Autism Spectrum Disorder: Case Study

Introduction

Autism spectrum disorder refers to several related neural developmental disorders affecting social, and communication interactions, symptoms vary from individuals. Individuals may have a similar diagnosis but different behavior patterns (Durkin, Maenner, Baio, Christensen, Fitzgerald & Wingate, 2017). Autism spectrum disorders have no known treatment but can be controlled by treating symptoms to optimize normalized functions. If discovered early symptoms can be controlled to enable acquisition of skills in communication and behavior.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

Molly has coordination difficulties, communication difficulties and has shown aggressive behavior on herself and recently towards others; she avoids social interactions, has problems recognizing new patterns and has poor motor skills. Through observation, Molly has shown symptoms relating to Autism spectrum disorder which can be remedied through diverse approaches. Some of these approaches include; Behaviour and communication therapy; this is to teach Molly on how to behave in social situations and express herself better, educational therapy to improve social communicational, and behavioural skills, other therapies can be incorporated to teach new skills to enhance coordination. This paper seeks to identify and provide options that will manage Molly's symptoms.

Communication Skills

Molly is echolalic, uses vocalization and does not spontaneously communicate. This is evident in her inherent nonsense word repetition; she tends to repeat words to herself before communicating or providing a suitable response, she also utters sounds that cannot be considered as words when communicating depicting a language deficit. These have led to her isolating herself from others and seldom communicating with others. In this light, a speech-language pathologist can improve her communication skills. Alternatively, she can be exposed to communication therapy, where she is taught comprehensive and expressive skills where she is trained to understand and give proper feedback when communicating. She can also be taught skills like eye contact, body movements, gestures and imitations to help her communicational skills; conversational skills can be improved by speech training where she can be taught simple phrases and take part in discussion with turn taking. This can also be enhanced by providing her with communication aids like reminder cards with directly written expressions to help her when conversing or expressing herself.

Behavior Skills

Molly has shown aggressive behavior against herself and others, this may be due to her difficulties in communication and expressing herself or she doesn't understand what others are trying to communicate with her. This might also be caused by oversensitivity, or she feels the need to escape from a stressful situation. This can be remedied by first understanding what causes her aggressive behavior, how she reacts and what impact her aggressive behavior has on herself or others.

Aggressive behavior can be managed by reaction towards the depicted aggressive tendencies. Avoiding situations that trigger her aggressive behavior can be a possible way to handle, training her on a better and positive way of expressing herself rather than the use of aggressive behaviors, if she is using aggressive behaviors to attract attention she can also be ignored till she learns to communicate effectively. Calming is also effective and having a calming environment where she can go to calm down and avoid stressful situations.

Social/Emotional Skills

Molly is fearful of social situations and avoids social interactions. She avoids interactions by staying by herself the majority of the time in the playgrounds. This might be due to her inability to identify and relate to emotions being shown by others; this may lead to wrong reactions in social situations. Social and emotional skills can be developed by responsive training, this will base using specific emotions and expressions to help her understand the meaning of particular reactions and emotions, emotions can also be labeled either verbally in the natural environment or writing emotional cards to identify different emotions with images for regular reference and training. Visual tools are considered useful in emotional and social training (The, Yap & Liow, 2018).

Cognitive Skills

Molly has shown poor motor coordination, short attention spans, and poor pattern recognition skills when tying her shoes and managing snaps and buttons. These are the ability to mobilize and manipulate objects and the ability to concentrate on a subject or competing for environmental demands. Concentration may be minimal because she doesn't recognize the importance of certain activities, this can be remedied by involvement and regular reminders when tasks are being carried out, alternatively creating a less distractive environment for her when carrying out essential duties is also a solution.

Poor motor coordination can be remedied through involving them in activities that increase strength and coordination, encouragement and reassurances when carrying out new activities, and providing rules that should be followed when carrying out specific tasks can improve motor coordination skills. Occupational therapists can also provide guidelines and directional suggestions for drawing and writing. Pattern recognition may be improved through, verbal and physical prompting, providing assistance and encouraging her to ask for assistance when tasks are difficult to recognize. Assistance systematic withdrawal will help in self-sufficiency growth and finally independence.

Sensory-Motor Skills

This is the ability of Molly to receive and execute motor instructions. This is based on movement and coordination and poor visual perception. Participation in a wide range of motor activities, explaining rules and regulations explicitly and identifying individual sensory issues affecting body movement are some of the ways that sensory-motor skills can be developed. Poor sensory motor skills may also be caused by other environmental, individual items or factors like noises, frustrations, and confusion (Zwaigenbaum, Bauman, Choueiri, Kasari, Carter, Granpeesheh, & Pierce 2015). Identifying such things and cushioning against them can be used to develop motor skills.

Professional Conduct

Providing a supportive environment for individuals with autism spectrum disorder can be influential in their development in cognitive, social and communication skills. Learning how to react to certain behaviors will influence their perceptions. Providing sufficient information to those directly involved in providing the right environment for those affected by ASD is crucial to ensure proper support. If anger is directed towards a physician, behaving calmly and providing reason and correct explanation is vital. Showing support and explaining that the condition can be managed might help to calm the parents.

Conclusion

Autistic individuals depend mostly on visual aid when learning, avoiding long strings of verbal instructions will help in the development of their skills. Reliance on visual aid has also equipped them with unique abilities that enable them to be good artists in the drawing. Autistic children should be educated depending on their special needs; this will ensure the skills and development of social and developmental skills. Inclusivity learning in activities is also a way to improve their motor skills.

References

Durkin, M. S., Maenner, M. J., Baio, J., Christensen, D., Daniels, J., Fitzgerald, R., ... & Wingate, M. S. (2017). Autism spectrum disorder among US children (2002-2010): socioeconomic, racial, and ethnic disparities. American journal of public health, 107(11), 1818-1826.

Teh, E. J., Yap, M. J., & Liow, S. J. R. (2018). Emotional Processing in Autism Spectrum Disorders: Effects of Age, Emotional Valence, and Social Engagement on Emotional Language Use. Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 48(12), 4138-4154.

Zwaigenbaum, L., Bauman, M. L., Choueiri, R., Kasari, C., Carter, A., Granpeesheh, D., ... & Pierce, K. (2015). Early intervention for children with autism spectrum disorder under 3 years of age: recommendations for practice and research. Pediatrics, 136, S60-81.