Figure: The functions of the brain
The first cases were diagnosed in 1940 in the United States - but autism has existed for thousands of years.
Since then, the percentage of children diagnosed with autism has continuously increased.
Autism does not depend on race, culture, social status, family income, lifestyle, education level ...
Autism is distributed across the planet.
Autism is a disorder that manifests as abnormal behavior. Usually consists of a morbid concentration of the
individual over himself. Basically, it is reflected on a disorder of communication social relations.
Autism is not a disease, it is a set of symptoms derived from a brain abnormality that may be caused by several
things: malformation of the fetus, genetic inheritance, various diseases, stroke, etc..
Therefore, autistic people are mentally hill.
This deficiency can be temporary or permanent. The disease can disappear suddenly or slowly throughout his life.
The gravity of the situation can be absolute or so slight that go unnoticed.
Children with autism are not naughty children who do not want to behave well - they simply can not behave normally.
As a paralyzed leg child looks like a normal person because they have legs, some autistic people also seem normal
because they have a normal body and apparently normal intelligence. Thus, they suffer because they are marginalized
by society and therefore attempt to behave well but fail. So autistics should not be punished for their behavior
because they can not behave normally. This should not be interpreted as an excuse to behave badly; autistics should
try to overcome their disability and try to behave better and better but it is useless to think that they will
do what we tell them to do.
In the past, it was common for autistic pass through "bad" rebellious, spoiled, etc.., And not being
recognized as patients. At that time, the most popular solution was to remove the student from school and send
him to work to earn their livelihood. This was a waste because many autistics have a higher reasoning than average.
However, there are many autistics who have university degrees and are unable to work a normal job. Typically these
are unemployed or they build a business where they are the bosses - to avoid social conflict with the boss.
Popular belief says that man is a rational being. But for reasons of evolution, man is an emotional being
because its decisions are taken by their emotions. While the reasoning has been evolving throughout human history,
people only make rational decisions when emotions are calm. If a person is exalted, their emotions do not let hear
the voice of reason.
To better understand what is happening, consider a functional diagram of the brain.
Figure: The functions of the brain
Based on "Personoids" a 1997 computer study on artificial emotional beings, (Minho University, Portugal) we get just three main types of autistic people. The behavior is determined by emotions. Without emotions people have no behavior - or may have a bizarre behavior. More specifically, the emotions are divided into two sections: pain and pleasure. So the behavior is a dynamic process that attempts to increase pleasure and decrease pain. In autistic people this process does not work well. Therefore, we have three main groups:
|
Autism type |
problem |
symptom |
evolution |
eye |
| Statue | pain and pleasure disabled | No behavior or repetitive gestures. | Development stalled until emotions arise. | Ignores eye contact |
| Audacious | pain disabled | Just looking for fun. Always in good mood. Do not cry. Do not learn from negative stimuli, which makes him irresponsible, etc. Usualy do not learn to speak. | Development stalled until negative emotions arise, such as shyness, crying, etc. | stare in the eye (a penetrating look) |
| Shy | pleasure disabled | Seeks to avoid pain. Seems excessive shy. Afraid to speak even if he knows how to speak. | Development limited until positive emotions begin to emerge; as the desire to have fun (play), etc. | Avoid eye contact |
Besides these three extreme cases there are an infinite number of intermediate cases. People close to these cases are considered autistic, the others - the majority - are considered normal.
Here are some differences between the Audacious type and the shy type:
|
Audacious |
Shy |
| Behavior not affected with negative reinforcement (punishment). Verbal threats and corporal punishment are useless. | Behavior unaffected with positive reinforcement (reward). Verbal incentives and material rewards (toys, treats) are useless. |
| Is always active and exploring everything. Can play for hours with any object. | Always passive. Prefer to stay in bed all day sucking on his finger, etc. |
| Do not learn from mistakes, learning is practically nil. (practice without theory) | Learning is limited because he does not put their knowledge into practice - so, do not fix some learning errors.. (theory without practice) |
| Usualy do not learn to speak. | Knows how to speak but is too shy to talk. |
| etc | etc |
Parents are often accused of isolating the child until he becomes autistic. But this is not true - autistics
may be unable to respond to tenderness or joke. For a normal child becoming autistic would have to live completely
isolated from human contact (see the movie "The Wild Child" / "L'Enfant Sauvage").
