Autism is a disorder that negatively affects individuals’ socialization, verbal and nonverbal communication skills. In addition to these, we see that individuals with autism often have repetitive behaviors and very few subjects that interest them. While different diagnoses with these findings were previously classified under the title of Autism, now all diagnoses are called Autism Spectrum Disorder. By spectrum, it is meant that the findings and the severity of these findings vary from individual to individual.
Autism is a disorder related to brain development and its causes are not known exactly. Autism is thought to be caused by gene-environment interaction. The only proven factor in autism is advanced paternal age. As a result of extensive research on vaccines, it has been proven that autism has nothing to do with vaccination.
The word autism means being introverted and comes from the Greek autos (self, me). When we evaluate individuals with autism, we see that the most important finding is not being able to socialize. The reason for this is the “social-communicative” deficiencies, which are the most basic findings of autism. Individuals with autism have difficulty in establishing relationships with people because they cannot acquire communication skills and social cues in a timely manner. Among the early symptoms, not returning to one’s name, not making eye contact, not pointing with one’s finger, not saying a word, and smiling in response when smiling are prominent. If these are not around the age of 1.5, it may be necessary to suspect autism. In addition to social-communicative deficiencies, another finding is repetitive behaviors and limited interests. In general, individuals with autism may have repetitive motor movements, insistence on doing the same things, and some obsessions.
It is thought that the diagnosis of autism has been made more frequently in recent years, and the most obvious reason for this is the increase in awareness about autism. In children, excessive screen exposure in the first 3 years of age delays their communication skills, which may be a contributing factor. In addition, factors such as advanced parental age can affect this situation. The diagnosis of autism is made by clinical evaluation and observation. The reliability of the diagnosis made around the age of 2 is high.
Factors affecting clinical course in autism; The individual’s intelligence status, severity of symptoms, language skills, accompanying disorders and educational factors are shown as early onset.
The first thing to do after the diagnosis of autism is to start special education for autism symptoms and the behavior of the child. It is very important to inform and support the family in detail. Since the education hours provided by the state are insufficient, families must continue their education at home. In the treatment of autism, drug treatment is arranged to reduce behavioral problems and to help the child benefit better from education.
In the treatment of autism; activities such as diet, elimination of heavy metals, neurofeedback, and sensory integration have not been shown to have an effect on social-communicative deficiencies and repetitive behaviors, which are the main symptoms of autism.
Family Support in Autism
Families have a great responsibility after diagnosis. Parents whose children are diagnosed with autism may experience great sadness and may be affected psychologically by this situation. However, families must first protect their own physical and mental health. The family will be the biggest support in bringing the autistic child to life. Families should seek help from a mental health professional when necessary.
Families should follow the child’s education and development. Follow-up of their children should get information about what needs to be done and the problem that will arise from experts and reliable sources. For these reasons, it is recommended that they follow up with a child psychiatrist and set their educational goals step by step.
It can always be beneficial to be in contact with support groups with other families with children with autism. The education process of the child should be followed closely, the families should be constantly involved in this process and should pave the way for the child’s mental development.
The involvement of the family in the education program is very important in terms of contributing to the development of the child’s social communication skills and changing the problematic behaviors.
The family should be aware that; The child only goes to the special education center twice a week and spends most of his time with his family. For this reason, they should repeat at home what was done in special education.
Activities that families should do at home:
– Playing games, doing activities and communicating by talking constantly, without leaving the child alone for a long time, without watching television,
– Constantly giving your child a name. shout, bend down to eye level and try to call out, sometimes you have an object in your hand that makes a sound, bring this object to eye level, call by its name, clap when you look at it, give it a food that it likes,
-Try to teach simple commands; Call them by name, after looking at them say “come”. If he comes to you, say “Well done, you came very nice” and give a small piece of the food he likes, clap, smile, if he does not come to you, say “come” while making the come sign with your hand. If it comes to you, reward it in the same way. If he doesn’t come even though you show him with a sign, go to him, say “come”, take the child’s hand and bring him to where you are. Don’t forget to reward again. Remember that the child will progress slowly and be patient.
-After the child learns a command, move on to the teaching phase of another command (come, hold, take, etc.).
-Play with the child often during the day. Try to play simple games. Use exaggerated sounds and exaggerated facial expressions while playing games. For example, make loud car noises when colliding cars, or use expressions that show your joy if the child throws the ball at you while playing the ball, so that you can live it.
You can start with games such as playing ball, building lego, driving a car.
Start by saying the names of objects, then work on setting up the game and getting your child involved.
While playing ball;
-Sit across from the child. Your partner can also sit right next to the child for support.
– Roll the ball off the ground and throw it to the child. Use phrases like “Hey” or “hooray”. Encourage the child to throw the ball to you, too. If the child does not react, have your spouse support the child with his/her hands and make him/her throw the ball, and reward him by saying “Well done, you threw the ball very well”. You can clap or give him his favorite food.
