Autism: Applied Behavior Analysis is bringing hope!

We might have heard of neurological disorders but Autism is rare of a kind. It  is a disorder of neural development characterized by impaired social interaction and verbal and non-verbal communication and by restricted, repetitive or stereotyped behavior. The symptoms become apparent before a child is three years old. Autism affects information processing in the brain by altering how nerve cells and their synapses connect and organize; how this occurs is not well understood. It has long been presumed that there is a common cause at the genetic, cognitive, and neural levels for autism's characteristic triad of symptoms.

Autistic individuals display many forms of repetitive or restricted behavior.

• Stereotypy is repetitive movement, such as hand flapping, head rolling, or body rocking.
• Compulsive behavior is intended and appears to follow rules, such as arranging objects in stacks or lines.
• Sameness is resistance to change; for example, insisting that the furniture not be moved or refusing to be interrupted.
• Ritualistic behavior involves an unvarying pattern of daily activities, such as an unchanging menu or a dressing ritual.
• Restricted behavior is limited in focus, interest, or activity, such as preoccupation with a single television program, toy, or game.
• Self-injury includes movements that injure or can injure the person, such as eye poking, skin picking, hand biting, and head banging
• Awkward mannerisms, body language and distinct speech style

Understanding Autism Better

Proper care and correct training at the early age can bring the child out of the shell. Parents play a major role in raising autistic kids. It’s highly important that parents try and understand their feelings correctly and support them in their choices and difficulties. There are trained teachers to handle kids affected by autism. Little bit of fine tuning in the right way, can help special kids perform well even in their academics. Autism kids find it difficult to communicate, or at times express their feelings. They lack social interaction and fail to understand a relationship and any set of rules laid that has to be followed. Such kids, may not be able to follow non-verbal communication ie; facial expressions, sign language etc. They can't be imaginative. Most of their acts will be copied and repetitive. They love objects than people. They may lack grip over an object. Autism kids can feel comfortable with familiar people but not with crowd. Some small steps might make help in handling and understanding such kids:

• Anything you to such kids should be in a simple and sequential order. It has to be really specific and to the point rather than long and detailed.
• Use very simple language while giving instructions and try to keep sentences short and tone should be soft.
• Avoid sarcasm completely because autistic kids take literal meanings of what you say. Give appreciation and keep boosting their morale.
• Any usage of idioms will leave the students perplexed. If they look at you wonderstruck, it clearly shows that they didn't get what you said.
• Giving many choices, will leave the students confused again. Just give few choices and they will be able to decide their activity. Don't ask "what do you want to do?" Instead, give them choices.
• After you give an instruction, asking them what they understood will help you to know their level of understanding.
• Try and set daily routine for such kids for better results.
• Visual displays, photos will prove to be effective.

Applied Behavior Analysis

Applied Behavior Analysis is a new friendly teaching methodology initiated towards correct nurturing of autistic kids. Parents of autistic kids must get aware of these classes and take out time on regular basis to attend classes. ABA as it’s called is known globally for shaping behavior and developing functional skills among autistic children in a scientific and measurable way. In their classes they try to demonstrate to parents how to deal with behavior and how to develop good behavior among children with autism. Autism is showing a significant rise everywhere and modern interventions like Applied Behavior Analysis can be a great ray of hope. Parents have globally accepted this method as a useful way to understand their kids better. In our country (India) government must take steps to increase its reach in remote areas as children in rural areas also deserve to be treated correctly with such advanced methods.