Autism Spectrum Disorder and Aspergers available online @

msbeenen.wikispaces.com

What is Autism?

• Autism is a spectrum disorder: many different types of Autism and varying degrees!

• Neural development disorder with no known cause.

• To be diagnosed with Autism symptoms must be apparent before the age of 3

To be diagnosed:

• 1. Qualative impairment of social interaction

• 2. Qualitive impairment in communication

• 3. Restricted repetitive and stereotyped patterns of behaviour, interests, and activities.

Social Interactions

• Hard time maintaining eye contact.

• Non-verbal impairments: don’t always understand social cues etc

• Odd facial expressions/body movements while speaking.

• Gestures that would normally regulate social interactions do not happen normally

• Has hard time or fails to develop peer relationships

• A lack of wanting to share enjoyment or other moods with others.

• Lack of social or emotional reprocity.

Communication

• delay in/ lack of language development.

• Can’t initiate or sustain conversations with others

• Lack of social imitative play

• repetitive use of idiosyncratic language.

Behaviour and Repetition

• restricted patterns of interest that is abnormal in intesity or focus

• inflexible to change. Adheres to non-functional routines and rituals.

• repetitive motor mannerism

• persistant preoccupation with parts of objects.

Autism vs Neuro-Typicals

• People with autism have changes in the amaygdala which controls emotion regulation

• Cerebellum which regulate movement, balance and coordination.

Some ways Autistic students learn

• They can be over-selective and focus too much on details instead of the entire task at hand.

• Things they are able to learn in one place, they may have trouble performing in a different place.

• Get distracted easily

• Learn by seeing and doing, not by audistory instruction.

• Very ritualistic and can be hard to change.

• Their motivation may be different from their peers.

Aspergers Syndrome

• Characterized by significant difficulties in social interactions.

• Can often appear to lack empathy. They often cannot distinguish facial expressions and social cues.

• Do not always participate in the give and take of social interactions.

• People with aspergers reach out more than people with autism but do not understand how to interact with the people they meet.

• For example: May start a conversation about something they are interested in and talk for an hour without understanding and/or caring how the other person is feeling.

• Often take interest in one or two subjects and obsess over it.

• Very repetitive and ritualistic

• Not uncommon to eat the same things and dress the same way everyday.

• They can be extremely aware of their own body sensations and feel uncomfortable in their own skin.

Some Behaviours and Common

Characteristics• People with autism & aspergers may

not like: Cuddling, close touch, change in routine, too much stimulation, large social scenes

• May repeat well known phrases, have inappropriate attachment to objects, have no real fear of dangers, have difficulty expressing needs etc.

Kailee’s Sister Hannah.

• I asked Hannah what she finds most challenging about the "typical" world, and she explained that when it comes to commands or requests it can become really confusing. For example, when doing chores, we would ask her to pair some socks. While doing that task, we would remind her to also empty the dishwasher. So if it were you or me, we would think, ‘OK so when I'm finished pairing socks I'll also go empty the dishwasher’ whereas she would interpret that as "go empty it now" so she would stand up and go. We would say, "No, finish pairing socks first, then unload the dishwasher." So she thinks that we keep changing our minds on what we want her to do, and that is really frustrating for her. She said to me, "When people ask me to do things, I want them to know exactly what they want me to do and which order to do it in!"

Another thing is the importance of routine. Time is very important to not only my sister, but other autistic children I've worked with or had experiences with. For example, for my sister, dinner is at 5pm. When she was younger, this was non-negotiable. She would be really frustrated if dinner was early or late. Even if it's within 15mins of 5pm....sometimes it would be a matter of five minutes. She's much better now, but often if it's close enough to 5pm, she'll just wait. For example, if we got take out at 4pm and brought it home, she would wait until 5pm to eat it.

One thing I remember for me personally, what I found challenging was playing games. My sister is a big fan of dice, and the numbers on the dice. So she would roll the dice and base her decision on what numbers were rolled. She has an intricate system of how she makes her decisions based on the numbers rolled, but it can be annoying sometimes. She likes having the decision made for her by the dice, rather than making the choice herself kinda deal. And speaking of routines, when she was younger, whatever clothes she had put on for the day, that was what she was wearing. You could not make her change without having a big fuss. One thing she really found confusing was fashion. She would be like, "they're just clothes"

• Hannah also will refuse to read an author if she finds a typo in any of their books; as soon as she finds it she stops reading, even if she has 20 pages left. To her, knowing the full story is not as important as making sure the story is printed correctly. When she was younger she read almost all of the Nancy Drew books and then found a spelling mistake in one of the very last ones, she refused to finish the series. This also became an issue in school when teachers would make mistakes, she would feel like she could no longer trust their answers. Now that Hannah is in her 20’s she is much better at accepting simple mistakes, but she doesn’t forget them.

My Brother’s Nephew Trent.

• Trent is a twin, his sister is a neurotypical and loves to be social. Even though they are just 3 years old, Emmagrace enjoys big family get togethers and playing with other kids whereas Trent becomes frustrated and screams when the environment gets too loud.

• Trent started talking at the normal stage with his sister but as he grew up he started losing his words. Now he has a harder time expressing what he wants from people and how he is feeling. He relies on his twin to help him get what he needs instead of creating new bonds with people.

• Trent will only eat cheese wiz on toast, celery sticks, peanut butter straight from the jar and plain ground beef. He will drink milk only at night and will ONLY drink apple juice in the morning. The rest of the day Trent drinks water. If you try to make Trent try something new he will panic and shut down.

• Trent does not like hugs from his Dad and will only accept hugs from his Mom if she has full length sleeves. The feeling of skin on skin really bothers him and feels “sharp” to him.

• Sometimes to calm him down, Trent’s mom will hug him very tightly, the feeling of being “held together”

Class Task

• Christopher is autistic in the book, while reading “The Curious Incident...” it becomes apparent that his interaction with the world around him is greatly different than ours.

• Using the internet and today’s notes, get into groups of 4 or 5 and develop an activity that will allow people to experience some form of autism. (You will be given a card to identify what you should focus on)

• Create a small write up (200 words max) discussing what experience you are trying to convey to others and why autism awareness is important.

• You will pair up with another group and present your experiences to each other at the beginning of next week.

• IF YOU ARE NOT CULTURALLY SENSITIVE TO THIS ASSIGNMENT YOU WILL BE ASKED TO LEAVE THE CLASS AND RECEIVE A MARK OF ZERO.