASPIE copes with children that suffer from the mild end of the spectrum. So could it be that those with Asperger’s do not have any influence in society when it comes to embracing autism? Well, it could be said that this is the case, because as already stated, there are those who have a more severe form of autism. And for the parents of those, it’s a different case scenario altogether. It could be said that those with Asperger’s are lucky, as even with their disorder, they can live a near to normal life with average to above average intelligence. Could members of ASPIE really have empathy for those who suffer ASD at the other end of the spectrum? It seems not considering that ASPIE’s way of teaching is to allow autistic children to embrace their symptoms. By teaching them this, it makes it ok to act autistic when the symptoms could be controlled in children with Asperger’s.
It seems that those who have a mild form of ASD do not know first hand what it is like to be in the shoes of those with a more severe form of ASD. Or know what it is like to be a parent of a child with severe ASD. Maybe they have not experienced going to bed at night and praying that they won’t die in their sleep because of the fear of ‘who will look after my child?’ It could be argued therefore that society is letting severely autistic children down especially with the closure of hospitals and respite care homes. Parents are now afraid of what will happen if their children were left to the state. (NAS Online, 2006) (Also, backed up by a Video in the Library of Coleg Glan Hafren).
Support and Interventions
Parents will need support if they want in-depth training in communication and other key subjects such as introducing their child to the reality of the world. Health care professionals work together with parents so that parents are not left emotionally in the dark. Social services will have information for parents and where they can go for the support they need. For example, there is a ‘Dyscovery’ centre in Whitchurch, Cardiff, which offer Support for those with a wide range of disorders or syndromes and their families. This also included training for parents, professionals and the general public. (NAS. Online, 2006).
The main aim of the intervention is to promote autistic children to express themselves more efficiently. This is to allow autistic children that have communicational problems to communicate with other social groups in the aim to promote more adaptable ways to educate in the hope that this will make way for a future in a possible employment. Depending on individual needs, interventions will be the most direct and efficient way in which the correct support is carried out.
Set tests conducted by a psychologist may also influence the decision on the best possible avenues of treatment. Such tests will include how an autistic reacts to social groups away from home and at home.
Training
Again, training on how to communicate effectively within social situations may also be of benefit to those children who have ASD. Training groups and behavioural therapy group’s such as counselling and speech therapy are always an option open to families. To enable health care workers, families and friends to successfully communicate with a child with ASD whenever possible, then following procedures such as keeping to predictable routines, avoid using metaphors and sarcasm, explaining exactly what a person is saying and what is meant by what they are saying and using visual aids where necessary. As already noted, some of those with ASD will have trouble understanding what some people say, so by explaining clearly what is said will help minimise confusion.
Drugs
As of yet there is no wonder drug that can be used to treat ASD, though there is medication available for other symptoms that may occur resulting from ASD such as irritability and hyperactivity. Medications such as methylphenidate that treat symptoms such as irritability and hyperactivity only help to manage the symptoms and not rid a child of the triggers or causes of the irritability or hyperactivity. Nevertheless, as with all prescription drugs there are side effects and doctors or specialists will only tend to use these drugs if the benefits outweigh the risks.
Other methods of treatment
Other methods of treatment include Auditory Integration Training (AIT), The Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) and Sensory Integration Therapy (SIT). AIT is when special music is played to sufferers of ASD so that their hearing changes and that they will not become too worried about certain sounds, which will help keep their behaviour patterns at a controllable level. PECS is about training children with ASD to communicate using pictures that are familiar to them. This method of treatment may prove useful for those who have trouble communicating through speech. SIT exposes children to various stimulants such as noise and touch to help improve the way in which they use their senses. (Paraphrased, NHS online, 2006)
Assessments and Education
Children with autism are affected by their symptoms every day, which set them apart from unaffected students. Because of problems with language and theory of mind, they can have difficulty understanding some classroom directions and instruction, along with subtle vocal and facial cues of teachers. This inability to fully decipher the world around them often makes education stressful. Teachers need to be aware of a student's disorder, and ideally should have specific training in autism education, so that they are able to help the student get the best out of his or her classroom experiences.
