The Effect of Autism Spectrum Disorder Among Children - Essay Example

The Effect of Autism Spectrum Disorder among Children Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) refers to a range of neurodevelopment disorders that are typified by impaired social interaction, verbal and nonverbal communication and usually have a repetitive tendency (Meltzer 2011). These disorders include autism, Asperger syndrome that mainly involves impairment in development of language and pervasive developmental disorder, which is normally as a result of the first two disorders when not properly diagnosed. The rates of these disorders have risen dramatically over the last forty years hence making it necessary to research on their effects on physiological and well-being of children and their siblings. This review thus is aimed at examining the existing effects that have been identified by previous studies and to identify gaps and areas that need to researched more. Among all human relationships, sibling relationship normally last the longest since it involves the entire lifetime of an individual and it is thus important. The sibling relationship is distinctive in that it is accredited rather than achieved and typically, it is one of the relationships that encourage equality among all people where individuals are portrayed as having the same social worth. Nurturance and conflict in the sibling association provide them with experiences that substitute the growth of emotional understanding and a sense of self-belonging, which is vital for the relationship to continue prevailing. Sibling relationships begin at a tender age and as a child develop, the relationship continues to decrease and it is thus maintained through such activities as regular visits, frequent telephone calls and other joint family activities (Petalas, et al. 2012). When one child is diagnosed with ASD, there is a higher probability that the sibling relation will be affected since these disorders impair verbal communication and can result to a poor reciprocating system. At infancy stage, the siblings of ASD children display less eye contact, fewer gestures, less turning and showing behavior than the typically developing children as according to the journal on siblings of individuals with autism. The authors of the infant sibling studies argue that the exhibited developmental differences are due to genetic liability but Yirmiya differs and argues that the impairments may be due to environmental factors (Siegel & Zalcman 2009). The latter seems to be true since at infancy stage siblings of a child with autism spectrum are more likely to behave differently to their sick counterpart as compared to when there is no a disabled child. This is probably because at this early stage an ASD child is able to exhibit difficulties while trying to interact with his siblings because of the impaired communication and late development of language. ASD is likely to lead to increased behavioral problems and difficulties among sibling relationships since the impaired child will result to lack of warmth on the side of his siblings (Meyer, Ingersoll & Hambrick 2011). The lack of acceptance was found to be more prevalent when the siblings were younger than the impaired child was probably because it is difficult for the younger ones to understand the situation of their elder sibling. Furthermore, when the victim is of younger age than the sibling is, the elder siblings are more likely to be accommodating to him since they find it as a part of their duty to be responsible to the younger one despite his conditions. Autism Spectrum Disorder on a child has been found by majority of the studies to cause increased mental anxiety on the siblings of the child with the female child being more prone to the anxiety than her male counterparts (Tanaka, Uchiyama & Endo 2011). This is because the girl child especially during adolescent is more likely to be sensitive to showing affection to her loved ones and hence become more stressed about the condition of her sibling than the male child. The anxiety is associated with the delinquent behavior, peer problems, conduct challenges and withdraw symptom associated with the siblings of an ASD child. These problems are usually because of stigmatization, which the siblings of the sick child face from their peers and it thus more likely to affect the behavior of the developing adolescents. Anxiety problems are among the main physiological problems associated with autism and if not properly handled they can negatively affect the performance of a child in all other spheres such as academic and social life. Furthermore, anxiety problems can be a lifetime problem and can lead to depression at different stages of development of a child since the uncertainty surrounding the future of the sick sibling may be devastating. This anxiety experienced by the siblings of child with disorders is usually coupled with the fear of how to interact with their sick brother or sister, how to cope with the increased family responsibility and the challenge on how to explain to other people the condition of the sick child. These fears make a person to be uncomfortable because there usually seems to be lack of clear way of dealing with these eventualities and thus the child is likely to spend more time thinking and being anxious. Increased anxiety and mental exercise can lead to stress which is always discomforting and has accompanying adverse effects, which negatively affect the well-being of a person (Faso, Neal-Beevers & Carlson 2013). Thus, it is important to conduct a research to establish the causes of the increased anxiety and probably come up with measures that can be taken to moderate the effects of the spectrum. Extensive research has been conducted in the past on the impact of raising an impaired child to a parent and very little has been done on the impact of the disabled child to his developing siblings. The researchers have agreed that when a developing child has a sibling with ASD it may neither be a strong risk factor nor protective factor for the child to develop some abnormalities as he grows (Bauminger-Zviely 2013). This is because the abnormalities among the developing children seem to affect both the children raised in normal situations and those raised with ASD sibling. This is because there are myriad of reasons that can be attributed to challenges experienced by a child in social interactions, which are completely not related to sickness as it is in the case of autism. It is important