|
HEALTH RESOURCES
Parents of Children with
Autism Find Help at the Children's Health Council
You Can Be a Full-Time Mom... and Still Have a Full-Time Income! Find out how this can work for you!
Contributed by Amanda Bach
Recent reports in California if an unexplainable jump in autism cases - 13%
in 2004 alone - are once again bringing the mysterious brain disorder to the
forefront of national attention. So what do we know about autism right now?
What should parents know about the assessment and treatment for this
disorder? And most importantly, what can parents do to help their children?
Child experts from the Children's Health Council (CHC) in Paolo Alto, CA
offer answers.
Autism in the News - What We Know
In early February, the California Department of Development Services
released figures reflecting a sudden increase throughout the State in autism
cases. Some basic facts:
One in 150 children is being diagnosed with autism - versus 1 in 2,500 just
10 years ago. There are 1.5 million children living with autism in the
United States.
Autism was first recognized as a specific condition in 1943 by Dr. Leo
Kanner. Although there have been written accounts of individuals suffering
from autism-like symptoms since the 18th century, the term was first used by
Swiss psychiatrist Eugen Bleuler around 1911 to describe the behavior of a
person's withdrawal from the outside world. The world autism was developed
from the Greek word "autos," which means "self."
Early diagnosis is undisputedly the best things parents can do for their
children. Diagnosis at an early age will improve the chances of success in
treatments.
No one treatment works for all children; an one child cannot necessarily
rely on one treatment for an extended period of time. Treatment programs and
services are often very expensive because of the complexity and time
intensity required. For most children, the most promising treatment program
will be a combination of services that includes behavioral therapy (or
Applied Behavioral Analysis), speech and language therapy and occupational
therapy. There have also been some anecdotal reports of successful treatment
using alternative therapies, including vitamin and dietary restrictions, but
this is still not considered the main form of intervention.
Autistic children often have additional problems, such as gastrointestinal
illnesses, sleeping difficulties, cognitive/learning difficulties or
anxiety.
What Parents Should Know About Assessments
Because there is no single test to diagnose autism, a parent or pediatrician
who suspects that a child night have a autism or a pervasive developmental
disorder should seek further evaluation from a qualified professional (e.g.,
psychologist, neurologist, psychiatrist) familiar with this group of
disorders. A diagnosis should be made based on observations of the child's
social and relatedness abilities (with peers, siblings and/or parents), play
and communication skills and reports of behaviors in various contexts.
Because autism is considered a spectrum disorder, children can exhibit any
combination of symptoms and behaviors in any degree of severity. Many
children with autism do often love and make eye contact, show affection,
smile, laugh and demonstrate a variety of other emotions in varying degrees.
They also capable of responding to their environment in both positive and
negative ways. One of common and potentially serious mistakes made when
there is a question of a developmental problem with a child is waiting to
see if the difficulties resolve on their own or even the dismissal of
possibility of autism because not all of the symptoms and behaviors are
exhibited.
"Because we've learned that early intervention is helpful, we need to be
careful not to fall into the "wait and see' mentality. Many parents express
concerns early on about their child's ability to communicate and respond and
these concerns need to be heard. A diagnosis should not be made based on the
absence or presence of one behavior," warns child psychologist Dr. Lori
Bond. "We should be looking at a pattern of behaviors. Clinicians need to
keep the bigger picture in mind during assessments."
Similarly, parents having children assessed often hear various terms (i.e.
autistic-like, autistic tendencies, high-or low-functioning autism, etc.)
used to described children within the autism spectrum. Parents should
remember that, regardless of the words used to described their child,
children with autism are capable of learning and functioning productively
with appropriate education and treatment.
How Parents Can Help
Services are readily available in the community through organizations like
CHC, school districts and parent support groups. Parents are encouraged to
contact their pediatrician for more information and referrals.
The Children's Health Council offers a wide range of services from
consultation to assessment and treatment for children with theise and
related developmental concerns. For more information, contact the CHC at
650-688-3625 or visit them at:
www.chconline.org.
Sources: The Children's Health Council in Palo Alto, CA. KidsHealth.org
- KidsHealth is the largest and most visited site
on the Web providing doctor-approved health
information about children from before birth
through adolescence. Created by The Nemours
Foundation's Center for Children's Health Media,
KidsHealth provides families with accurate,
up-to-date, and jargon-free health information
they can use.
www.kidshealth.org
Contributor -
Amanda Bach is co-founder
and co-creator of SingleMom.com. The co-creator
currently resides in
California and Washington, DC.
She was raised by a single mom and so she learned it first hand how
difficult it was to watch her mom struggled everyday life.
And that is the main reason she co-founded SingleMom.com to create this wonderful
Website/organization. Her energy, natural creative ability
and superior business intuition make her contributions to this website
immeasurable. Her hobbies include volunteer, Internet, reading, ballet, traveling,
snowboarding, and especially wine & food.
|
