In this era of progress, we hear about various developments in the field of science and technology. The human intelligence has become so competent that nothing seems unachievable any more. But even now the superior command over innumerable processes does not lie in human hands. There are few aspects of life… or to be precise life itself is out of our complete control.
Human Being is the most complex creation in the whole world and the human brain is the most complex processing unit. Scientists feel that the architecture of brain is awe inspiring and as a result, any disorder related to the brain is a complicated problem for doctors to tackle. One such problem is Autism.
Autism is a disorder of neural development that is characterized by impaired social interaction and communication, and by restricted and repetitive behaviour. It is mostly observed in kids of age below 3 years. Autism effects information processing in the brain by altering the way nerve cells and their synapses connect and organize.
Autism Explained
Autism causes kids to experience the world in a different way from the way most other kids do. It’s tough for kids with autism to converse with others and communicate their thoughts using words. Kids who have autism like to keep to themselves and many need special help to communicate.
They may also react in unusual ways to the events that happen around them. Normal sounds may really trouble someone with autism and at times they cover their ears from protection from even very faint sounds. At times they feel uncomfortable when touched, even tenderly.
A kid with autism finds it difficult to map the meaning of the words that he/she hears. It becomes extremely difficult for them when they find themselves unable to communicate because they cannot come up with the appropriate words which convey their meaning. Autism causes kids to do things in an unusual way. Kids with autism usually do things repeatedly. They do not change their routines or food habits. They generally get upset when they are disturbed from their routine.
What causes Autism?
Autism is a very peculiar problem that is seen in one among 150 kids. The human brain contains over 100 billion nerve cells called neurons and each neuron has hundreds or thousands of connections that carry messages to other nerve cells in the brain and body. The connections and neurotransmitters help the neurons that enable us to see, feel, move, remember, and work.
For unknown reasons some of the cells and connections in the brain do not develop properly or get damaged, affecting the ability to feel, sense, move, and remember things. Researchers are still looking for answers so as to why this happens and it is believed that the answer lies in genetics.
How to fight Autism
Identifying a kid with autism can be tricky. Mostly parents are the first to suspect the abnormal behaviour. Often it happens that the kid has grown enough to speak, but he/she is unable to do so.Autism is not the only problem which can cause these kinds of symptoms. For e.g. kids who are dumb might also have trouble in speaking. So identifying the relating symptoms to Autism itself is a difficult task.
The first step is to learn to communicate. Speaking spontaneously can be hard for kids with autism. And many kids understand words only by seeing them. Trainers concentrate to teach them how to communicate using pictures and sign language. This makes life of such kids little easier and through practice kids with autism are also able to speak.
Till date, there is no cure for autism, but doctors and researchers claim that the effect of autism on a kid can be minimised by giving proper training. “The earlier a kid starts treatment for autism, the better” says a scientist from ARI (Autism Research Institute).