-Make exaggerated movements with the ball to attract the attention of the child. Throw the ball in the air and hold it. Throw the ball from the air to the boy. Have your partner catch it with your help. Don’t forget to reward.
While driving,
-Take the car in your hand and say the child’s name, “look at the car” and show it to the child.
-Drive the car loudly. Encourage the child to drive too. If he doesn’t, give him support over his hand so that he can drive. When she does, say, “Well done, you drove very well,” clapping, or you can give her a piece of her favorite food.
-When the child picks up the car, he may try to turn the wheel or look without doing anything. In this case, intervene immediately and put the car on the ground and encourage it to drive.
-While you are driving one of the cars, your spouse should support the child with his/her hand and he/she will drive the other car. Race or collide cars by making mutual noises.
When playing with Legos,
-Build towers by stacking cubes. Encourage the child to put the cubes as well. Clap and reward him if he puts the cube.
– Overturn the cubes you put on top of each other by making exaggerated noises with your hand or with the ball. Smile and applaud.
-Try to play all games similarly simple and functional. It’s good to try and reward your name and eye contact every time.
-Keep your child with you in your daily work, explain what you do, name the objects, hold the object close to your mouth while saying it and try to make your child see the movements of your mouth.
-For non-speaking children, try to do breathing exercises and mouth movements. You can perform movements such as blowing a balloon, blowing something out, blowing out candles, chewing gum, drinking with a straw, licking the corner of your mouth.
-Making animal sounds together is very beneficial in terms of both language development and imitation ability. It is helpful to show a toy or pictures that make animal sounds, say its name first, and then make a sound. First, start with animals that make easy sounds such as dogs, cats, lambs, cows. Show and sound the animal each time. Encourage him to pay attention to your mouth. Once the child has succeeded in making one sound, move on to the other sound.
-Try to play imaginary games with your child, you can pick up an object and pretend to talk on the phone, pretend to eat from a bowl.
-Children need to recognize as many words as possible in order to increase their use of words. For this purpose, to show objects, animals and colors with shapes, to say “Look, this is apple, Ali look, this is red, Ali look, this is a horse”, and then to ask him to throw the object, color, animal into a box; It would be good to applaud and reward with laughter every time. For example, when doing facial recognition work. “Ali, where is the nose?” ask. Show your nose with your hand, then hold his hand and touch his nose, say “here’s the nose” and clap. Do these often.
-Children with autism may have problems using pronouns. To support this, ask “who did it” after your child does a move. Encourage her to say “I”. Then try to show himself with his hand and make him say “I”. Likewise, ask “whose sweater is this?” Encourage her to say “mine”. When he doesn’t say it, support it by doing it.
-To teach your child the use of yes-no, show an object and ask a question. For example, “Ali, is this a ball?” encourage your child to say yes; or ask the same object “Is this an apple”. Encourage her to say no. Then clap and reward.
-Teaching your child the concept of yes or no is very important in terms of reducing tantrums when you say something is missing. Using picture cards; Get his attention by saying look apple, look car. Then ask “is there any apples”, answer by saying “there is”; Ask “is there a dog”, answer “no”. Try to encourage her to respond by laughing and clapping.
Anger Seizures and Aggression
The anger tantrums and aggressive behaviors of children with autism usually occur when something they want is not done, when their minds are disturbed, when they feel under pressure, and sometimes when adults do not know or understand why. . It is also believed that tantrums and aggression are a result of the tension that children with autism experience due to their inability to understand what is going on around them. It is inevitable that such a tension will disrupt children’s relationships, leave those around them helpless and even frighten them. In addition, these behaviors will negatively affect the learning life of the child with autism.
In such cases:
-The factors causing the tantrum, if any, should be found and, if possible, eliminated.
-A child’s behavior should never frighten those around him.
-It should be understood that the child is not doing this to harm others, it is a form of self-expression.
-The child should be taught the correct channels to express himself (such as preparing a notebook with pictures of his wishes and needs for a child who cannot speak)
-After the tantrum is over, the child’s behavior after being silent for 2-3 seconds should be taken into account and praised (well done, it looks like you’re sitting still now).
– In other words, the child should not be punished for having a tantrum, but should be rewarded for calming down when the tantrum is over.
– Accepting behaviors that you cannot change, if it affects the child positively, allowing harmless routine behaviors and acting in harmony with them are beneficial.
-Repetitive behaviors, resistance to change, and obsessions are thought to help reduce restlessness in children with autism.
– Such tantrums can also be experienced when going out with the autistic individual, getting in the car, or doing grocery shopping. We should not forget that the senses of individuals with autism are very sensitive, and they can be overly affected by light, sound and smells. In such a situation, it is necessary to try to get to a quiet place, to get away from the noisy and light environment, and to say that we understand it with simple words.
-Aware that your child will lack motivation and get bored quickly due to autism, try to improve learning with fun activities and rewards. Seek help from your child psychiatrist in the presence of distraction, hyperactivity, behavioral problems, tantrums, and maladaptive obsessions.
