Autism student - Book Report/Review Example

?RUNNING HEAD: AUTISM Autism of the of the Autism There have been controversies regarding the nature, intervention and the treatment of the autism process in patients. Some of the controversies and current strategies for autism have been explored in the chapter. People are guided about autism through many disciplines such as philosophy, science, and through their own understanding. Various controversies give rise to many theories. In psychology, theory pertains to a general guideline developed to elaborate upon a group of connected facts and phenomenon. The individuals belonging to any discipline perceive autism from their own viewpoint and methodology; behavioral researchers work with hypothetical constructs by observing, recording and analyzing the behavior of autism student; while, educators understand them through theories about neurology and learning. Thus, there has been a high level of speculations and particular perceptions, which have replete the theory of autism. There is a lot of controversy in the field of autism which is tightly tied to the theories. It is common in various academic disciplines that there exists controversies over theories and they frequently assist in fuelling and promoting a healthy and competitive environment amongst the proponents of various theories. This, in turn, gives rise to new fields of information and opens new avenues of thinking. However, here, autism is not at all like any other academic disciplines and does not accept or reject the controversy over theories. However, there is a good chance that these theories lead to more studies and researched which may bring about the developments in treating the children with autism (Bauman, 1993; Biklen, 1990 and 1997; Gernsbacher et al., 2007). The Theory of Mind (TOM) has been one of the special applications towards autism which has also provided an extension to the cognitive abilities. These theories have further given rise to the instructional efforts which take into account the communication and cognitive deficiencies of the students with autism and teach them to recognize body language and expressions and emotions. According to the researchers, the children suffering from autism find it difficult to relate the actual state of affairs and the mental states of others. Therefore, one of the target interventions for the children with autism include the training of social skills, and includes various techniques such as role playing, coaching, taking turns, conversation menus and chaining behaviors. Besides this, there is facilitated communication (FC) which promotes the communication in such a manner that the student with autism is supported physically by a nondisabled person, who takes him by arm or hand, and the student write the message. According to DSM IV (1994), one of the numerous criteria for autism is the abnormal responses to the sensory stimuli. These students either possess hyposensitive or hypersensitive auditory, kinesthetic or visual sensory inputs (Dalal, Sivakumar, 2009). An autistics response towards these sensory inputs could involve their activeness at the point where the sensory stimuli are directed towards the brain. Thus, according to the sensory theory, the main problem lies at the processing or input level. The behavior problems connected with the sensory demands can be lessened by the sensitivity of parents and teachers towards the student's sensory stimulus. There are therapists that possess the training to assist the autistics students develop their basic abilities through providing them the stimulation activities. The special case of sensory based treatment includes the audit integration training which, according to some proponents, cures the unusually acute hearing problems of the autistic students. This technique enables the children to listen to music with the help of headphones, and is a 10 days' therapy. AIT is performed in six ways which include The Berard, the Tomatis, the walkman, the stheli, the clark and the disk methods. All these methods are engineered in different manners to achieve the same purpose. The AIT technique changes the speech and language, behavioral, educational, auditory, psychological, sensory, and the medical areas in an autistics student. Amongst the many people, who have contributed towards curing the autistics students, Temple Grandin is one of the most extraordinary persons by all accounts. She has she has been able to cope up with major hindrances posed to her by autism in order to attain the academic success. Due to this factor, Temple has become a source of an excellent example about the ways in which an individual suffering from autism can share insights into the disorder in a productive manner. Donna Williams was another similar example, who was able to gain notoriety during the year 1993, after her book Nobody, Nowhere, was published. She offered vivid, poetic explanations in recounting her experiences with autism, and the struggle involved in it (Cardinal, Hanson, Wakeham, 1996). Lovaas presented the controversy surrounding autism with three factors, which according to him, needed to be put into place. He mentioned that the interventions for autism should be behavioral and should begin in the early stages of childhood. According to him, the interventions could be more successful, if they were provided to the children at their home. Many other people such as Gresham and McMillan criticized the work of Lovaas. According to J Scott, Autism is a serious, developmental disorder which is found to be very rare amongst the children. There should be more scientific orientation towards the field of autism. The general public views the autism community as lacking in good sense and less worthy of any moral or financial support. However, since the autism research is gaining more strength and the national agenda is growing, the funding agencies may begin considering it is wiser to fund and donate in the organizations such as National Association for Autism Research (NAAR). In the field of education, the practical measures can be taken in order to assist the autism interventions, and the professional are required to make countless decisions that are sound and wise. They must establish a set of guidelines and principles to discern and appraise the varying situations occurring in the autism students. They should possess the sound judgment abilities and must have skills to appreciate and compliment the research literature available to them, and should determine the worth of the knowledge and information provided to them. Moreover. The judgments made must be based on the grounds of evidence. Besides this, the field of autism has also been revolutionized by the scientific thinking. It has not only benefitted the patients, but also posed advantages for the entire human civilization in various ways. Furthermore, the ant science and pseudoscience needs to be addressed in a systematic investigation of treatments for the students suffering from autism. The phenomenon that do not possess and hallmarks of the scientific evidence or methods are treated by pseudoscience. While, the antiscience wither flatly refutes science or challenges it and might affirm the unobtainable factual information. People are guided about autism through many disciplines such as philosophy, science, and through their own understanding. In psychology, theory pertains to a general guideline developed to elaborate upon a group of connected facts and phenomenon. Thus, there has been a high level of speculations and particular perceptions, which have replete the theory of autism. References Bauman, 1993; Biklen, 1990 and 1997; Gernsbacher et al., 2007, Infant motor dyspraxia as a predictor of speech in childhood autism, Accessed online, retrieved on October 22, 2012 Cardinal D.N., Hanson D., Wakeham J., 1996, Investigation of authorship in facilitated communication, Ment Retard, Accessed online, Retrieved on October 22, 2012 Dalal PK, Sivakumar T., 2009, Moving towards ICD-11 and DSM-5: Concept and evolution of psychiatric classification. Indian Journal of Psychiatry, Volume 51, Issue 4 Read More