After a diagnosis of autism has been confirmed, an assessment on the child is required in order to evaluate the educational needs and method of support that is required. Children who have Asperger’s syndrome may not need to attend a specialist school and can attend a mainstream school as long as the symptoms are minimal. However, additional support may still be needed, such as language skills training that can be done away from lesson time. According to the NHS, those with ASD generally do better when lessons are well structured. (NHS. Online, 2006)
Additional advantages would be to educate children with ASD at home as this will help them adapt more easily in preparation for primary school life. On the other hand, this would require parents spending more time with their children, which can be hard if both parents are in full or part-time work placements. However, there are specialist-training centres that educate parents with autistic children so that the parents will be prepared for, and know how to approach problems such as communicating better as their child grows. This in turn may provide a greater understanding on how ASD will affect not just the lives of their children, but the parents also. This method of training is sometimes referred to as behavioural analysis.
Theory of Mind
Theory of mind is the ability to attribute mental states such as beliefs, intents, desires, pretending and knowledge to oneself and others. There has been some talk that certain people fail to progress through the normal cognitive developmental stages that lead to acquisition of a theory of mind.
It is known that children with autism have particular difficulties to understand another person's beliefs. These difficulties persist when children have the same problem with verbal skills, and this has been taken as a key feature of autism.
Many autistic individuals have severe difficulty assigning mental states to others, and they seem to lack theory of mind capabilities. Researchers who study the relationship between autism and theory of mind attempt to explain the connection in a variety of ways. One account assumes that theory of mind plays a role in the attribution of mental states to others and in childhood pretend play. It could be argued that theory of mind is the capacity to mentally represent thoughts, beliefs, and desires, regardless of whether or not the situation involved is real. Could this mean that an autistic person’s reduced theory of mind results from a distortion in understanding and responding to emotions? Developing human beings, it is argued, unlike individuals with autism, are born with a set of skills such as social referencing ability, which will later enable them to comprehend and react to other people’s feelings.
(Information from )
How do other parents fare?
After initial assessments, the choice of school is required from the parents. There are many-mixed feelings from parents about schooling and not everyone is happy with the selection process, yet there are others who have been lucky enough to only suffer minimal problems. From some of the research gathered, there were some negative results. One parent wrote on website http://www.nas.org.uk, accessed Sunday, 13 August 2006, (paraphrased), that her son attended a mainstream school, but because of her son’s autism, the school could not cope. Whilst another parent wrote, from the same link, (paraphrased), that the school her son attended was too ‘ill-equipped’ and not enough teachers were trained to deal with children that have ASD. From the same link also it is reported by another parent that she ‘was allowed to “choose” from what was available, but what was available meant, in fact, there was little or no choice’.
It seems that parents don’t have a choice, certain catchments are more deprived than others and this is the same for healthcare as services vary in different areas to.
Make Schools Make Sense Report
In addition to how other parent’s fare within the provisions of education, the Make Schools Make Sense report by the National Autistic Society, have made some interesting finds. The NAS recognised that parents views on the right school, whether special or mainstream school, is ‘fairly split,’ because all parents have different needs and support requirements due to autism being a spectrum disorder. (NAS Online, 2006) The report says that 45% of parents say they did not receive adequate support or information to choosing a school, whilst 66% say that choice is limited. For many, this limitation is due to the locality of dissatisfied parents. In rural Wales, many children have to travel for over 45 minutes just to get to a specialist school that can support autistic children. 27% of autistic children in Wales are affected in this way, as they have to travel to a school outside their locality. Access to adequate educational facilities, the NAS reports, ‘relies on parent’s time and resources.’ What would this mean to a single parent that is unable to drive? It would mean great difficulty. Single parents would have to try and find alternative arrangements, support and, if support is unavailable, their children would have to go to an ill-equipped mainstream school.
This reflects on the 1 in 3 children that have changed schools in the last five years in addition to moving from primary to secondary school. Those moves could be due to the 1 in 5 being excluded: 67% of those 1 in 5 autistic children being excluded more than once, or it is the case that parents are not happy with the lack of support offered so decide to move their child to another school. The NAS reported that one school, which excluded a young autistic boy, said; ‘there is not enough school support available to keep children safe and to protect the rest of the class from being disrupted’.
