Autism. Child and Family Assessment

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Table of Contents

Introduction
Discussion
Conclusion
Reference

Introduction

According to the case study Hannah who is six and half years old is born in a well-off family whose parents Bill and Eva are employed in full-time work. Their working schedule led them to take their children to attend school care. This case indicates that their social interaction is good since they meet with their friends and families regularly. Their child Hannah has been diagnosed with autism a disorder that has made her communication with others difficult whereby she reported not to respond to people’s conversation and that she never instigates any dialogue. She is also found to be making eye contact rarely with others.

She is also reported to suffering from upsets and anxiety the whole day while at school. We also find that after visiting a health center the medical practitioner finds out that the whole family is suffering from anxiety which is regarded as a psychological disorder (Burgess and Gutstein, 2007).

Discussion

Autism is defined as a developmental disability that is believed to occur in the early three years of a child’s life. This disability comes up as a result of a neurological disorder that disturbs the normal functioning of the brain which thereafter impairs the development of an individual’s communications and interaction abilities. Usually, this disorder comes with different impairments in different children (Schmitz, and Rezaie, 2007).

The symptoms of this disorder may be poor concentration, being temperamental, and sleep disorders. Such worries and anxiety causes major stress and may cause a bad image in the social aspect as well as in the work-related environment contexts and other significant parts of operation individual’s daily life according to the case study we find that this child Hannah has been facing the symptoms of autism where her communication with others is difficult and that she does not respond to peoples conversation and that she never instigates any dialogue. We also find that she rarely makes eye contact with others (University of Texas Health Science Center, 2008).

Research indicates that autism is stated to be among the five neurological disorders referred to as Pervasive Developmental Disorders that is said to be carrying a severe and pervasive impairment in several development parts of an individual. Autism disorder mostly affects young children and most cases have been reported to be chronic or severe between the ages of one to three years. According to the Center for Disease Control Prevention carried out in 2007, it was found that in the estimation of two in three hundred births many children are believed to be affected by autism and the cases are still reported to be rising (Cable News Network, 2008).

As a neurological disorder, it symbolizes an array of psychiatrist states whereby emotional suffering is manifested in the form of bodily, mental, and psychological troubles, and in many instances, physical indications are seen.

However, it should be noted that the ultimate indication is that of manifestation of this disorder which may develop to be severe to the child in the long term. Many medical scientists have agreed that children suffering from such disorders usually have the poor capability to adjust to a new environment, incapability to alter his/her life patterns, and more specifically the lack of ability to build up a comfortable, more pleasing, and more comprehensive personality that he/she desires to live in just like in the case of Hannah (Stephen, 2003).

Indeed autism disorder impairs the child’s communication system which may affect him/her negatively in the future in the ordinary course of life. Medical scientists’ under this research report that the most common disorder as a result of autism is that of speech referred to as aphonia whereby an individual cannot communicate loudly but only can whisper while speaking. The other common disorder associated with autism is that of mutism whereby it also lies under the category of speech disorder and in many cases it is difficult to be diagnosed and at the same time, it is not common as compared to that aphonia which is widespread in most children.

This disorder goes hand in hand with anxiety which is defined as a psychological disorder that is said to make a person sometimes feel anxious with no noticeable cause. Medical practitioners also argue that such a disorder sometimes is accompanied by uncomfortable feelings of which it is difficult to stop such feelings once it occurs. This is well indicated in the case of Hannah who is reported to suffering from upsets and anxiety the whole day while at school where she skips her lunches and when she is asked why she is like that by her teacher why she is behaving like that she says that she is feeling ill (Fiona, Simon, Patrick, and Carol, 2004).

Research indicates that an individual with an anxiety disorder may suffer from irregular bouts that are reported to be severe and on many occasions results in frightening and immobilizing the individual diagnosed with it. In this case, we find that she is also reported to be suffering from upsets and anxiety the whole day while at school and that sometimes she feels frustrated and becomes aggressive towards her brother Joe, Anxiety disorder is the most common disorder associated with human beings and usually, it is associated with psychological health disorders i.e. mental disorders (Courchesne, Pierce, and Schumann, 2007).

