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Autism alert
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A sizable number of kids are today afflicted by childhood autism
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PHOTO: AP
SPECIAL ATTENTION An autistic child needs to be handled with patience
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 spoken to, she lends a deaf ear and turns her head away. Sometimes she mumbles unintelligibly.
She attends to her routine activities without a thought for cleanliness and hygiene. She can neither eat nor dress properly by herself and fails to avoid common dangers. She often engages in activities such as attempting to screw something on a board, but fails. While sitting she rocks to and fro in a rhythmic manner for hours. When confronted with any change, she gets irritated. These symptoms suggest that Rasmi is suffering from childhood autism.
Kanner, a child psychologist in 1943, first described this condition. At present, about one in 2,500 is afflicted with autism and they hail from all socio-economic levels, ethnic backgrounds and family patterns.
Autistic children are often solitary and aloof and hence this disorder is referred to as "early infantile autism". They seldom even smile or look 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 monosyllabic 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 be poor. We may come across "autistic savants" with unusual ability at an early age in "calendar calculating" as well as in other areas such as naming capitals of states and countries even as they show a very poor language development and interpersonal relationship.
Finally, an aspect of key importance is that the autistic child seems to have a blurred and undifferentiated concept of the 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)." 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.
C.P. SOMASUNDARAM
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