to conduct a research to investigate more on the relation between the disorder and the development of children in comparison with those growing in a normal environment. The research needs to focus more on identifying the factors that place a child with autism disorder at a higher risk than the typically growing children since most previous studies have differed in this and thus have failed to establish a cognitive explanation for the exhibited behavior. Furthermore, most of these studies have been making the misguided hypothesis that the abnormalities experienced by the brothers and sisters of the sick child are mainly contributed by the disorder (Tomeny, Barry & Bader 2012). As elaborated, this may not be always true and thus it further necessitates the reason for a study to be conducted to make all this unclear piece of information clear. Most studies agree with the idea that living with a sibling with impairment greatly affects the lives of typically developing children in many ways but they have failed to agree on the reasons behind this observed trend. The manner in which the children respond to the family situations and the quality of the relationships they develop with their affected sibling differ from one individual to another since different people respond to the same situation differently. Previous studies on typically growing children and the ones growing in an environment with a child with ASD have identified several factors to be related to the manner in which a person responds. Gender, birth order, age, family size, type, severity of sibling disability, the nature of the household and the social economic status of the family have been identified as the main factors that influence the response (Harris & Grasberg 2003). Sibling relationships can become complicated when one or more child is having trouble in acquiring the necessary social skills to develop age appropriate relationships like in the cast of autism, which negatively affects the communication skills of the affected child. Little research has been conducted on how siblings of an ASD child respond to the situation given that very little information is available on how the affected parents are supposed to correctly inform the normal children on the condition of their brother or sister. This is probably because majority of the parents find it difficult to inform them of the adverse effects of the disorder and the fact that it is a lifetime disorder, which they have to cope with for the rest of their lives. Therefore, there is a need to research more on the proper methods that parents should apply to ensure that the information does not adversely affect the physiological condition of the siblings of the sick child. Child behavior problems associated with environmental risk factors show that siblings of autism children who have themselves characteristics similar to that of autism might find it difficult to adjust appropriately both at home and in other places such as school (Orsmond & Seltzer 2007). The reason for this is that the situation of their ailing sibling creates an internal niche in their mind that largely affects their worldview, which usually is misinformed. This is normally coupled with a negative family environment, which is mainly characterized, by a lot of criticism from the parents who usually are mentally stressed or ignorant. The inability to handle the situation correctly and the challenges that are usually associated with the circumstance usually give birth to frustration on the parents. There is thus a challenge imposed to medical practitioners in their efforts of determining whether the siblings of an affected child are themselves affected by the same situation. Since minimal research has been done in the past on this aspect of the disorder there is prevalence of a research gap which necessitates the need for a research on the same to be instituted. In conclusion, it is evident that autism spectrum disorders pose many challenges on the affected children and their siblings in which most of these challenges have been fueled by lack of clear information on different aspects concerning the situation. There is thus a need for a research to be conducted on the different aspects of the situation that prevails once this disorder is identified in order to clarify the various unclear issues. The research will make clear the effects on psychological and wellbeing of the affected children and their brothers and sisters and thus it will be effective in solving the associated problems. References Bauminger-Zviely, N., 2013.Social and academic abilities in children with high-functioning autism spectrum disorders. New York City: The Guilford Press Faso, D., Neal-Beevers, R. & Carlson C., 2013. Vicarious futurity, hope, and well-being in parents of children with autism spectrum disorder. Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders. Vol. 7 (1), 288-297. Harris, S. L., & Glasberg, B. A., 2003.Siblings of children with autism: a guide for families. Bethesda, Mar,: Woodbine House. Meltzer, L. 2011. Executive Function in Education From Theory to Practice. New York: Guilford Publications. Meyer, K.A., Ingersoll, B.& Hambrick, D.Z.,2011. Factors influencing adjustment in siblings of children with autism spectrum disorders. Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders. Vol. 5(1), 1413-1420. Orsmond, G.I., & Seltzer, M.M., 2007. Siblings of individuals with autism spectrum disorders across the life course. Mental retardation and developmental disabilities research reviews Vol 13 (1), P 2-5. Petalas, M.A., et al., 2012. Psychological adjustment and sibling relationships in siblings of children with Autism Spectrum Disorders: Environmental stressors and the Broad Autism Phenotype. Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders. Vol 6 (1), 546-555. Siegel, A., & Zalcman, S., 2009. The neuroimmunological basis of behavior and mental disorders. New York, Springer Science+Business Media. Tanaka, K., Uchiyama, T. & Endo, F., 2011. Informing children about their sibling’s diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder: An initial investigation into current practices Kyoko Tanaka. Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders. Vol. 5 (1), 1421-1429. Tomeny, T.S., Barry, T.B & Bader, S.H., 2012. Are typically-developing siblings of children with an autism spectrum disorder at risk for behavioral, emotional, and social maladjustment? Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders Vol. 6 (1), 508-518. Read More