FINAL PROJECT

Final project

Final project

Part I

The disorder which has been selected for the paper is Austism. Autism is a mental disorder that severely impairs a person's ability to communicate, interact with other people, and have normal contact with the outside world. In its simplest form, autism may seem like a learning disability. The more severe forms of autism involve strange behavior that can even cause injury to the person. Most autistic people (75%) have mental retardation. One in 500 people are affected by autism. Also, autism is found in 4 times as many boys than girls, but it is not limited to race. (Rajendran & Mitchell, 2007)

Background of Autism

The history of autism goes as far back as 1911 with Eugen Bleuler a Swiss psychiatrist first coined the term. However that term applied to adult schizophrenia. (Rajendran & Mitchell, 2007)

In 1943 Dr. Leo Kanner of Johns Hopkins University described autism for the first time. He based his discovery from 11 children he observed between 1938 and 1943. What he studied were children who had withdrawal from human contact as early as age 1.

During the 1940's through the 60's the medical community felt that children who had autism where schizophrenic. This lack of understanding of the disorder lead many parents to believe that they were at fault

During the 1960's people began to understand autism and more precisely identify autism symptoms and treatments. (Rajendran & Mitchell, 2007)

Symptoms of Ausism

he symptoms of autism are usually noticed in the first three years of the baby's life. Some of these early signs of autism are children who resist cuddling and don't respond to their environment. Autistic children show a lack of interest in others and do not have the ordinary social behaviors of a child who isn't autistic. They, usually, fail to make relationships, even with their mothers or people who take care of them. Also, autistic Because of the high rate of mental retardation, as mentioned before, autistics usually have a low IQ. There are some cases where autistic children have extraordinary talents where they are able to remember long lists of things, do math calculations very quickly, and play musical instruments. The individuals with these talents are called "autistic savants".(Rajendran & Mitchell, 2007)

Disorder Classified In The DSM-IV

Autism is defined in the DSM-IV as exhibiting at least six symptoms total, including at least two symptoms of qualitative impairment in social interaction, at least one symptom of qualitative impairment in communication, and at least one symptom of restricted and repetitive behavior. Sample symptoms include lack of social or emotional reciprocity, stereotyped and repetitive use of language or idiosyncratic language, and persistent preoccupation with parts of objects (American Psychiatric Association, 2000). Onset must be prior to age three years, with delays or abnormal functioning in either social interaction, language as used in social communication, or symbolic or imaginative play. The disturbance must not be better accounted for by Rett syndrome or childhood disintegrative disorder. ICD-10 uses essentially the same definition. (American Psychiatric Association, 2000)

Diagnostic Features

The essential features of ...