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Ever failing to `enter the world'

A sizable number of kids are today afflicted by childhood autism

SPECIAL CHILDREN Autistic children need love and care

Rasmi is five years old. She does not relate to others, avoids eye contact and resists being touched. She hears no music, seldom smiles and dislikes sounds. If talked to she gives a deaf ear and turns her head away. Sometimes she mumbles indistinctly and unintelligibly.

She attends to her daily routines and activities of life with lack of cleanliness and hygiene. She can neither eat nor dress properly by herself and fails to avoid common dangers of life. She often engages in routine, manipulative activities such as attempting to screw up something on a board that goes in vain. While sitting she rocks to and fro in a rhythmic manner for hours. With any change made in her routine life, she gets irritated and annoyed. These symptoms suggest that Rasmi is suffering from childhood autism.

Kanner, a child psychologist in 1943, first described this malady. At present the affliction is seen among a sizable number of children, about one in 2,500 and they hail from all socio-economic levels, ethnic backgrounds and family patterns.

Differently abled

Autistic children are often solitary, aloof and apart from the earliest stages of life and hence this disorder is referred to as "early infantile autism". They seldom turn out to be smiling or looking at the mother while being fed. They neither need affection nor contact with anyone. For a loving parent, the experience may be crushing.

The absence or restricted use of speech is characteristic of autistic children. Most often, they use monosyllable words in communication or in echolalic (parrot-like) repetition of a few words. Aversion to auditory stimuli, crying even at the sound of the mother's voice or becoming totally oblivious to loud noises is seen with certain autistic children. Some may indulge in self-stimulation, usually taking the form of such repetitive movements as head banging, spinning or rocking continuously for hours.

The performance of autistic children at times may appear skilful on puzzles and form boards, but in picture construction tasks, they invariably tend to give a poor performance.

We may come across `autistic savants' with unusual ability at an early age in `calendar calculating' as well as in other areas, such as the naming of capitals of states and countries, but show a very poor language development and interpersonal relationship.

`Empty fortress'

Finally, and an aspect of key importance is that the autistic child seems to have a blurred and undifferentiated concept of self. He has `the absence of I' and hence some researchers describe the condition as `empty fortress.'

Bettelheim, a psychologist who has done research work on autistic children, says: "The autistic child fails ever to enter" (the world). The innate disorder in the child is exacerbated by a cold and unresponsive mother thwarting to shift his behaviour from self-defeating to growth oriented activities. Behaviour therapy has been used successfully with autistic children to eliminate their self-injurious behaviours and to increase their ability to increase the fundamentals of language and social behaviour.

DR. C. P. SOMASUNDARAM

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