There are so many erroneous beliefs about autism among general people around the world. Some take it as a permanent mental disease that can hardly be cured with any medicine. Others ignore it and leave the diagnosed person to normal life like others. 

 

Though there seems to be no ‘complete coming back’ from such retarded condition, there are thousands of instances that prove that autism, whatever the type and level are, can very well be reversed. It can be minimized to a state where the diagnosed child or person could not be socially differentiated from others if not observed closely. 

 

So many autistic children have come round to normal life and have been able to overcome the social and intellectual challenges they faced in their early life.

Types of Autism Spectrum Disorders

There are basically three types of autism spectrum disorder:

 

• Autistic Disorder

 

Sometimes referred to as ‘classic,’ this is the most common type of autism, and this is what people generally understand from the word ‘autism’. Its symptoms are as follows:

 

• Intellectual Disabilities: From a more technical point of view, having intellectual disabilities and having autistic traits are not the same. Only a part (about 10%) of intellectually-disabled persons have been diagnosed as autistic.

 

Some common intellectual disabilities that are found in autistic children are slow learning, having less word power than average children of their age, requiring repeated instruction, pre-schooling, extra coaching, etc.

 

• Language Delay: They learn language late, and their skill of using language shows little or no improvement as they physically grow. They can’t remember (or sometimes don’t care to remember) essential words. The basic problem with their language is that they try to ‘learn’ their mother tongue while others pick and use the language naturally.

• Social and Communication Challenges: They find it hard to communicate with others and understand what they mean when they speak. In our spoken language, consciously or subconsciously, we imply more than what we speak literally. The listeners very well understand the implications either from the speaker’s expression or from the context. Autistic children fail to receive the implications and try hard to get the literal meaning.

 

 

 

• Asperger Syndrome

 

People with Asperger syndrome don’t show the explicit and manifest symptoms like those with autism stated above, except for some sort of social challenges and unusual interests and behaviors. They are mostly introverted. They develop a dear and lovely world within them and become addicted to being engaged within that world oblivious to the real world around them.

 

• Pervasive Developmental Disorder

 

Sometimes also called ‘atypical autism,’ this is pretty much a mix of the above two. Some of the symptoms are problems with using and understanding language and unusual play with toys and other objects. Some of the diagnosed children also have difficulty relating to people, events, and objects.

There is another problem called autism regression. This may appear in any of the above forms. The specialty of regressive autism is that its symptoms don’t show up during infancy. The child grows up just as usual: playful, energetic, social, and active learner. Suddenly at the age of 2 or 3, for example, he becomes quiet and uninterested. He starts developing unusual habits. All his intellectual development seems to be gradually slackening, and, at one point, it almost stops. When diagnosed, the doctor declares him to be suffering from regressive autism.

Social and Financial Impact— a Conventional Story

From a generalized point of view, an autistic child may cause an extra financial burden for a family. What is more disappointing, there are no health insurance plans to support an autistic child. Therefore, all the extra cost directly falls on the family members. Some of the major typical costs for an autistic child are:

• Specialty schooling
• Special activities
• Special equipment

But that’s not the end. There are other findings that speak differently. Our aim is to convey a simple message to the family with an autistic child: let’s develop a positive notion of autistic children.

Different Eye— They Can Have Outstanding Performances 

Autistic children are not entirely incapable of learning or showing intellectual development. Looking from a different perspective, they are just ones that cannot keep pace with the demand of the family and society they live in.

But they definitely can show great performance when allowed to choose their own way of living, learning, and growing. Sometimes they need support to find their knack. Once it is found, most of them find their pace and rhythm to progress and develop.

Most of the autistic children have shown great interest in playing games. And computer games, especially brain games, are an endless source of their mirthful learning that greatly boost their capability to ‘learn what they need. Some of the brain games that earned positive reviews are:

• Lumosity
• Dakim
• Clevermind 
• Fit Brains Trainer
• Brain Fitness
• Brain Trainer
• Brain Metrix
• Eidetic

What these games do is very simple. They boost up the ‘learning capability’ by developing a kind of self-starter— a mental device that helps them understand how to learn and achieve their goal.

 

Other Medical Approaches

Though not widely accepted and often said to be alternative medicine, homeopathy has shown great performance in managing autism spectrum disorders. 

If we study the homeopathic approach a bit more, it should be clear how it improves the mental retarded condition by its basic theory, Similia Similibus Curentur, which means ‘let likes be cured by likes’.

What makes the features of homeopathy an essential medical process relevant to our point is that it takes a lesser amount of money to avail of this facility— far less than any sort of allopathic treatment.

The Bottom Line

Taking the above discussion into account, we can very well declare that autistic children are neither that much of a burden to the family as we generally think, nor are they ‘lag-behinds’ in a society. 

They are merely ones that have not found their own way to develop in time. Once shown the way, they are no different from others. All we need is to show them a way and set them on their track where they ‘naturally run’.

There is always a way around and a way out. We have to find out the right way and the right approach to treat the different types of persons in our family and society.