Local education authorities have a duty to deliver the support outlined in a statement of Special Educational Needs (SEN). However, 31% of all autistic children and 40% of autistic children in mainstream schools do not receive all the support outlined in their statement that schools are required to, by law, to make reasonable adjustments to their lessons to enable children with autism to learn.
The NAS report have also outlined that the ‘biggest gap in provision for children with autism’ is the lack of social skills programmes.
This programme is designed to develop the social skills in autistic children that other children who are not autistic, develop naturally. Speech and Language Therapy (SALT) is another gap outlined by the make schools make sense report. SALT is an important intervention as it helps autistic children to learn verbal and non-verbal communication. Only 45% of children receive SALT therapy and 30% of parents believe that their children would benefit from SALT but are not able to access it.
The Report on Bullying
The make schools make sense report also pinpoints that 40% of autistic children have been bullied. And 59% of children with Asperger’s Syndrome have also fell victim to bullying. So would it be better to segregate autistic children? Well it could be argued that bullying can have a relapse effect on the training and support that has already been received. Bullying can make children, who do not suffer from ASD, feel isolated and more withdrawn from society by being anti-social and not partaking in activities at school, but to an autistic child, who may already have anti-social behavioural problems, can make the symptoms worse. However, it is about integration, with adequate support and training. Segregating autistic children may also have the same effect as autistic children grow older because of that feeling of not fitting in with society.
What the Make Schools Make Sense Report Concluded
Every child has the potential to learn and to acquire and achieve new skills and experiences by making positive contributions to school life, whether they suffer from autism or not. However, due to the nature of support from the Government, the educational system is failing many children with autism. Professionals, including teachers and support teachers, need the support and training themselves if diversity in schools for those with autism is accomplished, whilst the LEA need to implement a plan that will break down barriers to inclusion.
Chart showing the delays in support for children with ASD. Graph from .
The National Autistic Report can be downloaded in PDF file format from .
All information about the report was accessed from the above link on October 21st 2006.
Funding
Those who made comments about their own experiences suggest that support is not there where it is needed or if the support is there, then where is it? Are these comments suggesting that the UK government do not fund enough for the support needs of those with special needs? Are schools not providing adequate training for teachers?
Information contained on , shows that there is funding available, and funding is being used. The Government have recently provided the National Autistic Society with £156, 000 for the projects that help those with the less severe Asperger’s syndrome. To top up the money being spent voluntary organisations such as the Association of National Specialist Colleges (NATSPEC) and the British Institute for Brain Injured Children (BIBIC) work with the Government to provide extra funding and support. However, this does not suggest that the correct support is available and there is a need for adequate schooling for children with autism. It may not be the case that there is not enough choice of schools, but it could be the case that there is not enough training for every teacher, thus leaving a large ratio of autistic children and a small ratio of teachers with the correct training. This could suggest why schools become ill equipped.
The Government may not be necessarily to blame as they do give nursery, primary and secondary schools, colleges, universities as well as special needs schools and adult learning facilities and enterprises funding every year to fund courses and provide training. According to direct.gov £21 million pounds has been invested in education for those with learning disabilities. It is how the money is spent that needs to be looked at. To some, it may not be enough, but then it could be that the faculties in question are not using the money adequately. When really speaking, the organisations that spend the money should be answering questions relating to why there is not enough support. It does give the impression, however, that when support is low or money is limited, then organisations will hold the Government responsible. However, the UK government cannot always be to blame for what is lacking in the UK, but they can be blamed when Members of Parliament act slowly in recognising problems to do with the educational system. Questions have to be asked to those outside of the government as well as inside of the Government. When money is handed over to facilities or departments it is what they do with the money that’s important. So some questions need to be directed at the facilities or departments such as the NHS.
The Right Training for Every Teacher
As with the need for the right school for every child, there is the need for the right training for every teacher. But as with the negative reports from parents on the right school, there is the negativity surrounding the right training for every teacher. One parent wrote on the NAS website, (paraphrased), that training in the mainstream schools is not very accessible. The parent also added that ‘the fundamental issues relating to communication, behaviour and language disorder, Continue to be misinterpreted as “bad behaviour,” and “not listening”.
