Autism and its Generated Behavioral and Mental Impairments
Autism is a complex neurological disorder that dramatically affects people's behaviors and social interactions. The disorder can be revealed in early childhood, by the age of 3. Although the first signs of autism can sometimes be identified in infants, the disorder is usually discovered at a later stage of life. Autistic children present a wide range of behavioral abnormalities, and they can be easily identified among normal children. While normal young children long for the presence of their parents and love to play in the company of other kids, autistic children are very indifferent, showing no interest to the people around them.
Egocentrism is a major behavioral characteristic of children with autism, who may even ignore the presence of their mothers or caretakers, avoiding any form of interaction with them. In early childhood, autistics develop repetitive, stereotype behaviors and become very upset if their routine is perturbed. In many cases, autistic children may also engage in self-harm activities such as head-banging.
The communication skills of autistic children are also impaired. While some children with autism may refuse to speak at all, others experience pronounced difficulties in expressing themselves. Autistics are generally withdrawn, passive, and low-responsive. In many cases, they even avoid making eye contact with other people.
Autism can be anywhere from mild to very pronounced. Children who suffer from milder forms of autism are usually very intelligent. For this category of children, the disorder only affects their emotional intelligence and their social interaction skills, leaving their judgment intact. Hence, while these children may have poor adaptation and social interaction skills, they may have a very good logic, excelling at math or in other similar areas. In many cases, autistics may even have remarkable talent for visual arts or music. At the opposite pole, children with severe autism also suffer from mental retardation. The development of mentally retarded autistic children is very slow and these children rarely make any progress.
Although the exact causes of autism haven't yet been identified by medical science, it is believed that genetic factors have a very important role in the occurrence of the disorder. Autism involves abnormalities at the level of the central nervous system which are suspected to occur on the premises of genetic dysfunctions.
Considering the fact that there is no cure for autism, medical treatments available today can't reverse the neurological damage caused by the disorder. However, what medical treatments can do is to minimize the undesirable effects of autism. If children with autism are prescribed an appropriate medical treatment, their development can be supported and their symptoms can be kept under control.
With the aid of medical treatments and the support of their families, autistic children can eventually be integrated into the society.
So, if you want to find out more about Autism, and especially about child autism or autism causes, please click one of the following link.
Connections between Brain Abnormalities and Autistics' Poor Social Skills
Autism is a very common type of pervasive developmental disorder that generates serious communicational and behavioral impairments. People with autism experience pronounced difficulties in interacting with others. Also, patients diagnosed with autism have poor imaginative skills, engage in repetitive, stereotype behaviors and manifest a strong resistance to change. In many cases, autism can also involve a certain degree of mental retardation.
Autism is considered to be the most severe childhood disorder. The overall number of cases of autism has known a pronounced increase in the last decades and the worldwide incidence of the disorder in children is continuously rising. Statistics indicate that autism affects around 1.5 million people in the United States alone. The prevalence of the disorder among the American population is expected to rise with 10 percent each year. For some reason, autism predominantly affects boys, rarely occurring in the opposite sex.
Although modern science has been trying to identify the factors responsible for the occurrence of autism, in present the exact causes of the disorder remain unknown. However, scientists believe that autism occurs due to genetic dysfunctions that interfere with the normal activity of the central nervous system.
Medical scientists suspect that the poor social interaction skills characteristic to people with autism are determined by inappropriate communication between certain areas of the brain. After conducting various experiments, scientists revealed that unlike normal people, autistics have a very low brain activity when they are involved in social situations. A recent experiment has proved the theory that autistic people's poor social interaction skills are generated by weak connections between brain areas.
The experiment brought together 16 people diagnosed with autism and 16 people who didn't suffer from the disorder. Scientists measured the brain activity levels and responsiveness of both normal and autistic people when they were shown a sequence of images. The subjects were asked to identify certain differences between a series of images that represented objects and human faces. Normal people revealed higher levels of brain activity when they were shown the images that represented human faces and lower levels of brain activity when they were shown representations of objects. By contrast, all autistic people who participated to the experiment revealed low levels of brain activity regardless of what the images represented.
The results of the experiment can be interpreted in many different ways. For many people, the experiment might suggest that there are abnormalities in some areas of the brain that prevent autistics from processing human features. However, medical scientists explain that autistic people's actual problem is their inability to focus properly on human features rather than their inability to understand or recognize them. Scientists suggest that poor communication between some areas of the brain renders autistic people indifferent to others and hence, makes them socially inapt.
The experiment suggests a clear connection between brain dysfunctions and autistics' poor social skills, revealing new interesting physiological characteristics of people with autism.
So, if you want to find out more about Autism, and especially about signs of autism or autism causes, please click one of the following link.
Quit Smoking Support 2
Quit Smoking Support – http://quit--smoking--support.blogspot.com
Have you ever tried to quit smoking but you have failed because other people around you still smoke? I've been there and know the feeling. It can be a lot harder to quit smoking when all your doing all day is breathing in other peoples smoke!
So how do you manage to quit smoking even when everyone around you still smokes?
Well, the good news is that it can be done. It might just be a little harder. You could always 'ask' your friends or family members if they want to quit smoking with you. I say ask because you don't want to force people into quitting with you; it must be voluntary on their part.
It's natural for your friends and family to feel threatened by you wanting to quit. They may think you are putting unintentional pressure on them and their normal response to you may be a little negative. Some people might even try to get you to start smoking again, and it's this point where a lot of people fail.
When you're with one of your friends or family members who smoke just sit down and have a chat with them. Explain to them that you are quitting smoking and that is very important to you. Ask them to be considerate when they smoke and try not to do it in your face, but in the most polite way possible.
You may find that with friends or family there are things you do that naturally involve smoking. For example, going to a bar or a club, most smokers like to have a smoke when they're enjoying a drink. Try to change the situation where you would normally smoke. For instance, instead of going to a bar or a club, try going bowling or to the cinema or something, this doesn't necessarily involve smoking.
Basically, when quitting smoking it is hard, especially when the people in your life also smoke. You just have to talk to these people and let them know that you would like their support and to try and be more considerate in the future regarding their own smoking habits around you. Hopefully, they will be nothing but supportive but don't try and force them to quit, nor force anything upon them.
If you follow the advice in this article then it should make quitting smoking a little easier, despite the fact that your friends and family smoke. Good luck!
Written by Oliver Peck Check out the Quit Smoking Support Blog.