Autism and Obsession

Autism and Obsessions

Dominoe used to save bottles of Coke. Then I didn’t realize how that was a characteristic of someone with autism. She would line them up in her room so she could see them. It got to be gross though. The half drank bottles started to have mold in them. I finally had to tell her she could not do that. I did let her keep the bottle caps though.

So for awhile we had 100’s of bottle caps, especially the red Coke ones. Then she got tired of those.

Then it was ink pens. She would go crazy for a pen. People would give them too her all the time. She still has some of them.

Now it is make up. She has drawers of make up. And she wants to buy more. At least it is age appropriate for her at 21.

I always remember these things when I hear other people talk about their child who has Autism’s obsessions. Sometime parents talk about how it interferes with other activities. We never really had that problem. Well except for moldy Coke! My child was still in high school when she collected pens so she wrote with them. The make up is ok. She hardly wears it. She just saves it.

Discussing Autism Types

There are many autism types. When people typically think about autism, they think about people who are non verbal or people who have savant like abilities. Athough these are two types are important autism types there is more to it than this.

Autism is considered a spectrum disorder. What this means is that people on this spectrum can be at any point. Some have speech and some only have some speech. Many people with autism have conversational and public speaking abilities.

It is a disservice to think that people with autism are all one way or another. Just as many people with autism have savant abilities as not. Those abilities can also be in a variety of subjects.

To further complicate the topic of autism types is the problem of co occurring disorders. Disabilities like ADHD and cognitive disabilities can complicate autism. Another complication that can make a person with autism seen to have more problems is sensory integration problems. If the sensory integration problem is severe enough the person with autism will seem to be unable to communicate. This is because of the pain they experience in what we consider a normal day.

Hopefully you can see that autism types is a complicated subject. Whether autism, aspergers or pervasive developmental delays is important to people as a more definitive diagnosis. Then of course knowing and understanding the co occurring disorders is imperative.

My 15 Yr Olds Post About Autism

Another name for AUTISM is Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD). PDD is the same thing as autism but in a more proper language. Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD) is a name for all kinds of autism.
Autism seems to affect more on boys than girls. The reason it affects more boys than girls is not yet proven. Stuff like family income doesn’t usually affect a child with autism.
One symptom of autism is pretend play. Another symptom is social interactions. A third symptom is verbal and non-verbal communication. Another is repeated bodily movements. One other one is if they show unusual attachment to an object.
Have you heard of the MMR Vaccine? Well I have, and most parents believe it causes autism in children. The only proof parents have is around the time the vaccine was given autism increased tremendously. Doctors think it was only a coincidence that it increased around that time but parents seriously don’t agree.
There are a lot of different treatment options for different types of autism but I’m just going to name a few. One is medication. Two is (ABA) Applied Behavior Analysis. Three is Occupational Therapy (OP). Four is Physical Therapy (PT). The last one I’m going to name is Speech-Language Therapy (SLT).
Medicine is used for a lot of things but I’m only going to name a few. One is mood swings. Another is tantrums my sister has them a lot. Another is outburst. Another is sleep difficulties which my sister has a lot and so do I. One other one is anxiety. One last one is Hyperactivity which me and my sister both have.
Complications can be caused by a few things which I’m about to name. One complication can be caused by Fragile X Syndrome. Another complication is Mental Retardation or some people call it a mental illness. The last complication I can think of is Tuberous Sclerosis.
Autism is been proven to be inherited by other family members. Take identical twins for instance if one has it so will the other. Which is really sad because they both have to have the same everything in every way? The risk of having a second child with the same disorder is very low but it’s possible. So watch it carefully.
Autism can improve over time with treatment and age. With some kids it might not though. With some children modifications have to be made because of the illness. But others get at least a little bit better over their life span and some get all the way better.

Autism Symptoms?

I have heard many people over the past twenty years ask about ‘autism symptoms’. At different times the question has struck me differently. I suppose most people are expecting me to come out with a list of five things they can use to look at whether a person has autism or not. If only it were that easy.

Most people do not realize that the symptoms of autism can vary widely across children and adults. The symptoms also change depending on other characteristics of the child or adult we are talking about. Usually we are looking at three main areas concerning autism: social interactions, relationships, and behavior. Unfortunately it is not even that simple, as the severity of each of these areas can be different.

Relationship problems are talking about the ability to connect. To connect with parents, siblings, and friends is what seems to be sometimes the most disturbing part of autism. At least at first, that is what I and other parents I know have experienced. Social interactions or communication is an on going autism symptom that is particularly troubling as time goes on. My daughter got speech therapy all through school and sometimes besides what she got at school. It was hugely important in our family that she be able to communicate on whatever level she could. Then the behaviors, this is probably the biggest autism symptom I hear about once a family gets over the initial surprise at the problems with connecting.

Of course each one of these areas can be involved in various degrees. I hear professionals who are usually not parents talk about mild, moderate, severe, and profound as the levels of severity. At first I suppose I was a little offended but these four levels at least give you a frame of reference.

This description is probably just the start of all the things that come to my mind when I hear someone ask about the autism symptoms. Some other areas I will try to cover at a later date are the ages you might see symptoms, the different characteristics which will make a difference, why it is good to talk about autism symptoms, and why you might not want to wait for a doctor to identify autism.

Update on Breaking the Car

I really do have a good relationship with the provider company that supplies my daughter's DSP/PCA. They have agreed to pay for a psychological and the psychologists time to help with a behavior plan. The state system to get the psychological has not done one since 1997. They are also so backed up right now. Did I mention that the provider company is so good!

Autism Symptoms and Technology

Autism is one of the harder disabilities in which you can identify technology. So I have a list of different types of technology that seem to help in some way. Or at least seem to help mitigate one or more of the autism symptoms.

A piece of information that I have run across lately is a different type of keyboard. It isn’t exactly a keyboard. It is more like a video game controller. The person with autism uses it to cut out the confusion that people with autism feel looking at a typical keyboard. It is also used by people with physical disabilities.

This piece of equipment is called an OrbiTouch keyboard. A human-factors engineer named Pete McAlindon of a company called BlueOrb developed it. You can look at the article here

Brain Stuff and Autism Symptoms

I keep reading interesting articles like this one
http://www.newkerala.com/nkfullnews-1-102815.html . The articles talk about different areas of the brain that do or do not ‘light up’ when different situations presents itself. Usually the situations that are looked at are situations which highlight one of the many autism symptoms. This one in particular is about personal space and the different part of the brain, in this case the amygdala, which work. The amygdala works quicker when another person gets close, close enough to make us uncomfortable. In people with autism this does not happen. Even when people get nose to nose too close.

I keep reading articles like this and find them interesting for a couple of reasons. The first one being that we can tell which areas of the brain are used in different behaviors. I just find that interesting. The second reason I keep reading being that if we can tell which areas of the brain are not responding, when will we be able to use the information to make a diagnosis?

I remember years ago thinking that there must be more to it than this. You go to a doctor, they ask you a few questions about when or if your child does things, they look at a list of autism symptoms and then the doctor tells you a diagnosis. It just seemed like there should be more to it than that. But there wasn’t. There was no blood test or anything else. Of course they took blood but that wasn’t it. Anyway I keep reading these types of articles and trying to understand…