Every Sky is your own Kind of Blue

Just imagine yourself inside a big ball of balloon. To you the outside world is just a slow moving object, you hear sounds, yet u cannot perceive what they are, it’s not your fault, u are just inside a balloon. You see images of people, they interchange into different sizes, and they make sounds that you cannot possibly recognize because you are in a balloon. It’s not your fault. You do not like to be inside the balloon, but it is easier to be in a quiet place. It is a world that only you can understand; because nobody else can feel it.

Autism is not a disease. It is a disability. A condition caused by an abnormality in development of brain.

Everyday we wake up and think to ourselves, today will be normal as any other day. We have our usual routine in life. We are never certain how the day will unfold.  Yet, changes and unexpected circumstances matters little to us.

However, to an autistic child, normality is a relative term. For an autistic, “normal” does not include the little surprises we receive from life everyday. Normality excludes the changes in schedule and eating habits, normality excludes any unforeseen circumstance that might arise ranging from breaking a mug to taking a different route to school.

Autism is defined as a complex neurodevelopmental disorder that manifest in children by the age of three. The degree may vary from mild to very sever and is hence known as Autism Spectrum Disorder, ASD. This disability typically appears during the first 3 years of life and affects a person’s ability to communicate and interact with others. It is a developmental disability, it is NOT a disease. The complexity in development causes brain abnormality which leads to impairment of various functions such as giving of appropriate response, feelings and communication.

The myth that autistic children does not have feelings or is devoid of emotion is wrong and unjustified, autistic child can hear , see and feel everything as much as a normal person, however, they have difficulty in understanding, perceiving and expressing what their senses are telling them. Responding to the emotions becomes a difficult task for children with this disability.

  

What causes autism?

There is no single cause for autism, it is generally accepted that it is caused by abnormalities in brain structure or function. Brain scans show difference in the shape and structure of an autistic against neuro-typical brain. Till today, researches are investigating a number of theories, including the link between heredity, genetics and medical problems. In many families it appears to be a pattern of autism or related disabilities such as schizophrenia and bipolar disease .While no one gene has been identified as causing Autism, researches are searching for irregular segments of genetic code that children with Autism may have inherited.

Autism is treatable. Children do not outgrow autism, but studies show that early diagnosis and intervention can lead to significantly improved outcomes.

W.H.O defines autism as Presence of abnormal impaired development before 3 years out of which they pertains certain difficulties with regard to expressive language and social communication, lack of social attachment or of reciprocal social interaction.

Some of the characteristic attributed are:

·       Restricted repetitive and stereotyped pattern of behavior which includes apparent compulsive adherence to specific , non functional , routines or rituals ,

·       Abnormal  intensive Focus on one or more interest or objects

·       Preoccupation with part objects or non functional element of play material such as their odor, the feel of their surface, noise or vibration that they generate.

Children with autism have tendency to attach themselves with things which are non functional such as certain objects or toys which they like to focus on and spend oddly long hours playing or enjoying with. They do not like to change their routines and disturb the pattern of life they live because it is simply unimaginable to them.

Asperger's Syndrome

Asperger’s Syndrome is also one of the features of Autism; it is often referred to as Autism Spectrum disorder. One of the main features of this disorder is the “Mind Blindness”.  When often parents, family and friends and other people attempt to communicate with the child they note that there is no comprehension on what has been said. This often is mistaken as the sufferer being rude or low of intelligence or carless. The mind blindness affects the person’s ability to interpret instructions, messages, emotions and facial expressions thus greatly reducing the ability to function in normally social situations.

This is the most common characteristic of those children and persons affected by Asperger and other autistic spectrum disorder although the degree and form of disability may vary from person to person. This does not mean that the child is slow; they are in fact very intelligent and sharp. Especially the level of attention that they give to one particular phenomenon excels them in that particular area.

As mentioned before, autism is treatable, however treating autism is never an easy task given the fact that each autistic child is unique and never portrays the same symptoms. Some have mild symptoms and others have severe ones.

