Autism

Sunday, April 21, 2013

Fun Facts:

Albert Einstein didn't speak until he was four, and not fluently in his own language until he was eight or nine.
He did poorly in school and was a day dreamer.
He had tantrums as a child and couldn't express himself very well.
When he was a child, he was considered retarded even by his own parents.
Many people in the Einstein family are autistic.
An autistic brain has a cerebrum larger than normal, and a cerebellum smaller than normal. An autopsy of Einstein's brain showed that Einstein's cerebrum was indeed larger than normal (like an autistic brain). Unfortunately however they did not reveal the size of his cerebellum.
Even as an adult, Albert Einstein couldn't take care of himself.
He never learned how to drive a car.
He was a visual thinker.

Medicines are most commonly used to treat related conditions and problem behaviors, including depression, anxiety, hyperactivity, and obsessive-compulsive behaviors that a person with autism may have.
Also Speech therapy can help a child with autism improve language and social skills to communicate more effectively.
Behavioral training and management uses positive reinforcement, self-help, and social skills training to improve behavior and communication.

A kid with an autism spectrum disorder might:

Have trouble learning the meaning of words
Do the same thing over and over, like saying the same word
Move his or her arms or body in a certain way
Have trouble adjusting to changes (like trying new foods, having a substitute teacher, or having toys moved from their usual places)

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.

Of the estimated 30,000 genes that make up the human genome, between 700-900 genes lie on chromosome 15, which scientist believe to be the chromosome affected by Autism.

When a child has Autism their Chromosome 15 duplicates and makes 3, 4, 5, or even 6 extra copies. In other cases, portions of the chromosome are deleted.

From the early 1900s, autism has referred to a range of psychological conditions.
The word "autism," which has been in use for about 100 years, comes from the Greek word "autos," meaning "self." The term describes conditions in which a person is removed from social interaction -- hence, an isolated self.
Eugen Bleuler, a Swiss psychiatrist, was the first person to use the term. He started using it around 1911 to refer to one group of symptoms of schizophrenia.
In the 1940s, researchers in the United States began to use the term "autism" to describe children with emotional or social problems.