LET’S NOT HAVE AN AUTISM DAY OR MONTH
LET’S MAKE AUTISM AWARENESS AN EVERY DAY PURSUIT
April of each year is designated as autism awareness month promoting a time where we can learn more about this misunderstood disorder. To give you some perspective as to its prevalence, Autism spectrum disorder is now diagnosed in 1 in every 68 children, making it the fastest-growing serious developmental disability in the U.S.
The occurrence of autism [1 in 68] translates to 1 in every 42 boys and 1 in every 189 girls. The economic impact of the disorder was studied a few years ago and at that time economists at UC Davis said the costs associated with caring for people with autism spectrum disorder in the U.S. could reach more than $260 billion in 2016 and would skyrocket in the next decade.
The real story behind Autism Spectrum Disorder [ASD} is not just in the economic bearing of the disorder but more on the impact of the social, emotional, and vocational development of the child- and with the family stresses and concerns in caring for a child on the autism spectrum.
In simple explanation- autism is a lifelong developmental disorder that affects how a person communicates with, and relates to, other people. It also affects how they make sense of the world around them. It’s referred to as a spectrum condition which means that, while all people with autism share certain difficulties, their condition will affect them in different ways.
We know very little of the causation of autism at this point. The only area where there is mostly agreement among researchers, teachers and therapists caring for children is that early identification and appropriate interventions can help to mollify the features [symptoms] of the disorder. With early identification and appropriate treatments, we can help children learn to negotiate and cope with more “mainstream” school environments and developmentally appropriate social activities.
Autism is a scary word for parents to hear. They often immediately cue into a notion that their child is different but they aren’t sure what to do about that. They usually have to deal with their child’s emotions and behaviors with little support from friends and family who often judge that their child is just “spoiled” in the way they act and that better parenting would “fix” things.
Social isolation and a lack of support is something parents of an autistic child have to cope with, in addition to the extreme amount of attention and the myriad of interventions and support they need to give to their autistic child as they grow and develop.
School age brings new challenges to the autistic child and parents. While the vast majority of autistic children are not dealing with cognitive concerns that will disrupt learning, most of the barriers to learning are focused on schools not being equipped to deal with the quirks, the sensory impacts, the behavioral outbursts and the social-emotional dysregulation that an autistic child brings into the traditional classroom.
As a child grows older, social awkwardness can lead to social isolation for the child posing yet again a challenge for parents to help their child on the spectrum to experience mainstream developmentally appropriate play and peer support.
Autism as a lifelong disorder brings new challenges to the early adult years, where parents must now concern themselves with how an adult with autism will support themselves and be cared for long term.
Now having spent the above paragraphs on the hard realities of autism let me say that there is much hope for parents and children. I have witnessed remarkable “miracles” at BHSC working with children on the autism spectrum. Our Pre-School Program is geared toward early intervention and developmentally appropriate interventions. We value that all children are distinctive in their personalities and learning styles. As such, we work on creating emotional connections with the child in their “space” in order to attach with them and help them learn how to communicate and negotiate with the world outside of themselves.
We see our children as individuals with distinctive gifts where our job as teachers, classroom staff and therapists is to help those talents develop and manifest so that the children may be able to be back in their community schools and activities as soon as possible. We never want to see autism as simply presenting barriers to success or we will miss all of the unique and beautiful potential that every child is born into this world with.
So let’s not make autism awareness a day, or a month for designated learning and awareness but let’s seek to make autism awareness and understanding something that we do every day of the year.
If you have questions or would like to learn more about the distinctive educational/therapeutic programs we offer for Pre-School and School Age children or about the many out-patient interventions we have available- please visit our website at www.askbhsc.org
Autistic children and their parents have taught me to believe that difficult roads often lead to beautiful destinations. Be well, joe cozzo
