Exploring Prevention Strategies for Autism Spectrum Disorders

Autism disorders are complex conditions with no approved prevention methods. However, early diagnosis and intervention can improve the condition's outcome. Strategies for preventing autism include understanding one's family history and genetics, reducing exposure to chemicals and toxins, and seeking education on autism. Despite being a disorder that knows no social boundaries, high prevalence rates are found among African American and Hispanic men in the US. Early diagnosis is crucial, and parents should seek treatment options such as special schools and support groups.

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Psychopathology
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Autism
Autism is a mental disorder, long term in nature which is diagnosed in young children of
ages as low as one and three years old. It is a pervasive disorder in the course of development in
children and it is characterized by poor communication methods, being extremely unresponsive
to other children and adults, having a rigid behavior and being highly repetitive (Kenny et al.,
2016). The pervasive development disorder is a form of the autism spectrum in which in which
the victims have low levels of social interactions, unnecessary response to varied stimuli in the
environment in which they live in and poor communication methods. This paper will cover
several aspects related to autism such as etiology, history, causes, and treatment. Based on the
Statistical Manual on Mental disorders part 4, impairments in terms of social interactions and
communication problems observed by autism children are lack of eye to eye contact, inability to
use gestures as a form of non-verbal communication and lack of nonverbal behaviors among
others. In other cases, the autism children are unable to form peer relationships with their
colleagues, while they also indicate a repetitive behavior in their activities (Case-Smith et al.,
2015).
These repetitive behaviors include the continued preoccupation with some restricted
pattern of activities and motor manners such as twisting hands or flapping fingers. For children
below the age of three years, there is an observable delay in the development such as the
language, participating in imaginative plays, understanding symbols and social interaction with
the people around them.
Historical perspective
The autism disorder was first described by a Swiss psychiatric and psychologist Bleuler
Eugene. In this case, autism has been described as a basic disturbance in schizophrenia such that
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an individual is withdrawn from the social life. On the basis of the Diagnostic Statistical Manual
of mental disorders, the spectrum of autism disorder is composed of childhood disintegration,
pervasive development disorder, autism disorder, Asperger disorder, and Rett disorder. The
reports from clinicians indicate that the symptoms of autism disorders begin to be observed at
around eighteen months during childhood days (Brunsdon & Happé, 2014).
One of the criteria used to detect the possibility of autism by clinicians on children is the
use of language. This criterion is more specific because it is easy to detect an abnormal verbal or
nonverbal form of communication. Some of the common indicators using language criteria are
the body posture, eye to eye contact, use of gestures and much more during a social interaction
session. There are varied causes of autism but they vary from place to place, and one person to
another, although other causes may be common (Talkowski et al., 2014). Although iodine
deficiency is a known cause of autism, this condition has also been known to be both genetic as
well as hereditary. Food which is deficient of iodine causes low IQ, cretinism and other negative
effects to the growing fetus. In other cases, pregnant women who do not give their bodies enough
time to heal may lead to the birth of the next child being with an autism disorder (Alexandra,
2015). There is a close association which exists between iodine deficiency in the diet and the
development of low attention and hyperactivity, especially in the United States.
Considering the fact that iodine deficiency is at a marginal state in most families,
exposure of children or expectant mothers to anti-thyroid materials like organochlorines, and
tobacco smoke lower a number of thyroid hormones. This leads to the development of
hypothyroxinemia which in turn causes the birth of autism children. Although autism was
reported in the 20th century, it has been on the rise even throughout the 21st century. It is also
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important to note that in the United States, the African Americans and Hispanic males are the
highest groups with autism children.
Gender differences
It is clear that there are more males than females who are affected by autism disorder.
While there is no clear reason for the gender split in autism, it is clear that the women are less
affected because they have better verbal skills while men have visuospatial skills.
Diagnosis of autism nowadays in relation to the previous decades
There is an increase in the number of children suffering from autism in this decade as
compared to the previous decade. This is true especially due to the observed increase in the
incidence, that is the number of diagnosed cased per year as well as the prevalence, which is the
sum of the affected people in the overall population suffering from autism in the previous half
century. While various studies have reported increasing diagnoses of autism from year to year, it
is apparent that these cases are on the rise. The most recent accepted prevalence is that in every
one hundred people, one of them suffers autism (The conversation, 2011). However, the severity
of this condition varies from time to time and with the individuals. For instance, sometimes back,
autism was referred as infantile autism, because the diagnosis was based on the child
demonstrating low and slow language development process.