Therefore for these cases of autism; like that of Hannah, we find that many neurologists prefer counseling as the best method of treatment for this particular disorder. And research indicates that there are two major types of treating anxiety disorders that is medication and psychotherapy and has proved to work quickly in healing those attacked by the disorders.

Psychotherapy involves the psychological management of individuals attacked by autism in different ways. therefore like in the case of Hannah and her family at large we find that the only way that they can be helped is for them to be taken to a medical practitioner who is regarded as an expert in dealing with psychological disorders, therefore the family is advised to know that the first step in this autism treatment is supportive counseling which is aimed at reducing the pain associated with autism thus in the process dealing with the feelings of despairs that go along with this disorder (Marko, Heikki, Eija, and Sirkka-Liisa, 2004).

Counseling has always been regarded as an essential factor in dealing with people who have been affected by these neurological disorders. This practice is usually used in helping this person to handle issues that are found to be causing factors of the disorders. Occasionally, this practice requires skilled professionals who can deal with issues ranging from education, marriage, individuals, and families. To do this the practitioner is therefore required to have the following in their practices to understand the person’s problems.

The counselor should have good listening skills, empathy, and be genuine which will require the practitioner to tell the truth even if the subject matter is not that good to the patient. Therefore one is required to bring out the truth in a way that the patient will be able to handle and understand his situation; the counselor should give unconditional positive regard and also should have concreteness in providing any information about the psychological disorder (Mullen, 2008).

In this case of autism as a disorder, through research, we find that many counselors indulge in several activities that usually assist the sick person to come back to the normal status. The following are the methods that may be used by counselors to resolve such issues; Therapeutic relationship; under this we find that a better relationship between the client and the counselor is established. The client is therefore required to build trust and safety in the counselor although sometimes it is argued that the patients find it hard to build trust in the counselor thus they end up not giving full information about the causative factor of the illness (Micali and Chakrabarti, 2004).

According to the counseling practices safety is considered as a leading factor to safe therapeutic trauma work. In this case, the patient may be found to be having several characteristics that may hinder him from building trust and safety with the counselor. These factors may include personality temperament. We also find that when the patient is found to have undergone several traumas, the chances of him or her building his trust in the counselor are always high (New Jersey’s Public Health Council, (2008).

The cognitive way of therapy can also be used whereby it gives the affected person an opportunity to be optimistic and create reality in his/her prospects and thus reduction of depression. Cognitive therapy aid the dejected individual to be acquainted with life tribulations that are decisive and those that are of no importance which help him/her to come up with positive life objectives.

Also, the problem-solving therapy technique can be applied whereby the cause of depression is identified then it is solved to avoid further damage to the individual attacked. Also, the use of medication by using antidepressants is usually considered an option but not a necessity when psychotherapy practices have failed to work effectively and efficiently. However, it should be noted that such antidepressants drugs are only meant to suppress the depression state by controlling definite indications and do not effectively and efficiently treat the disorder (New York State Institute, 2008).

Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing; this method is usually offered by counseling in ensuring that the traumatic and psychological experiences are remembered by the patient. In this case, we find that the counselor does this by asking the patient to follow the therapist’s finger in the left-right eye movements that are usually done rhythmically, and by doing this the individual suffering from the psychological disorder is therefore asked to be thinking of the traumatic experience undertaken in the process of being attacked by the disorder. This therapy is believed to be leading to reduced cases of the appearance of the traumatizing images to the patient. Many argue that this therapy method provides no control, pre and post-treatment assessments (Burgess and Gutstein, 2007)

The other method is psycho-dynamic which mainly utilizes counseling which plays a key role in the treatment of psychological disorders and other disorders such as autism. Children with such disorders should be subjected to these programs to aid them to recover slowly from such attacks that may affect their lives (Vanessa, and Sally, 2003).