Treatment of autism

There was a time in this world when Autism was considered as mental retardation and people were misdiagnosed. They were not given the proper treatment which resulted in worsening of their autism and eventually they were secluded or sent to a mental institution where nobody understood that they had scope of leading a normal life once treated accurately. Thankfully, the world has since changed.  It has recognized autism and distinguished it from mental retardation and brought hope for the persons. Recent research has concluded that the best method to treat this disability is through intervention. Intervention means intensive involvement through behavioral means and through medicines or both. In other words, interactive assistance is given to the child towards learning basic things in life that comes naturally to normal kids of the same age.

Intervention system involves child family working closely with a team of professional. They lead therapy sessions and provide assistance in various other services such as child and family support etc. scientific studies have demonstrated that early intensive behavioral intervention improves learning, communication and social skills in young children with Autism. While the outcome of this method of treatment may vary, all children benefit in many ways.

This method has been universally accepted and used by various government and non government associations around the globe working towards the rights of children and children with disability. These programs are designed to provide therapeutic activities with highly trained paraprofessionals under the supervision of experts, the therapies are guided by well defined learning objectives which is regulated and evaluated to suit the needs of the autistic child.

The Maldives Autism association (MAA) is one such association that has been established to provide this facility to Autistic children and adolescent in the country. The main aim of the association is to train specialized teachers to work in the center as well as local schools so that the autistic child’s needs  can be met in the most appropriate manner and allow them the opportunity that is a right of every child irrespective of the ability or disability. Since their establishment, the association has been actively involved in creating awareness, building capacity and paving way for intensive early intervention.Thriving to provide them with a tolerable and meaningful life and assist their family in coping with the disability, the association focuses on the individualized intervention programs to help the ASDs to overcome developmental and behavioral difficulties. By providing necessary resources, guidance, awareness and assessment facilities, the association intends to detect the disability at an early stage and prevent the deterioration of the condition in the child.

Hence, teachers of the Centre work in one on one group settings to achieve social, behavioral, academic, communication and other skills that are targeted for the autistic child in their individualized Education Programes (IEPs)

It is hoped that this will give the child an opportunity to interact with people of his age. The benefit of such programs no doubt will reach the family as much as the child since   engagement of parents in intervention both in decision making and delivery of treatment helps the family to understand the condition better.  

Establishment of this institution has certainly brought new hope and new strength to the families and various other NGOs working towards spreading awareness of autism and establishing a system that can cope with the rising population of children suffering from autism and other disabilities. However, despite the effort, it is important to note that there is still need for much to be done. Lack of appropriate guidelines to provide assistance to the families, lack of laboratories and facilities to test and identify the special needs of the individual child and most importantly lack of appropriate laws and legislations that will essentially provide effectiveness to the system is the main drawback faced today. Further, teachers, parents and the society as a whole is required to  educate and facilitate themselves and others in recognizing  how to reach autism.

Autistic child is not defective, they are different. They are not intellectually ignorant, they are intellectually disabled. They are not mentally retarded. They are mentally disabled. Each and every child who is autistic needs huge dose of love and patience from everyone around them. Autism does not make the autistic less of a person; in fact they are more of a person inspite of it.

Autism statistics from US center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) identify that around 1 in 88 American children are on autism In India, there are almost 1.7 million who are autistic. A CNN article in early 2008 reported that autism was affecting one in 58 individuals in England and Ireland

In this country, MAA currently accommodates 40 children who have been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder between the ages of 2 and 10. More than 50 ASD diagnosed children have been waitlisted to join the association.

There is no cure for Autism, the cause is unpredictable. However, we have hope. Growing evidence suggest that a small minority of persons with autism progress to the point where they no longer meet the criteria for a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder. It could be because of an initial misdiagnosis. Some even mature out of certain forms of autism and produce outcomes that no longer meet the criteria for an autistic person and later are diagnosed with attention deficit and hyperactive disorder, anxiety and sometimes obsessive compulsive disorder. Yet there is scope and hope which is convincing enough. World therefore needs to stand up and listen to autism. The world needs to light up so that everyone can see hear and understand what is Autism. For, the Autistic person seldom sees the world the way we see it from our eyes. For us, the sky will always be blue , but for the autistic , the sky is their own kind of blue .