However, with time, it has been found that autism affected children may present some
symptoms that are less severe and hence the need for the development of other diagnostic
methods like pervasive developmental disorder-not otherwise specified. It is also worth noting
that there has been an observable rise in the cases of the infantile autism for the last two decades,
meaning that there is a broad gap in terms of the diagnostic methods. This clearly means that
there are some people who previously were categorized into a certain diagnostic banner but
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currently, they are receiving the primary diagnosis for autism. The increase in the current high
cases of diagnosis as opposed to the previous decade are due to the fact that there are modern
methods that have been developed to screen whole populations and are thus very sensitive in the
identification of the autism affected people.
Genetic causes of autism
There is a close association of autism with genetics especially through the involvement of
the de novo mutations (Toriello, 2016). Some of these mutations may be passed from parents to
the children while others just arise spontaneously. For instance, the effects of recessive genes in
the development of autism disorders have been explored. These recessive genes are passed from
one generation to another although their effects are only found in case a person inherits two
copies of identical genes, that is one from each of the parents (Nadesan, 2013). The recessive
mutations in the inherited genes thus destroy the normal functions of a gene. In other cases, the
risks of genetic causes of the development of autism make the inherited mutations to cause a
partial loss of gene roles. When the roles of the partially disabled mutations have altered this
results in a total loss of the functions of a gene (Ronemus et al., 2014). Among the most
common genetic disorders that are linked to autism disorder is the fragile X syndrome.
While the level of inheritance characteristics is high in autism, the manner in which
inheritance takes place is still not clear (Chen et al., 2015). Sometimes, there may be multiple
interactions of genes and several loci predispose one individual to autism as opposed to the other.
There are some methods used to determine the inheritance methods of autism. Use of cytogenetic
studies through molecular biology are used to determine the de novo problems in the
chromosomes among individuals or families (Gooney & Isere, 2013). The use of whole genomes
makes it possible to make a prediction on the exact location of the disease. In other cases, the
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structural differences on the chromosomes involving the copy number can be used in the study of
the development of autism in genetics.
Diagnosis using the DSM 5
There are changes which take place when making a diagnosis of the autism disorders in
the context of the diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorder for DSM 5. This has
enormous results and benefits especially for psychologists when evaluating the children affected
by autism (Esler & Ruble, 2015). The adoption of DSM 5 from the previously used diagnostic
methods has led to the elimination of subthreshold categories as well as high-level reliance on
instruments in providing the validity of data. However, this method has specific issues related to
making decisions and revision on how best to evaluate this criterion (Volkmar & Reichow,
2013). Some valuable advantages of DSM 5 that are very useful in autism diagnosis include the
enhanced description of the level of disorders as well as the use of combined dimensions.
Treatment methods
For parents whose children have been diagnosed with autism disorders, it is paramount
for them to seek interventions early enough. These interventions include speech as well as
occupational therapy, which is commonly offered in special schools and hospitals respectively.
However, this strategy requires that the parents find out the behaviors of their children so that
they can know the specific needs that they require or are deficient. For instance, a parent might
consider things like the anti-social behaviors, the amount of words that the child can speak at a
certain age and the nonverbal communication capabilities (Pellicano et al., 2014). As the autism
affected child develops, there are times when the child may develop aggressive behaviors,
indicating a need to seek treatment as early as possible. Other recommended treatment options
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for autism disorders include supplementing foods with vitamins and minerals, use of exclusive
diets and use of heavy metal ions chelation methods.
Prevention strategies
Generally, there is no approved method of preventing autism disorders, more so when its
etiology is considered. However, when it is diagnosed early, there could be higher chances of
improving this condition by seeking early interventions which in turn prevent the condition from
further development (Croen et al., 2015). Considering the arguments that autism is genetic and
hereditary, then it would be important if spouses get to understand their genetics as well as
family history preferably before they get married. Other strategies would involve seeking less
exposure to chemicals, alcohol, and tobacco smoke. All in all, the preferred autism prevention
method is getting to fully understand the condition, through communal or individual education
and understanding one's family background on the basis of this disorder. While autism is
described as knowing no family, level of income, race or ethnic group, high prevalence are found
in African Americans as well as Hispanic men.
Conclusion
It is thus clear that autism disorders affect children and have grave consequences. In the
United States, it has been found that less of the Latin American have this condition while high
prevalence is found among the Hispanics and African American men. Of great importance is that
the parents need to have their children diagnosed early enough so that they can commence the
treatment methods. Some of the notable symptoms include delayed speech, antisocial behaviors,
and others. It is also true that parents who have children suffering from autism spend so much
time giving them attention and in many cases may tend to live in denial. At this point, it is
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crucial to focus on seeking treatment such as in special schools which offer occupational therapy
and speech therapy. Moreover, the parents need also to join support groups that best understand
their conditions. Understanding the family history in terms of the possibility of autism disorders
is also important before partners decide to marry so as to avoid having any of their off springs
from suffering from this disorder.
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