Conclusion

Therefore children diagnosed with autism from the age of three years to the age of twenty-one just like Hannah should be provided with free education which should be provided by the local education agencies in many institutions. under this, we find that the students should be provided with the education based on their needs as per the individuals’ autism spectrum and this should be usually provided by the professionals who carry better management skills on the autism disorder who are purposed to provide the children with the best educational programs that will thereafter enhance better performance in their academics, communication and behavioral factors in their social interactions (Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2006).

Parents who are found with children affected by the autism disorder like Bill and Eva who are Hannah’s parents should also be given a major role to play in the treatment of this disorder in their children. In this case, we find that the parents should be therefore asked to decide on the better educational programs that their children should be provided with, that is they should therefore provide more information about their children conditions to the available teachers or even professionals who deal with autism thus they are encouraged to have an open communication system that will make easy the evaluation of the child’s development in his or her treatment (Nicolas and Bjorn, 2005).

We cannot conclude that we have discussed all the methods of managing and treating autism and therefore future research should embark on identifying many ways and those that are more suitable to treating autism. Since autism symptoms are related to other signs of psychological disorders it will be prudent to research in the future dealing specifically with the key and most unique symptoms of autism to avoid confusion thus enable effective treatment of the disorder. Also, this study can be replicated in the future to test the validity and results obtained from the findings that were arrived at by the researcher (Bengt, 2003).

Reference

Bengt, S. (2003): Family System and Coping Behaviors: A comparison between parents of children with autistic spectrum disorders and parents with non-autistic children: Autism Vol. 6 pp 399-405

Burgess, A. and Gutstein, S. (2007): Quality of life for people with autism- Raising the standard for evaluating successful outcomes. Child Adolescent Mental Health 12 vol 2, pp. 23-45.

Cable News Network, (2008): CNN Helps Autism Debacle Blow Up in Government’s Face; Vaccine-Autism Link No Longer in Question, Larry King’s segment, and Jenny McCarthy, pp. 12-24.

Courchesne, E., Pierce, K. and Schumann, C. (2007): Mapping early brain development in autism. Neuron 56 vol 2 56-85.

Fiona, S. Simon, B., Patrick, B., Carol, B. (2004): Brief Report on Prevalence of Autism Spectrum Conditions in Children Aged 5-11 Years in Cambridge shire, UK, pp. 45-58.

Kluwer Academic Publishers, (2006): Journal of Autism & Developmental Disorders: The psychopathologies in childhood, pp. 25-45.

Marko, K. Heikki, R. Eija, T. and Sirkka-Liisa, L. (2004): Associated Medical Disorders and Disabilities in Children with Autistic Disorder: A Population-based Study Autism pp. 56-59.

Micali, S. and Chakrabarti, E. (2004): The Broad Autism Phenotype- Findings from an Epidemiological Survey: Autism Vol 8, pp. 23-33.

Mullen, B. (2008): Article on Therapeutic Healing Vest for Children with Autism, ADHD, Anxiety: University of Massachusetts Amherst, Natural News, pp. 1-7.

New Jersey’s Public Health Council, (2008): Article on Building a Child’s Immunity the Natural Way, pp. 45-87.

New York State Institute, (2008): A Deeper Look into Autism Research as New Avenues Open Up: Brain Research Journal, 7^th Edition; Natural News, pp. 21-32.

Nicolas, M. and Bjorn, B. (2005): Sleep disturbances in adolescents and young adults with autism and Asperger syndrome; Autism Vol 9, pp. 87-92.

Schmitz, C. and Rezaie, P. (2007): The neuropathology of autism: where do we stand? Neuropathology Applied Neurobiology, pp. 99-125.

Stephen, E. (2003): Conquering Autism Reclaiming Your Child through Natural Therapies Kensington Publishers Corp, pp. 25-59.

University of Texas Health Science Center (UTHSC), (2008): New Evidence Links Mercury Emissions to Rates of Autism: Natural News, pp. 5-12.

Vanessa, M. and Sally, G. (2003): How Well Does Early Diagnosis of Autism Stand the Test of Time: Follow-Up Study of Children Assessed for Autism at Age 2 and Development of an Early Diagnostic Service, pp. 56-78.

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Autism. Child and Family Assessment

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