My thoughts on Autism

These are my thoughts about what I know, so far, about autism.  And I mean so far, as research will indeed lead us to know more about the genetics and morphology of what we call Autism, therefore changing practices and beliefs.

It seems that the term Autistic Spectrum Disorder is not an accurate one, when describing the neurological connexions that seem to characterise people with Autism.  Baron-Cohen refers to a condition to describe Autism rather than a disorder.  As he, so accurately explained, a disorder means that something is broken.  In the case of Autism, the neurological connexions and consequent behaviours may be impaired, differently connected and wired, but these are certainly not broken as many studies come to show.  People with Autism may be wired differently (in terms of neural interconnections) but these are not broken.  And so it seems fair to speak about a condition rather than a disorder.  Whichever the case, it should be people with Autism who chose the term to describe their condition.

When it comes to the triad of impairments (problems with social and emotional understanding, problems understanding and the use of communication and language, problems with flexibility of thought and imagination), used to diagnose Autism, the triad is illustrated by a triangle.  But it seems that the picture should be a square rather than a triad, as more people with Autism than not, present with an imbalance in their sensory domain or experience problems with their sensory perception and consequent responses.

In regards to curing Autism, it is not only a lie but an offence to people who have Autism.  Autism is part of the person and you cannot get rid of. 

In terms of therapies to help alleviate the negative or most contra productive symptoms of Autism there is a huge variety of approaches.  I would suggest to be wary of those therapies which may offer a cure.  Also we cannot believe those backed up by research, as it can be biased and thus non-accurate.  There is an abundant body of therapeutic approaches available for parents and professionals.  Some of them offer to cure, some are backed up by huge bulk of research showing how beneficial they are, others seems to be too clever and complex and therefore artificial to us humans, who after all, are nothing but social animals and have been for thousands of years, since man is man.  Other approaches seem to be fit for and work well in the training of animals.  As humans we need a naturalistic human approach if we are to help someone.

There is some great work out there too which I believe should be recognised and acknowledged.  The work of people who try to put together a coherent and comprehensive approach to help with socialisation and communication as well as meeting other needs (medical or sensory wise) seems to be the way forward.  A natural approach which meets a person’s needs, for who s/he is regardless of the condition a person may present with, seems to make sense.

The support needed for people with Autism variates as much as we all differ from each other and therefore it cannot be a unique model to fit all.  What it seems to work is an approach which meets the person needs and engages in an emotional level in order to reach and being able to help that person.  This is a vital premise, a must, if we really want to make a difference in a person’s life.  The support must be throughout all aspects of a person’s life, from the physical to the emotional through the social and communicative. The support must be therefore emotional, transitional and social-communicative.

We must remember that it is an internal need that makes us function, that makes us be who we are and do what we do, and that any support offered must be internalised, meeting that internal need, if it is to succeed.

We are social animals and as such we need touch and care, and to be able to communicate efficiently in order to make our immediate environment as comfortable, or bearable for one as possible.  That is the true sign of intelligence, to make the most of what we have to meet our needs, rather than an IQ test, which measures a person’s capacity for logic-academic reasoning.

Thus, we need to support those areas which seem impaired or that function differently and are not beneficial to a person.  In the case of Autism, the social-communicative areas may not lead to a successful management of the environment for a person and therefore any approach which helps, must have a strong social-communicative component, alongside emotional, transitional and physical support.

If we need help communicating we need to work on communication no end. But communication is linked to the emotional as well as the physical side of a person, for obvious reasons, and these areas should all be supported together to be able to make a difference in a person’s life.