It could be that teachers are not trained to recognise that bad behaviour could be a result of ASD as disruptiveness is a common symptom. It could also be the case that because of this confusion, children are being disciplined in schools for something that they cannot help, thus leaving a problem to go unsolved and the condition left to get worse.
A primary school deputy head teacher, from the same link, said that (paraphrased), in order for children with Autism to reach their full potential, thorough training is needed. This shows that schools are aware of the problem.
So in order to find the right school for autistic children, questions such as ‘how trained are teachers in recognising abnormal behaviour’ need to be asked in order to make up whether or not a particular school is best for those children that have ASD.
What next?
What happens next is very important. Important not just for the child with ASD, but also for the parents as it is those who care for children with ASD that sometimes have to take the stress and pain as they come to terms with their children(s) autism. Depending on the scale of a child’s ASD, ASD is nothing to be afraid of once all the questions have been answered and a parents understanding of ASD is to the point where looking forward is the only way to go. It could be that sometimes parents are more afraid of the unknown, and once the unknown becomes clear can then the fear turn into strength, which could result in a drive for success in the provisions of education and life skills for their child.
So after the diagnosis and treatment, the decision of ‘how and where’ needs to be addressed. ‘Where’ is for what type of institution or type of school is a sufferer of autism going to attend to be educated, and more importantly, to make the most of how to control autism into early and late adult life. This will help those with ASD, depending at what end of the spectrum they are on to live a near normal life.
‘How’ is for how is the plan for education going to be implemented? How are schools going to be short-listed as the school with the right training? How are schools going to organise themselves and how will a school go about classing themselves as an ideal school for autistic children.
Conclusion
As already explained Autistic Spectrum Disorder can be hard to spot and diagnose. It is very much a condition that affects how the brain functions and that the exact causes of ASD are still unknown, even though some research has shown that a faulty gene may be involved, which could have been inherited from one or both parents.
ASD is also a condition that will continue throughout life, though there is some evidence to suggest that the use of medication can help to ease the symptoms of disorders that occur, resulting from having ASD, such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. (ADHD)
It has already been mentioned that symptoms are grouped as:
-
Social interaction- When a child may seem distant or detached
-
Communication- Not being able to express themselves or understand everyday gestures of facial expressions
-
Routine and repetitive behaviour- when a child keeps to a routine and/or carries out a task over and over again.
Some of these symptoms may also lead to hyperactivity in younger children. Children with ASD may also have sensory difficulties.
Education is also a big problem. Parents are finding it increasingly difficult to choose from very few well-equipped schools. This in turn leads to difficulty in finding the right sort of training and education. Without adequate training, teachers may not be able to recognise the milder symptoms of bad behaviour in autistic children and may believe that potential sufferer’s of autism are just badly behaved, rude, and ignorant who constantly cause trouble. This can potentially leave any child with ASD in a more vulnerable position than ever, as they do not get the proper care and attention that they deserve and need as their ‘bad behaviour’ shadows the reason behind this disruptiveness. This is also backed up by the National Autistic Society’s Make Schools Make Sense report.
It could be the case that more effort should go into teachers training so that teachers may be able to spot the early, yet disturbing symptoms of ASD. It is only when a child is diagnosed is when the life long journey can begin.
The government must take extreme caution to the warnings and take notice of any report that suggests that the educational system is letting people down, as the blame will soon be on the people who govern education, which is central Government.
It is unfair that children should be excluded from school because the schools in question cannot offer the required support. This could have an adverse affect on autistic children and has the potential of causing the symptoms of ASD worsen in some children for the feeling of ‘not wanted’ or ‘not belonging’.
Parents, health officials and Government have to work together for there to be a more diverse school system that works and to ensure that children with or without ASD receive the best that British education has to offer. However, for this to be accomplished further research needs to be conducted by all agencies to ensure that all children with ASD or any other learning disability has the best education with adequate support available to them.
References
BBC 2, (video), The Autism Puzzle, library reference: G2583
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Acknowledgement
I, Stephen J J Davies, declare that this interdisciplinary study is all my own work, including all research and word processing of the document.
I declare that no other person(s) work has been used without due acknowledgement.
Signed……………………………….. Stephen J.J. Davies
Date…………………..
