The only significant difference between AS and High Functioning Autism is that people with AS usually develop speech right on time while people with autism usually have speech delays.
3. People With Autism Are Different from One Another
4. There Are Dozens of Treatments for Autism - But No 'Cure'
5. There Are Many Theories on the Cause of Autism, But No Consensus
6. People Don't Grow Out of Autism
7. Families Coping with Autism Need Help and Support
8. There's No 'Best School' for a Child with Autism
Even in an ideal world, "including" a child with autism in a typical class may not be the best choice. Decisions about autistic education are generally made by a team made up of parents, teachers, administrators and therapists who know the child well.
9. There Are Many Unfounded Myths About Autism
Since every person with autism is different, however, such "always" and "never" statements simply don't hold water.
10. Autistic People Have Many Strengths and Abilities
They are also ideal candidates for many types of careers.
In a world that’s ever changing, routine and structure provide great comfort to a child on the autism spectrum. Define routines clearly.
Activities are successful when they’re broken into small steps.
Make sure children know what to do if they finish ahead of time. Typically, children with autism do not use free time productively; therefore strive to have as little downtime between activities as possible.
Remember to keep explanations simple and short about each picture or concentration will wane. Give written instructions instead of verbal whenever you can. Highlight or underline any text for emphasis.
People with autism like order and detail. They feel in control and secure when they know what to expect
Picture schedules are even more powerful because they help a student visualize the actions.
Make sure you have this schedule in a very visible place in your classroom and direct the students’ attention to it frequently, particularly a few minutes before you begin the next activity.
Written schedules are very effective for good readers. These can also be typed up and placed on a student’s desk.
4. Reduce distractions
Many people with autism find it difficult to filter out background noise and visual information. Children with autism pay attention to detail. Wall charts and posters can be very distracting.
Try and seat children away from windows and doors.
5. Use concrete language
Always keep your language simple and concrete. Get your point across in as few words as possible.
Avoid using idioms.
Give very clear choices and try not to leave choices open ended. You’re bound to get a better result by asking “Do you want to read or draw?” than by asking “What do you want to do now?”
6. It’s not personal
Children with autism are not rude. They simply don’t understand social rules or how they’re supposed to behave.
NEVER, ever, speak about a child on the autism spectrum as if they weren’t present
Despite the lack of reaction they sometimes present, hearing you speak about them in a negative way will crush their self esteem.
7. Transitions
Children on the autism spectrum feel secure when things are constant. Changing an activity provides a fear of the unknown. This elevates stress which produces anxiety
Reduce the stress of transitions by giving ample warning
Using schedules helps with transitions too as students have time to “psyche themselves up” for the changes ahead.
People can be slow when they are learning a new skill until they become proficient
Encourage your students to ask each other for help and information
Making decisions is equally important and this begins by teaching students to make a choice. Offer two choices.
When giving a directive or asking a question, make sure you allow for extra processing time before offering guidance. Self help skills are essential to learn
Never underestimate the power of consistency.
Avoid this temptation and make sure you allow ample time before you abandon an idea. Remember that consistency is a key component of success. If you’re teaching a student to control aggression, the same plan should be implemented in all settings, at school and at home.
9. Rewards before consequences
We all love being rewarded and people with autism are no different. Rewards and positive reinforcement are a wonderful way to increase desired behavior
If possible, let your students pick their own reward so they can anticipate receiving it.
There are many reward systems which include negative responses and typically, these do not work as well.
Focusing on negative aspects can often lead to poor results and a de-motivated student. When used correctly, rewards are very powerful and irresistible
Every reward should be showered in praise. Even though people on the spectrum might not respond typically when praised, they enjoy it just as much as you!
10. Teach with lists
Teaching with lists sets clear expectations. It defines a beginning, middle and an end.
People on the autism spectrum respond well to order and lists are no exception. Almost anything can be taught in a list format.
