Review of the Literature: Autism

 

Review of the Literature: Autism

 

Review of the Literature: Early child or adult autism is treated through behavioral treatment such as family or working with a team of professions or through medications, to improve attention, learning and related behaviors.

Autism is among the disorders that affect many of the children in USA.  Out of 91 children, one suffers from this disorder. The rate of children suffering from the disorder has increased dramatically in the last 20 years.  Children suffering from the disorder have problems with their social skills, language and learning. In this literature review, various sources are incorporated to determine the various methods that can be adapted to treat this disorder to improve attention, learning and related behaviors.

In a research study by Solomon & Chung (2012), it is evident that behavioral therapies can help to great magnitude in managing the disorder. The authors use information from various sources to build their case. According to Solomon & Chung (2012), family therapies are well suited to help parents with children suffering from autism to be connected even as they face chronic and accurate stresses of autism. Various issues such as divorce and financial challenges stress children with autism to provide a comprehensive treatment plan. Such parents require a sustainable work-family balance to ensure that they do not loss connection with each other.  A family therapist should work with the parents of child with autism to help them manage this situation amicably. The therapists should also do some advocacy work including consulting and coordinating with other providers, attending IEP meetings, and helping the parents of autism child to access to resources such as local support groups.

According to Foster et al, (2012), parents play a key role in helping their children with autism improve in social behaviors and learning. In this article, the authors argue that, it is essential for parents to accept the situations of their children in order to approach the problem with an open mind.  There are however many causes that do happen where parents fail to assist their children because of lack of skills and knowledge in the same. This therefore leaves a gap that requires relevant people with the skills to create awareness of the disorder to help parents to manage the situation amicably.  Behavioral intervention strategy for such like children can do great deal in helping them improve in their social and cognitive behaviors.  Educators need to educate parents on various aspects especially those that have children with autism. The parents should be shown how to consider the children perspective above all others even their own. Parents should fit in the shoes of their children to feel and experience how the children feel. This makes them to respond to them easily. Second is that parents should be helped to build a community of advocates. These collaborations allow them to share on various aspects affecting their children and therefore making them to address the concerns of their children in a better way. The parents need to be educated on the system including how to be prepared with informtaion and to know their rights.  The last step is for parents to understand the classroom to collaborate with their teachers in ensuring that these children are provided with specialist education that is able to impact on their social behaviors and to enhance their learning.

According to Estrella (2013), many people are affected by this disorder. It is estimated that around 700,000 people in UK are diagnosed with this disorder. This statistic illuminates the sovereignty of the disorders and therefore requires it to be managed with urgency. The author proposes a six-model way for helping parents and children with the disorder to manage it. The model adopted is denoted by an acronym LESSON. Lesson means that the nurses or therapies require listening to the parents to be in a position to give them the right advice.  Parents with children suffering from autism are most of the time stressed and are emotional therefore they require to be listened to. They also require being educated on the beneficial intervention. Autism is a complex problem and parents may not understand it easily hence the need to take them through a discussion with a nurse to enhance their understanding.  Children with this disorder require support from their families. This support makes these children to try to learn some social skills and other social behaviors. The support need to be appropriate for each parent’s reactions to the children diagnoses.

Once parents have insight about the autism spectrum disorder, and the main needs of their children they need to come up with appropriate structures and family routine. They can do this through various ways one of the ways is using pictures and images. For instance, when they show a picture of a car to the child, the child should be able to know that they are going for a trip. Through observation of families and discussing with them, nurses can assess the abilities of parents to take control of challenging situations. Therefore, they can provide appropriate interventions such as advising the parents on the best ways to address the issues to avoid further negative consequences. They can also refer them to specialists to help them cope with the problem. Even though, autism is a complex disorder that presents itself in unusual way, when parents are aware of the disorder they come to terms with reality and are content. They can therefore provide or create a predictable autistic home environment where their children can feel safe and comfortable.

Even though, efforts are underway to help in the management of this disorder through behavioral therapies and medication, some people still do not understand the disorder and therefore they does not provide required support. According to Razali et al. (2013), many schools in Malaysia do not provide enough attention to children suffering from autism. This is a challenge that leaves these children hopeless and helpless. It is very important that all the stakehodlers such as schools and parents join hands to help these children in coping up with their conditions. This is a very complex and bad conditions that cannot be left on the children to handle themselves. There needs to be concerted efforts from all the parties to support these children.

According to Jordan, Robertson, Catani, Craig & Murphy (2012), various treatment options are available to treat autism. One of the medications that have been used in treatment of this disorder apart from behavioral therapy is aripiprazole. Some of the emerging antipsychotic drugs have partial agonist dopaminergic elements.  This article furthers postulates that patients or children with this disorder responded positively upon being subjected to this medication. This therefore, indicated that those medications could be used to reduce the severity of the disorder to ensure that children with autism can be able to learn and socialize.

According to Cunningham, (2012), it is vital to design an effective treatment to improve early social behaviors in autism. The varied treatments options in different literatures are one of the barriers in the optimal treatment of the disorders. Research should therefore be intensified to help in measuring and determining the magnitude of the disorder to provide effective treatment options. There is a light at the end of the tunnel if appropriate measurers are put in a place to establish the best options to treat the disorder. According to Reaven, Blakeley-Smith, Culhane-Shelburne & Hepburn (2012), children suffering from autism spectrum disorders are at higher risk of developing significant anxiety that is likely to impact on their school, community and home environments.  These disorders however can be treated or managed by cognitive behavioral therapies and with modified cognitive behavioral therapies. These interventions are effective in reducing the symptoms and improving the status of these children.

In conclusion, autism spectrum disorder is one of the disorders that affect many children across the world.  Because of the complexities of the diseases, many parents are not aware of the same. A disorder can be managed through various interventions in curing, family therapies, parental support, and cognitive therapies and through medications aimed at reducing the symptoms. Children with autism can also improve and be in a position to learn if the stakeholders support them. It is the responsibility of parents, nurses and the other stakeholder across the world to be positive about these children to help them in management of their conditions.

 

References

Cunningham, A. (2012). Measuring Change in Social Interaction Skills of Young Children with   Autism, Journal of Autism & Developmental Disorders, 42(4): 593-605.

Estrella, C. (2013). Parental perspectives on the care of children with autism, Learning Disability Practice, 16(9):24-28.

Foster, A., Rude, D., & Grannan, C. (2012). Preparing parents to advocate for a child with           autism: educators have a vital role to play in helping parents develop the skills to become       effective advocates for children with autism.(Autism), In: Phi Delta Kappan, 94(4):16-20

Jordan, I., Robertson, D., Catani, M., Craig, M., & Murphy, D. (2012). Aripiprazole in the            treatment of challenging behavior in adults with autism spectrum disorder,          Psychopharmacology, 223(3): 357-360.

Razali, N et al. (2013). Teachers’ Perceptions of Including Children with Autism in a Preschool,   Asian Social Science, 9(12): 261-267.

Reaven, J., Blakeley-Smith, A., Culhane-Shelburne, K., & Hepburn, S. (2012). Group cognitive    behavior therapy for children with high-functioning autism spectrum disorders and    anxiety: a randomized trial, Journal of Child Psychology & Psychiatry, 53(4): 410-419.

Solomon, A., & Chung, B. (2012). Understanding Autism: How Family Therapists Can Support   Parents of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders, Family Process, 51(2):250-264.

 

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