8 things you didn’t know about autistic children

According to the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and other Health Problems (ICD-10), autism is a disorder characterized by alterations before 3 years of age in the following areas of development:

– Problems in receptive and expressive language applied to social communication.

– Problems in social relationships with others.

– The conduct and behaviors follow a restricted and repetitive pattern.

Within these three alterations we find the symptoms by which we can identify autistic children and some also in children diagnosed with Asperger’s since they are different disorders but with some similarities . So many that recently the DSM-V has included the asperger diagnosis within a category called “Autism spectrum disorders” creating a controversy between whether in both the differences are qualitative or quantitative (that is, if the differences are mainly due to the severity that presents the disorder). If you want more information you can visit other articles . In this we are going to focus on curiosities of these people.

1. AUTISM COVERS ALL RANGES OF INTELLIGENCE

From low to high abilities, indeed, many geniuses throughout history had some degree of autism. This is the case with Mozart, Beethoven, Newton, Einstein, Van Gogh, Kant … and other famous people such as Bill Gates and Stanley Kubrik.

2. WORKING WITH ANIMALS CONTRIBUTES TO THEIR IMPROVEMENT

Animal Assisted Therapy (AAT) is widespread within the world of autism. Logically, it will not improve all the areas that are affected in autistic children, but it does produce a great improvement in the area of ​​communication and social relationships. Animals have been shown to function as a conductor to facilitate interaction with other people. It is because animals are able to calm children and transmit security. With an animal by their side, autistic children are more predisposed to socializing, talking, and even better tolerating physical contact with others .

For example, swimming with dolphins has been shown to make them learn faster. It is because they produce supersonic waves that stimulate the creation of endogenous endorphins that reassure the little ones and improve the connections between both hemispheres, the speed of information processing becomes faster.

The most widely used animal therapies are dolphin therapy, equine therapy (working with horses) and canotherapy (with trained dogs).

3. AUTISTIC PEOPLE ARE VERY RIGID IN THEIR BEHAVIOR

The routine calms them and gives them security, so it is not a good idea to improvise in front of them, all this depends on the degree of autism and functionality that the person has , but in general they are less flexible than the rest of the population. That also helps to understand the manias that most develop and that are very difficult to solve.

4. THE DOG IS THE IDEAL COMPANION ANIMAL FOR THEM

In general, autistic or asperger children benefit from any pet , however dogs are the perfect companions because they are highly sensitive to human emotions, like horses and dolphins, with the difference that a dog is easier to keep . If the dog is also trained by a professional, the improvements will be evident. They can help them improve their behavior by making them more autonomous, encourage physical exercise, relax them and reduce their stress. Therefore, if you plan to buy a pet, the dog is the ideal animal. The two breeds of choice for trained dogs are the German Shepherd and the Golden Retriever.

5. THEY ARE EXTREMELY GOOD AT SOME THINGS BUT CLUMSY AT OTHERS.

In reality it happens like in all the people of the world. We all have strengths and weaknesses, perhaps the main difference here is that there is an extreme difference between how well they do one thing that can be very difficult for others and that they are clumsy in other things that are very simple for us. For example, there are children with autism who have eidetic memory , that is, they can remember with absolute precision all kinds of details in an image or all the words of a conversation that they have had a long time ago. Others have a prodigious musical learning as in the case of Mozart or Beethoven. However, other aspects such as adapting to a routine other than the usual one, can fill them with anguish.

6. THEY HAVE A VERY LITERAL UNDERSTANDING OF LANGUAGE.

A characteristic that almost all share is the difficulties to understand language in its figurative sense. They are very literal for metaphors and sarcasm. Those with high-functioning autism may end up understanding set phrases and jokes by mere repetition, but there will always be that basic difficulty when faced with new expressions.

They also have difficulties lying and detecting lies because that implies knowing how to handle non-verbal language very well and understand intentions.

7. THEY ARE HYPERSENSITIVE TO TEXTURES AND SOUNDS.

They have little tolerance for loud and even normal sounds. The replicating of a pen or the clicking of the computer can cause them great annoyance. Likewise, almost all of them tend to be very maniacal with the subject of food, having foods that they cannot directly touch or eat , it has to do with the type of texture they have more than with the flavor. Getting them to try new foods can be quite an ordeal until they get used to it.

8. A DISORDER THAT IS FASHIONABLE

Another curiosity about autism is that in the last 30 years the number of children diagnosed with this disorder has almost doubled. How is this possible? It seems almost an epidemic. The simplest explanation is that by learning more about the subject, professionals are more sensitive to the symptoms of these children and it is easier to provide a diagnosis, previously only the most obvious cases came to light . On the other hand, that does not mean that it is a disorder that has become fashionable and surely that also contributes to the increase in cases. We just have to turn on the television to see it. For example, how many characters in famous series have some type of autism or asperger?? Sheldon Cooper de ‘Big Bang Theory”, Mr. Bean, House, Temperance Brennan de ‘Bones’, Abed Nadir de ‘Community’… La lista es interminable.

Finally, we have to avoid generalizing. These are some curiosities that almost everyone usually shares, but there is such a diversity of cases that it would be almost a crime to attribute these characteristics to all of them.