While typical people often think in very abstract format, people on the spectrum have a very organized way of thought. Finding ways to work within these parameters can escalate the learning curve.
11. Creative teaching
It helps to be creative when you’re teaching students with autism. People on the spectrum think out of the box and if you do too, you will get great results.
It may even be painful for the student... There are research about this issue.
By correcting every action a person does, you’re sending a message that they’re not good enough the way they are. When making a decision about what to correct, always ask yourself first, “Will correcting this action help this person lead a productive and happy life?”
Leo Lytel was diagnosed with autism as a toddler. But by age 9 he had overcome the disorder. His progress is part of a growing body of research that suggests at least 10 percent of children with autism can "recover" from it - most of them after undergoing years of intensive behavioral therapy.
She presented research this week at an autism conference in Chicago that included 20 children who, according to rigorous analysis, got a correct diagnosis but years later were no longer considered autistic.
Skeptics question the phenomenon, but University of Connecticut psychology professor Deborah Fein is among those convinced it's real.
Previous studies have suggested between 3 percent and 25 percent of autistic kids recover. Fein says her studies have shown the range is 10 percent to 20 percent.
But even after lots of therapy - often carefully designed educational and social activities with rewards - most autistic children remain autistic. Recovery is "not a realistic expectation for the majority of kids," but parents should know it can happen, Fein said.
The children in Fein's study, which is still ongoing, were diagnosed by an autism specialist before age 5 but no longer meet diagnostic criteria for autism. The initial diagnoses were verified through early medical records.
The researchers are also doing imaging tests to see if the recovered kids' brains look more like those of autistic or nonautistic children.
Imaging scans also are being done to examine brain function in formerly autistic kids.
Results from those tests are still being analyzed.
Most of the formerly autistic kids got long-term behavior treatment soon after diagnosis, in some cases for 30 or 40 hours weekly.
Many also have above-average IQs and had been diagnosed with relatively mild cases of autism. At age 2, many were within the normal range for motor development, able to walk, climb and hold a pencil.
Significant improvement suggesting recovery was evident by around age 7 in most cases, Fein said.
None of the children has shown any sign of relapse. But nearly three-fourths of the formerly autistic kids have had other disorders, including attention-deficit problems, tics and phobias; eight still are affected.
Leo Lytel was diagnosed with autism as a toddler. But by age 9 he had overcome the disorder. His progress is part of a growing body of research that suggests at least 10 percent of children with autism can "recover" from it - most of them after undergoing years of intensive behavioral therapy.
Pervasive Developmental Disorders, including Autistic Disorder, Asperger Disorder, Pervasive Developmental Disorder Not Otherwise Specified, and Childhood Disintegrative Disorder.
For autistic disorder, Fombonne says:
The correlation between prevalence and year of publication was statistically significant and studies with prevalenceover 7/10,000 were all published since 1987. These findings point towards an increase in prevalence estimates in the last 15-20 years.
recent autism surveys have consistently identified smaller numbers of children with AS than those with autism within the same survey.
We therefore used for subsequent calculations an estimate of 6/10,000 for AS, recognizing the strong limitations of available data on AS.
How much lower is difficult to establish from existing data, but a ratio of 3 or 4 to 1 would appear an acceptable,
Eight studies provided data on childhood disintegrative disorder (CDD). Prevalence estimates ranged from 0 to 9.2/100,000.
Current evidence does not strongly support the hypothesis of a secular increase in the incidence of autism but power todetect time trends is seriously limited in existing datasets.
The upper-bound limit of the associated confidence interval (4.0/100,000) indicates that CDD is a very rare condition, with about 1 case to occur for every 103 cases of autistic disorder.
Whilst it is clear that prevalence estimates have gone up over time, this increase most likely represents changes in the concepts, definitions, service availability and awareness of autistic-spectrum disorders in both the lay and professional public.
The possibility that a true change in the underlying incidence has contributed to higher prevalence figures remains, however, to be adequately tested.