The Exceptionality of Autism

The rate of Autism in our society is rapidly growing with time. More and more children are being diagnosed with this exceptionality. Autism is classified as a developmental disability that results from a disorder in the central nervous system. It causes impairments to social interaction, communication, imagination, interests, and activities. Most of the issues based around Autism are controversial because it is still not known what the cause of Autism is! Researchers strive every day to find why it is caused, but still nothing has been proven.

The disorder of Autism was first discovered by a Swiss psychiatrist by the name of Eugen Bleuler in the year nineteen eleven. Later Autism was described to a full extent by Dr. Leo Kanner who studied and observed over eleven children from the years nineteen thirty-eight to nineteen forty-three. From the nineteen forties to the nineteen sixties the medical community felt that individuals with autism were schizophrenic. This led to an over-whelming lack of understanding about the disorder and made parents feel that they were to blame for their child’s

condition. Finally after the nineteen sixties people began to understand what autism really was and exactly the identified symptoms and treatments.

Autism is a developmental disability that comes from a group of neurological disorders that affects the normal functions of the brain. It is found in the category of neurodevelopment disorders. The symptoms of Autism vary according to severity. Some are more noticeable in children, while others it may be not noticeable at all. The symptoms of having autism include the following: impairment in social interaction, fixation on inanimate objects, inability to communicate normally, and a resistance to change in daily routine. Characteristics traits associated with Autism are the following: repetition of words or phrases, lack of eye contact, unmotivated tantrums, inability to express needs verbally, and insensitivity to pain. Also an individual with autism will react differently to stimulations like light or noise, than other children would. The symptoms and characteristics vary from child to child and change over time from very severe, subsequently less severe.

There are two types of autism. There are two types in result from such a wide range of the severity of Autism. In some cases it is extremely obvious and the subjects are highly dysfunctional while others appear to be “normal”. These two types of Autism are placed into the labels of “low-functioning Autism” and “high-functioning Autism”. Whether an individual innately has low or high function ability is based on the daily life of that individual and what issues they have throughout the day. This depicts their

ability to complete tasks, socialize, have conversations, etc. Many people in the Autistic community do not accept these two categories, but referring to individual cases in these terms is becoming more common.

The diagnosis of Autism generally occurs between the ages of three to five. Autism manifests itself before the age of three, which causes the diagnosis age to be after three years old in most cases. The rise in diagnosed individuals has increased yearly since the 1950’s. In 2006 alone there was 2-6 people diagnosed out of every 1000. This is not easy to diagnose because Autism is not the same for every child. It fits into the category of spectrum disorders, which means there are a wide variety of behaviors and symptoms for it. With all exceptionalities or disorders early recognition is imperative. The earlier the child can be worked with on an issue like this the better results they will receive.

Autism affects children on a daily level. It affects the way they communicate with others because of their receptive language issues, their inability to understand commands, etc. This would cause problems in the classroom because the child wouldn’t be able to understand what is going around them, or communicate well. If a teacher is aware of the problem the child is more likely to have a better educational experience. The teacher can work with the child and give their instructions in a different way so that the child may understand. Autistic children work better with visual aides,