Currently, as many families have only one child, parents are advised to have another child to help cure the autistic
child. While this idea makes sense, may have an unexpected result: as autism can be a genetic problem, the brother
can also be born autistic.
Although there are many research for autism, cures are still scarce.
Most cases are mild and the brain can repair itself.
Psychologists play an important role in the development of autism:
1 - Diagnosis of autism. At about 2 years of age the symptoms of autism become evident. The tests can identify the autistic emotions long before that. Do not forget that autism is not a disease but a symptom. Once the autism is diagnosed, medical tests should be done to try to identify the source of the disease. As time passes, it will became easier to identify the disease and more cures will be available.
2 - Psychotherapy. Therapy to tame behavior in the absence of emotions and therapy to accelerate psychological development when emotions begin to emerge.
3 - Psychological support for families. It can be traumatic to know that a 2 year old child is autistic and then having to wait years before the child begins to show emotional development.
Autistics are all different and some disorders can last a lifetime:
- Emotional Difficulties - difficulty expressing their emotions or understand the emotions of others
- Social Problems - difficulty integrate or understand social activities (even simple social games like football)
- Difficulty making decisions - on matters related to emotions or social relationships
Some typical behaviors in adulthood:
- Fundamentally rational behavior and social relations indifferent or aggressive.
- Behavior unstable due to exaggerated emotions - only treatable with medication or surgery due to a physical problem in the brain.
If autism is severe, the autistic will never be able to govern himself and need support all his life.
If autism is mild, the autistic may overcome the normal person:
- An autistic shy can use its superior abstract concentration ability to work something useful to society.
- An autistic Audacious can prove to be a great explorer, etc.
To recap, normal people prefer a normal life with plenty of social conviviality, on the other hand, people with autism do not like social life due to their excessive shyness or due to convivial feel of a hassle with little action or low intellectual level.
Warning: even autistic people with good recovery have to be watched. Often problems arise in adolescence in autistic people apparently recovered. An autistic audacious can become violent and may need medications to calm down. An autistic shy can isolate himself from society and may need anti-stress medication.
Right now, it's very difficult to predict the development of an autistic child. All we can do is compare cases with similar symptoms.
The development depends on::
- Type of disease causing autism
- Severity of brain injury
- Ability to auto repair
The more severe the autism is, the rarer is it. Most cases of autism are mild - mostly are not detected.
Currently, the most popular procedure is psychotherapy and leave the body to attempt self-repair itself - which results fairly in most cases, since these are mild cases.
Overall, the state of the autistic will improve over time - sometimes with heels after a period of stagnation psychological - your best bet is to hope. Hope in natural heal and hope in medicine evolution.
Why are there autistic people? When will we able to eliminate this problem?
Diversity is Nature's solution for evolution - the greater the diversity, the better the outcome will be. The average individuals sustain the structure of society and original individuals contribute with new suggestions of evolution.
In practice, some individuals are born too much original and they do not offer any contribution to society - in fact, they turn out to be unable to govern themselves and are a burden to society.
Within this group of people we can find the unbalanced emotional known as autistic. We can find many examples throughout history: many heroes of the story were autistic people - average people tend to go unnoticed. Thus, the autistic shy left intellectual achievements throughout history and the autistic audacious left geographical explorations, revolutions, etc..
As this problem is a manifestation of the laws of nature, it becomes difficult to eliminate. However, it is clear that science will begin to eliminate the most serious in the near future. Repairing the brain is one of the most difficult problems in medicine - but not impossible...
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