What are children with autism like? What do they feel, how do they perceive others, why is it difficult for them to live in the world we are used to? The story of Olga Palahniuk, speech and language therapist at the Dobrobut Medical Network, will not leave anyone indifferent. Every word of the doctor is filled with emotions, experiences, and a desire to help special children. Read her story - it's worth it!
Autistics yesterday and today
Nowadays, unfortunately, there are more and more young patients who have not only speech problems, but also related disorders. For example, a child has a speech delay or mental retardation.
or mental retardation. In addition, there are a lot of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). No one can say for sure why ASD appears. But today it is easier for doctors to identify the characteristics of a child with autism. The fact is that earlier most specialists did not understand why some children behave atypically. And often such patients were brought under a general classification, calling them “those who do not speak”, “those who have problems with speech”, “hyperactive”.
You do everything possible for this
When I was working as an assistant in an interactive classroom, I took care of a boy with ASD. He had a very difficult time adapting - there were a lot of stimuli around the child, so for two weeks he was constantly screaming. And so much so that the whole school had a hard time getting used to his behavior. But the adaptation period passed, and something happened that immediately became the best confirmation for me: I was doing everything right. This boy came up and... hugged me. It's hard to explain in words what I felt at that moment. And not everyone will understand what it means for a doctor. Few people know that children with autism are very sensitive to the mood and emotions of other people. In my situation, the kid realized that I was there for him and always ready to help him. That's why he accepted me. It was cool at school at that time, and I had a warm sweater with me, a big one without buttons. And this special boy would come up to me, stand with his back to me, snuggle up and wrap himself in my sweater. You see, it was a child's absolute trust in me.
What to look for?
Children with ASD are very different. But there are still some peculiarities in their behavior. This is not to say that they are common to all, but parents should pay attention to such manifestations as early as possible. For example:
- Children with autism rarely cry in infancy . They are not very active. That is, kids can lie down and look at one toy and not show any interest in it.
- The child does not respond to new toys and does not ask for help from the mother during the game.
- Autistic children may have gluten intolerance. Therefore, when such a child eats a bun or bread, he or she may have an attack of aggression, or, on the contrary, he or she becomes very calm, as if falling into a sleepy state.
- There are children with ASD who do not have a speech mechanism, that is, they do not speak. But it happens that such kids may not talk for a long time, and then they start to produce whole phrases at once. However, they do not engage in a dialog, but say only what they consider important to them.
- Autistics have a rather non-standard approach to play - they use toys for other purposes. For example, a child playing with a car will not roll it on the floor as if it were driving, but will bang it.
- There are children who recognize only their mother as a person to talk to, so they will not talk to anyone else. And there are those who do not even recognize their mother.
- Autistic people can have a thorough understanding of something. In my practice, there was a boy who knew all car brands perfectly. At the same time, his mother did not understand where he got this knowledge. The family didn't have a car, and they didn't watch any car-related programs at home.
If the child is the first in the family
Very often, a child with ASD is the first in the family, so parents do not always have an idea how the behavior of special children differs from that of ordinary children. If something is confusing, you should not be afraid to visit a speech therapist, neurologist or psychiatrist. The sooner parents see a specialist, the better.
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