im doing a childcare project on a child with autism .
i was wondering if anyone can tell me how it could be affecting his mental development
i haven’t found much useful Information on the net .
if you know of any websites that might help i would appreciate it
THANKS!
my twins are autistic and from a very early age they showed developmental delay however we at first put it down to them being born early as this can sometimes stunt development. they were over a year old before they could sit up by themselves and over 2 before they could walk. they are 5 now and still have limited language, this is due to them being locked away in their own little world, where any change or taking them out of schedule can cause severe confusion and upset, I give you an example today we went into the town and they presumed we were going round the shops as we normally would but as soon as we walked past the centre they realised this wasn’t their routine and dropped their legs and refused to walk. they say the confusion caused by autism is equal to you standing in a crowded room full of loudly shouting people and asked to concentrate on writing on a wall that would cause anyone to be uncomfortable let alone a child. autistic children generally avoid eye contact usually the reason for speech delay. they can also resort to aggressive behaviour as my twins do they spent 2 years of their life banging their heads off hard surfaces -its very scary if you try to restrain them they don’t understand why and do it harder. they don’t do it as often now as they can understand me a bit better and visa versa but if they become uncomfortable they can still kick off and more often than not any object within their vicinity will get launched. when the boys were three they had no clear language (due to lack of eye contact) this caused frustration because if they wanted something they couldn’t tell me and id have to spend the next 30 mins trying to stop them headbanging and trying different things like drinks snacks changing the tv channel etc quite often they would forget why they kicked off in the first place but couldn’t calm themselves down because they were so wound up. autistic children due to being shut in their own world generally are solitary and do not like their play to be interrupted, my oldest twin will hide under his bed with his trains and line them up in an exact straight line if any of them were to be moved all hell will break lose. he loves order and its through this tendency that we have been able to bring on his development, we use symbols with him so he knows exactly what is going to happen throughout the day and most of the time we stick to it and he knows whats coming next, he generally knows by where we are- what we are then going to be doing its only on rare occasions like this morning when we had to go somewhere unexpected that his perfect balance of routine is disrupted, one of the main important things for autistic children is routine and keeping language very simple making it easier for them to understand the world around them and also not pushing them to do things just because other kids their age are doing them. my twins are 5 and still in nappies they do not understand toiletry needs and often people say to me ( much to my annoyance) are they not out of nappies yet. but they have no idea that if i asked them to sit on the toilet or potty with their trousers down id end up with a 3 hour screaming match on my hands they will get there it might not be this year or next but when they understand it will come. a year ago they couldn’t even ask me for a drink now they know to come and ask me using the word drink i will then say go and get one and they help themselves i never thought id be able to leave my fridge unlocked as the would just be helping themselves left right and centre but the are slowly and surely learning acceptable behaviour. one thing i noticed with my twins from as early as a year they wont try anything new until they are 100% sure about it, pushing them to do new things just causes confusion and upset, with autistic children it will come when it comes
well, autistic three year olds are unable to make friends.
therefore cant experience friendships, trusts and such other intimate emotions, that arent taught.. but are infact learned by experience.
Its sad, but many autistic people can make friends, and people understand their condition.
References :
If you haven’t found much useful information it’s because you didn’t look. There is so much information out there on autism now that you have no excuse to ask people this question.
References :
It can delay them learning to speak and be able to communicate well, and learning to use the potty, it can also make it difficult to discipline them, as a lot of the time they don’t know what they are doing and it can make them act younger then they actually are and so therefore don’t understand what is trying to be said to them. It make it very difficult for them to make friends, or even connect well with their parents.
Plus it depends on the severity of the Autism that the child has, the more serve it is the more it affects their development.
I’ve only ever been around a child that has a mild form of Autism, he was 3 when he was diagnosed with it, and he had some speech delay cuz of it, and was a lil hard to control sometimes, and it took him a bit longer than some kids to warm up to people but once he did he was very loving towards them. I was his babysitter and for the first few months I watched him, he would cry whenever his parents left him with me, for at least a half hour after they left, but as time went on he grew used to me and the crying lessened, til finally about 6 months after I started watching him he wouldn’t cry at all when his parents left, and soon after that he was happy to see me.
Hope this helps and good luck with ur childcare project,
References :
http://parentsandcarersofautis.....ories.html – This one is a great one that has stories from parents of children with Autism
http://www.autism-society.org/.....e_lifespan
http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disor.....autism.htm
http://www.autism.com/
http://kidshealth.org/kid/heal.....utism.html
my twins are autistic and from a very early age they showed developmental delay however we at first put it down to them being born early as this can sometimes stunt development. they were over a year old before they could sit up by themselves and over 2 before they could walk. they are 5 now and still have limited language, this is due to them being locked away in their own little world, where any change or taking them out of schedule can cause severe confusion and upset, I give you an example today we went into the town and they presumed we were going round the shops as we normally would but as soon as we walked past the centre they realised this wasn’t their routine and dropped their legs and refused to walk. they say the confusion caused by autism is equal to you standing in a crowded room full of loudly shouting people and asked to concentrate on writing on a wall that would cause anyone to be uncomfortable let alone a child. autistic children generally avoid eye contact usually the reason for speech delay. they can also resort to aggressive behaviour as my twins do they spent 2 years of their life banging their heads off hard surfaces -its very scary if you try to restrain them they don’t understand why and do it harder. they don’t do it as often now as they can understand me a bit better and visa versa but if they become uncomfortable they can still kick off and more often than not any object within their vicinity will get launched. when the boys were three they had no clear language (due to lack of eye contact) this caused frustration because if they wanted something they couldn’t tell me and id have to spend the next 30 mins trying to stop them headbanging and trying different things like drinks snacks changing the tv channel etc quite often they would forget why they kicked off in the first place but couldn’t calm themselves down because they were so wound up. autistic children due to being shut in their own world generally are solitary and do not like their play to be interrupted, my oldest twin will hide under his bed with his trains and line them up in an exact straight line if any of them were to be moved all hell will break lose. he loves order and its through this tendency that we have been able to bring on his development, we use symbols with him so he knows exactly what is going to happen throughout the day and most of the time we stick to it and he knows whats coming next, he generally knows by where we are- what we are then going to be doing its only on rare occasions like this morning when we had to go somewhere unexpected that his perfect balance of routine is disrupted, one of the main important things for autistic children is routine and keeping language very simple making it easier for them to understand the world around them and also not pushing them to do things just because other kids their age are doing them. my twins are 5 and still in nappies they do not understand toiletry needs and often people say to me ( much to my annoyance) are they not out of nappies yet. but they have no idea that if i asked them to sit on the toilet or potty with their trousers down id end up with a 3 hour screaming match on my hands they will get there it might not be this year or next but when they understand it will come. a year ago they couldn’t even ask me for a drink now they know to come and ask me using the word drink i will then say go and get one and they help themselves i never thought id be able to leave my fridge unlocked as the would just be helping themselves left right and centre but the are slowly and surely learning acceptable behaviour. one thing i noticed with my twins from as early as a year they wont try anything new until they are 100% sure about it, pushing them to do new things just causes confusion and upset, with autistic children it will come when it comes
References :