ASD is a neurodevelopmental condition which is characterized by difficulties with social interaction, communication as well as repetitive and restrictive behaviour. The severity and symptoms differ from child to child, making each child unique in their strengths and weaknesses. Some symptoms may be present in their earlier years, however, most children with ASD are diagnosed in preschool.
So, let us dive a little deeper into the symptoms that help us diagnose a child with ASD.
Difficulties in Social Interaction and Communication:
Often these little ones with have difficulties understanding other’s emotions, responding, or initiating social interaction and having back-and-forth conversation. They may also struggle with understanding and communicating with non-verbal communication. For example, they may avoid eye-contact, struggle understanding or using body language to express themselves as well as interpreting emotions shown through facial expressions. Their difficulties may also extend to the ability to develop and maintain relationships with others. Therefore, they may not show interests in engaging with other children, playing with others, or making friends. This could also lead to barriers in forming a parent-child relationship. This does not mean that these children do not need as much love and attention that any other child requires, but indicates they need so much more time and understanding when trying to form a relationship with them. Thus, it is important to understand their social interaction difficulties and help them through these barriers.
Restricted, Repetitive Behaviours, Interests or Activities:
Commonly children with ASD have repetitive movement, repetitiveness of using only one object or repetitiveness of speech. For example, flapping of their arms, lining up toys, or repeating one word or a phrase over and over again. These little ones love routine and really struggle to be flexible, as they are insistent on sameness. They often experience extreme distress when there are small changes in their daily routine or any life transitions. They generally are very rigid in their thinking and do not like any surprises in their daily rituals. Another unique characteristic is that they have fixated interests on certain objects. This is usually an intense interest, leading to them thinking about and engaging solely with this specific interest, disregarding other objects or toys in their environment. This makes their ability to explore and be creative in play extremely limited.
Hyper- or Hypo-reactivity to Sensory Input:
These children may be extremely sensitive or abnormally desensitized to sensory input, such as noise, smell, touch, visual or movement. If they are hyper-reactive to sensory input, they may react intensely to a sensation that you and I may not notice. If they are hypo-reactive to sensory input, they may not react or even notice a sensation that you and I most definitely would. They may also have an unusual interest in sensations of the environment, such as constantly seeking certain textures or movements, fascination with lights or moving objects like wheels and excessive smelling or touching of objects.
Due to the fact that these children have difficulties with social interaction, flexibility, and limited, intense repetitive interests or behaviour, indicates that therapy can be slow but very necessary. The approach taken in therapy and at home is to increase the circles of communication, through giving the child time to respond, repeating questions until some verbal response is attempted and slowly building a trust relationship. It is also important to slowly introduce new objects and toys into their world and encourage interactions with many different objects over time, improving their exploration and creativity in play. According to each child’s sensory needs, the aim would be to improve their ability to interpret sensory information and to give an appropriate response, through exposing them to different sensory environments.
The care needed for a child with ASD is considerable and this can have substantial impact on the entire family. However, not all hope is lost as these children can excel and develop into brilliant little beings with the right help, guidance, love, and support. It is important for parents to work closely with the Occupational Therapist that is treating their child, to learn ways to interact, play, communicate and understand their child’s needs. Even though a relationship may take time to form, taking the necessary time to create a bond and understanding between child and parent can help alleviate much stress and confusion for both.
Happy Parenting
Author - Sadie Page
Bibliography
O’Brien J, Case-Smith J. Occupational therapy for children and adolescent. 7th ed.
Missouri: Elsevier; 2015