Autism
Autism
The Autism spectrum covers a wide range of disorders with a wide range of severity. It includes difficulties in communication exchanges, delays in communication and language development as well as general learning difficulties. There are often repetitive behaviours and the social communication may be impaired. In its lightest forms, autism is hard to diagnose and some of the first signs are the lack of eye contact, the ability to express feelings and what often appears to be an aggressive or anti-social behaviour.
It is estimated by the World Health Organisation that approximately 5 out of 1000 children are in the autism spectrum.
My experience with autism
I first heard about the autism spectrum at university and came across my first cases when I became a Care worker and later a Special Teacher at the Royal Blink School of Edinburgh. At first I found this group of students challenging to work with mainly due to the difficulties in verbal communication. The autistic are special in that one needs to take time to establish the communication. Once this is done you have their trust and attention. At the end of my journey in the School I was able to communicate with my most severe case of a blind autistic young boy.
As a therapist I work with these persons following a three step approach: a) identify communication channels b) gain their confidence and c) develop their abilities to listen to the outside world and learn.
People in autistic spectrum tend to see many parts of life in a circular and repetive way