Updates on autism
Information is continually updating itself based on new research and advancements.
In the field of autism, updates are also happening which will affect our understanding of the prevalence of this disorder, and what are the promising practices to aid in helping them to function in their day to day lives.
The BBC reported this week that a recent study of 7500 adults revealed that one out every 100 of these individuals actually were within the autism spectrum. These were individuals who had not had the exposures to the vaccines of today that have been accused for the increased incidence of children being in the autism spectrum. This new finding demonstrates the same prevalence as the current numbers recently determined for children in the UK. It is also in line with the one in 94 prevalence rate in New Jersey.
So what does this mean? It indicates that very likely that there is no epidemic, other than an epidemic of actually recognizing the why for developmental problems in many children and the reason for the number of adults that can’t function in a totally independent manner in society. It also points to the need to both be diligent to early red flags in infants and young children for social and emotional and language communication deficits and the implementation of early and comprehensive interventions as well as ongoing methods of helping these children as they progress in their development to adulthood. Society is dealing with the outcome of underrecognitition of the etiology of a child’s problems and providing appropriate and adequate interventions, resulting in the high numbers of under educated, under- and unemployed adults, plus the numbers who can not survive independently in society.
Families with children in the autism spectrum need to continue to work to receive as many hours of service and as many types of proven successful methods of intervention as they can. This is also where legislatures need to make it mandatory that insurance companies cover these interventions since most will not do it voluntarily. They would rather say that it is the responsibility of the educational system to pay for interventions for an “educational” problem, or to disallow it as a preexisting condition from birth.
Schools need to re look at how they approach children demonstrating problem behaviors, since the approach to an inappropriate behavior for a child in the spectrum is debriefing them as to what they had hoped to accomplish or hoped to communicate with their behavior in order to help them develop more appropriate options to consider, not just assuming their motives and punishing them repeatedly for the same behaviors.
Our communities need to be more willing to work to accommodate these individuals with more time to master different job skills in order to become useful employees. This may require more time to have someone supervise them and assist them in making a work system that meets their needs in order to meet their job description duties, but this is what we allow for our electricians, our plumbers, our hair dressers, and our physicians, so the precedence is not new.
These children and adults represent one out of every 100 people in each of our communities. They may be a minority, but we are a society that declares that we do not discriminate against minorities. Let us continue to find ways to prove it.