Introduction
Autism is a psychological disorder that is highly detectable in early childhood. Its diagnosis on a child may shatter a parent although there has been confusion on its diagnosis. Autism has been considered by healthcare professionals as a spectrum disorder since different autistic people may show different symptoms and features. The exact cause of autism is not known but there are medical explanations that describe it as a disorder of the neural system which is inborn and persists for a lifetime evidenced by the functional impairments associated with it. Autism has been described as a disorder that puts children in their little world. Autism has existed long before the 20th century although it had not been medically recognized until 1943 when Dr. Leo Kanner and psychologist, Hans Asperger published autism papers (CDI 1). This paper examines the prevalence of autism and its impact on the population as well as diagnostic and treatment measures associated with it.
Prevalence of autism
Recent studies show that the prevalence of autism has been increasing drastically over the past decades. A study conducted by the Center for Autism and Developmental Disabilities and Epidemiology (CADDE) shows that autism can affect anyone regardless of race, social status, or gender although boys are more susceptible to the disorder than girls with only one girl affected in every 4 autistic boys (Curtis 1). The most recent studies on the prevalence of autism show that there are between 15 to 30 autistic people in every 10,000 population. This means that 1 or 2 people out of a population of 1,000 are autistic. Additionally, these studies have been said to be faced with certain challenges that led to underestimation which means that the prevalence may be much more than this estimate. However, it is not clear yet whether the prevalence has increased even though the number of children known to be autistic has been increasing drastically since the early 1980s. This is because the increase has been linked to the advancement in diagnostic procedures over the years. It has therefore been impossible to determine the level of increase in autism cases that is as a result of improved diagnostic measures and that which can be attributed to the real increase in autism prevalence. The center for disease control and prevention includes a prevalence of 3 – 7 autistic patients in every 1,000 children population (CDC 1). Despite several studies showing no relation between socioeconomic status and autism, other studies have recently found out that autism seems to be clustered in urban areas especially those of high socioeconomic class.
Effects of autism on individual people and the population
The main impact of autism on its patients has been demonstrated on social interaction where the affected are unable to live a normal social life. This is characterized by avoidance of other people and the inability of the children to interpret emotional expressions such as facial expressions since the affected children often avoid looking at other people’s faces. Another common impact of autism is a repetition of certain behaviors such as twirling hair or engaging in injurious behaviors such as biting oneself. Others may go to the extremes of banging their heads on surfaces such as walls and the floor. Studies show that autistic children speak much later than other children and when they do, they tend to speak in a sing-song voice (CADDE 1). Similarly, autistic individuals have been found to have unusual responses to certain sensitive things such as touch and other sensory stimulations. Many have been found to have less sensitivity to pain evidenced by injurious behaviors such as biting and headbanging.
Social impacts may as well arise with several studies confirming that autistic children, alongside others suffering from psychological disorders, are the primary targets for bullying in schools. In environmentally unstable families, autistic children are likely to be abused emotionally by their siblings or in other cases, their parents. Due to the delay in their developmental capabilities, autistic children are likely to have problems with their teachers and other authorized personnel especially due to their underdeveloped skills in language, writing, and reading. Studies have also shown that autistic adult life gets affected especially on social interaction and intimate relationships which may be linked to the inability of one to develop self-awareness (CADDE 1). Autistic adults are less likely to marry with speculation that most autistic adults prefer an assortative mating where they marry amongst themselves and hence produce autistic offspring.
Diagnosis and treatment of autism
Doctors have described autism as a pervasive developmental disorder due to the difficulty associated with its diagnosis. This is because the severity of the disorder differs from person to person and so do the symptoms. Due to these variations, autism can easily go unrecognized especially in patients with multiple handicaps or those with a mild development of the disorder. Researchers and psychological therapists have developed several ways of identifying the disorder. These mainly entail observations on the patient’s behavior for the significant autistic symptoms. Most of the observed behaviors used by doctors and therapists are in social interactions. However, these alone may not be enough to differentiate the type of disorder. This is why other features such as preoccupation with certain objects, special interests, and repetitive use of language have been used as well. Several pieces of research on motivational theory indicate that autistic children are unenthusiastic to behave in a certain manner rather than unable to do so (Learnmax 1). This characteristic has also attained much attention from psychological specialists in the diagnosis of autism.
Even though autism cannot be cured, therapies and interventions have been used to remedy the specific characteristics of autism. Educational and behavioral interventions have been used to help autistic children develop skills in language and social interaction. Recent studies have shown that early diagnosis and intervention can influence brain development. Doctors have adopted the use of medical prescriptions to help reduce certain signaling chemicals in the brain that are linked with injurious and other troublesome behaviors of autism. Counseling and family support are equally important (CDI 1).
Effect of autism on developmentally disabled population
The developmental disability department of the United States estimates up to 4,000,000 people with developmental disabilities in America. Sue to the various causes of these conditions including, autism, it is impossible to obtain the exact data on the prevalence of developmental disability and hence the real developmental disability population cannot be determined. However, since the first description of autism, the developmental disability population has increased remarkably up to 1.8% of the total population (Learnmax 1). For instance, the number of students diagnosed with autism has been shown to have grown from 5,500 to 55,000 in 7 years!
Conclusion
Autism is a disorder that affects children and limits their ability to develop normally. Even though its cause is unknown, doctors and researchers are working towards discovering the reasons behind autism development and as discoveries are being made, there I hope that in the future better medications and other interventions will be available to help as many children as possible.
Works Cited
Center for Autism & Developmental Disabilities Epidemiology (CADDE). “Fact sheet”. Web.
Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). “Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs)”. 2010. Web.
Child Development Institute (CDI). “Autism fact sheet”. 2010. Web.
Curtis, Jeannette. “Who is affected by autism?” 2008. Web.
Learnmax. The developmentally disabled population. 2011. Web.